Home Brew

[backyardlumberjack]

Sounds very healthy.

What kind of yeast do you use.dry baking yeast or some kind of home brew yeast.

[Chris Sheppard]

Got a dustbin full of empty newky brown bottles, now just need to decide between cider or stout?

 

Anyone know any decent suppliers of bitter/stout kits?

 

Morrisons usually have a half decent range - I did one of their cheap Mild kits and it was fantastic.

 

I've swapped from using granulated sugar to demarara when bottling and that's made a difference too - a lot less gassy and a bit smoother. Did have a batch of cider done using granulated at bottlign and it started to crack bottles.

 

So far have tried Ale, Cider and Mild from kits, the cider wasn't great but very strong, the ale was OK but gassy and the Mild was well good

 

spirits wise we've currently got some bramble rum (both white and dark) on the go as well as some bramle gin and some mixed fruit gin.

 

Plannign on some elderberry wine and I've been tryign to get chance for a few years to tap some birch at the right time for birch sap wine.

 

Did some sloe whisky last year and that was nice too.

[Daniël Bos]

Do you need to wait till after a frost the berries seem very hard. When you make it does it get stronger or just make it taste different and go further.

 

The frost makes the berries softer, and relinquish their flavour.

If you can't wait, you can pick them and chuck them in the freezer for a couple of days, or prick them all with a toothpick or skewer to pierce them through and release the flavour.

I uaually fill the jar two-thirds full of sloe's, then half their weight of sugar and fill to the brim with (as cheap as you can find) Gin. It's also recommended to not leave the berries in for more than 12 months, as they contain cyanide (hmmm, what a lovely almondy aftertaste...) and as the berries slowly get permeated it'll start to soak the pips after about 12 months.

[Frankie Lawrence]

Got a dustbin full of empty newky brown bottles, now just need to decide between cider or stout?

 

Anyone know any decent suppliers of bitter/stout kits?

 

Let us know what you reckon on it I really need to get into it!

[Hogs Breath]

I do homebrew when i have the time and have found the more expensive kits much better,two tins and no need for sugar until you barrel or bottle.

 

Muntons premium kits bought of the internet, ferment for 10 to 14 days with a heat band half way up.

 

Add 3oz of brewing sugar when putting in the barrel and leave for 3 to 4 months.

 

Everything must be steralized within 20 minutes before using and remember to vaseline your rings and seals.

 

Barrels are more expensive but less hassle than bottles.

 

:beer:

[djbobbins]

I made a Yorkshire bitter from a kit years ago which was good but strong, then tried another coupe (a lager and a Scottish Heavy) which were a let down. The lager I think because I went for a plastic barrel rather than bottling it (too lazy).

 

Sloe gin is good, made a few lots of that in recent years. In answer to the question above, it is no stronger (the strongest ABV liquid most yeast can live in is about 16-17% I think) so it is just for flavour and body.

 

Most recently I have gone back to making a few things from scratch and have tried nettle beer, rhubarb wine and a grape wine.

 

The nettle beer was crap, tasted very very bitter. In an attempt to sweeten it, I dosed it with the recommended amount of campden tablets (to kill the yeast) then put some more sugar in. Long story short, yeast wasn't dead and I ended up with broken glass all over the place when the bottles exploded a couple of weeks later.

 

Rhubarb wine was good, pretty easy to make and the result is excellent (albeit a bit sweet) - I would be proud to serve it to anyone as a dessert wine.

 

The grape wine is currently in a demijohn in my kitchen so we'll have to wait and see!

 

I used to have a homebrewing book years ago that had a recipe for weetabix beer in it, sadly the book has gone to charity and I can't find the recipe anywhere online. Anyone know it?!

[djbobbins]

But as a PS if cost is the reason for brewing, I'm in Germany at the moment and in the local supermarket you can buy a case (20 x 500ml bottles) of 4.8% lager for under €5...

 

hic!