Home brew

[Biggsoir]

The price of beer here in Norway is finally starting to get to me so I have been thinking about whipping up a batch of homebrew. As I have never done it before I just wondered if any fellow goaters could shed some light on this black art...... thanks in advance

 

[MingMong]

Are you planning on using a homebrew kit?
I make my own beer, it works out at around 50p a pint for a fairly good beer. I'm very much a novice myself as I have only made a couple of batches, but I do intend to make much more!

 

[MontyPlumbs]

http://www.boysstuff.co.uk/product.asp?id=15737&random=&cid=&src=Search

Mate these are the mutts nuts. I'm not sure what strength the amber nectar that is produced is, but it makes for a very nice beer!

Even a complete novice like myself didn't manage to fudge it - so it must be bombproof! DT_Xtremez_14:

Edit: 10 pints of 4.7% English Ale for £20 - can't be bad!

 

[grumpyoldb]

The price of beer here in Norway is finally starting to get to me so I have been thinking about whipping up a batch of homebrew. As I have never done it before I just wondered if any fellow goaters could shed some light on this black art...... thanks in advance

Been thinking the same. Just been to a meeting this evening in a local pub and Boddingtons (spit).........was £2-20 per pint! Fcuk that.

I'm off down my local HB shop in the morning. The basic set up should set me back about £27 to get 40s pint of bitter on the go.

 

[Stevienics]

Isnt't is a nause to keep coming back to refill it and then return to the pub?...............(you know?)

 

[John Lloyd]

I've just been to a tasting session at my local micro brewery, £2.60 gets you a bottle of very acceptable ale, £3.60 gets you a glorious 6.7% best bitter.

Bugger home brew just pay for the quality pint and ditch the chemic stuff.

 

[MingMong]

I've just been to a tasting session at my local micro brewery, £2.60 gets you a bottle of very acceptable ale, £3.60 gets you a glorious 6.7% best bitter.

Bugger home brew just pay for the quality pint and ditch the chemic stuff.

I'll stick with my 50p a pint thank you. My initial outlay was about £40 for equipment, but now I have it, then all I pay is £20 for a kit (there are cheaper available but I don't think they are as good).

It's also very satisfying to drink a beer that you have made yourself.

The first brew I made was a Woodforde's Wherry, very easy to make and very good tasting. The only problem with homebrew is the 3-4 weeks conditioning time for the beer after fiermentation. Once you have made your first batch, get your second batch on straight away so that it is conditioned by the time you have drunk your first. Unless of course you drink 40 pints a night.

 

[grumpyoldb]

I'll stick with my 50p a pint thank you.

Plus you don't have to stagger/get a cab home afterwards..............! DT_Xtremez_14:

 

[Realist78]

I've been brewing for over 25 years and the quality of the kits is pretty top notch, especially the ones around £20. Once you've been doing it a while, you may want to make it in exactly the same way as the breweries do (costs about another £150 - 200 for additional equipment ) and it costs about 25p a pint and yes, you can make it every bit as good as the big boys.DT_Xtremez_30:

 

[Biggsoir]

Hmmm, this all sounds excellent, think I had best head down the shops and see what they have on offer here

 

[MingMong]

Hmmm, this all sounds excellent, think I had best head down the shops and see what they have on offer here

If you don't have a specialist homebrew shop nearby, Wilkinsons have a homebrew department. It's not the best stocked, but it may have most of what you need there.

 

[Realist78]

You could try these guys Clicky If they don't stock it, it probably doesn't exist and they don't rip you off for the P&P either.

 

[grumpyoldb]

My local tesco stock a good range of kits, equipment and supplies and well priced too. I've now got 40 pints of yorkshire bitter fermenting. Just need to be patient now.

My shopping list to get me started was.................

Brewing bin
Long handled mixing spoon.
Sypthon kit.
Yorkshire bitter kit.
Sugar.
Airlock.
Hydrometer.

Total cost £35-92.

 

[Spearmint]

Home brewing is definitely on my list of things to do when I finally have the time for it. I'll probably avoid making Melon wine though like my Dad did once, ended up with him being so ****faced he tried to throttle my mum in his sleep thinking she was a Russian spy! DT_Xtremez_30:

 

[Realist78]

Home brewing is definitely on my list of things to do when I finally have the time for it. I'll probably avoid making Melon wine though like my Dad did once, ended up with him being so ****faced he tried to throttle my mum in his sleep thinking she was a Russian spy! DT_Xtremez_30:

Once you get the hang of it, it doesn't take long at all. The longest time taken is if you bottle your beer, £40 ish buys you a pressure barrel, far easier.DT_Xtremez_19:

 

[mikefar]

I used to have all the kit and make my own. The best one I ever did was "Dog Bolter" that was very good and very strong. Unfortunately, it take up a lot of time and space. Got rid of all the equipment at a car boot sale.
Now seriously considering getting going again

 

[grumpyoldb]

There are quite a few good forums around if you need any help or advice.
It's good to read about other peoples success and failures.

http://www.homewinemaking.co.uk/forum/YaBB.pl
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php

Also plenty of online suppiers.

http://www.homebeermaking.co.uk/
http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/
http://www.homebrewkits.co.uk/

 

[MingMong]

My local tesco stock a good range of kits, equipment and supplies and well priced too. I've now got 40 pints of yorkshire bitter fermenting. Just need to be patient now.

My shopping list to get me started was.................

Brewing bin
Long handled mixing spoon.
Sypthon kit.
Yorkshire bitter kit.
Sugar.
Airlock.
Hydrometer.

Total cost £35-92.

One vital thing missing from that list is sterilising solution. An essential item if you don't want your beer to taste like a pair of Gem's socks.

Once you get the hang of it, it doesn't take long at all. The longest time taken is if you bottle your beer, £40 ish buys you a pressure barrel, far easier.DT_Xtremez_19:

I think I paid about £23 for mine in Tesco, as you say, far easier than using bottles, and using 2-3 barrels makes it easy to have a constant supply of beer either fermenting, conditioning or being drunk.

 

[grumpyoldb]

One vital thing missing from that list is sterilising solution. An essential item if you don't want your beer to taste like a pair of Gem's socks.

I used 5ml per litre of water of supermarkets own brand thin bleach as recomended on the brewing forums. Put all the equipment in the brewing bin and sloshed it round for five minutes then gave it all three good rinses of fresh water. DT_Xtremez_14:

 

[MingMong]

I used 5ml per litre of water of supermarkets own brand thin bleach as recomended on the brewing forums. Put all the equipment in the brewing bin and sloshed it round for five minutes then gave it all three good rinses of fresh water. DT_Xtremez_14:

That should do the trick, and a lot cheaper than buying the 'propper' stuff from the homebrew section.

What kit did you go for?

I normally pay a little extra and get a 2 can kit, I think that the quality of the final product is better.

This is the one I currently have conditioning, it should be ready about now

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/St._Peters_Ruby_Red_Ale_Beer_kit.html

And this is what I am currently drinking, very nice it is too!

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Woodfordes_Wherry_Beer_Kit.html