Great 'How to start home brewing' Hunt

mjhmjh2

I thought I'd answer some of the questions directly.

How do you get started?
>easiest buy a kit

Which beer kits are the best?
>What is the best tasting food - it's very subjective and something no one can answer directly. Home brew doesn't taste the same as the stuff in the pub generally speaking, but is very nice all the same.

The industry for homebrew is probably much smaller than of 20-30 years ago - there tend to be a few good reliable suppliers, read the label, ask your home brew shop or take a gamble. What you make and what I make from the same kit may taste totally different.

Does it taste as good as a pub pint?
> Most definately better. When you drink it you can think about all the hard work that you personally put into it and how little it may have cost you and the fun you had whilst making it. Giving it to friends who also enjoy it is an even better experience.

How long can you keep it after opening?
Abbout a day or two. Anything that has been 'opened' should be consumed quite quickly. General oxygen and antyhing that contains will get in as soon as opened and start to spoil the contents - a secondary fermantation can also take place and turn it into vinegar if left for some time open.

However once made the product can be kept for a reasonable length of time if bottled. Beer and Cider, no problem keeping it sealed for a year. Wine, 3-5 years should be fine.

Note only grape wine ages. Beers ciders and other fruit alcohols will improve in the first month or two after fermentation but will not improve the way wine can.

Hambleton Bard (can you still get it?)
> Yes

Google.co.uk The Home Brew Shop. Top result is my favourite shop who is local engough for me to pop into - the family that run it know their stuff, ask them anything you like

Matthew

dazza001

I have been home brewing for many years now and I find Wine the easiest and simplest to do and with minimal equipment.

The trouble with making beer is that generally you need more stuff although it does turn out very nice if you take your time and sterilise everything and once you have the stuff then you only need to buy the ingredients.

Very basic equipment :-

1. A big fermenting bucket (must be made for this purpose, eg not coloured or designed for anything else such as a dustbin bin etc)

2.Syphon tube

3.Plastic pressure bottles(2ltr coca cola or similar bottles will do as they can withstand carbonated liquids)

4.Steriliser powder or similar.

Then usually you will have to buy a kit (Malt extract, yeast etc).
Then you have the choice of bottling it or putting it in a pressure barrel (which you can get at home brew shops).
I have tried both and I prefer to bottle it as you can get better results with the carbonation.

I placed a very easy wine/cider recipe here a while ago on a similar thread that is ideal for beginners
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=235810
I have used it many times and used different juices.

In general though once you get good at brewing you will probably buy more things to make life easier such as a syphon pump and airlocks etc, not absolutly necessary but it does make life easier.
Also wine can be made from virtually anything and tastes even better when it is made from fruit that I have picked for free, that is totally moneysaving.

One final thought, a lot of first time home brewers rush it and drink it too early (cloudy and sharp tasting). It will be drinkable and be alcoholic but if you are a bit patient you will be rewarded. Most brews will clear if you leave them long enough and they gradually improve in taste too.
I have never needed to use finings or filters yet.

P.S. I have read that Ribena wine can be made in a similar way although The ribena has to be boiled first to get rid of any preservatives etc.
I have not tried this though so I dont know how it would turn out.

Cheers

harryhound

Ribena wine: If the objective is to get hammered, then in works OK.
I've known about it since being a student in the 1960's. It can be made reasonably fast and tastes alcoholic. Probably the original alcopop?

Personally, I always tend to put some grape juice into the juices extracted from other fruits and vegetables, get the original density (sugar) right with a hydrometer and then leave the fermentation for 6 months, racking off from the lees (syphoning the developing wine away from the sludge of yeast and impurities dropping to the bottom of the vessel (usually a demijohn), while keeping air and airborne germs moulds flies etc.out with an airlock, to stop the oxidisation that turns wine into brown vinegar). Only then will the flavour be maturing.
(I've still some bottles of "bramble & runner bean" that are 29 years old and still looking good - they are hopefully going to be used some day for a third christening ?!? daft old romantic or what?)

Concordski42

mjhmjh2 wrote: »

!!!!! the berries, chuck them into a half full bottle of spirit, a touch of sugar, shake every day or so for a couple of months just in time for xmas.

From my own experience of making sloe gin (once, thirty years ago), I'm assuming the !!!!! was meant to be p r i c k, and that the offensive use of that word has stopped us all from being able to use it in its original way. Political Correctness gone mad again, eh?

Androcles

Concordski42 wrote: »

From my own experience of making sloe gin (once, thirty years ago), I'm assuming the !!!!! was meant to be p r i c k, and that the offensive use of that word has stopped us all from being able to use it in its original way. Political Correctness gone mad again, eh?

Spoilsport - hands up all those who were going to !!!!! them!!:D

mjhmjh2

Concordski42 wrote: »

From my own experience of making sloe gin (once, thirty years ago), I'm assuming the !!!!! was meant to be p r i c k, and that the offensive use of that word has stopped us all from being able to use it in its original way. Political Correctness gone mad again, eh?

Yup that was the word.. skewer, pierce, stab, puncture, perforate, jab. You are meant to use a silver implement I believe, however my wife and I have had great fun trying out all sorts of kitchen implements :rotfl:

bartman

N9eav wrote: »

Waiting for it to mature or finding it does not taste as good as John Smith's can be a disapointment

I've been beer making on and off for over 30 years; I can't be bothered with doing anything more complicated than a kit these days, but if it tasted anything like as awful as John Smith's I'd throw in the towel right away!

My recommendation for premium quality kits would be Woodforde's - an excellent Norfolk brewery which also makes kits.

tiesys

Don't know about the beer kits, but in November we bought a wine kit from Wilkinson's. It consisted of a couple of buckets and some other bits and enough wine "concentrate" to make six bottles of red (we got 5 and a bit out).
21 days later and we had some very nice home brew. It was all very simple and well worth the £15.00 or we paid. The only things not included was the bottles and a bag of sugar.
It has certainly got me thinking about investing in some large breing buckets and demi john's but for the moment the Wilco kit is fine.

Happy brewing.

mjhmjh2

tiesys wrote: »

Don't know about the beer kits, but in November we bought a wine kit from Wilkinson's. It consisted of a couple of buckets and some other bits and enough wine "concentrate" to make six bottles of red (we got 5 and a bit out).
21 days later and we had some very nice home brew. It was all very simple and well worth the £15.00 or we paid. The only things not included was the bottles and a bag of sugar.
It has certainly got me thinking about investing in some large breing buckets and demi john's but for the moment the Wilco kit is fine.

Happy brewing.

It's really easy to step up to 30 bottle brewing from kits. You can buy a 5 gallon brewing container which has a nice big neck to allow cleaning, but also a lid which accepts a normal air lock bubbler. They cost about £12 from the home brew shop. Second item here:-

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

You actually really need to get two so that you can rack off to a second container although using a few steralised buckets then back again would do if really pressed for pennies. Once it's finished brewing and been cleared simply bottle as normal.

A 30 bottle kit costs not a great deal more at around £25. so the bottle price is dropping to below £1 a bottle (a third of the price of the small kits).

I use the above mentioned 5 gallon wine brewing containers for brewing cider - I have about 10 of these. Freecycle is a good place to find second hand ones as well.

Hope that's useful
Matthew

lolat332

also no one seems to have mentioned, if you get into it a bit more, charity shops might be useful for guides to home-brewing etc, e.g. old books etc.

i have been doing it on and off for about 27 years. Like most things the time and care (and money) you put into it is reflected in the end result.

It is possible to make some really superb beers like real ales from some of the more expensive kits. Doing home-brew lager is harder though as the brewing process involved is very different.

A lot of people rush into doing it for the first time and get disappoitned by the results. Worth persevering with.