Homebrewing - Part 3

just about to take up this hobby. started reading part 1 of this thread but it'll take me some time to catch up so please excuse me asknig something that's nee doubt been asked hundreds of times but;

going to get a starter kit from the shop in houghton, any thoughts from people about which the best is?

seem to have bulldog brew, black rock, better brew and tooheys. i realise this is probably a daft question like as it'll depend which beer type you pick and what my tastes are like but i guess if anyone has had any awful experience with any of them?

reckon i'll probably start off with just a fairly standard english bitter till i have my feet under the table a bit.
 


just about to take up this hobby. started reading part 1 of this thread but it'll take me some time to catch up so please excuse me asknig something that's nee doubt been asked hundreds of times but;

going to get a starter kit from the shop in houghton, any thoughts from people about which the best is?

seem to have bulldog brew, black rock, better brew and tooheys. i realise this is probably a daft question like as it'll depend which beer type you pick and what my tastes are like but i guess if anyone has had any awful experience with any of them?

reckon i'll probably start off with just a fairly standard english bitter till i have my feet under the table a bit.

Woodforde's Wherry is definitely the best kit to start with. Normally £20 in Wilkos, it's a great tasting ale and would be extremely difficult to screw up.
 
Woodforde's Wherry is definitely the best kit to start with. Normally £20 in Wilkos, it's a great tasting ale and would be extremely difficult to screw up.

don't think they have that at the houghton place but if so will pick it up. i imagine all these sort of starter packs work the same way... i'm assuming a liquid malt extract, hop pellets and yeast sachet?
 
Woodforde's Wherry is definitely the best kit to start with. Normally £20 in Wilkos, it's a great tasting ale and would be extremely difficult to screw up.
I agree with this, although I believe the yeast is prone to stalling so it might be worth buying a different yeast instead. It's never happened to me (I brewed Wherry twice before I went all grain) but the Homebrew Forum claims it's a common occurance.
 
just about to take up this hobby. started reading part 1 of this thread but it'll take me some time to catch up so please excuse me asknig something that's nee doubt been asked hundreds of times but;

going to get a starter kit from the shop in houghton, any thoughts from people about which the best is?

seem to have bulldog brew, black rock, better brew and tooheys. i realise this is probably a daft question like as it'll depend which beer type you pick and what my tastes are like but i guess if anyone has had any awful experience with any of them?

reckon i'll probably start off with just a fairly standard english bitter till i have my feet under the table a bit.

The only differences between the kits is whether you want a pressure barrel, or 40 pint bottles. (there might be other differences? The main one will be the beer-kit that comes with it, which doesn't really matter)

Washing bottles is a right faff on, so is filling them with beer
Finding somewhere to store a barrel can be hard, and it doesn't store for as long

There's pros and cons.

If you're a bitter/ale drinker, I'd advise you to totally ignore lager - its a right pain to make well, especially from a kit. Wherry, as already mentioned, is an excellent kit. A medium dark ale rather than a golden ale - of the John Smiths / Tetley's ilk (I mean their real ales, not smoothflow piss)

And get some PBW for washing and some Starsan for santising. You'll need it.
 
The only differences between the kits is whether you want a pressure barrel, or 40 pint bottles. (there might be other differences? The main one will be the beer-kit that comes with it, which doesn't really matter)

Washing bottles is a right faff on, so is filling them with beer
Finding somewhere to store a barrel can be hard, and it doesn't store for as long

There's pros and cons.

If you're a bitter/ale drinker, I'd advise you to totally ignore lager - its a right pain to make well, especially from a kit. Wherry, as already mentioned, is an excellent kit. A medium dark ale rather than a golden ale - of the John Smiths / Tetley's ilk (I mean their real ales, not smoothflow piss)

And get some PBW for washing and some Starsan for santising. You'll need it.

What's pbw?

Appreciate the info. Whilst it'll be a fuck on bottling.it will be the route I'm going. I'm more interest.in thr beers I can make and doing it than just to have git big barrels of beer ill have to drink quickly.

I'm.tempted.to try lager as I've.got a.garage that would be ok for lager but not warm enough for ale but ill Probs by a heat jacket or pad so think it'll be all ale
 
The malt extract is pre-hopped. Only some kits (usually IPAs) come with pellets for dry hopping, most don't need them.

Ah that's a crapper so its not till I move to all grain I can play with what hops to use etc? Presumably.you can buy.non hopped malt.extract just not with the kits?

Wont be dry hopping as I'm.not the biggest fan of ipas especially the stronger hopped ones. More a brown/red drinker than a golden/pale man
 
Ah that's a crapper so its not till I move to all grain I can play with what hops to use etc? Presumably.you can buy.non hopped malt.extract just not with the kits?

Wont be dry hopping as I'm.not the biggest fan of ipas especially the stronger hopped ones. More a brown/red drinker than a golden/pale man
You could always buy hops and make a hop tea to mix in with the kit.
 
Ah that's a crapper so its not till I move to all grain I can play with what hops to use etc? Presumably.you can buy.non hopped malt.extract just not with the kits?

Wont be dry hopping as I'm.not the biggest fan of ipas especially the stronger hopped ones. More a brown/red drinker than a golden/pale man

If you ask @Wilfy nicely, he might give you his recipe for tea wine. A lovely tipple for any ilk of drinker.
 
You can do extract brews. That's what I did all last year.

Malt extract then add whatever fresh or pellet hops you like.
Is really not much harder than using the kits. And you can make just about any recipe you want.
 
just about to take up this hobby. started reading part 1 of this thread but it'll take me some time to catch up so please excuse me asknig something that's nee doubt been asked hundreds of times but;

going to get a starter kit from the shop in houghton, any thoughts from people about which the best is?

seem to have bulldog brew, black rock, better brew and tooheys. i realise this is probably a daft question like as it'll depend which beer type you pick and what my tastes are like but i guess if anyone has had any awful experience with any of them?

reckon i'll probably start off with just a fairly standard english bitter till i have my feet under the table a bit.

In terms of kits, these are decent (although, Houghton doesn't sell them). Belgian beers
http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Brewferm_Beer_Kits.html

I think they do sell these
http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/American-Beers-Beer-Kits.html
which I've done a few, and been quite impressed with, although do tend to be a bit more hoppy
 
You could always buy hops and make a hop tea to mix in with the kit.

Weyai, just thinking if for example I want to do a single hop I cant if thr malt extract is already hopped, if I want to get to k ow each hop individually or design combinations it'll fuck that up

You can do extract brews. That's what I did all last year.

Malt extract then add whatever fresh or pellet hops you like.
Is really not much harder than using the kits. And you can make just about any recipe you want.

Aye, don't.imagine its any harder,just means buying and throwing in some hops.during the boiling, just my recipe is contaminated by whatever hops are already in the extract
 
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Weyai, just thinking if for example I want to do a single hop I cant if thr malt extract is already hopped, if I want to get to k ow each hop individually or design combinations it'll fuck that up



Aye, don't.imagine its any harder,just means buying and throwing in some hops.during the boiling, just my recipe is contaminated by whatever hops are already in the extract
Might as well just go straight to all grain.
 

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