Homebrew - How to and shares

[Stuart]

Well after many years of thinking about doing a homebrew ale I finally pulled my finger out and did it.

The basics that you NEED:
Brewing Kit (e.g. Big tin of goo + yeast)
Brewing bin, atleast 23Litres (40pints) in size, 33Litres recommended
Usually 1Kg of sugar (brewing sugar or dried malt is preferred to cane sugar)
23Litres of water
Kettle
Sterilising powder
Something to put the beer into once fermented

Some Extra Items that make life easier
Long handled plastic spoon
Hydrometer
Thermometer

I picked up this (http://www.mayandbrett.co.uk/index.php/home-brew-winemaking-catalogue/beer-lager-kits/blue-boar-nut-brown-ale-1-8kg-40-pint-real-ale-kit.html) kit as it looked a bit of a heavy beer (which I prefer).
I did make a small mistake as it suggests using Extra Dark spray malt and I picked up light as I had read all the other beers that ask for light and got confused lol.

Lots of online places to get homebrew kit (both hardware and beers) from but I like going into shops, and that one is 10 mins from my office :)


Onto the fun
Reserve yourself approx an hour and a half to do this.
Take the Label off the can of malt and place the can in the sink with hot water around it. This softens the good making it easier to pour out.
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While that is softening up, sterilise the equipment as this will take 10 mins. Make sure you do the bin, and anything that may touch the mix.
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Boil up a kettle of fresh water, and also in a large pan warm/boil some water and add the sugar or spray malt to dissolve it into the mix easier, DO NOT boil this mix as it will screw everything up.

Open the Tin very carefully as it will be hot from the water. Pour the can of goo into the Bin, then pour some of the freshly boiled water into the can to get all of that lovely goo out, and finally pour the rest of the boiled water into the bin. Add in the pan of sugary/malty water too. Give it all a good stir (being careful to not burn yourself)
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Add cold water until you get to 23Litres (or the instructed amount). If you feel like being a hardcore geek you could add water until the specific gravity is in the range specified on the label (I didn't bother). Again a damn good stir.
Wait until the temperature of the bin contents is below 30Deg C then add the Yeast (or Pitch as its known)
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Place the bin somewhere where it will be at a semi steady 20Deg C in a place where you can leave it for upto 2 weeks. I put it in our conservatory as that didn't drop below 18 deg and maxed at 25 deg, also had lots of space round it.
If you have a hydrometer take a reading of the specific gravity of the mix and the temperature if you have the kit. This is the Original Gravity of the beer, it will be something like 1.048
I have a bin with an Airlock on it so that the bin can stay sealed but let the CO2 out, now is the time to fit it if you have one, or leave the lid loose

After 24-36 hours there should be signs of fermentation. A layer of bubbles will form on the surface and the airlock will be making a racket :) The layer of bubbles will probably last for 3-4 days before vanishing, this dosent mean fermentation has completed.
Take hydrometer readings once the layer of bubbles has gone, I tend to measure in the bin rather than taking samples out, less lost beer ;)

Once the readings are near as damn it the same for 12-24 hours then the primary formation is complete. I've read on many forums about this stuff that they suggest leaving the bin for upto a month, but the instructions on the label said a week, so I went for 2 weeks lol.

Now the fun part, bottling/kegging.
I went for whats called easikegs (you can buy Adnams and other ales in these barrels) as they are more convenient for storage and serving imho.
Again sterilise everything.
You need about 12grams of Spray Malt or brewers sugar or a few carbonation drops per keg, or a teaspoon of malt/sugar per pint bottle.
Syphon the brew into your vessel and leave somewhere at 20Deg for 2 days then somewhere 'cool' (sub 15deg) thereafter. It should keep for upto 6 months depending on how sterile you were.

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I have created a spreadsheet for plotting the progress and Alcohol content of the brew including corrections for temperature etc lol if anyone wants it I will try and get it onto Google Docs and share it (I am planning a website that can do the plotting too)

I want to brew up a wheat beer or a summery IPA ASAP so that there is some variation in the drinking as this one I have just made is a very bitter bitter lol

[Southie]

Your my new best friend lol

Nice write up btw, when you cracking your first keg then?

[Stuart]

Might open one up in 14 days time, as that will be almost a month since starting, which is the minimum 'they' suggest.

Going to do some taste testing between glass bottles and plastic bottles on the next batch lol 40 plastic pint bottles with crown caps are less than a tenner where as glass is 10 bottles for that price.

[turbojolt]

nice Ive made beer from a similar kit, whilst making it i was already drunk and added 3 times the recommended sugar lol

also made prison style hooch and when i was working on the fruit and veg made a nice batch of plum wine with all the marked fruit idiots are scared to buy,

all very tasty and very very potent lol

[Southie]

How can you test the percentage on the Stucahol then? Will it be a matter of if your w@nkered it's good stuff lol

[mowgli]

my family has a lemon/ginger ale recipe... its really good at getting you drunk on hot summers evenings...but as we don't have those any more, nobody has made any this year..

[turbojolt]

you get a floating do'dar looks like a fishing float, has a bunch of marking on it,where it rests in the booze relates to the alcohol content

[Stuart]

The hydrometer is used to measure the density of the fluid, the malt/sugar makes the water denser than normal and once the yeast has consumed the sugar to make alcohol you measure some more and see its less dense.

There are calculators on the net but basically I measured mine at the start and daily after the bubbles went and at bottling it was approx 4.9% :D


Mike, brewing up Ginger stuff is a dodgy exercise lol, bet it is great though! I made some non boozy ginger ale a while back and it nearly detonated several fizzy drink bottles.

[mowgli]

Mike, brewing up Ginger stuff is a dodgy exercise lol, bet it is great though! I made some non boozy ginger ale a while back and it nearly detonated several fizzy drink bottles.

the way we do it involves putting lots of weight on the bottles to stop the corks coming flying out..

[Alex J]

whats it going to be called?? BAN stick BREW lol

[Jon_nova1]

This just almost looks like an attempt at making getting absolutely wasted slightly more scientific

[Stuart]

Made up a Brewferm Tarwebier (weiss beer) tonight, given the warmer weather its ideal as this needs to ferment at 25Deg C for a week (fingers crossed lol)
Its only a 15Litre mix so should take up less bottling space :)

IPA starts in 10-14 days

[turbojolt]

me and my birds dad are going off to the local brewing shop in long eaton, to get me decked out with a load of new gear to make some cider, he is lending me his pressure barrel as well hopefull he dosnt ask for it back when its full lol

im setting my self a budget of 30-to-40 quid to get set up wich seems to be a health budget when im getting that barrel for free, hopefully it tastes nice this time round rather then horrid stuff i use to make just drunk to get ratted lol

[Stuart]

I'd say you will be knocking on the door of £40-45 to get the bin, a kit and some other bits needed, even with the pressure barrel.

This batch is £0.50 per pint (partly because its a small volume) :) next 40pint batch should be in the £0.10-0.20 per pint realm :D

[turbojolt]

thats what i said to him but he asures me this shop is really well priced, so will have to see what happens

the kit he now owns after years of doing it costs him 5p-10p a pint and tastes really good, the elder flower cider he had last christmas was really nice and potent lol

[turbojolt]

p.s you ever looked into making spirits, seems abit hardcore/dangerous for most but looks interesting

[Stuart]

There are the 'brewed' spirits which do 20-25% but odds on you'd go blind lol
I'd love to build a still, but the use of it is somewhat illegal :(

[turbojolt]

yer i was looking at making a pikey/hillbilly style moonshine but cant find a test piggy lol

[mowgli]

here we go..tj put your banjo down...... spirit production is a lot more scientific than they showed it on that faked up moonshiners show on discovery channel

[Stuart]

Tasted the first batch last night. Damn it's good!
Bit dark and heavy for summer drinking though lol

[Adam]

Saw the pic on facebook the other day, looks like something that i drained out the astras sump a few month back. lol

But if it tastes good :cool:

[turbojolt]

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/47804_433605027117_2467893_n.jpg
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(no its not a condom to the left of the picture)
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thats the first one iu ever done with triple the amount of sugar recommended and more yeast, tasted rank but was rocket fuel!!!!! lol

[Spudly]

Ive just read through this and im trying to persuade my dad to make some more rhubarb wine, he made a shedload of it years back and it was fantastic, it really light, very sweet (almost to the point of being a sherry) and got you completely wasted, i remember sitting in the garden one hot summer night in the late 90's and helping to nail about four carafe's of the stuff, my mum couldnt get out of bed the next morning lol

[Stuart]

thats the first one iu ever done with triple the amount of sugar recommended and more yeast, tasted rank but was rocket fuel!!!!! lol


Well that won't ferment out properly and taste hideous..... You 'could' only put one grain of yeast in and it will ferment out to the required alcohol content. Extra sugar just screws the gravity and means the yeast will just over produce early then die and leave it tang grim and too sweet. :(
Did you use normal sugar or brewing sugar?

[turbojolt]

Well that won't ferment out properly and taste hideous..... You 'could' only put one grain of yeast in and it will ferment out to the required alcohol content. Extra sugar just screws the gravity and means the yeast will just over produce early then die and leave it tang grim and too sweet. :(
Did you use normal sugar or brewing sugar?

that was normal minging sugar 3 bags of the stuff, as i said it tasted foul the new stuff im going to be doing with the help of my birds dad will be done to the book lol

[mowgli]

Ive just read through this and im trying to persuade my dad to make some more rhubarb wine, he made a shedload of it years back and it was fantastic, it really light, very sweet (almost to the point of being a sherry) and got you completely wasted, i remember sitting in the garden one hot summer night in the late 90's and helping to nail about four carafe's of the stuff, my mum couldnt get out of bed the next morning lol

spud, you just brought back some serious drunken moments courtesy of my late great uncle & great aunt.. they had a cellar under their farmhouse full of all manner of home made wines.. their elderflower was so dry it needed 2 spoons of sugar to make it palatable, but my mum was convinced the steering was knasckered on the car on the 1 mile drive home, as she simply couldn't get it to turn left, but funnily enough, the next day it was fine.. a friend's dad strolled down to the farm on parish council business & was found 6 hrs later out cold under a tree 2 miles in the other direction... and i was given some blackcurrant cordial when i was about 12, that tasted like really strong robena, but my legs stopped working....

[Stuart]

Cracked open the Weissbier this evening, wow potent stuff although a shade sweet it went down well with a nice spicy kebab :)
It's somewhere between a lager and an ale which is weird as funk.

[turbojolt]

Cracked open the Weissbier this evening, wow potent stuff although a shade sweet it went down well with a nice spicy kebab :)
It's somewhere between a lager and an ale which is weird as funk.

nice the one draft'esk ive had and liked was called 'blue monkey' and was much like that a larger/propper brew, i was going to buy a load of it till i see how much it went for :o

[Andy]

Im gonna have a bash at this when i get in my new house,been meaning to do it for the last 10 years.My dad did it when i was young,said the stuff he made got you "bolloxed,but was crap" lol

[Stuart]

I'm not sure if I've had a stroke or its the beer lol

[mowgli]

weissbier?? is that the cloudy wheat beer stuff?? if so, i got wasted on that in dusseldorf once... its an acquired taste iirc

[Stuart]

Supposed to be cloudy/hoe garden style.... Looks like cloudy ipa lmao

[Hobbit]

My sis has 5 apple trees in her back garden so think I might have a go at some scrumpy in the next couple of weeks.

[Stuart]

My sis has 5 apple trees in her back garden so think I might have a go at some scrumpy in the next couple of weeks.

Does she like to cook with scrumpy?
Sausages in cider.






Lol

[Hobbit]

Ham slow cooked in scrumpy is pretty lush.

So got the apples pressed at the local farm (same place I got the scrumpy for Nats)

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p72/wiggardywoo/IMG_0468-1.jpg

And bottled and bought home.

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Then into my barrel.

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Will leave it over the bath in case it goes boom. lol Will keep testing to see if the natural yeast kicks off the fermentation, if not I will stick in some brewing yeast.