homebrew

[codhead26]

hi all im starting my own brew does any1 on here do it and whats it like.ive just put a lager one in.

[mark]

last time I made some, many many years ago it was rank!

made wine off and on over the years and thats usually been drinkable, dunno what happened with the beer though!

[willywetegg]

I used to make the beers years ago and some of them were quite canny, as Mark says though a few were rank too. If you keep at it you will find it can get pretty good, there again if you don't like that yeasty flavour they will all be rank lol.

SWMBO used to make wine and some of them were pretty damn good, if you like wine. A lot of the recipes can be very time consuming and not really worth the effort but on the other side some of the very easy recipes were fantastic. Some of the better ones I remember were the potato wine and the Orange wine, really delicious. I was once told that you can use just about any fruit or veg except Turnip Not sure why though.

I also remember the night when she was adding some sugar to the bottles as they were a bit dry for her taste. I was a self employed taxi driver at the time and had an hour or so off and gave her a hand. I picked one of the last bottles up just before I was due to go out for a run and it exploded. There was wine dripping off the ceiling and I was like a drowned rat SWMBO was in tears of laughter. All I could do is dry myself off with a towel, pull on a fresh shirt and go out on my next run, absolutely stinking of alcohol. Luckily the lass I picked up was a good friend and she was in hysterics too when I told her what had happened.

The moral of that story is, be careful when it is under pressure as it can make a bit of a mess lol.

Jim.

[5150]

Off and on, wine usually comes out okay, lager isn't bad but always tastes home made no matter what I tried. Canny book to have is the one by C.J. Berry (Amatuer Winemaking), find it at any home brew place (elderberry in w/bay is a canny shop). Wilkinsons sell home brew stuff, their beer and lager kits are pretty well priced.
Wine's I've found that come out canny most of the time are strawberry, elderberry, blackberry, orange, elderflower (carefull on the amount of flowers or it'll smell like cats pee) and banana (bit hard to clear).

[lorry]

I make wine not been doing it long but very drinkable knock 4 gallon up at a time from fruit tea bags in the big bottles off the office water towers theirs a trick to reusing them takes about 1/2 hour to make the 4 gallon of wine can be drinking it clear in 2 weeks obviously the longer you leave it the better it gets but everyone likes it and its stingo to boot recipe has changeability (add Kick with apple juice or grape juice) many flavors to choose from fun to experiment with.

Its so easy I have had loads of people at my house and I have knocked it up for them they cant believe how easy it is just stick to a couple of golden rules mainly cleanliness, the purists will tell you wine making is very complex but if your not intending taking on the the big guys or entering comps and like the majority just want something that tastes good that hits the mark its a piece of ****

For beer found wilkos Bitter rather nice but after experimenting found that clears a whole lot quicker in bottles rather than a pressure keg just make sure the bottles are up to the pressure.

Tip for brewing if you feel the need to use a heater in the fermentation process a heater from a tropical fishtank does the job at half the price.

Anyone want a easy recipe you can adapt to your own just ask Oh and I made many a batch with a big pop bottle and a balloon for an airlock no special kit needed

[BigLoada]

I used to make a lot until recently. Just remember to let it settle. Dont do what I used to do, get impatient and drink it only a day after putting it into the keg. Unless you want to go to the toilet a lot

I found the IPA and bitters were good.