I have just purchased a beginners kit as a birthday present for my father-in-law. Might just have to get one myself when we move, I like the idea of making my own ale and cider Gonna throw you guys some questions once I get sorted, if you don't mind.
I do love a good brew (both tea and making beer)! My recent efforts have all been ale-related, but about to kick off a session of koelsch-style light beer I think. Need bottles!
Apparently it's to add tannins - whatever it does it certainly makes a difference to the taste By all means! Which one did you go for?
Yeah you'd normally get a degree of that from the skins of the apples which aren't macerated in the same way as home pressed cider would be. Interesting idea though, might give it a go.
I got the idea from www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk which is a great little site - has some fantastic 'how-to' guides to help you get started out.
We went for this http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk...tarter_Wherry_Woodfords_Kit.html#.UY1Xlaa9K0c Seemed like a good place to start, any pointers on other bits to get him? (Or bits I should buy myself )
That's exactly what I started with! The main thing I found was it was hard keeping the brew at a constant temperature - 20°C is about what you want so that the yeast doesn't go back to sleep (too cold) or that the beer doesn't end up with a funny flavour (too hot). Eventually I went with an aquarium heater that goes in the plastic box in my pic on the last page which is about ¾ full of water (like a water bath) Other than that, things I have found particularly good (especially with the Woodfordes kits) are Yeast Nutrient to get things moving along nicely, Campden Tablets to treat the water and a turkey baster to get the brew out of the fermentation vessel into the hydrometer jar for testing. The most important thing is cleaning and steralising everything REALLY thoroughly. The sterilisation stuff that comes with those kits is good but requires a huge amount of rinsing to get rid of the bleach smell. What's a HUGE amount better is Videne Antiseptic Solution (which is actually an antiseptic used in operations ) but diluted 1.25ml to 1000ml water it is actually an amazing no-rinse steraliser that hasn't let me down yet (*touches wood*) - if you google videne the first two results are from medicine related websites and the third is from a home brew website!
Thanks for that glad we didn't get him complete rubbish then! I'll have a good look into that, once we move I can have a nice little list of all the things that I NEED
Far from it - I've used the fermentation bucket a load of times (it's now on its second brew in the space of a fortnight) and its still going strong. Just be careful not to scratch the inside of it as bacteria can build up in the scratch and bacteria kills brews... Also the barrel is awesome but cleaning it can be a bit of a challenge - the easiest way I've found is to use a few scoops of an oxi-action cleaner in warm water. Leave that for half an hour and then give it a scrub with a barrel brush. Enjoy!
I'm trying it this week end. How long in the demi and is it all straight in there or first in a Fermi bucket? I take it it's heated to between 18-24 degrees to get the yeast working?
I ferment it in demijohn and then bottle it afterwards - I put a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle for a secondary fermentation (to give it a little fizz) and a sweetener tablet so that it's not super dry. I tend to leave it for 2 weeks in the demijohn - the fermenting should be done after a week really but the extra week allows the yeast to clear up any leftover crap and also for the sediment to sink to the bottom of the demi. You're bang on with the temperature - I keep mine at a fairly constant 20-21°c as lower too much lower will slow the fermentation and too much higher can result in a nasty taste... Enjoy the brewing! My job for this weekend is to bottle up my turbo - should be ready to drink in a few weeks!
The sweetener tablet sweetens the final cider - you can't use sugar as the remaining yeast will simply ferment it away leaving you with as dry a cider as you started with (albeit slightly more alcoholic )
All done although there seems to be more in mine than in your picture :S I've got 23L of Brewmaker Pilsner to bottle up tomorrow and then I can see how the Cider looks over the next week or so.
Just another question, can you send over a link for the sweetener tablets, I can't seem to locate them. Are they Wine ones?
Major rep deserved. Rinsing is what I hate most and I ruined a batch of brewferm tripel because I didn't rinse enough. Oh I'm going to brew so much more now....!!!!!!!
Most welcome! I learnt about it from another forum & I swear it halves the time for brewing (if not more actually) - not least because you can put, for example, a spoon down on the worktop and then just spray it again (I use a garden sprayer bottle) before using it again without the need to submerge it in steraliser, leave it for ages and then rinse it a billion times. As well as using it in a sprayer bottle, you can just pour the diluted solution into the demijohn and just swill it around before emptying it back into the jug. Also it's quite cheap - I went into my local pharmacy and they ordered it for me. About £7 for a 1 litre bottle and you only use 1.25ml per 1000ml water (or to put it another way 1.25ml per brew!)
