Anybody on here do home brewing?

Gents, when you buy a kit, does that just include the software and you still have to buy the hardware separately, or does the kit include everything you need? This is something I could get into...
 
I bought a starter kit, that had all the basics included, I've since upgraded parts but as a starter set it's spot on, I'll link to my one I started with

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Depends on your taste. If you are happy with rough brain rot, you can buy 20 point boxes where you just add water and yeast and wait a week. If you want to create something a bit more palatable than party kegs then you'll need the hardware, like shaving this can range from cheap adequate plastic tubs to full stainless brewing tanks
 
I have made quite a lot of home brewed beer over the years.
I made all my own equipment in order for me to be able to brew from grains.
You can quite easily make a mash tun from a cool box, a boiler from a 5 gallon fermenting bucket. I did however purchase the hope strainer. A fish tank heater will suffice to maintain optimum wort temperature during fermentation. There are lots of references / forums /recipes on the Internet.
It is quite time consuming cleaning and sterilising all your equipment, bottles and barrels etc. But once you get the hang of it all it is a rewarding hobby especially if you hit on a recipe that you like. Most of my beer came out in the 4.5% region. In order to brew it stronger you need more malt and a suitable yeast that is capable of getting the fermentation down to the required SG.
I bought most of my fermentables, hops and yeast from the Internet. Have a look at the malt miller web site, I think there is also quite an extensive range of brewing equipment contained therein.
The sooner you get away from kits the better your beer will be.
Enjoy and have fun.
Cheers
 
Scuba Steve said:
I have made quite a lot of home brewed beer over the years.
I made all my own equipment in order for me to be able to brew from grains.
You can quite easily make a mash tun from a cool box, a boiler from a 5 gallon fermenting bucket. I did however purchase the hope strainer. A fish tank heater will suffice to maintain optimum wort temperature during fermentation. There are lots of references / forums /recipes on the Internet.
It is quite time consuming cleaning and sterilising all your equipment, bottles and barrels etc. But once you get the hang of it all it is a rewarding hobby especially if you hit on a recipe that you like. Most of my beer came out in the 4.5% region. In order to brew it stronger you need more malt and a suitable yeast that is capable of getting the fermentation down to the required SG.
I bought most of my fermentables, hops and yeast from the Internet. Have a look at the malt miller web site, I think there is also quite an extensive range of brewing equipment contained therein.
The sooner you get away from kits the better your beer will be.
Enjoy and have fun.
Cheers
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That's some knowledge! I think eventually I'll move onto bigger and better, but for now I'm golden with it, as said above this will be a expensive hobby....

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Heh, another of those sky's the limit hobbies. The kit looks like a good starting point, though I know how chasing perfection can become all consuming. Looks like good fun anyway and—as is of course the case with wet shaving—it will also save money.
 
dogsmro said:
... My aim would be to make a brew as strong as possible, nothing refined, proper tramp juice:)
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Unfortunately that's a common trap many fall into (including myself). It usually ends up disgusting. My advice is to follow the instructions and ingredients to the letter, keep it all clean and you should do well.
Once you've got the basic kit it costs peanuts to make beer (which goes well with peanuts BTW).

I don't brew beer anymore as I don't drink enough of it these days to make it worthwhile and there's anymuch good quality cheap beers available at the supermarket nowadays.

I do though brew wine with great success. Just get a good quality (top brand) 6-bottle wine kit, a few demijohns and a dozen empty bottles and you're set up for £2 a bottle. I'm happy to say that I rarely find a bottle in a supermarket for less than 5 times that price which compares. In fact most times when I drink bought wine or in a restaurant it makes me appreciate how good home brew can be. Some bought wines are truly horrid, even quite expensive ones.
 
If you are doing kits, my advice is to stick to the two can more expensive kits. Sure they're twice as expensive, but they are twice as nice, and compared to shop bought beer still cheap!

The Woodfordes and St Peter's kits are great.... but I am a little biased as they are local breweries for me! :)
 
Jonmaddock said:
https://www.brewuk.co.uk/complete-american-ipa-starter-equipment-set.html
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That's very much like the gear I used to use to brew beer. I even had two 5-gallon barrels, one ready to drink, one getting ready to replace it. No need for bottles using a barrel, saves a lot of hassle. Ale/Bitter is easier as it doesn't need to be chilled, lager needs to be kept cold but I prefer beer over lager anyway.
I found a submersible heating element works best for me (rather than the external mats or bands), I use one for wine too outside of summer.
Enjoy.
 
MPH said:
If you are doing kits, my advice is to stick to the two can more expensive kits. Sure they're twice as expensive, but they are twice as nice, and compared to shop bought beer still cheap!

The Woodfordes and St Peter's kits are great.... but I am a little biased as they are local breweries for me! :)
Click to expand...
They keep popping up

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