# Any One Do Home Brew



## Iceblue (Sep 4, 2013)

My wonderful niece bought me a home brew kit for Christmas ,

The kit comes with

Pear cider 40 pint brewing kit

Fermenting barrel

Brewing suger

Hydrometer

Syphon kit

The destructions lol seem pretty idiot proof but being an idiot anything I should know that's not in the 1 page manual , any advise should be great

Happy new year all cheers Andy ( iceblue)


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## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

Yup, started a couple of years ago. Went mad at first, only made one brew in 2014.

Best advise I'll give (other than sterilising everything) is:


Kept the brew in a warm place when fermenting.

Add the secondary fermentation sugar to another vessel, siphont the brew into it and and bottle from there.

Be patient


Enjoy

Dec


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## apm101 (Jun 4, 2011)

All good from Deco.

Just to add, make sure everything is scrupulously clean.


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## Davey P (Sep 9, 2010)

A good friend of mine owns a great company that sells all the ingredients and equipment for serious home brewers. Feel free to check out his website:

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/

What he doesn't know about brewing beer isn't worth knowing, and he's always happy to give helpful advice.

If you say "Comedy" sent you, it might be worth a discount ("Comedy" is me, by the way....)


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## Iceblue (Sep 4, 2013)

Cheers chaps and cheers Davey (comedy) will give it browse


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## Littlelegs (Dec 4, 2011)

All what they say. I've done wine and beer over the years and they've all been pretty good. I found some wine in the back of the garage over Xmas that had been bottled 7yrs ago. Clear and tasty although a couple of bottles had gone a little port tasting. Some of the wine cost as little as 8p a bottle as I picked wild fruit whilst out with the dogs. At that price, if it tastes crap you can throw it away...)

I did a 40pint stout kit that matured Boxing Day which is improving all the time. Just bottled a 40 pint coopers lager kit which will be ready to drink in a few weeks. Both cheap kits from wilco but the stout is very good and a mate has done the lager and says that's good. They work out about 50p a bottle. Keep everything clean ad be patient and it'll be good.

Davey's mates site is definitely a serious home brewers set up, some good looking kit on there.


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## zenomega (Oct 15, 2010)

WIlkos velvet stout is pretty good I always put a fair bit of extra sugar or treacle into it to bump up the alcohol level


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## Davey P (Sep 9, 2010)

Iceblue said:


> Cheers chaps and cheers Davey (comedy) will give it browse


No problem mate, I always like to give the Malt Miller's website a plug whenever I can. Rob is a great bloke, and a talented brewer as well. I'm a big fan of the German "Weizen" style beers, and Rob's home made version is indistinguishable from a shop bought one (As I found out when we went skiing last year, and he brought along a boot full of the stuff :lol


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## chris l (Aug 5, 2005)

Apple juice (without preservatives), sugar to give an ABV of ~12-14%, bottle in pressure proof bottles just before it's finished, (no secondary sugar).

Gives a fine strong fizzy wine, clean and crisp, best chilled.


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## hotmog (Feb 4, 2006)

I've been brewing for around 30 years, but only graduated to doing full mash for the past 6. It's certainly more time-consuming than using kits or extract, but the end results are well worth it. It's also a lot cheaper in terms of ingredients, once you've recouped the initial investment in the additional equipment required.

I get my supplies from Rob at The Malt Miller; also from John Nowacki at Worcesterhopshop.co.uk. I recommend that you have a look at Jimsbeerkit.co.uk, where you will find a wealth of advice and information about home brewing.

Cheers! :cheers:


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## luckywatch (Feb 2, 2013)

I was into it big time once. Wines and beers. Had lager and bitter on draught in 5 gallon barrels. Not got the time these days. This book is a good start to see if you get into it. The principles will still be the same. Cleanliness is the key. The book is hardback, must be 30 years old now and is a good read for a novice. If you want it then lust PM me your address and I will post it on* FOC. *

Cheers Scott.


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## luckywatch (Feb 2, 2013)

This will be on its way to Andy on Monday.


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## Davey P (Sep 9, 2010)

hotmog said:


> *I get my supplies from Rob at The Malt Miller...*


Nice one mate - Next time you order something, tell Rob "Comedy said you need to ski faster, ya big girl's blouse", and see what he says :lol:


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## Iceblue (Sep 4, 2013)

First rule learnt never poor boiling water into the fermentation tub to sterilise then put the lid on and and shake it up

pmsl the lid blows off like a bomb , what a numpty and to think looking back I know it would do that lol and I carnt stop laughing as I stand in the kitchen soaked lol


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## luckywatch (Feb 2, 2013)

Iceblue said:


> First rule learnt never poor boiling water into the fermentation tub to sterilise then put the lid on and and shake it up
> 
> pmsl the lid blows off like a bomb , what a numpty and to think looking back I know it would do that lol and I carnt stop laughing as I stand in the kitchen soaked lol


 Wait for the book mate.........................


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## Iceblue (Sep 4, 2013)

luckywatch said:


> Iceblue said:
> 
> 
> > First rule learnt never poor boiling water into the fermentation tub to sterilise then put the lid on and and shake it up
> ...


I think that's a good idea


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## badgersdad (May 16, 2014)

Bedfordshire is quite close to Cambridgeshire. I'm quite good at tasting beer, Iceblue. If you need any help when you get to that stage just let me know.


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## Iceblue (Sep 4, 2013)

badgersdad said:


> Bedfordshire is quite close to Cambridgeshire. I'm quite good at tasting beer, Iceblue. If you need any help when you get to that stage just let me know.


Will do buddy or I could do a moon shine run across the border lol


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## Barryboy (Mar 21, 2006)

I've never had any luck with lager but once (by sheer luck) did amazingly well with 5 gallons of bitter which my brothers and I saw off one hazy Saturday many years ago. I now concentrate on white wine and am getting mixed results. I find the el-cheapo kits from Wilco just aren't up to much but have done quite well with quite cheap Solomon Grundy kits. Unfortunately the local home brew shop (the only one in town) is closing down - the proprietor has passed on and his wife has tried to keep it going but her heart just isn't in it. I never bother with country wines - it's all too messy and the maturing time is too long, so I always make from kits. I note that the beer brewers have a couple of favourite mail order suppliers... Anyone know of some good wine makers supply companies?

Rob


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## Davey P (Sep 9, 2010)

Barryboy said:


> * I note that the beer brewers have a couple of favourite mail order suppliers... * Anyone know of some good wine makers supply companies?


The Malt Miller is more or less exclusively mail order, and he delivers all over the world, not just in the UK. No good for wine making though, he is strictly beer only as far as I know.

One other interesting thing, Rob has often mentioned to me about his use of Twitter for the business, but I never took much notice because I'm not a member and therefore assumed I wouldn't be able to see it. However, on his website I've just noticed you can view his Twitter feed, and there are some interesting comments from his satisfied customers. A lot of it goes over my head because I don't know the first thing about brewing, but others on here might find it informative - Here's a direct link:

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewDoc&docId=10

I'll be skiing with Rob next month, so I'll ask him if we can offer a discount for Watch Forum members...


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## Iceblue (Sep 4, 2013)

Just a little up date have know bottled the brew left it at room temperature for 2 days , and know its going to be sitting in a nice cool place for a while , it was a little cloudy but seems to be clearing ,

Does that sound about right hope so fingers crossed , somebody did say the longer I can leave it i.e 1 month or longer the more mature it would get ? But don't no if I can last that long to try it lol


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## blackandgolduk (Apr 25, 2005)

This thread got me thinking that I needed a new hobby, so a few weeks later and I have made a boiler, mash tun and fermenting barrel from 35l mango chutney barrels, as seen on many brewing fora. Ordered all my bits and pices from the malt miller as recommended in this thread - have to say, they carry all the ingredients I needed at a good price,but the real surprise was that Saturday delivery costs only three quid more than ordinary overnight delivery, as opposed to the 20 quid extra that ther suppliers wanted.

I currently have 40 pints fermenting nicely in a warm corner of the house. Was aiming for a SG of 1.052 in my wort, and achieved 1.050, so pretty pleased with that for a first effort at full mash. If all goes well I should end up with an IPA with a 4.7% abv. Like Iceblue, now fighting the temptation to rush things...


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

blackandgolduk said:


> I currently have 40 pints fermenting nicely in a warm corner of the house.


Her Majesties Custom & Excise will be paying you a visit

:lol: :lol:

We used industial alcohol at work to wash finished parts with. The Revenue turned up one day wanting to know what we were doing with thousands of litres of the stuff. Apparently you needed a license if you bought and used over a certain amount.


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## blackandgolduk (Apr 25, 2005)

BondandBigM said:


> blackandgolduk said:
> 
> 
> > I currently have 40 pints fermenting nicely in a warm corner of the house.
> ...


You only need to worry about the Revenue if you're distilling, not if you're brewing...

...of course, I'd never even think about distilling







:nono: :hypocrite:


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