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Doc
Keeper of the Scrolls
2010 Posts
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 Posted -
11/09/2005
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15:15
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With the Christmas season rapidly approaching I fancy trying my hand at Home Brewing by doing a barrel of lager and a barrel of bitter.
When I moved into our house there were three big white plastic barrels up in the loft which I presume were for brewing ales. So far as the kit is concerned I'm nearly there, what I want to know is there anyone out there who has brewed at home before and what tips if any you can offer, techniques, types of brews whatever you recommend etc.
Plus is there anywhere locally who sells the brewing kits
TTFN - Doc
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marilyn
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Posted - 13/09/2005 : 12:44
OOoooo...post us a sample!
Good Luck with your brew. I have only ever brewed Ginger Ale...and Boy! Can those bottles explode!
get your people to phone my people and we will do lunch...MAZ  |
Cathy
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Posted - 13/09/2005 : 12:50
I'm sure you'll get many replies to this topic Doc! 
All thru the fields and meadows gay .... Enjoy
Take Care...Cathy |
Callunna
Revolving Grey Blob
3044 Posts
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Posted - 15/09/2005 : 11:29
I think Christine's Health shop on Rainhall Road sell kits. Failing that, I hovered over one in Morrison's, Skipton, yesterday, but decided against it as I don't have all the gear and it could turn out to be yet another 'hobby' that bites the dust after one attempt. Our neighbours do a mighty fine home-brew bitter which has an added secret ingredient to make it very tasty indeed. But memories of people's home-brew from the dim and distant past do tend to put me off trying to make my own. I once had a boss who made his own wine, so I had a go at that too. No kit - just a huge bag of plums from someone's garden. It still hadn't cleared after a year, so the whole lot went down the plughole. Mind you, my drains were marvellously clear for ages afterwards. |
Christian
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Posted - 15/09/2005 : 23:56
I used to get my grandma to buy me the Boots cider kits and i used to brew them over here...They turned out realy well but....I was a kid and jacked the alcohol up to 9% (add more sugar) and it realy packed a punch..but the hardcore expat cider drinkers didnt like it saying it was too strong...But i did some acording to the instructions and it was quite good...
Id realy to make scrumpy and press the apples my self i gotta get ahold of a good devonshire recipee!!!!
Christian
"Victory is not about first place, we are victorious when we learn from the experience and improve ourselves for the next challenge."-Rickson Gracie
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Flutterby
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Posted - 10/12/2006 : 19:54
I picked some sloe,s a couple of months ag o, ithey are still in the freezer. If i add them to Gin soon will they be ok for Christmas? |
Vee
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Posted - 10/12/2006 : 23:42
I have memories of my dad making wine, with this bubling liquid everywhere in the airing cupboard. Then when I tasted it, it was like vinegar!! Yuck!!! I am sure yours will be far better doc.
Vee |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 11/12/2006 : 06:50
I once made some very good wine from a lot of Malagar Raisins I inherited when I was Open All Hours at Sough. Very good stuff. Flutter, wash the sloes and put them in the gin but it won't be ready for at least a year. Some good recipes on the web..... never bothered with home brewing but have often had a yen to try a bit of distilling...... I suspect it's illegal.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Big Kev
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Posted - 11/12/2006 : 07:32
You suspect right, Stanley.......
Big Kev
It doesn't matter who you vote for, you always end up with the government. |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 11/12/2006 : 08:35
I was given a quarter bottle of white lightning about two years ago by someone who had been given it but didn't like spirits. It was very superior stuff, completely clear and very strong. I suspected it had been distilled from home made wine and I took advice from a master of wine I know. He said I was right and compared it to a 'marc' which is a spirit distilled from the secondary mash of grapes after they have been pressed for wine. It was reputedly made in Barlick and whoever was doing it had got it spot on. If it had been aged in sherry wood for twelve years I suspect it would have been very good stuff. I was once given a drop of fresh distilled whisky by the Excise men at a big bonded warehouse at Menstrie and it was clear as gin and bit the back out of your throat. (They had to sample each cask for gravity and what they gave me was some of the sample. I think you could have run a car off it!)
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 11/12/2006 : 08:36
PS. One thought that did strike me Doc was that the key to success in all these matters is absolute cleanliness. Contamination is the biggest single falt with brews that go wrong.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
melteaser
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Posted - 11/12/2006 : 09:16
Sounds a bit like Eau de Vie Stanley. The stuff you can buy in supermarkets in France tends to be flavoured. We get given a bottle every year by an old french farmer friend who makes it himself.....blows your head off...followed by the neck!!!
Mel
http://www.briercliffesociety.co.uk |
belle
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Posted - 11/12/2006 : 09:58
Stanley's right about cleanliness, make sure those white bins are well sterilized... the other thing you need is space. D keeps hankering after home brewing but I know how much space it needs and am loathe to have the house taken over. My friends dad used to make it when we were teens and he made it less alcoholic so all the family could enjoy it, unbeknown to him the older males amongst us had been adding extra sugar for weeks, that was a very memorable Christmas!
I have made elderflower champagne...it is the nectar of the gods! so marvelous that it all got drunk from the bucket and never made it into bottles, just swept the flowers aside and dipped the glasses in!
I have also made Kvass, which is a Russian drink made from bread, you can make it non alchoholic or alcoholic, depending on how long it matures for. You put raisins in and watch them go up and down to tell you when it's ready!
The one thing to remember when gathering fruit or flowers to make into wine (or anything else) is not to collect them near roads as they will have absorbed lead etc from passing exhaust fumes.
Life is what you make it |
Ringo
Site Administrator
3793 Posts
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Posted - 11/12/2006 : 10:23
The main problem with homebrew when I made it was that it took 6 weeks to make and 6 days to drink.
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Another
Traycle Mine Overseer
6250 Posts
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Posted - 11/12/2006 : 14:41
Mrs Nolic and I stopped making beer and wine when it got to the stage that neither saw the bottle or barrel - just the glass. Nolic
" I'm a self made man who worships his creator"  |
Invernahaille
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Posted - 11/12/2006 : 15:24
Doc. I made some home brew about fifteen years ago. I think I made about eighteen gallons. I bought a home brew pack from Boots, which consisted of dried goods (Hops, Barley etc) It was a laborious process in the making, as I had to boil all the ingredients (seperately). However, the rewards were well worth the effort, I suddenly inherited a lot of new friends who knew where they could get free (good) beer.
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Home Brew
