Home Brew Forum

Well, since the weather is great, and I have a morning free - what better to do than infuse the house with the wonderful smell of malt and hops?

Lovely.

The brew was very straightforward, and quick. It's now sitting in the FV with an OG of 1042, yeast pitched and everything cleared up! My wife will be pleased.

I'm afraid there are no pictures as I was brewing on my own, and was focussing hard on what I was doing. Sorry. I will take some next time, though.

So that's Dog'House brew #002 done and dusted. All the hard work is now left to Mother Nature. Bless her.

Tip of the day - don't bother tasting the wort - you'll only be disappointed, and end up with a mouth that looks like like a cats bum.

The dark side IS calling, incidentally. Saw a new full AG tower-brewery set-up for sale at Hamsteads in Great Barr, Birmingham yesterday. They have started making them to order. (Shiiiin-eeeeey thiiiings....!) Looks very nice for someone who wants to just shell out the wonga and get going. All set up and ready to go for £300 or so I believe. West Midlands Home Brewers may want to pay a visit... (I'm not connected with Hamsteads, incidentally).

In a similar vein, a question for you AG brewers out there - how much do you think a prospective AG brewer should budget - ball park figures - to get enough home-made gear together to start brewing? I know it depends on the standard of the kit, but for someone who is reasonably DIY savvy, how much...?

Also, is there a "shopping list" of the parts needed anywhere on this forum?

Kettle
FV
Piping
Er....


Cheers!!

I too am feeling the call to grain.

One thing that puzzles me is that these kit brews seem pretty good value - if you are making AG what is the cost comparison for similar volumes when taking into account the grist including specialist malts and hops yeast etc.

Alex

On a very basic level - for ingredients and lecy only (not additional mashtuns or boilers) I would say that you are looking at an all-grain brew being in the region of half the price of a kit.

Another benefit is the normal quote you see from those who have gone over to the Dark Side is the vast improvement in taste compared to a kit brew.

Good question. I have just found a massive thread in the Equipment section of the Forum, which describes with loads of pics how to build an AG set up.

For me, the AG route is not at all about the cost versus the cost of kits, although I understand that this is an issue for many. I would prefer to compare cost to that paid in pubs. There are many other reasons which for me would account for jumping in to the dark side. (Why the dark side, incidentally - surely it is seeing the light?!?)

It is about the thrill of building something practical and productive to make something I love.
It is also about widening the variety of beers I am able to brew from the limited (albeit pretty wide) selection of kits.
I will be able learn and develop my skills in brewing, and DIY.
I can use fresh ingredients to make something really special (I follow this philosophy with all the food I eat, and keep an allotment! If you don't believe me, make a Thai curry paste from scratch, and then use it to make a Thai green curry. Or eat just-dug new potatoes with butter. Bliss!).
I have complete control over which beers I drink, and when.
I will not have to rely on dubious cellarmen/women to serve me poor quality beer, even though there are many excellent cellarpeople out there.
I can entertain my friends with something just a little bit special.
I can learn to be patient, and work with nature rather than against it.
I can learn about different ingredients, and eventually devise my own recipes.
It enables me to travel the globe when brewing beers from around the world. Well, Belgium and Germany, anyway.
A whole world of adventure can be had from my own garage, without setting foot in the car, and life is nothing if there is no adventure.

And that's just what I can thnk up for now!!

Apologies for the pretentious bits.

I can completely agree with the pursuit of quality and in fact is one of my key motivations for thinking in terms of AG.

I was merely interested to see how things compared cost wise as it seems quite a lot of grist is required to make up a brew.

I think that the real motivation for anyone who brews their own should be the quest for their own nirvana as I always feel whenever I have a beer - I like that but maybe a bit more aroma/malt/bitterness Perhaps the key is that nobody will ever achieve perfection - or if they do somebody will quickly tell them that they don't like it. But maybe this the journey chooses the person not visa-versa.

Alex,

I like the philosophical nature of this thread. Not at all what I expected when I posted the original, er, post! "NIrvana", "journey finds us", "never find perfection". Blimey! *(Paraphrased from memory).

I have to agree with your sentiments entirely. I was in The Wellington in Bennetts Hill, Birmingham, recently, which kicked off this whole Home Brewing thing for me. For those who don't know the pub, they always have 15 real ales on draft, which are constantly changing, and which change so quickly that they put them on a plasma screen on the wall so that you can see what they are. On the screen, each beer on the list is numbered, and shows the name, the ABV, the cost per pint and a colour grading from A-E, where A is a pale ale, and E is a stout / porter. One of our rounds was bought by a non-bitter drinking friend (philistine), and I simply asked him to get me something which had colour code C/D, and ABV of around 4.5%. He came back with what was the best pint I have tasted in ages. It was magical. Unfortunately he could not remember the number he'd ordered, or what the name was. He thought it might be "Admirally something". I am guessing it was St Austell's Admiral, however I'm not sure. I should have got off my big fat backside and checked, but I was too comfy, and the conversaton too fun.

The reason I am recounting this rambling story is simply to illustrate what a marvellous journey this beer-malarkey is. Also to recount that that the conversation after supping this fine ale turned to whether it was possible to make a beer of similar quality at home. I bet them that I could. They bet me I couldn't. No money at stake, just pride. I am now in the early stages of that journey. It may ultimately be that I can NEVER brew a beer which will be of sufficient quality to them, as their tastes are different from mine, however the journey, the learning, and the brewing of a beer, or beers which is (are) perfect to me, will be well worth it.

(Incidentally, in hard pragmatic terms, beer tax has just gone up, by 5p a pint, which means that a 40-pint brew is now (counts on fingers and mutters under breath) £2 more cost effective than it was a couple of hours ago!)

Your original question, Alex, is still a great one, and I am very pleasantly surprised at the cost-saving on AG over kits. If AG is really half the price, and if an AG set-up can be put together for, say £100 plus sweat and tears, then 11 brews or thereabouts should recoup the cost. For a serious hobby, that is a very low initial investment and a great rate of payback, I think.

Compare that with starting mountain walking (for example). Boots, backpack, waterproofs, maps, compass, waterbottle, clothing, - total around £200 for the basics just to start with. Then fuel to get to and from hills - £50 per trip, camping / hostel fees - £30 per weekend. It all adds up. There is no doubting that being in the mountains is a fantastic, healthy and life-affiming experience which I need my fix of regularly, but it still requires an outlay. Brewing beer has all the same attributes, and is MUCH cheaper. With less rain, too.

At least that's the argument I will be using with my lovely wife, when we are backpacking in Wales in a couple of weekends time.....

I doubt i`m alone here but i just jumped straight into the AG method, the reason being was a few months earlier
i went round York Brewery and thought well this brewing beer larks not all that hard
Ok the principals are straight forward enough but achieving that Nirvana pint is a little harder, but thats the beauty of AG
you know exactly what is needed to improve or alter the beer, plus there is a lot more recipes to have a go at
You wont regret the move

I went to all-grain after a few kits and have really enjoyed it (I still kit lager, but that’s just fizz for the summer) The first few where ok then seem to have got a lot better recently, practice makes perfect and all that. With regards to cost you can spend as much as you want to really. Once you have made a few, you end up with left over hops and grains so you get a few expensive brews then a few cheap ones. The beer is noticeably better, particularly in the absence of a twang and the increase of body. You also have access to a much wider range of beer – I hadn’t drunk much stout or porter until I saw the popularity of their recipes on this forum and made one and now enjoy both. I personally see making beer as a hobby, rather than a cost saving exercise. I am sure there would be easier ways to save money. I enjoy continually refining my process. And you get beer at the end.

I fear I may have waxed a little too poetic.

SWMBO has a liking for the wine - I mention this as people say ooh are the flavours complex - balls try deciphering the codes of a pint of beer - the balance of malt vs hops is hair fine - this is why I think we chase the unobtainable.

All the varieties before us and the never ending options with grains, hops yeasts etc. we could brew for a lifetime and still have brews untried

A quick update....

Yesterday evening, after four and a half days fermenting, the OG on this brew was down to 1013, from 1042. Not too bad, methinks. An occasional bubble through the airlock, still, so I am going to check the OG again this evening and see where we are. If it is still 1013, then I will keg it tonight or tomorrow.

Then, I think it is going to be AG time. I will have 80 pints of kit-beer maturing in the garage, which will take a while to work through ( ). This gives me time to get my AG gear built and put together, ready for the first keg becoming available to receive the hallowed brew.

I have BBQ every August bank holiday, and to have some cracking full-bodied AG ale ready for that would be a good goal to aim for, I think. Then it's onward and upward to the full AG adventure. Bring it on!!

Cheers to all for all the comments and inspiration, especially Alex.

Another update, and not a good one.

The beer fermented down nicely to 1013, and was kegged in a very old king-keg type of affair, similar but not identical to my new one.

Since then, it has not done anything. I put the requisite amount of glucose in as per the instructions, but testing the pressure in the barrel by trying to run some off after a couple of weeks, there is not enough to even get any beer out. The beer that does evenually trickle through is full of large particles, and has hardly any condition on it at all. This compares with my first brew which is well lively, and very difficult to pour without getting a pint of froth!

I think there may be a few reasons for this.

1) It is an old keg that has been sitting around for many years doing nothing, and despite my best efforts, I may not have managed to get it clean.

2) It was really difficult to get all of the particles of undisolved steriliser out when rinsing the thing before kegging. the design is rubbish and makes it really difficult to empty properly.

3) I may have got an infection in somehow.

4) Erm.....

Any ideas welcome, however I think I'm going to have to put it down to experience, and chuck it (and the keg) away. Get a new keg (and / or a cornie...?), and start Brew #K003...

Still, the Woodfordes Great Eastern is really good, and getting many top compliments from those who've had some so far. Nice. In fact I have a pint in front of me now.