Home brewing.

Theorum

Theorum

Old Skool Vet
I'm gonna start doing some serious home brewing, not just beer, and am interested in swapping ideas, brews, ingredients etc with others. I've done a couple of beer brews in the past and the results were drinkable but not as nice as i'd have liked, so any advice would be gratefully received.

:pint:
 
S

Sofa

I'm a Staffooooooordian
I'd like some advice from you, Aky, if you know a thing or two about this. I haven't made a home brew for donkeys! Could do with a cheap pint or two!
 
age'd parent

age'd parent

50,000th poster!
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp

The best way to start home brewing is to get a can from the home brew shop, (http://www.eastgatehomebrew.co.uk/) or wilkinsons, just add sugar, yeast comes with the can, 40 pints of ale with taste, dead easy to make, full instructions on the cans label.
I recommend the grolsh flip top bottles if you can get them, you can buy new rubber seals if they have perished.
much easier than crown caps.but you can just keep it in a pressure barrel
don't get the cheapest but not the dearest either takes about 3 weeks from can to bottle, and best if you can let it mature for at least a fortnight if in bottles, you can alter the strength of brew by how much sugar you put in the ferment.
wine can be made from almost any thing, nettles, canned fruit, fresh fruit, flowers, weeds.
And of course it is possible (so I've been told!) to distill a solution of sugar into spirits with a simple set up
( http://homedistiller.org/)
 
D

Doctor

Well-Known Forumite
I used to do loads of home brew beer and must get round to it again soon. The thing I found made the most difference to the taste was to use glucose from the brew shop rather than standard sugar. It is much more readily converted by the yeast as it is a more simple structure. You get a much better taste as more of the sugar is converted. Don't just put more sugar in for a stronger brew either as it just ends up tasting sweet and not like beer.

After watching bits of Hugh Fernly-Whitingstall I really fancy trying to do a proper Dandilion and Burdock. I think I mislaid the knowledge that this was an acoholic hedgerow beverage. His elderflower champaign looked good for next year too - does anyone have the recipies?
 
age'd parent

age'd parent

50,000th poster!
There many recipe's for elderflower wine, just a couple from the net, tho I haven't made any yet, I prefer elderberry wine.
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp

ELDERFLOWER WINE (1)

* 1-1/2 pt fresh elderflowers
* 2 lbs granulated sugar
* 1-1/2 tsp acid blend
* 1 crushed Campden tablets
* 7 pts water
* 1 tsp yeast nutrient
* wine yeast


Put water on to boil. Meanwhile, separate flowers from stalks and wash to remove insects and road dust. Put flowers and sugar in primary and pour boiling water over them. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover with sterile cloth, and set aside several hours until cool. Add acid blend, crushed Campden and yeast nutrient, stirring briefly. Recover and set aside for 24 hours. Add yeast. Ferment six days, strain off flowers, pour liquor into secondary, and fit airlock. Rack when specific gravity is at 1.005, top up and refit airlock. After additional three months, stabilize, sweeten to taste, wait ten days, and rack into bottles. Age six months before tasting. [Adapted from Steven A. Krause's Wines from the Wild]

ELDERFLOWER WINE (2)

* 1 pt fresh elderflowers
* 12 oz can frozen white grape juice concentrate
* 2 lbs granulated sugar
* 1-1/2 tsp acid blend
* 1 crushed Campden tablets
* 6-1/2 pts water
* 1 tsp yeast nutrient
* wine yeast


Thaw out grape juice concentrate and then put water on to boil. While water rises to a boil, separate flowers from stalks and wash to remove insects and road dust. Put flowers, sugar and grape juice concentrate in primary and pour boiling water over them. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover with sterile cloth, and set aside several hours until cool. Add acid blend, crushed Campden and yeast nutrient, stirring briefly. Recover and set aside for 24 hours. Add yeast. Ferment six days, strain off flowers, pour liquor into secondary, and fit airlock. Rack when specific gravity is at 1.005, top up and refit airlock. After additional three months, stabilize, sweeten to taste, wait ten days, and rack into bottles. Age six months before tasting. [Author's own recipe]

making a fizzy wine I.E. champagne is no different than making a bottle of fizzy beer, just bottle the finished wine with a teaspoon of sugar in the bottle

BUT USE STRONG CHAMPAGNE BOTTLES NOT POP BOTTLES nobody like exploding champagne! :lol:
 
Theorum

Theorum

Old Skool Vet
done basic beer brewing. wines gives good results for cost. what i fancy mastering is moonshine, don t wanna be going blind so sensible suggestions please!
 
age'd parent

age'd parent

50,000th poster!
Distilling is lot easier than it's made out to be, and its not dangerous, if you have the intelligence to brew, you can distill.

But it's illegal in this country so its all theory of course!

http://www.home-distilling.com/HD_health.asp

http://homedistiller.org/

I will try to put a few photos of a pot still that delivers 85 % ethanol up soon as I have time, that plus flavorings from the brew shop makes enough Bacardi and gin to drink , and alcohol to experiment in liqueur making that any one could (in theory of course) need.

Did I mention that it's all theory, as its illegal to distill in this country, but it's interesting that no one has ever been prosecuted as long as they don't try to sell or otherwise make it obvious that they are distilling.
 
S

Sofa

I'm a Staffooooooordian
age'd parent said:
Ahh that makes me feel sad, another convert lost :(
Click to expand...
Alright, then. I will give it a go! We shall have to all meet up for a brewing club meeting soon!
 
db

db

#chaplife
what kind of apples does one use to brew cider? we've got a couple of apple trees in our garden, and i wonder how feasible it would be to turn their fruit into the good stuff? dunno what breed they are - pretty sure they're eating apples though..
 
age'd parent

age'd parent

50,000th poster!
Cider is usually made from 3 sorts of apples, sweet, sour, crab,all together make a decent brew, the hard part is squeezing all the juice out for the yeast to go into. It's possible to makea decent white wine from one sort at a time but I like to add a few crab for flavour and aroma.
and if it turns out lousy it can be made into a rough Calvados.
 
Bob

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
hubby’s birthday is coming up, he’s mentioned having a go at brewing in the past, I’m thinking an IPA (found a kit) to get him going and maybe and elderflower wine now I’ve seen the thread above.

We’re total novices starting from scratch, can anyone advise what do we need in terms of kit and space and temp control. Thanks 😊
 
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