Home brewing update:

[Mentalmac]

Hi Guys,

 

 

Thanks for everyones advice, from the forum here on these threads to Leeds Chimp who I met and chatted with at the charity shoot.

As an update. I am a third through my woodfordes wherry now, improves each time I have a pint. Dangerous stuff though having a barrel on the go. Not much effort to pull another. Really have to use will power to stop yourself pulling that 4th pint in a row.

I luckily remembered the 'open the tap SLOWLY' advice when you get your first pint. Unfortunately my other half decided she wanted to have a go at pouring the first one... BIG MISTAKE! she was covered in it. (Beer lol).

Very happy with it, and keen to proceed to my next brew soon. Just deciding on which one to do. Thinking of a more stronger, perhaps darker beer. Any advice?

Also, a lot of people say to buy a better yeast when buying a home brew kit - which should I look to get?

Also looking for a second hand pressure barrel, preferably with adaptor thing on top for CO2 bulbs and a bottom tap if anyone knows of any going cheapish?

Pic below of one of my first pints :-). (Ignore the guinness glass, in my excitement to get a pint of the stuff I grabbed the first glass on the draining board!).

[FalconFN]

Well done, it's a great feeling having 40 pints of ale that you've brewed yourself just sitting and waiting for you. Wherry always seems to give good results and it is a very good pint - especially when drunk in a forest.

[Mentalmac]

haha it does look like I stuck my sofa in the forest :-). Great wall mural stuff from Argos (The producer of it's called something like 1wall).

 

Thanks for your comment, it is true - 40 odd pints of tasty beer. Was a hell of a worry though incase it was 40 pints of 'punishment beer'.

At first I panicked when I checked the hydrometer, thought it was a stuck ferment - then realised that it wasn't, I just couldn't read the thing properly!!!!!!

[Fatcatsplat]

Barrels are great if you're having a soiree, but if it's home use, go the bottle route - Loads more hassle with sterilising and capping, but you'll keep the beer longer. If you have a barrel with a slight air leak, you've pretty much lost the lot after a while. If you're determined with the barrel, there's usually loads on the bay at reasonable prices.

 

The Woodforde kits are foolproof and think that messing about with the yeast with them would be a waste of time.

 

If you want a stronger beer, try Brewferm - Their abbey ale (spelt abdij) is really good. Little more involved, but worth the effort.

 

I tend to brew all grain now so off the kits, but Muntons always seem to get a good reception. Take a look at extract brewing - Requires very little equipment and you can make beer to your taste.

[Mentalmac]

Barrels are great if you're having a soiree, but if it's home use, go the bottle route - Loads more hassle with sterilising and capping, but you'll keep the beer longer. If you have a barrel with a slight air leak, you've pretty much lost the lot after a while. If you're determined with the barrel, there's usually loads on the bay at reasonable prices.

 

The Woodforde kits are foolproof and think that messing about with the yeast with them would be a waste of time.

 

If you want a stronger beer, try Brewferm - Their abbey ale (spelt abdij) is really good. Little more involved, but worth the effort.

 

I tend to brew all grain now so off the kits, but Muntons always seem to get a good reception. Take a look at extract brewing - Requires very little equipment and you can make beer to your taste.

Thanks for that, will look them up :-).

When you do the bottling, do you have to put the sugar into the fermentor and give it a small stir before syphoning into the bottles? Or do you add a little sugar into each bottle separately?

[Guest cookoff013]

as for yeast, its much up to the individual style of beer....

 

nottingham is a great english yeast.. its usually my "to go to" and i replace the kit yeast with an 11g packet.

 

the next yeast i played with is safale05, its neutral and really ramped down the carbohydrate. it was silly impressive as i brewed the strongest beer i have ever done. it came out fantastic. a few of those and i didnt care if england won any world cup games. the only problem is it takes a while to drop out of suspension, so i had to have that beer 4 weeks conditioning to drop clear.

 

as for priming the bottles, i use half the recomended amounts and dont like fighting foam when i want a drink. some beers can take it, others not.

 

bottles are good for gassing and lager style beer.

[FalconFN]

.

 

as for priming the bottles, i use half the recomended amounts and dont like fighting foam when i want a drink. some beers can take it, others not.

 

bottles are good for gassing and lager style beer.

+1

 

I tend to re-prime and bottle the last 6-8 pints in the barrel so that I have a few different ales stored in the shed....well that's the theory, in reality I drink them before I can get another batch done.

[Fatcatsplat]

As above - Get a tiny tea spoon and a funnel to make it all easier and try to keep it dry until it hits the bottle (and don't buy the Coopers priming tablets - expensive and rubbish).

 

+1 as well for the Safale yeast - 04 or 05 works a treat (05 on the paler beers).

[Mentalmac]

Thanks for the advice Cookoff013, Fatcatsplat and FalconFN - much appreciated.

 

 

 

+1

 

I tend to re-prime and bottle the last 6-8 pints in the barrel so that I have a few different ales stored in the shed....well that's the theory, in reality I drink them before I can get another batch done.

You mean that you bottle the last 6-8 pints in your pressure barrel? I.e when the CO2 has all but gone, you bottle with a little sugar per bottle at this point? - How long would you need to wait until you open the barrel next?

 

 

 

As above - Get a tiny tea spoon and a funnel to make it all easier and try to keep it dry until it hits the bottle (and don't buy the Coopers priming tablets - expensive and rubbish).

 

+1 as well for the Safale yeast - 04 or 05 works a treat (05 on the paler beers).

 

 

 

nottingham is a great english yeast.. its usually my "to go to" and i replace the kit yeast with an 11g packet.

 

 

Thanks for this advice. My local homebrew shop sells Safale 05, if I did Nelsons revenge kit what would you use?

 

OUt of interest, when you syphon your beer into the pressure barrel and you have 40 pints and a 5 gallon barrel. Would you be able to perhaps bottle 4-6 grolsch bottles and then barrel the rest as per normal? Would that allow for enough CO2 to be built up giving enough pressure?

 

I feel I had a little too much sugar in my beer as it's a little too frothy coming out,

[Guest cookoff013]

That nelsons rewenge is good. I used that as a base for my world cup beer. I did that with safale 05 because I had 5kg of malt to eat through. That yeast is a firm favourite for high abv beers.

 

Either will produce drinkable beer. As you are new. Go for Nottingham. It drops out

Like a brick.

 

I bottle only.

[leeds chimp]

Thanks for that, will look them up :-).

When you do the bottling, do you have to put the sugar into the fermentor and give it a small stir before syphoning into the bottles? Or do you add a little sugar into each bottle separately?

I tend to bottle all mine ....but also get the 2 litre cheap water bottles from a supermarket...empty water and fill with beer...means can have 3/4 pints without having to wash 4 bottles ....

 

as for yeast, its much up to the individual style of beer....

 

nottingham is a great english yeast.. its usually my "to go to" and i replace the kit yeast with an 11g packet.

 

the next yeast i played with is safale05, its neutral and really ramped down the carbohydrate. it was silly impressive as i brewed the strongest beer i have ever done. it came out fantastic. a few of those and i didnt care if england won any world cup games. the only problem is it takes a while to drop out of suspension, so i had to have that beer 4 weeks conditioning to drop clear.

 

as for priming the bottles, i use half the recomended amounts and dont like fighting foam when i want a drink. some beers can take it, others not.

 

bottles are good for gassing and lager style beer.

 

safale05 is the one i use the most as tend not to trust the kit yeats as had 3 not work on me so always change them now

[Muddy Funker]

OUt of interest, when you syphon your beer into the pressure barrel and you have 40 pints and a 5 gallon barrel. Would you be able to perhaps bottle 4-6 grolsch bottles and then barrel the rest as per normal? Would that allow for enough CO2 to be built up giving enough pressure?

 

I feel I had a little too much sugar in my beer as it's a little too frothy coming out,

 

In short the answer is yes, I think for a 40 pint brew in a pressure keg I use around 50G of sugar to prime.

 

Just bottle up what you want first, put the rest in barrel and adjust sugar to suit the amount left in barrel, I use plastic 1L bottles and find half a teaspoon of sugar in each is ample to give the beer a bit of life and a tongue tingle.

 

 

Edited July 30, 2014 by Muddy Funker

[Mentalmac]

Thanks for all your help guys,

 

I am really itching to get the next brew on now. Loving having home brew in the house!

[Pigeon Paul]

I will be bottling in 5- 7 days and I was wondering if anybody had used old screw top wine bottles?

 

I'm sure the glass will be up to strength but not to sure about the crew caps??

Edited August 13, 2014 by Pigeon Paul

[Zapp]

I will be bottling in 5- 7 days and I was wondering if anybody had used old screw top wine bottles?

 

I'm sure the glass will be up to strength but not to sure about the crew caps??

 

For beer? No chance, unless they were for fizzy wine those bottles arent designed to cope with pressurised drinks and so will most likely bottle bomb on you.

[leeds chimp]

I will be bottling in 5- 7 days and I was wondering if anybody had used old screw top wine bottles?

 

I'm sure the glass will be up to strength but not to sure about the crew caps??

dont touch with a barge pole unless you are looking for a still beer/cider by killing the yeast...wine bottles are not designed to take the pressure from the CO2 produced

[Pigeon Paul]

Thanks gents. I will stick with the plastic coopers bottles then.

[daystate 177]

Ill take a pic of the father in laws home brew tomorrow he brews wine and supplies the pub up the rd with a few bottles today he has filled 22 wine bottles he must have 300 bottles filled his pal had some tested at corrs up in burton and came back at 13% i cant drink the stuff but took some to a party and they loved it.

Tbf they were all a little worse for wear!!!!

[leeds chimp]

Ill take a pic of the father in laws home brew tomorrow he brews wine and supplies the pub up the rd with a few bottles today he has filled 22 wine bottles he must have 300 bottles filled his pal had some tested at corrs up in burton and came back at 13% i cant drink the stuff but took some to a party and they loved it.

Tbf they were all a little worse for wear!!!!

would not advertise that really unless he has an alcohol license or he is giving them away.....