Brewing your own beer.

I brew.

Started with kits about a year a half ago, moved to extract and my and two mates have recently chipped in for all grain kit.

Its cheap, good fun and the feeling of drinking a beer that you designed and created is like nothing else.

I prefer my beer to beer I can buy in the shop now.

Start with kit, modify the kits with additional grains and hops and you will be well on your way!
 
Another brewer here :)

You can make most of your own all grain kit from bits and pieces that you can pick up cheap.

The forum that jeltz linked to has a lot of "how to" threads on making everything from a boiler, to a mash tun, including wort chillers etc.

For £70 you can probably get a reasonable brew in the bag setup going, you'll get to design and brew your own beers with that, and can brew some real outstanding pints if you have the flair for it.

Google BrewMate if you do decide to go for 'real' brewing, it's free software that allows you to design your own beers and gives you some guidance on what to expect by way of colour, bitterness and strength :)
 
Hmmm I wish you hadn't told me about Brewmate, I have been avoiding getting into homebrew for a while, now I've spotted a Kolsch recipe on there...
 
I'm just selling my old burco boiler with ball valve. Might sell mash tun soon. As the lads say don't have to be expensive . Make some buy some no need for loads of pots. I made do with two till now
 
Boab said:
Hmmm I wish you hadn't told me about Brewmate, I have been avoiding getting into homebrew for a while, now I've spotted a Kolsch recipe on there...
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Gwan, gwan, gwan :)

You know you want to ;)

BTW, watch out for 'shiny fever', it's worse than RAD, BAD and SAD combined, other than it leads to the manufacture of really rather good ale :D
 
And another brewer here, go for it if you have some experience I'd probably say miss kits and go biab. As others have said though beware it does get deeper.
I started with £50 gear and now probably over £2000 deeper in a year.
Its brilliant fun though and at the end of a busy day and your sat drinking one of your own creations that's better than shop bought, its a great feeling.
 
I would be going more for a pilsner route rather than ale. BIAB looks easy enough and minimal equipment needed. I was planning on using Grolsch bottles, I might have to create some empties first though.
 
Just to update this thread, The Homebrew Forum was sold earlier this year to an American Company and IMO it all went a bit Badger and Blade, as a result.

Various things happened which lead to most of the moderators either resigning or being banned so one of the more knowledgeable members decided to set up a spin off forum, under the umbrella of The Craft Brewing Association, which I and a few others are helping to run, I know for a fact that at least 3 out of the 4 strong admin team are acquainted with DE shaving so we must be OK!

We've been around for a month now and have nearly 350 members, I know that there are several members on here who were occasional visitors to the old forum and while I'm not suggesting that anyone should stop using it, I know that a lot of people are finding it rather quiet with the more experienced members now firmly established in a new home.

So if anyone wants the link it is http://forum.craftbrewing.org.uk
 
Nice one Jeltz.

Bought all the gear last year but never did get round to it due to commitments etc.


Am currently "renovating" my shed so will have loadsa room in there to play. I am hoping once the temperature drops in November to start brewing some lager in there as it should stay around 12/13 degrees

Hopefully a bit of WOW in the kitchen cupboard too.

Has Wurzel jumped into the new forum? Can't remeber if he was part of the Homebrew forum or the Home winemaking one
 
Beer kits are vastly different today compared to the awful offerings available in the "heyday" of home brewing in the 70s and 80s. There are a huge number of kits available today which will produce very drinkable beer which don't have any of the cidery tones of yesteryear. The big difference nowadays is the quality of the malt extract and yeast in the kits, plus the fact that beer is no longer brewed in an airing cupboard.

Wilkinsons is a great place to source home brew kits and basic equipment for home brewing. The 3kg kits such as Woodfordes are a good starting point.

I started brewing kits again 5 years ago, then quickly switched to all-grain brewing. I'm not a prolific brewer, but have brewed approximately 2500 pints of all-grain beer since then. For my brewing vessels, I use heater elements from Asda value kettles, which cost a fiver, plastic 33L fermentation buckets from my local home brew shop, with tank connectors and ball valves from screw-fix. Aquarium heater elements offer very accurate but cheap temperature control. My entire set-up cost about £60. If you can resist the temptation to go "shiny" as mentioned in previous posts, its a very cheap way of producing excellent beer - £10 for 25 litres.

A 25kg sack of grain (which will yield 250 pints of premium strength beer) can be sourced for £25-£30 delivered. There are a range of spectacular American hops available in the UK at approx £5 per 100g (enough for 2-3 brews) which will pack a real flavour-punch in your beer.

This web site hosts a comprehensive beginner's guide to all grain brewing.

For kit and all-grain brewing advice Jim's beer kit and The home brew forum are British-based forums with tons of useful information and very helpful forum members.

The only down-side to all-grain brewing is the amount of time it takes to prepare a brew - 6 hours from start to finish in my case, plus time for bottling and sterilising. Some may consider the construction and use of a diy boiler hazardous, though I have never had any problems.

Whichever route you take to brewing, I'm sure you will enjoy the end product. If I can give you any more advice or answer any questions, please feel free to PM me.

Edit: Just read Jeltz's post, The Craft Brewing Association web site looks pretty good and very much like the old home brew forum site.
 
Re: RE: Brewing your own beer.

barberbob said:
Nice one Jeltz.

Bought all the gear last year but never did get round to it due to commitments etc.


Am currently "renovating" my shed so will have loadsa room in there to play. I am hoping once the temperature drops in November to start brewing some lager in there as it should stay around 12/13 degrees

Hopefully a bit of WOW in the kitchen cupboard too.

Has Wurzel jumped into the new forum? Can't remeber if he was part of the Homebrew forum or the Home winemaking one
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I haven't seen wurzel on any of the forms I use(d) recently :(

fizog said:
I brew all my own beer, though owning a brewery helps ;-))
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It would do! No tax on mine though ;)
 
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