How to brew your own beer - The All Grain method
- Thread starter PaulStat
- Start date
It's the 20L but I did get the short malt pipe to do 10L batches.
I got a deal on the BM for 5% off, a free 30L Speidel fermenter and free smoked beer recipe pack but yeah it still wasn't cheap.
Brew UK is now doing the BAC Brewing custom aftermarket stuff and their pictured hop filter is a dream to use and clean but you definitely pay for the quality.
Brewed a Gose with it on Tuesday and it really is a dream to use, despite one silly mistake when removing the malt pipe. I love that you can open and clean the pump after each brew, when I trialled the Grainfather it always nagged a little about all the hidden nooks and crannies.
Associate
Thornbridge are doing their British Homebrew Challenge again. Think we both might try entering.
http://gbhomebrew.co.uk/
http://gbhomebrew.co.uk/
Soldato
YAY thread revival I feel.
hehe Remember when this was only a few pages soggy biscuit? and we filled it up.
hehe Remember when this was only a few pages soggy biscuit? and we filled it up.
Associate
Those were the days. Reading every word of The_Blues posts wondering if we could do that.
Well, mostly yes. A few hiccoughs along the way, but also some decent beers too. Which may have caused more hiccoughing.
Well, mostly yes. A few hiccoughs along the way, but also some decent beers too. Which may have caused more hiccoughing.
Soldato
Yes I totally agree. Is the_blue still knocking around these waters?
Soldato
Todays brew has been an old english ale style recipe.
I went quite easy on all the base malts to I hope give a tasty malty drink without being to alcoholic.
maris otter
crystal malt
melonoidin malt
Hops were northdown and challenger for bittering at 60 mins
with a splash more northdown for final 10
at flame out I added EKG for aroma and flavour.
The yeast is fullers that we cultivated ourselves.
I cant wait to see what this tastes like.
This is an inspired recipe based on a dark malty English ale I like.
I will update on the results in 10 days when it goes into bottles. (obviously it will need quality testing before it hits bottles! )
I went quite easy on all the base malts to I hope give a tasty malty drink without being to alcoholic.
maris otter
crystal malt
melonoidin malt
Hops were northdown and challenger for bittering at 60 mins
with a splash more northdown for final 10
at flame out I added EKG for aroma and flavour.
The yeast is fullers that we cultivated ourselves.
I cant wait to see what this tastes like.
This is an inspired recipe based on a dark malty English ale I like.
I will update on the results in 10 days when it goes into bottles. (obviously it will need quality testing before it hits bottles!
)Todays brew has been an old english ale style recipe.
I went quite easy on all the base malts to I hope give a tasty malty drink without being to alcoholic.
maris otter
crystal malt
melonoidin malt
Hops were northdown and challenger for bittering at 60 mins
with a splash more northdown for final 10
at flame out I added EKG for aroma and flavour.
The yeast is fullers that we cultivated ourselves.
I cant wait to see what this tastes like.
This is an inspired recipe based on a dark malty English ale I like.
I will update on the results in 10 days when it goes into bottles. (obviously it will need quality testing before it hits bottles!
That sounds great, what was the inspiration for it?
I was away in the Lakes last week and went to the Black Bull in Coniston, their Bluebird Bitter made me remember how good and full bodied a low alcohol (3.6% I think it was in cask) beer can be when done well.
Soldato
Hi sorry for late response. I enjoy joules slumbering monk as it's quite malty. So it kinda inspired by that. Yes I agree it's harder to find weaker ales that still have flavour without the abv.
Don't think I have ever seen it get to the north east but an easy name to remember so will keep any eye out
Tasted the smoked lager I made the other week, it tastes a bit like someone blended a pack of smokey bacon crisps in a nice lager at the minute but is meant to be good after a little maturation.
Kegerator pics coming soon.....
I need to find somewhere in Cyprus that supplies stuff for homebrewing... if not I'll be forced to go back to... brewing kits
The Malt Miller will possibly ship there, drop him an email for a price. It might be worth getting a mill and the grain uncrushed though and making sure you store it properly, that way you can just order a years worth at a time.
EDIT: or paying for someone coming from the UK to bring an extra bag on the plane!
Well finally getting there on my kegerator with the gas management board and bottle fixed to the wall, one gas pipe into the fridge to a two stage manifold, two holes drilled for taps and one Intertap flow control tap in place.
Pictures tomorrow I promise!
Tried out the growler filler spout with the Intertap faucet and it is decent to fill bottles with but defnitely fobs a little, I am sure reducing serving pressure would get rid of this though.
Yesterday I used some carbonation caps (picked up five for about £18) to fill four Coopers 500ml bottles, the caps are are fantastic to use and will be brilliant for taking bright beer to friends/family when visiting
I took the four bottles to the local Brewdog homebrew competition and took first place with them! It was very laid back and although they had a pro brewer there this time they decided to also have all the contestants also judge the other beers with the only rule being that the beer had to have 50% minimum wheat in the grist. I entered a Gose I made but actually put a shot of Allasch (a Leipzig caraway schnapps) in each bottle before counter pressure filling them (I did um and ah before about whether to just enter the Gose straight but this is a really common way in Leipzig to serve it). There were some really interesting and good beers there though and they even laid on free pizza and brewed a 5AM Saint clone in the background and it was really good to meet up with a load of likeminded people. If you have a Brewdog locally I would recommend checking out if they do something similar (I believe the Manchester one is meant to be fairly popular).
Pictures tomorrow I promise!
Tried out the growler filler spout with the Intertap faucet and it is decent to fill bottles with but defnitely fobs a little, I am sure reducing serving pressure would get rid of this though.
Yesterday I used some carbonation caps (picked up five for about £18) to fill four Coopers 500ml bottles, the caps are are fantastic to use and will be brilliant for taking bright beer to friends/family when visiting
I took the four bottles to the local Brewdog homebrew competition and took first place with them! It was very laid back and although they had a pro brewer there this time they decided to also have all the contestants also judge the other beers with the only rule being that the beer had to have 50% minimum wheat in the grist. I entered a Gose I made but actually put a shot of Allasch (a Leipzig caraway schnapps) in each bottle before counter pressure filling them (I did um and ah before about whether to just enter the Gose straight but this is a really common way in Leipzig to serve it). There were some really interesting and good beers there though and they even laid on free pizza and brewed a 5AM Saint clone in the background and it was really good to meet up with a load of likeminded people. If you have a Brewdog locally I would recommend checking out if they do something similar (I believe the Manchester one is meant to be fairly popular).
Soldato
I'm very tempted to move to all grain, just a bit put off by the amount of kit needed.
I've barely got room for the kit I have now haha
I've barely got room for the kit I have now haha
Okay have been slack with the kegerator pics and will put up some more tomorrow as I will be brewing a Marzen and will have time to take some of the whole setup.
I currently have 2 Intertap stainless steel flow control taps but have a third on the way and also a beer engine to be added.
I used 3/8 to 3/16 stem adapters on the corny disconnects and the tap shanks, this means that my beer lines are pure 3/16 lines and are really flexible (so easy to work with) and also reduce pressure very quickly with regard to length as well.
Oh and about 60kg of grain just delivered to brew quite a range of nice beers:
I currently have 2 Intertap stainless steel flow control taps but have a third on the way and also a beer engine to be added.
I used 3/8 to 3/16 stem adapters on the corny disconnects and the tap shanks, this means that my beer lines are pure 3/16 lines and are really flexible (so easy to work with) and also reduce pressure very quickly with regard to length as well.
Oh and about 60kg of grain just delivered to brew quite a range of nice beers:
Last edited:
Oh and take a look at this if you haven't seen it already:
The Tilt™ (formerly Brewometer) is a patented design that allows you to monitor the specific gravity and temperature of your home brew using your iOS or Android smartphone or tablet (with Bluetooth 4.0, more here for Apple or here for Android). Simply drop the Tilt into your batch of fermenting beer and watch the progress from the app. The Tilt is available for sale and ships internationally!
People have already integrated it with the Brew PI:
https://community.brewpi.com/t/brewometer-integration/1674/6
Great example here: http://rainesworld.beer/
The Tilt™ (formerly Brewometer) is a patented design that allows you to monitor the specific gravity and temperature of your home brew using your iOS or Android smartphone or tablet (with Bluetooth 4.0, more here for Apple or here for Android). Simply drop the Tilt into your batch of fermenting beer and watch the progress from the app. The Tilt is available for sale and ships internationally!
People have already integrated it with the Brew PI:
https://community.brewpi.com/t/brewometer-integration/1674/6
Great example here: http://rainesworld.beer/
Associate
hey guys, is Post 1 still a good resource for a complete noob?
Personally I would recommend this to try it out cheaply with very little outlay, and for a much easier process.
The guy who created the linked thread was a mod on the thehomebrewforum.co.uk until recently where he had a similar thread that was probably the most read and replied to on the whole forum (I am not going to go into the whys and wherefores of it but you might as well get any specific questions from him if you cannot get here).
Have a read through and see what you think.
Last edited:
Associate
Associate
Kit list seems to add up to about £70 plus the consumables, is that right?
I'm counting:
15L stock pot (I may already have something that would do, but it's a bit wider than stock pots generally, getting the bag to stretch around the sides might be hard)- £20
Hydrometer - £10
Thermometer - £10
Muslin bags - £5
Air lock - £15
Bucket - £10
Hops, yeast and grain - another tenner~
I'm counting:
15L stock pot (I may already have something that would do, but it's a bit wider than stock pots generally, getting the bag to stretch around the sides might be hard)- £20
Hydrometer - £10
Thermometer - £10
Muslin bags - £5
Air lock - £15
Bucket - £10
Hops, yeast and grain - another tenner~