Home brewing kits ....

Skeeter said:
But I wan't to drink it! :D
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Same, 15 days fermenting and it's still bubbling every 30secnds. Slowing down, but not done yet. Then I need to bottle it and wait for it to pressurise up.

:(,just measured the gravity and it's not fallen to 1.060, how can it bubble for two weeks and lose so little gravity, original was 1.070
 
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Well it took me over 8 attempts to get the pressure out the second bottle of root beer over the weekend, over a period of 3 hours. I'd recommend periodically letting the pressure out if you're going to leave it in the fridge :D

It wasn't super-pressurised, it just kept on making more and more CO2 the more I let out
 
Finally got my Corona clone brewing, took me about an hour worrying about whether I'd sanitised everything properly :D

Only thing I'm slightly worried about is whether I should have bothered using tap or bottle water. I think next time I will try bottle and see how it differs.

Hydrometer says 5% abv should be the finished point.

As soon as it's finished I will start a German Lager.
 
Just bottled my turbo made with Lidl cloudy apple juice. Went from a starting gravity of 1.056 down to a level 1.000! With a 0.5% addition for the sugar in the bottles that makes nearly 8%!

Tastes.... interesting. Dry as hell, but not really cider like. Only 8 pints of it though so if its a disaster then its no big waste.

The Princes apple juice cider has stopped fermenting now so I'm just leaving it to clear for a few days and will be bottling that up too.

How long do you reckon to leave the turbos in the bottle before drinking? Couple of weeks?
 
I do like those coopers carbonation tablets, saves me ****ing up adding the sugar during bottling and will make it quicker.

I'm then hoping I can lay off them for 2 months before I break one open. It should fill me 50 grolsch bottles.

24 hours and it's fermenting nicely...

 
Glaucus said:
How do they work?

Don't they just instantly fizz up?
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No they are the correct amount of sugar and glucose so you get consistency in every bottle for secondary fermentation. They sell them in tesco as well. I thought rather than faffing around weighing out sugar, I can just drop one in each bottle before bottling and shake. :)

They just look like pear drops/sweets. 1 per bottle, 2 per 750ml bottle :)

I guess it's a more expensive form of adding sugar but I don't mind £2.50 per 23l to make it easier and quicker/accurate.
 
Skeeter said:
Just get the GF to put 'a tea spoon' of sugar into each bottle so if they explode its her fault :D
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Haha I'm still thinking of putting my bottles in a storage tub when I bottle just in case they explode if I **** up. Looking at forums even experienced brewers sometimes bottle too early so I figure I'm bound to get the odd explosion :D

I won't worry so much in the summer when I can bottle and garage them but at the minute storing at 18 degs means inside my house.
 
Skeeter said:
How long do you reckon to leave the turbos in the bottle before drinking? Couple of weeks?
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If it's clear it's ready to drink. I don't even mind it a bit cloudy.

For the cloudy juice, once you've added Campden and sorbate to kill the yeast, it takes about a week max for the yeast to drop out completely. Then it's ready :)

When you say it doesn't taste like cider, what cider doesn't it taste like? It will taste more like a scrumpy and not like a Magners/Strongbow/Woodpecker. Try it with a teaspoon of white sugar per pint if it appears too acidic or dry.
 
Jonny69 said:
When you say it doesn't taste like cider, what cider doesn't it taste like? It will taste more like a scrumpy and not like a Magners/Strongbow/Woodpecker. Try it with a teaspoon of white sugar per pint if it appears too acidic or dry.
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Its tastes like cheap white wine. Dry and sharp and watery.

I've bottled it with a bit of sugar to make it fizzy.
 
Skeeter said:
All my bottled beer is stored in the bath for that exact reason :D
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Sadly my bath is full of kids toys now, otherwise I would have copied that idea :D

Kanifee said:
wich is the best starter kit for a complete noob?

Tesco have 2 in, brew buddy and coopers, are these any good or should i opt for something else entirely?
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I went for the coopers one based on reviews and ease of cleaning. Here's the instructional video that comes with it...


This guy goes over the coopers kit...


Here he makes a kit with it...


Basically both kits are just a fermentation vessel, tap, hydrometer etc. The coopers one includes enough bottles for 23 litres and instead of a syphon you have an easy bottling nozzle to make sure you get the right amount in each bottle. Plus as I said earlier you get the carbonation tablets. Plus no airlock to bother with.

It's cheapest from here, plus they open the kit and include whichever kit you want instead of the standard lager....

http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/beginners-kits/beer/coopers-beer-starter-kit.html

The picture doesn't show the new kit but it is, I emailed them.
 
Having the tap on the bottom of the fermenting bin is a good idea.

Anyone got any suggestions for a Cider kit to try next? I want to get another one brewing as soon as I have started drinking the current one, waiting 8-10 weeks for a pint is killing me :D
 
definitely going for the coopers, seems the little extras like the bottling tube and bottles and that fermenting tub make it look a great kit, think ill grab the Canadian blonde as an extra as that little vid made me intrigued!
 
I've started with the mexican cerveza but I will probably go the german pils or canadian blonde next. As soon as I have this bottled next week I will start the next one off.

Extra bottles for the coopers kit are £7.99 a set at tesco iirc. I've though collected about 150 glass bottles now.
 
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