Homebrew Beer Howto

oblivious

Nice to see a hardcore brewer on the boards, Charlie Papazian had lot of praise for the Firkin brewery in this new book.

Ceddy

Where is the best place to pick up kit in Dublin ?

I have seen references to Beer Smugglers & Grape and Vine which are both in Dublin.

There use to be a Brew shop in Kingston in Surrey which was great for picking up gadgets and the guy running it was good with advice. By the looks of it very much along the same lines as the Hop Shop in Plymouth that a few of you guys have purchased from.

I say some 250ml Grolsch bottles last week with the porcelain rubber caps. These are great and reusable.

Hendrixcat

Don't use the beersmugglers website, it hasn't worked for a while. Grape 'n' grain are probably best for the basics. The old guy running it will deliver to your door during the day if you can be around to meet him.

oblivious

I agree with Hendrixcat grape and grain are best for most stuff, equipment, liquid extract, base malt (3kg bags) and some limited specialty grains. For more selection of grain and yeast I use http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/

bigears

The Beersmugglers site worked for me but I haven't ordered online from them - I've always emailed. I find it handy sometimes as he delivers to a local hardware shop where I can pick it up and I can pay them. Grape n Grain I find very helpful and they are willing to order something if they don't have it in stock, however I think they do deliveries only, no postage.

I sometimes use Hop and Grape and find them very good. They have a large range, fresh ingredients and they offer good advice. I would say if you're ordering from the UK to either order light so postage isn't an issue or order a whole load at once. For what it's worth they told me this week that they now have a new deal with their courier - £17 STG for up to 30 KG which isn't bad if you fill your 30KG. I haven't got to the stage where I'm brewing all grain but if you're ordering your 25KG bag of grain it becomes quite cost effective compared to ordering locally. I've ordered small amounts of grain from them before and they will send it uncrushed or crush it 'fresh' just before sending.

oblivious

Although the say the only deliver in Dublin this is for home or business deliveries. They can arrange for people who live out side of Dublin to meet up in an agreed area near the city.

The Sweeper

Ceddy wrote:

There use to be a Brew shop in Kingston in Surrey which was great for picking up gadgets and the guy running it was good with advice.

ooo - is it still there? And if so, where is it? Kingston's just down the road from me, I'm there a good bit.

oblivious

is it the Art of Brewing?

www.art-of-brewing.co.uk

guildofevil

3Kg bags of base malt? Lightweight! I get 25Kg bags off them.

I agree with the posts so far. Grape N Grain are the way to go. Nice, accommodating people. I also use www.hopshopuk.com for lighter but more specialized stuff, like hops, yeast, etc.

If I had the money to spare, I would get a pilot brew system from these people: www.mossbrew.co.uk £2,500 for a very nice 80-90l system.

You can see a pic of one here: http://www.mossbrew.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/unclestuart1.jpg

bigears

How much are the 25KG bags? I didn't know they did them and I wonder how the price compares - The 3KG bags are 8.95.

oblivious

I still only do partial mash and 3kg of malt is plenty for a brew, including late addition of extract. I though the only sold their crushed malt in 3 kg bags, so I buy a few at a time, or can they supply larger amounts?

Ceddy

MinesBIGSLUT wrote:

ooo - is it still there? And if so, where is it? Kingston's just down the road from me, I'm there a good bit.

Its on Richmond Road, beside the Grey Horse (Youngs Pub)

Ceddy

oblivious wrote:

is it the Art of Brewing?

www.art-of-brewing.co.uk

thats the one

Ceddy

guildofevil wrote:

3Kg bags of base malt? Lightweight! I get 25Kg bags off them.

I agree with the posts so far. Grape N Grain are the way to go. Nice, accommodating people. I also use www.hopshopuk.com for lighter but more specialized stuff, like hops, yeast, etc.

If I had the money to spare, I would get a pilot brew system from these people: www.mossbrew.co.uk £2,500 for a very nice 80-90l system.

You can see a pic of one here: http://www.mossbrew.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/unclestuart1.jpg

Now thats some operation. Although I have to say for that kind of outlay you would need to be selling some of your brew to help with the cost.

Speaking of which does anyone know what the story is with licensing of micro-breweries in Ireland ?

There are some restrictions in the UK but these are pretty basic and relate to health issues, such as storage and condition of your brew facilities.

guildofevil

bigears wrote:

How much are the 25KG bags?

€49.50 not including delivery.

Ceddy wrote:

Now thats some operation. Although I have to say for that kind of outlay you would need to be selling some of your brew to help with the cost.

Yeah, I know, but it's like wanting that really nice car. You don't really NEED it but...

The set-up in question is their entry level rig. They specialize in making microbrewery kit to order. They have their own brew pub and they provide training by taking you into their brew house and getting you to assist. I must say I really like the sound of their operation. It looks a bit rough and ready, but I kind of like that too.

Ceddy wrote:

Speaking of which does anyone know what the story is with licensing of micro-breweries in Ireland ?

There are some restrictions in the UK but these are pretty basic and relate to health issues, such as storage and condition of your brew facilities.

I would love to know this too. It is my ambition to make my obsession a career, so if anyone knows who I could ask about this, please shout out.

oblivious

Are the 25kg bags crushed or whole grain? the 3kg bags are crushed.

guildofevil

The 25Kg bags are also crushed.

bigears

Definitely better value than the 3kg bags. I get the impression you got through them pretty quick but how long do you reckon the crushed grain would last - I have heard previously that crushed grain has a much shorter shelf life and the bags that I have got from GnG are not crushed by them, they've been crushed by Young's before distribution.

Ceddy

The shelf life of the malt has alot to do with the way you store it. If you can keep it in a warm environment rather than the shed it will last alot longer. Sub dividing it into smaller amounts and storing in the sealable sandwich bags will also help.

I was over in Nottingham recently and popped into the VAT & Fiddle which has a brewery built at the back of it. It is owned by the Tynemill group. The guys were very helpful and gave me a list of their suppliers for ingredients & equipment. I will post full when I get a chance. Wee Brewerys like these are worth a visit just to get a bigger picture of whats involved.

The only thing with this again is the postage and delivery to Ireland, which will almost double the price of the Item. One of the suppliers is www.murphyandson.co.uk I have not contacted them yet but they may have a agent in Ireland.

There must be a wholesaler in Ireland who supplies the Guinness, Heineken, Murphy & Beamish brewerys ? I now that none of us are up to this scale yet but I am sure they would sell the 25k bags individually.

Does anyone have contact with any of the mini brewers like the Porterhouse/ Carlow Brew Co/Biddy Early/Hilden Brewery/Whitewater or Strangford Lough breweries as to find where they are supplied from ?

Ceddy

Is there anyone who is doing the full mash do a second run on grains in the mash tun, so that you are producing two sets of wort at different OG's ?

guildofevil

Same with these. They are 25Kg, stitch closed, woven nylon sacks of Young's pale malt. I keep the sack in a large plastic container, to help keep it fresh.

I have heard horror stories about the stuff going off, but I've never had any trouble myself. The best before date on it is usually just under a year in the future, at time of purchase.

guildofevil

Ceddy wrote:

Is there anyone who is doing the full mash do a second run on grains in the mash tun, so that you are producing two sets of wort at different OG's ?

No. Even when I batch sparge I combine the first and second runnings for a single beer.

I would like to give this a try, as it would be a handy way of making a BIG beer and a standard strength beer, but I don't really have the space to have two primaries going at the same time.

bigears

Is there anyone who is doing the full mash do a second run on grains in the mash tun, so that you are producing two sets of wort at different OG's ?

I read about this just recently on Anchor Brewing's website but they state themselves that this was relatively common in English Brewing. They make their 'small' beer by doing a second mash on their barley wine:

http://www.anchorbrewing.com/beers/smallbeer.htm

oblivious

I think it called parti-gyle. I have head of some brew doing big barely wine and there is some much first running, the second running, which have a lower gravity is used to make a brown ale or bitter. I think a small beer in medieval times was the third running with a gravity of around 1.030 or 2-3% alcohol.

Here is a link

http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue2.2/mosher.html

Ceddy

oblivious wrote:

I think a small beer in medieval times was the third running with a gravity of around 1.030 or 2-3% alcohol.

We would add some chocolate malt and then re-mash again. Producing a Darker and weaker second brew. Then sell it off as mild, it was a great seller with the OAP's.

oblivious

The late mash addition of chocolate malt is supposed to added a nice flavour with much of hash flavour that can be associated with highly kilned malts aroma or so i have heard.

guildofevil

This is starting to sound pretty good.

Damn it, I need more space for more fermentors!

Ceddy

I was just thinking during the week about making cheap fermenters :

I was passing a chip shop the other day and I noticed that their rubbish was out for collection by the local refuse company. They had both Metal containers I assume they were 5 gallon containers with lids on the tops and also various plastic containers varying in size from 2-5.

As these vessels were used for foodstuffs of some description they would be ideal for brewing after a good degreasing, rinse and sanitise.

By carefully inserting a 2ft polytheon pipe 10mm into a 8-9mm opening with a bull clip/stong clothes peg at the other end of the pipe then this could be used to replicate an airlock. Very little if any air would get in and air could be released by briefly removing the clip/peg for a while.

This gets round the cost of having to buy new fermenters ?

Anyone any views on this ?

guildofevil

That works. I used to use a plastic bucket which originally contained mayonnaise. It was exactly the same as the commercially available plastic fermentation buckets, except that it was made of slightly thicker plastic and the lid sealed tighter, so it was probably better.

Instead of a clip on the tube, why not use a blow-off tube? You just stick the end in a bottle of water, so the co2 bubbles out through the water, but no air can get in. I have done this before and it works really well.

Ceddy

guildofevil wrote:

Instead of a clip on the tube, why not use a blow-off tube?

Is this the same as a polythene tube but summerged in water ?