A few suggestions

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
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Reg
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A few suggestions

Post by Reg » Tue Jan 24, 2006 12:24 am

Could we please try to include some basic details on the kit...

Manufacturer
Particular Beer name
Kit size (1.8/3.0 kilo)
Hops (Pre-hopped/pellets/other)
Accessories (Some come with limited brew gear)
The "on the tin" method
The actual brewing methodology used...

Anybosy else please feel free to chip in with other info you might find useful! :D

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bitter_dave
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Post by bitter_dave » Tue Jan 24, 2006 12:12 pm

DAAB, you mentioned taking some photos of the process in an earlier post, and I think that's an excellent idea. Jim's photos of grain brewing are great as they help you understand the process, when text in books can sometimes seem a little abstract to the beginner.

I found this set of photos of how to make up a kit the other day, and i thought it worked well (although I'm not sure about not rinsing out the syphon tubing before drawing beer into it - although this might just be me).

step 1 also looks a bit rude when you first glance at it! - not a good start to beer making!

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/pipex ... ebrew.html

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Reg
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Post by Reg » Tue Jan 24, 2006 12:43 pm

I think the extras suggested sound sensible DAB... :D

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Post by Reg » Tue Jan 24, 2006 2:04 pm

Well there are alot of things, I think we can talk about in a sticky post.

One thing that I always thought was a bit of cr)p thinking is the tendency to put 3 kilo nits in a box with a carry handle. Very helpful in one way but then not so helpful when some manufacturers then put the instructions either in a leaflet inside the box leaving the Newbie brewer to make a second trip to the shops to buy all the kit he needs to actually brew the extract.

Another thing that any genuine enthusisat would want to consider is bry hopping the the final beer when kegging it, a few extra hops on a dry basis arn't going to overpower the brew but will improve the overall result.

I guess we could also look at a problems section. Clarity is usually an issue with 1.8 kilo kits, often because of a poor choice of sugar. Also some commentary on replacing sugar in 1.8kilo kits with diastatic malt extract. It's a simple sum 3.0-1.8 really. :D

Anyway there's a few ideas to get things started. ;)

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Reg
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Post by Reg » Tue Jan 24, 2006 2:37 pm

Well it could be a manufacturing fault, although the wrong kinds of hard water can cause problems as can not getting the yeast properly started. I also wonder whether people don't get the wort hot enough when diluting the extract. I have not a clue why that would have an effect but I know some people skip or curtail this step thinking it does not matter.

I think we could also focus on water and treatment as there are hard / soft water maps on the web. Plus a discussion on sugar, why not and if you have to what to use might be helpful. I'm not sure we need to go as far as how to invert sugar, but I think I do have an article on it somewhere.

Recommended kits to try would be useful categorised into major beer types.

Also, a few ideas as to how to start building on kits might be useful. Boiling in non-enzymatic grains and such like to alter the nature of beer might be a good way to get people into techniques that will help them later on.

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Post by Reg » Tue Jan 24, 2006 2:40 pm

...and then there's the habit of dropping hops in other people's beer known as fly hopping... :D

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