Jim's Beer Kit

I did this. We started out with my old home brew kit and produced a single Firkin with every brew. Registering with HMRC is the easy bit, they want your money! You’ll need permission from your local council for planning and environmental health etc. Talk to them first as they are usually very helpfu...

Go for it. I did and love it. I was also a firefighter too! I set up in 2013 in an outbuilding in the garden. It is hard work and you won't get rich either. Within a year I had a 2.5bbl brewery and have now expanded to a 6bbl plant on an industrial estate. All started with a 10 gallon set up!

Nobody can keep track of hops, if they do there must be a lot of fudging the numbers. Keeping track of malt and yeast is relatively simple, but hops...a line must be drawn somewhere. I keep track of hops! I record each hop as it comes in (variety and weight) and how much goes into each gyle. No num...

Dennis King wrote:Good to see your thriving, wonder how long before your not the smallest commercial brewery in Essex.

Hopefully not too long! Lol
It is going much better than I ever really thought it would!

JamesF wrote:I see from pic #2 that you have all your power sorted, too

James

I'm hoping not to need it all though! Lol

I'm in the process of building a new 2.5bbl brewery to replace my old 1/4bbl kit. So far I have only just started on the three vessels and have loads left to do. http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy346/HoratioFlange/imagejpg1.jpg The 680 litre HLT. All i have done o this so far is weld a 2 1/4 elem...

For 23l
3.5kg Pale Malt
900g Caramalt
225g Choc Malt
225g Torrified Wheat

25g Fuggles FWH
25g Progress FWH
30g Fuggles Flame Out
30g Progress Flame Out

Got this from a very old recipe and tweaked it a bit. Always turns out great!

The only people I won't be strictly legal with are the Planning Department. I'd need change of use planning permission but I'll wait until they find out what I'm doing before worrying them. I don't think they could slap a Stop Notice on me as they'd have to have real concerns about loss of amenity ...

I have done this many times without any noticeable difference in the final beer. I rack from fermenter to conditioning tank, leaving the yeast cake in the FV. I then run my cooled wort from the boiler straight onto the yeast cake. Beers made this way taste just like the same beer made with a fresh p...

Yeah I know where you are coming from! The 30 a week is made up of three different beers. One brew is going to be split 8/4 between the two locals for house ale; fortunately they want the same beer! The rest will be two different beers to give me variety on my core range. I plan to to brew three tim...

I have an insulated fermenting room that measures approximately 7x4 feet. I brew one firkin at a time and brew 7 times a week over three days so there is usually 7 FVs in there at a time. I can get the room temp down to 17c and the product temp sits at about 19.5c; larger FVs would probably generate...

My cold room is cooled by a portable air con unit and it does a great job. I usually have around 350l fermenting in there and switched to the air con unit this summer. I tried the freezer option but it didn't work for me. Hopefully you will have a better result than me! I've been brewing commerciall...

IPA wrote:

Clobber wrote:My neighbours chickens won't touch it.... strange chickens or bad grain?

They will only eat it when it is fresh i.e. max three days old as it goes sour very quickly

My chooks won't touch the stuff! I give mine to my neighbours for there pigs and get sausages and bacon in exchange.

Brewery Plastics make the Cypherco one I use. I've just tried to google them to get a link to pits but can't find the site now? Cypherco.com should work though.

I use plastic. The only reason I use them was the initial cost. That said I like the lighter weight too. I think it is really going to be a difficult question to answer as each has pros and cons. I have been using my plastic ones for 8 months now without any issues; although I do all my own deliveri...