Home brewing

[sloth]

Hi all, I just got a Woodfordes Wherry home brew kit. It's something I've been wanting to try for years now. Ultimately from scratch, but this seems a good place to start. Seems my grandmother in law has some of her husbands old brewing gear which I'm welcome to if I get into it, which could be handy.

So who here home brews, what, how, any tips etc?

 

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[scraggs]

I do a bit, stopped doing it for years but started again last year

recently done a muntons fruit cider for the boss and a betterbrew pilsner for me (nearly all gone), next on the list is st peters cream stout.

Very satisfying even if it isn't full blown homebrew

[Woodworks]

Liz has made various wines with mixed success with the exception of elderflower and elderberry which has always been a smashing tiple. Still have some cherry plum that requires a certain mindset before consumption

[bobh]

Here's my brewing station (all very homemade) Started about a year ago and saving heaps.

Wherry is what I started with, seems a reliable kit, in fact one of these is a wherry but I dry hopped it to give it a wee bit extra.

 

 

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[silky fox]

That is mouthwatering!

[sloth]

Looks a good little set up. So what's dry hopping? And what does it do?

 

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[bobh]

Dry hopping is putting muslin bag of hops in the fermenting bin whilst its fermenting to give the beer a slightly hoppier flavour. I think I used about 40g of hops in the wherry.

 

 

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[Matthew Storrs]

I'm just about to embark on a home brew adventure but I need to get a source of heat for the fermenting stage. What do others use belts, mats?

[bobh]

For beer nothing at all, just room temperature is enough.

In the photo above the 2 bucket looking things are fermenting bins, no heat and it works fine. Also note no airlocks on the lids, just sit them on loosely.

 

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Edited March 29, 2014 by bobh

[Vectislad]

When I used to brew beer from kits I used an aquarium heater to control the temperature in the fermenting bin. They are not expensive and the settings can be adjusted. Had to give up the brewing as five gallon barrels

were being consumed at an alarming rate.