Adventures in Homebrewland (image heavy - you have been warned!)

Adam_Kadmon

I dunno then, Gingervamp. Sounds like it should have been fine. Maybe it was what you ate with it.

Maybe I have taken the dire warnings too seriously, Shandypants. I'll need to try not worrying about it - it might save me 15% per bottle of homebrew that always poured away!

shandypants5

Ahh as I dont bottle my beer, so I dont have that problem. (kegging is the easiest).

But I do get my fair shair of cloudy beer as I am just too impatient to wait for it to clear properly.:rolleyes:

I am not reccomending that you can drink the thick sludge at the bottom.:D

I found this on Wiki..

Witbier
Witbier, White beer, (French: bière blanche), or simply Witte is a barley/wheat, top-fermented beer brewed mainly in Belgium, although there are also examples in the Netherlands and elsewhere. It gets its name due to suspended yeast and wheat proteins which cause the beer to look hazy, or white, when cold.

So even the big boys dont worry too much...

If your cider really is making you ill, then maybe it has an infection.
This would usually make it taste vinigary, but with home made cider it may be hard to spot a slight infection.(you can usually smell it though)

OR... maybe your just not used to REAL BOOZE.:beer:

Gigervamp

shandypants5 wrote: »

OR... maybe your just not used to REAL BOOZE.:beer:

Lol, well I normally drink ale or wine.

ginandtonic1988

I've just bought my first Youngs homebrew kit and wine making kit, I'm so excited this is my first time of making it. Any hints or tips would be great, even better tips so that I don't get it wrong!!:j :j

Pink.

Hi ginandtonic,

There's a current thread where you should get lots of help and advice so I've added your post to it to keep the replies together.

Pink

ginandtonic1988

Thanks I'll get over there and have a read

shandypants5

ginandtonic1988 wrote: »

I've just bought my first Youngs homebrew kit and wine making kit, I'm so excited this is my first time of making it. Any hints or tips would be great, even better tips so that I don't get it wrong!!:j :j

Hi GandT, This site is really good for beginners,
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/index.htm.

Take a read before you make up your beer kit and you will get much better results.

a couple of things that make a BIG difference to the taste are

1. dont use houshold table sugar if you can help it (buy special sugar from a homebrewshop) plain sugar makes your beer taste thin and cidery.

2. treat your water with half a camden tablet before you use it to make beer with. this nutralises the chlorine in your tap water.
Chlorine makes your beer taste odd and kind of mediciney.

easter65

Dont know if it has been mentioned already but Asda do the 5L bottles with water in for 87 pence that make great Demi's for wine..We've been using these for 3 years with no probs...Hubby drills a small hole in cap and used small washers and fits an airbung in..Use the water for kids packed lunch so no waste. Completely airtight and they can be shook so as to degas wine whereas the glass bottles cannot be shook or they just crack. Do not do this with the glass they are very fragile...Currently have a jam wine on the go...Just finished a Cabernet and a Pinot both in Plastic demi's and about to be bottled .:D

kje_2

Hi easter65, can those 5L bottles be used for storing liquid under pressure ? I'm going to be dragging my homebrew kit down from the loft and start brewing again. I have some pressure barrels (25L) but being able to decant my brew into 5L bottles would be ideal.

GandT, the Youngs type kits are ideal for learning how to brew and getting some practice, however, I always found the resulting beer to lack body. Better, although more expensive, kits are the 3kg kits. They require no extra sugar and, imho, produce better results.

easter65

Hi kje...Sorry not sure about that...We have always used them for fermenting wine out on advice from someone heavily into wine making so i know theyre safe for that but wouldn't like to give a definate yes on that. I wouldnt have thought so as under pressure anything might happen but fitted with an airlock theyre great..:D