Anyone else make their own booze? I remember my parents used to do it in the run up for Christmas when I was a kid. Decided to buy some equipment and give it a try. I haven't gone the full hog (making my own mash and such) at the moment but it all seems to be going well. At the moment brewing I have: 23L of Beer 23L of Red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon) 23L of Lager 23L of Cider 6 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc are already done (first small test batch). Not bad at all!
I've never done it but would love to try. My grandad used to have a barrel under the fish tank, he'd lie on his back on the floor and open the tap... Glaswegian ship builders, classy chaps.
I am currently researching kit to buy for my entry in homebrewing. Ultimately I would like to get around to making some very hoppy IPA's. What kinda kit do you have Lj's? Any experience with starter packs like the Coopers system?
I homebrew shop has recently opened around the corner and I'm very tempted. Got lots of spare room in the shed.
My dad brews bitter he got a friend of the family to collect the litre WDK bottles for him so he usually brews enough to fill 40 or so every couple of months I would like to give it a try one day but sometimes he gets a bad batch by leaving it too long or getting sediment in his bottle and complains "its like drinking rats piss" One christmas we done enough wine for about 100 bottles and passed them out to family members for free, was'nt half bad some went a bit funny though, its just getting the right stuff and making sure you time it properly.
I only stopped brewing home wine 5 months ago Ive made hundreds of gallons over the years as we live near countryside we have local blackberry bushes and sloes, Ive lost count how many gallons of blackberry wine and english port along with other wines such as strawberry and plum weve got a plum tree as well 124 lb of victoria plums off it last year couldnt give em away quick enough (the plums that is).
Yeah I brew my own stuff. I have made some real cider (from apples), several beer kits now, probably about 100 litres. My faves are geordie mild and coopers canadian gold.
My parents live the thrifty life, and one of the things my dad does is buy all the reduced fruit from the local co-op just before it closes, so he gets random things like a 5Kg bag of bananas for 20p etc. Makes it all in wine, some of it tastes fantastic. The best so far is probably a banana/mango mix he has made.
so whats a good starter kit for a noob? been thinking about this myself - usually more so when i walk passed the homebrew kits in tesco`s
Woodfordes Wherry is a good kit - I've brewed a couple of those and they turn out pretty tasty. Coopers IPA is also good. I've also brewed some red wine from a kit and some port from a kit (5 bottles left of each in the cupboard under the stairs). Youngs Fruit Wine is pretty good also - I've got a bottle of their strawberry wine in the fridge atm. The missus bought me this as a birthday present a couple of years ago and I've never looked back - I have added to my equipment however www.brewuk.com is a good website to use (where I've bought the majority of my stuff from online) or support your local homebrew shop if you have one. Wilkinsons is also good and cheap and carry a surprisingly large amount of homebrewing equipment. www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk is a gold mine of information. One big issue with brewing is keeping it at the correct temperature whilst it's brewing - about 20 degrees C is right - this time of year I don't bother brewing at all as it's too hot but when it cools down a bit an aquarium heater does the business. The main thing to consider is sterilisation - if you don't sterilise everything thoroughly then the brew can become infected and you're faced with pouring 40 pints of beer down the drain
Depends what you drink most kits are pretty simple to follow. If you like cider you can easily make a turbo cider with most of the ingredients from a supermarket I can post a recipe if you like. Word of warning it requires a lot of patience!!
home brew cider is by far the easiest to start. Using cheap apple juice as a base cuts out a lot of the work and can still result in a brilliant cider (with plenty of goodies added of course).
I'm by no means an expert as I have just started, but I have this one and have also bought a few extras (a couple more fermentation containers, pressure barrels, glass bottles for wine and managed to get my hands on some old school demijohns which I'll probably try and make some spirits in). I just started the lager one the other day which is a Coopers one. Coopers have a pretty good (but cheesy) instructional video which runs though the process.
Sorry, didn't see this. The kits you buy are actually very straightforward. Nothing complicated at all and contain the basics you need. Just follow the instructions and make sure everything is sterilised properly. I went to a shop before buying online to see the kits in the flesh first and they had this video running in the shop (althought this youtube one is poor quality). Check it out, it runs through it and shows you what you need to do.
Recently built a keganator so have been brewing heaps over the last few months. Currently only doing kits and kit recipes but have plans to move to a partial mash when I find some time. Currently have a 50L Coopers Draught/Mexican, 23L Brigalow Apple Cider and a 20L Coopers Ginger beer on the go. Aquarium heater and all rugged up to keep the temp stable 3 tap keganator Kegs all plumbed in
