Home Brewing

I've decided to enter the exciting world of home brewing. Unfortunately, at this time, I know pretty much squat about it - anyone here into the old home brewing? Can you impart me with any pearls of wisom?

The most important pearl is that you should follow the directions about scrupulous cleanliness that books and webpages on homebrewing provide. If you don't, your beer will taste like polecat urine. I made some once that was so very foul that only my friend John would drink it.It's been twenty years since I made any home brew, so I don't know what's available now. But it can be a very enjoyable hobby, and can save you a great deal of money if you consume much beer.

Heres some handy advice, Home brew Cider instead of Beer. It is much simpler and the results are usually considerably closer to commercial quality. Although this may reflect the low quality of commercial cider rather than the high quality of the homebrew.When I was an undergraduate my housemates and I made many very interesting batches of home brew cider usinf kits obtained from Boots, although I have heard that these are no longer readily available in Boots stores, sadly.TTFN,WK

Unfortunately I really don't like Cider - bad experiences in my six form years...

I brewed for a bit. My advice is to find an area that you can get messy. If you think a movie theater has sticky floors, just wait until you spill some wort on your kitchen floor. The best advice is to get a propane burner that can be set up in the garage or outside. That way you can keep the mess off of your kitchen stove. A wort cooler is also a good idea. I made a simple one out of copper tubing and some garden hose. They really do improve the quality of the brew and speed up the cooling process. Also, 500 ml yeast starters are a great idea. Also, doing a small batch is good practice for the larger batch as well.Concentrated malt extracts are a great way to start and they don't really require a wort cooler or anything fancy. I would still recommend a propane burner since an overboil always happens on your first batch. Preventing those buggers are a pain in the ass, especially with malt extracts.Other than that, home brewing is a blast. I did it for about two years but then I had to start working two jobs so I mothballed it. Down to one job again but haven't caught the bug again . . . yet. I went almost immediately to full grain brewing, and it isn't as hard as it looks. If you want I can send you an email laying out how I did it. Good luck.

is easy and delicious Mr Jack. I've been doing it for a little over two years now. If there is a brew shop near you, go there and introduce yourself. Tell the brewaster what you want to do and he will get you started. Relax and enjoy a homebrew.Cheers !Frank

Yes please! You can e-mail me via the spam reducing form at http://www.greatorkgods.co.uk/contact.phpDo you know of any good books on Home Brewing?

There are a number, I have been collecting them. I started with this one :
http://www.amazon.com/...Happy ReadingFrank{Shortened display form of URL, to restore page width to normal - AM}This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 10-06-2004 11:25 AM

Yesterday I began my adventures in Homebrew, having picked up the kit at the weekend, I poured myself a beer and set to work. Being of that kind of bloody mindedness I opted not to simply follow the instructions on the beer kit but to spice it up with Honey and Parsnips.... I'll let you know how it turns out...Note to self for next time: chill the water before use to cool the wort faster.It's now sitting in my shed, snug in a sleeping bag and warmed by an immersion heater. It'll stay there for about five or six days before bottling.

The local O'Fallon brewery brews up pumpkin beer every October; there's some in my fridge right now. It's good; they flavor it with nutmeg and cinnamon. If you pretend it's like drinking melange-flavored beer from the Dune novels."The spice expands conciousness..."

parsnips are fairly bitter arent they? Won't that conflict with the honey? I have had honey flavored beer before..it was not bad.

I wouldn't have said Parsnips were that bitter, no. In any case, Parsnips and honey go together very well... in cooking at least, I have no idea whether it will work in the beer.Guess I'll find out in about three weeks.

Well, it's all bottled and sitting happily conditioning to itself now.I tried a bit of it before bottling and it tasted a little 'funky' so I'm a bit concerned there might be a bacterial infection in it. I hope not.

As per Mammuthus' request.I tried a bottle after two days conditioning and, blow me!, it's good. A quite drinkable stout - better than some I've paid for in shops. It still needs some more conditioning mind, but I've high hopes for this batch. I'll try another at the weekend and see how it's changed.I've also bought some sticky labels for them. I'm calling it "Mr Jack's Shaggy Foot".

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Mr Jack's Shaggy Foot

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I can just imagine the abundance of advertisement potential with that name "Bud's a dud, take a Foot to the head"