Home Brewing?

psychopathbabble

Hi All,

hope you don't mind me posting on here... I'm thinking about getting the OH a brewing kit for Christmas as he is really into his alcohol (he works for a distillery).

I was just wondering what I need as a minimum and what the cheapest places to get them from? From what I can tell, the cheapest kits don't include bottles or kegs. I am guessing that I will need one or the other? I thought a keg would be best as it might be less messy.

Any advice or tips or kits you recommend would be greatly appreciated,

THanks

Mistral001

Home Brew Online I have found to be good. They have an ebay shop and also have a very good and easy to understand online video showing you how to make home brew. Their basic lager I found very good. The key I found is not to be too ambitious to start off.

Their starter kits do not include the keg, but it can be bought separately from them. No need for CO2 capsules and adapter for the keg in my experience as the natural gases in the keg should be enough to put a good head on the beer in the glass (though as the keg gets below about half full the head gets less stong).

psychopathbabble

Thanks Mistral... after posting on fb, my friend might have some bits they can sell me Or I might just get the kit and let the OH buy what else he needs! x

Ceirdwyn

Would it be possible to maybe get your OH a good book on brewing, and a gift certificate for a local brew shop, then he could buy the bits he wants for any particular recipe?
For getting equipment Freecycle is usually pretty good for picking up bits and pieces, so is ebay. If you check what is local, and pick up only, you can get bits really quite cheap.
The Wilkinsons kits are quite good for a beginner, but you do need to buy the barrel separately, which bumps the price up. We tried to do the larger kit and bottled it (in bottles from freecycle) rather than use a pressure barrel, and we had a few explode. I'm still finding the odd bit of glass under things, several months later.:eek:

psychopathbabble

:rofl: That sounds like fun!

That's a good idea, not sure if there is a brewing place locally... some of the kits Ive found include the keg.

http://www.the-online-homebrew-company.co.uk/shop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=568

http://www.brewstore.co.uk/beer-or-lager-brewing-starter-kit-2128-p.asp

Ceirdwyn

That first kit looks like a really good deal, it's reduced and you get an extra kit? :beer:

Edit: I just looked closer and you get 2 extra kits, well you get 2 vouchers to redeem, and each kit is £18.99, so that looks like a great deal, IF you like the beer the kit makes.

psychopathbabble

Ceirdwyn wrote: »

That first kit looks like a really good deal, it's reduced and you get an extra kit? :beer:

Yeah, I think you get two extra kits to buy... one before march and one in June!


Just waiting for my friend on FB to get back to me to see if he has enough stuff for a complete set I can buy off him

littlemrtinkle

what are you looking to brew beer, wine, cider, spirits?

littlemrtinkle

p.s avoid these as have a really bad rep http://www.the-online-homebrew-compa...roducts_id=568

slow delivery if you get the stuff at all. Use a local home brew shop mine is far cheaper than online and you'll get good advice and tips.

psychopathbabble

Hi littlemrtinkle I ended up buying from that company as it was going to be cheaper than my friend sending me his stuff... took 2 days to deliver and it was all fine

nbr_uk

littlemrtinkle wrote: »

p.s avoid these as have a really bad rep...

slow delivery if you get the stuff at all. Use a local home brew shop mine is far cheaper than online and you'll get good advice and tips.

Seconded - I placed an order with them and the products were showing as "in stock" - called 10 days later as no delivery to be told would be a further 2 weeks, cancelled the order and they said they'd refund but they only refunded about half the amount than I paid. They denied there was a problem and after 7 phone calls I gave up and got a refund through my credit card company.

I'd avoid them like the plague!

(link removed from quoted post as it gives error that I can't post links)