Home brewing kits ....

Second brew bottled. Now to wait 2 months :(
Hopefully not too many bottle bombs!




I got my heat controller through the post, waiting on my 80 litre tub for a water bath to turn up and then my fish tank heater :)

Then I can have a go with some proper lager yeast at 13 degrees :)
 
I just poured out a glass of my last turbo cider. I can't remember exactly when I put it on but it's ready to drink and I think it's only been going 3 weeks! Lidl cloud apple in this one.

Kanifee said:
[Root beer] Is it hard to make this alcoholic? might give it a bash, definitely gonna make the fizzy pop as i absolutely love root beer.
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You could do, but judging the alcohol content and getting it to maintain its fizz might be a challenge. Essentially what you'll have to do is add more sugar to provide the alcohol and keep an eye on it with a hydrometer so you don't brew too much of it out. Go with the rule that 100g of sugar adds about 1% alcohol to a gallon. When it reaches the desired alcohol content on the hydrometer, transfer it to plastic bottles with the cap done up tight for 24-48 hours to really fizz it up. Technically, you could then keep it in the fridge because the yeast ought to stop at the low temperature and you'll have left the bulk of the sediment in the demijohn when you transferred it to the bottles. Otherwise, you could add Campden and sorbate to kill the yeast, but don't shake it too much or you'll shake the fizz out of it.

That's the technical way to do it, but another option and probably the way I'd do it would be to over-sugar it, say add 900g - 1kg of sugar to a gallon, get it brewing and taste it every couple of days. At first it'll taste way too sweet (and of course a bit yeasty), but once the excess sugar brews out it'll reach the desired sweetness and you can then put it in the plastic bottles to fizz up. It'll come out at about 6.5% or a bit more - definitely worth a try :D
 
for 6.5% root beer its well worth a try, i had some alcoholic root beer form tesco tonight and it was rancid so i hope i can do a better job.

the one saving grace i feel i have is that bad root beer is real bad and the same for the good stuff, its great regardless of weather it has an alcohol content or not.
 
I would tell you, but my three attempts so far have totally failed. :(,
Still pay day Friday, so will get demijohn heater, to take out yet another variable.
 
:D

That's all I have, I buy 3 per week when Asda or morrisons have it on 3 for £5 :D

I'm not a massive fan of the drink but to buy the bottles empty are nearly as much :( Sadly I don't have a local that sells it that I could ask for the bottles.
 
I did the same with some 1 litre swingtop bottles I got. I had a choice of new empty swingtop bottles at £3.99 or some filled with 'La Mortuacienne' lemonade at £2.99 in TK Maxx. That was pretty expensive lemonade that I don't drink and resented filling TK Maxx's pockets over, I had a glass, decided it was no different to R Whites and tipped most of the rest away :D
 
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:D


(taken last night, i have work in 15 minutes :) )
 
can i ask a q?

first woodfordes brew and first ever brew done and finished at wkend, wonderful drop it was to.

anyway, i got a free brewmaker kit from the deal and decided to do it on sunday. i read a thread saying its like **** water but to make 15 ltrs instead of 23 and it makes it stronger. i sterilised all my equipment and put the tin in the ferm bin, added the water and also 1 kg of beer enhancer and a little extra brewers sugar, not much though. yeast next and yesterday it got the throfth on top, only an inch, which a nasty looking poo coloured splat in it and today the throfth has dissapeared.

is the brew bad and off, or should i leave it a few days more?
 
dannyjo22 said:
Did you use sugar or carb drops? Not touching either of mine until they are 8 weeks old. It's like fighting back the darkside resisting the urge to open one :D
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i used carb drops and to be frank it is under carbed, they recommend 3 drops for a liter bottle and one for a 500ml so id be surprised if they are not recommending an under dose, ill be batch priming next, far easier and finer to tune.


i have also read on every homebrew forum that quality control samples are mandatory and not done for curiosity's sake so i would not shy form trying one or two, or three!
my cerveza is a true lager with saflager yeast so needs lagered for about 8 weeks, that will kill me. bottling that tomorrow.
 
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Ah cheers, I used 1 drop in my 500ml bottles and I think it will be under carbed. I did use drops again for my second but cut a drop in half as well. I used 1 and half per 500ml and it was still really quick. They cut quickly with a good kitchen knife. Took no time to cut twenty in half.
 
Canadian blonde, yeah 2nd kit. The cerveza I did in the plastic bottles with one tablet. I have all the heating gear and bath now to do the pils. I just need to order the kit :)

I would still use a funnel over batch priming, once you know how much it would be quick enough with a spoon.
 
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