Started brewing my own beer...

[Chris]

I know loads of people do this, some of them even have friends. I even heard onf one guy who reportedly had a girlfriend. yes, I know.

But always fancied a go so recently I went to my local brewshop. Long gone are the days of Tom Caxton's kits. It's all organic hops and tofu nowadays. Bought all the gear, got it all mashed and whatnot and lo and behold, beer comes out the other end. Bloomin good beer too. And about 50p a pint.

Here's my first consignment. What? No, it's not just one bottle. Jeez.

 

[clivehorridge]

I know loads of people do this, some of them even have friends. I even heard onf one guy who reportedly had a girlfriend. yes, I know.

But always fancied a go so recently I went to my local brewshop. Long gone are the days of Tom Caxton's kits. It's all organic hops and tofu nowadays. Bought all the gear, got it all mashed and whatnot and lo and behold, beer comes out the other end. Bloomin good beer too. And about 50p a pint.

Here's my first consignment. What? No, it's not just one bottle. Jeez.

View attachment 47299

bottled by the sink.... Priceless

Brill Cris.

Group orders perhaps?

 

[Chris]

Clive. Get yer own.

You must have excellent cheap beer running through the streets over there, surely.

 

[StarCruiser]

Clive. Get yer own.

You must have excellent cheap beer running through the streets over there, surely.

Looking good Chris. Love the label.
Been thinking of making my own cider but never got round to it. Plenty of apples around here.

 

[Crispin]

That's awesome. I'll place an order for the club shop

 

[Chris]

I s**t you not, it's extraordinarily good. It's on its second fermentation at the moment. Some is in a barrel and the rest is conditioning in the bottle. It needs to hubble for best part of a week then technically takes a few weeks to mature. During that time it clears too. But here's a shot of what you get run straight from the barrel at the second. It's frothy man. Heaps of flavour with a real hoppy afternote that really lingers. Got another beer on the go already.

 

[Pat]

That looks real good.What is the name of the kit please and I'll see if we can get it in the colonies.I made some years ago on the continuous fermentation system and had a stock of 17 dozen bottles.My youngest son and a rugby mate came home from the UK,it was all gone in 2 weeks.I thought if I made any more we could have a bunch of alkys here.Hopefully if I made some now it would last.

 

[clivehorridge]

Clive. Get yer own.

You must have excellent cheap beer running through the streets over there, surely.

It's cheap enough Chris, but a bit on the lager side of real beer...

Your brew looks like it's got some 'body' to it... I can almost smell it from here ...

 

[Chris]

The kit is actually made up by the local homebrew shop. They have a range of them called Beerworks. They vacuum pack the hops themselves and put all the bits in a box. To be fair, the market in this is now pretty big with some breweries actually producing their own kits to make their beers at home.

The nice thing is that they have barrels in the shop and you can try them to see what you'd like to make. Currently this is one I am waiting to drink.

http://www.lovebrewing.co.uk/dragons-speciale-kentish-bitter-beerworks-craft-brewery-series/

You can still get those awful brew today drink tomorrow type kits which the folk in the shop say there is still a demand for. Just read some of the reviews from people who have brewed these beers. The proper kits that is not the old stuff.

 

[AndyCook]

Good to see another brewer starting out, love the bottle labels
i make my own ales too, full mash brews using grains. I started by using liquid malt and adding hops, like the kit you got, and also dried malt packs.

 

[Chris]

Maybe we should have a new section called the Brew Shed. Send me any tips, reviews and experiences Andrew. Really starting from basecamp here. New brew is bubbling like a V8 on tickover. The first batch was slower and took longer to stop at first fermentation. Read all theinstructions and watched the videos but if there's anything really neat then let me know.

Can you bottle beer from the barrel after second ferment just in order to store, mature and transport it?

 

[AndyCook]

It's been warmer this last week, so the beer will ferment a lot faster

many say to siphon the beer from fermenter to a barrel after primary fermentation to mature a bit even if you are going to bottle it

but I just siphon it straight into bottles for second fermentation and maturation. And transportation to my gullet

i get my stuff from hop & grApe in Darlington, by web order

 

[Chris]

Not really been a difference here Andy. And my office is a pretty steady temperature. This is a different kit style and it's brewing differently too I guess. It's a constant bubble bubble bubble all day and all night. Instructions say 7 days last kit said 10 days. Not sure I have anywhere cool to keep the barrel next week. Only place I can think of is the dog kennel outside!

 

[AndyCook]

Are the beers different strength ? A stronger one could take longer to ferment the sugars

 

[Chris]

Utterly different beers Andy yes but not that much difference in ABV. Still bubbling strong this morning but slowing a little.


Barrel has leaked very slightly this morning - into a drip tray. Just unscrewed the cap a little and relieved a little of the pressure. It was under considerable pressure I might add. Forcing beer past the tap seal. Not through the tap. but round the join. Appreciate it needs the fizz in there but though the barrel had a pressure valve in it. Maybe it doesn't. I shall have to ask.

 

[Pumpy]

Good stuff Chris, love the label

I used to brew a lot 30yrs ago, got into the sillyness of max abv with a special high tolerance yeasts I got mail order, I used those old "Alpine" brand bottles (remember those? pop delivery to your house and 5p on the bottle!) One time I put a bit too much sugar in the bottles for 2nd ferment, woke up at 3am thought the house was under mortar fire as the tops were exploding off I had to line them up very carefully and shoot the tops off with an air gun before they exploded! Boots used to do a lovely bitter kit, cheap and chearful but propper nice bitter!

We did a lot of wine too, apple and blackberry with a handfull of elderberry was by far the best combo we found, tried Cider but never quite got anything paletable, although we had some success with home made pommaine using champagne yeast! I'm such a lightweight drinker these days it's not really worth it, although a few sunny days in a row and I could be tempted again!

 

[Chris]

Office smells fantastic at the moment. Like, ermm, well like a brewery actually.

 

[AndyCook]

My old "boots" beer barrels have pressure release valves on the lids
i don't use them anymore, as they are 30yrs old now and the pLastic taints the beer
i use glass bottles and crown caps now
it used to be a chore to sterlize about 50 bottles for each batch
but I got this fancy Christmas tree like drying tower and a sterilize sprayer that sits on top of it, you push bottle upside down onto it and it squirts the solution into bottle, then pop it onto the tree to dry.
The sterlizer is a type which doesn't need rinsing.

i used to have to fill each bottle with a sterlizer then leave a while, then have to rinse each bottle x50 !!

Got the bottle drainer and the rinser gadget here
https://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/equipment/bottling/bottling-aids.html

 

[Chris]

Yes seen those Andy. I just put them in the dishwasher on the hottest setting. Come out smoking. I rinse them first as you can't get the dishwasher to get up inside the bottle really. But it's hot enough to sterilise baby bottles and so on.

 

[AndyCook]

Now that's a good idea Chris, will have to see how many bottles I can fit in the dishwasher