Homebrew Beer Howto

Saruman

Either www.thehomebrewcompany.ie or www.homebrewwest.ie.

They both have the same €7 shipping rate and if you order earlier enough, you will usually get the order the following day.

both beers you listed are crappy mass produced Lagers and you will be hard pressed to produce something so tasteless at home

That and making a Lager is not something a beginner should try as it needs strict temp control but a good lager brewed in the style of an Ale will work pretty well.
The thing with beer kits (I don't mean equipment) are, don't buy the cheap ones. Buy the best you can afford.

Actually homebrewwest has a cracking starter kit for €39.99 but dont forget he needs bottles, caps and a capper. Bottles you recycle. Otherwise a beer dispenser will do and you keep it in the fridge.

For super simplicity the ibrew will do the job though. It is just limited in what you can do with it.

Oh and yes, the homebrew centre has a useless website. While that kit seems to have bottles, it does not give any indication as to how many or if they are plastic or glass.

BaZmO*

Try http://thehomebrewcompany.ie/ & http://www.homebrewwest.ie/index.asp for purchases & http://www.irishcraftbrewer.com/ for info on all things Home Brew related.

BaZmO*

Ha, SNAP!

mayto

You can get a good starter kit from homebrewcompany http://thehomebrewcompany.ie/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=213 . All you need then is pick a beer kit to go along with it. The Coopers European Lager is meant to be pretty good. There is also a very detailed guide here http://thehomebrewcompany.ie/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=58_59.

thirtythirty

Cool, do those sites offer bottling + equip too? Also, i noticed the homebrew company do ciders too - he's a big fan, does that cider taste "like it should"??

BeerNut

There's a useful guide for the absolute beginner here.

You'll need a starter set for €65 like, this. And then a kit itself. As Saruman says, lager is difficult to brew at home, and kit "lagers" are poor. A decent 3kg ale kit, like this or this will bring it up to €94 including delivery. Those few extra quid are well worth it for quality beer at the end.

BeerNut

spottyelephant wrote: »

Cool, do those sites offer bottling + equip too?

The starter kit includes caps and a capper. Just save your old bottles, preferably brown ones. Though at a pinch you can bottle into old 2L soft drink bottles.

spottyelephant wrote: »

Also, i noticed the homebrew company do ciders too - he's a big fan, does that cider taste "like it should"??

In that it's nothing at all like Bulmer's, yes You don't need a kit to make cider. Lidl cloudy apple juice and a packet of yeast is all you need.

Saruman

spottyelephant wrote: »

Cool, do those sites offer bottling + equip too? Also, i noticed the homebrew company do ciders too - he's a big fan, does that cider taste "like it should"??

A cider kit will taste "like it should" but that means it will not taste anything like Bulmers. For one thing, it will not be sweet at all unless he kills off the fermentation before it is finished.

It will make a dry (chardonay like) refreshing cider though.
You can also make it yourself easy enough with apple juice and yeast.
**Seems both myself and TheBeerNut are on the ball so good advice (if doubled up) all around.**

BeerNut

Saruman wrote: »

**Seems both myself and TheBeerNut are on the ball so good advice (if doubled up) all around.**

I'm bottling my Lidl cider tonight, so I'll see how good the advice is after I've had a taste...

thirtythirty

Nothing like Bulmers you say? I'm a bit wary of the cider then, apple juice+yeast would not be his cup of tea i dont think!

Well i reckon i'll go with the homebrew company's starter kit rather than ibrew anyway, & the coopers european lagar. At least he can chose what he wants to make himself then after that which the ibrew doesnt seem to let you do.

Oh one other thing that just occurred to me - the ibrew has a gas canister that seems to carbonate it, i assume these produce flat-ish drinks since they rely on the fermentation only??

I'm getting thirsty learning&thinking about this. He might have to do with a pint in the pub for his present & i'll just get this myself!

Saruman

Nope... natural carbonation.
You will see in the instructions on the ICB site.

Basically when you bottle, you add a little sugar and cap it. The yeast eats the sugar, this produces co2 and since it has nowhere to go but back in to the beer, it carbonates it. The little sugar ads a negligible amount of extra alcohol so will not affect the beer.
Just leave a little beer in the bottom of the bottle when pouring to keep it clear.... Or take the yeast and the extra flavour

spottyelephant wrote: »

I'm getting thirsty learning&thinking about this. He might have to do with a pint in the pub for his present & i'll just get this myself!

It is an addictive hobby and if you get in to it, you will be moving on to Extract and then All grain (same as commercial but on a small scale). All you need is to get some extra equipment, a little more knowledge and more time. Your existing kit equipment is still used so no waste of money. If you get the Ibrew though you can not use most of that stuff to progress beyond kits.

kaimera

first batch of mine looks great but smells a bit strong and there's a taste of the sediment from the bottle. (only have one bottle with me here, got the rest at home still in bottles)

not sure where I went wrong with the first brew; I mean it's not terrible to drink but I'd need it subZero temps (how I drink most beer at home anyway)

moving to keg for next batch; one of my house mates already has a second batch in a keg and it's awesome he said.

oblivious

Sounds like the fermentation got a little high and produce some unpleasant esters/ higher solvents

guildofevil

That would be my guess too. Try to keep the temperature of your fermenting beer down to the high teens or low twenties. Never put a fermentor in the hot press.

Brian CivilEng

Quick homebrew question, how long after you finish filling the fermenter should you begin to see the yeast in action? I haven't brewed for a while but I put on a batch this morning. I couldn't find my thermometer so I just went on feeling when I thought the water felt the correct temperature, erring on the side of coldness. Two and a half hours later I haven't seen a single bubble so I am getting worried. Previous times I brewed I saw the first bubble within an hour.

I am brewing a stout using a coopers kit and dry malt extract.

BeerNut

You're not likely to see much action for 10 to 12 hours.

BaZmO*

I normally do a brew in the evening and then by morning it'll be well under way.

Brian CivilEng

I suppose I'll just need to be patient, I am just worrying that the temp was too cold. I'll report back tomorrow.

BaZmO*

Too cold isn't the problem as the yeast just lays dormant until it heats up. If it's too hot there's a chance that it can kill the yeast. Give it time young Skywalker!

Brian CivilEng

It's alive, it's alive!

oblivious

abitofacomedian wrote: »

It's alive, it's alive!

Try not let the room get to hot as fermentation wan be a couple of degree about what the thermometer is reading in the room

ManFromAtlantis

cider homebrew real apples squashed and put in a bucket for 3 days with yeast added. then into demijohn where it is for the last 3 weeks.
no sign of any or bubbles coming thru tube/rubber stopper into a glass of water.! very little or none of this after first day or 2 to be honest !

i hope there hasnt been air contamination .
but how would i know . is it the taste test?

when can i bottle ? and then how long would i leave till drinking. (minimum reasonable time !)

thanks all.

BeerNut

ManFromAtlantis wrote: »

I hope there hasnt been air contamination .
but how would i know . is it the taste test?

Air wouldn't effect the fermentation situation. Has the gravity changed?

ManFromAtlantis wrote: »

when can i bottle ?

When the gravity has stabilised.

ManFromAtlantis wrote: »

and then how long would i leave till drinking. (minimum reasonable time !)

Depends on your taste and the cider. I'd say a month absolute minimum; six months for proper maturation.

bennyob

BeerNut wrote: »

I'm bottling my Lidl cider tonight, so I'll see how good the advice is after I've had a taste...

What method/recipe did you use? Tks

BeerNut

23L of cloudy apple juice in a sanitised fermenting bucket.
Add a pot of tea.
Sprinkle on Young's Cider Yeast.
Wait 15 minutes.
Stir with a sanitised paddle.
OG 1.046

Wait two weeks.
SG 1.002; 5.8% ABV.

Rack to sanitised bottling bucket.
Add 142g of dextrose, for 2.4 volumes of CO2.
Bottle.

Wait.

Two weeks in, it was OK, though still rather sharp, and quite flat. I'll give it another month or so before I open the next sample bottle.
Overall I'm quite pleased with it. It's definitely cider.

BaZmO*

Why the tea? Is it used for buttering instead of hops?

BeerNut

The tea, I'm told, adds body. Apple juice is highly fermentable, so you want something left in there besides the alcohol otherwise it'll be too sharply dry. The tannins in the tea do that. No idea if it had any real effect though.

Wallacebiy

My latest little batch of cider I put some cold coffee in , Just to see like ,

Which reminds me , I need to keg that soon, it's been in primary for a while now

cyborg

Found a source of swing top bottles,anybody used them?
http://www.alpack.ie/Beer_BottlesSwing_topGrolsch_Bottles/Default.292.html

ManFromAtlantis

not used but nice . 750 ml !