Hello everyone!
You have probably guessed from the subject title, I'm a student, and as you may expect I am living by a very tight budget.
I understand that there has been a lot of press in the media as of late regarding home brewing kits and the likes, and I thought it might be a good idea in the current economic climate to jump on the bandwagon!
So yes, a bit of background there. Basically I was hoping for a little guidance from you, the experienced home brewers! Firstly I didn't want to just dive in and pick the first website I could find to buy the cheapest kit and materials, I hope you can help me.
+ If any of you could direct me to a website with good value, reasonable P+P costs, and a good variety of the "essentials", I would be very grateful.
+ I would also like to know which kits you guys started with, were they successful? And would you suggest any to me...
+ Extra equipment: Is there any equipment not supplied by the most basic kits that I would find particularly useful?
Thank you in advance to anyone that can help me get started! It seems a good idea to me to stick around here as you all seem very helpful.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
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mysterio
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
Hi Craig
I'm a student too, so I can empathise. If you keep at it, you'll soon find yourself not only saving money, but brewing better beer than you can buy.
I order from Hop & Grape, they have a good selection of stuff and I like dealing with them. There are other bigger retailers out there that i've used that are good, Hop Shop, Leyland Homebrew, The Home Brew Shop Farnborough, and a few others. Barley Bottom is a newer venture run by a guy who posts on here and by all accounts is a good retailer.
Most shops will supply, as a kit, the stuff you need to start making kit beers. I would maybe recommend a no-rinse sanitiser in addition to it. You will also need a barrel, keg, or bottles to package your beer. A budget barrel is a decent, cheap choice if you like cask conditioned ale.
Coopers kits are the best in my experience, top them up with 2 x 500g packages of muntons spraymalt instead of a kilo of sugar. Brupaks make decent all malt kits too. I dont like the muntons kits. The Coopers IPA is a nice one to start out on.
If you pick out some stuff, post it here, we'll let you know if you've got what you need and what would be a useful addition
I'm a student too, so I can empathise. If you keep at it, you'll soon find yourself not only saving money, but brewing better beer than you can buy.
I order from Hop & Grape, they have a good selection of stuff and I like dealing with them. There are other bigger retailers out there that i've used that are good, Hop Shop, Leyland Homebrew, The Home Brew Shop Farnborough, and a few others. Barley Bottom is a newer venture run by a guy who posts on here and by all accounts is a good retailer.
Most shops will supply, as a kit, the stuff you need to start making kit beers. I would maybe recommend a no-rinse sanitiser in addition to it. You will also need a barrel, keg, or bottles to package your beer. A budget barrel is a decent, cheap choice if you like cask conditioned ale.
Coopers kits are the best in my experience, top them up with 2 x 500g packages of muntons spraymalt instead of a kilo of sugar. Brupaks make decent all malt kits too. I dont like the muntons kits. The Coopers IPA is a nice one to start out on.
If you pick out some stuff, post it here, we'll let you know if you've got what you need and what would be a useful addition
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AlexCricket
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
I think that for your first kit you could not go wrong with a Coopers kit in a style of your choice.
I got my starter kit from Brewmart which is good value and seemed to have everything. It comes with Brewing sugar and a Coopers Kit, you may choose to buy an extra 500g of a suitable colour (light, medium, dark) spraymalt to go with and keep some of the brew sugar for priming.
Otherwise the only other bit of kit you require is something to put the finished product in - Keg or Bottle. Re-cycling bottles is slightly cheaper but more work (and don't forget the cost of a decent capper and caps has to be accounted for) Kegging is pretty straight forward but will up your initial investment.
I would also have a good look at the Kit brew guide on Jim's website - priceless.
Lastly, the golden rule is: we're all idiots and non of us know it all BUT if you have any question at all search on here or make a post and you will be guarenteed at least one answer before the day is out.
GOOD LUCK!!
I got my starter kit from Brewmart which is good value and seemed to have everything. It comes with Brewing sugar and a Coopers Kit, you may choose to buy an extra 500g of a suitable colour (light, medium, dark) spraymalt to go with and keep some of the brew sugar for priming.
Otherwise the only other bit of kit you require is something to put the finished product in - Keg or Bottle. Re-cycling bottles is slightly cheaper but more work (and don't forget the cost of a decent capper and caps has to be accounted for) Kegging is pretty straight forward but will up your initial investment.
I would also have a good look at the Kit brew guide on Jim's website - priceless.
Lastly, the golden rule is: we're all idiots and non of us know it all BUT if you have any question at all search on here or make a post and you will be guarenteed at least one answer before the day is out.
GOOD LUCK!!
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BlackBag
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
Well hallow StudentCraig and welcome to the carnival of the damned.
As I've just posted on another thread you can't go wrong with either Leyland Home Brew http://www.leylandhomebrew.com/catalog.htm
or Hop & Grape http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/catalog/catalog.asp
They'll have everything you could possibly need, at good prices, with great customer service.
As for what kit to start off with, just pick one that's your favourite style of beer. If you like stout, go for a stout, if you like bitter go for a bitter. Most standard kits are very similar. The non UK made ones (such as Black Rock, Coopers etc) are very nice, but even the cheapies like the Young's Harvest range are a tasty brew. Just remember to follow the instructions exactly as it says on the tin.
The only piece of kit I would recommend getting that isn't normally included in a starter set up is a £4.99 device called a little bottler. If you're going to bottle your brew this little thing is worth its weight in gold. Oh yes, and make sure your fermenting bin has a tap.
Any questions on anything brew related, don't be afraid to ask it on here. Guaranteed someone will have the answer. And don't be afraid to ask a question that sounds dumb, we've all asked them!
Have fun my friend!
As I've just posted on another thread you can't go wrong with either Leyland Home Brew http://www.leylandhomebrew.com/catalog.htm
or Hop & Grape http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/catalog/catalog.asp
They'll have everything you could possibly need, at good prices, with great customer service.
As for what kit to start off with, just pick one that's your favourite style of beer. If you like stout, go for a stout, if you like bitter go for a bitter. Most standard kits are very similar. The non UK made ones (such as Black Rock, Coopers etc) are very nice, but even the cheapies like the Young's Harvest range are a tasty brew. Just remember to follow the instructions exactly as it says on the tin.
The only piece of kit I would recommend getting that isn't normally included in a starter set up is a £4.99 device called a little bottler. If you're going to bottle your brew this little thing is worth its weight in gold. Oh yes, and make sure your fermenting bin has a tap.
Any questions on anything brew related, don't be afraid to ask it on here. Guaranteed someone will have the answer. And don't be afraid to ask a question that sounds dumb, we've all asked them!
Have fun my friend!
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StudentCraig
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
Fantastic!
What an excellent response, thank you to everyone who has replied so promptly!
Right, so I had a look on a couple of the sites you suggested, and I think I'm going to opt for the Bitter Hop & Grape beer starting kit, bitter because I plan to go for the barrel option, and I doubt I'll have any room in the fridge to chill it! I may however look into bottling them in the future, so that little bottler would indeed be handy.
I can't seem to find the No-rinse sanitiser on Hop & grape, I can understand why it would save me a lot of time to use a non-rinse one though, thanks for the tip!
With the kit I plan to buy, would the tap you mentioned be included with the fermenting bin?
Also I was just wondering, what is the advantage of using the spraymalt instead of sugar?
What an excellent response, thank you to everyone who has replied so promptly!
Right, so I had a look on a couple of the sites you suggested, and I think I'm going to opt for the Bitter Hop & Grape beer starting kit, bitter because I plan to go for the barrel option, and I doubt I'll have any room in the fridge to chill it! I may however look into bottling them in the future, so that little bottler would indeed be handy.
I can't seem to find the No-rinse sanitiser on Hop & grape, I can understand why it would save me a lot of time to use a non-rinse one though, thanks for the tip!
With the kit I plan to buy, would the tap you mentioned be included with the fermenting bin?
Also I was just wondering, what is the advantage of using the spraymalt instead of sugar?
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AlexCricket
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
Tap on the fermenter - Check the options list but also speak to H&G as they are notoriously helpful and do fit taps so just ask if in doubt. I can recommend a tap it is a great help.
Spraymalt - This gives more body or 'mouthfeel' than sugar and avoid a twang to your homebrew. The reason is sugars are either fermentable or non-fermentable. In sugar there is lots of fermentable sugar and so you get a good strong brew but it can be quite 'thin' tasting. With Spraymalt there are more unfermentable sugars which means that there is more body to the brew. It is quite hard to explain unless you've tasted it. The best thing to do is to try things and find what suits you best. There really is no definitive answer it comes down to what you like.
Spraymalt - This gives more body or 'mouthfeel' than sugar and avoid a twang to your homebrew. The reason is sugars are either fermentable or non-fermentable. In sugar there is lots of fermentable sugar and so you get a good strong brew but it can be quite 'thin' tasting. With Spraymalt there are more unfermentable sugars which means that there is more body to the brew. It is quite hard to explain unless you've tasted it. The best thing to do is to try things and find what suits you best. There really is no definitive answer it comes down to what you like.
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mysterio
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
Yeah, regarding the spraymalt, this is the single best improvement that you can make to the single can kits. It's the difference between making thin, insipid beer and luscious, smooth, malty beer.
H&G sell Iodophor, which is a no-rinse sanitiser, if you make it up to no-rinse concentrations (try a search on here for precise instructions). It's not vital, but it is nice to have and a bottle lasts a long time. You can just take a spray bottle, and spray it on the surfaces. Once the surfaces are wet, you only need 2 minutes contact time.
About the barrel, make sure you CLEAN it thoroughly before sanitising and dont use anything abrasive. Even the abrasive side of a sponge scrubbie will harbour microscratches which can harbour bugs.
One last, vital thing, if your water has ANY hint of chlorine aroma or flavour, or even if it doesn't, buy some Campden tablets and add half a crushed one to 25L of water before brewing with it. This will neutralise chlorine/chloramine.
H&G sell Iodophor, which is a no-rinse sanitiser, if you make it up to no-rinse concentrations (try a search on here for precise instructions). It's not vital, but it is nice to have and a bottle lasts a long time. You can just take a spray bottle, and spray it on the surfaces. Once the surfaces are wet, you only need 2 minutes contact time.
About the barrel, make sure you CLEAN it thoroughly before sanitising and dont use anything abrasive. Even the abrasive side of a sponge scrubbie will harbour microscratches which can harbour bugs.
One last, vital thing, if your water has ANY hint of chlorine aroma or flavour, or even if it doesn't, buy some Campden tablets and add half a crushed one to 25L of water before brewing with it. This will neutralise chlorine/chloramine.
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timothio
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
I just spent hours typing a huge answer, then my connection went down and it was all lost so i just got 2 (ish) words for you: Wilkos (for your basic equipment) and ASDA (for your water/bottling requirements)
Is all.
Is all.
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
Hey Craig,
I'm a student and if you're anything like me, probably a lazy bastard!
The investment of a keg instead of bottling is well worth it in my opinion. I know they cost a bit, but you'll make your money back within one batch of beer, and from then on you're laughing.
With bottles, you've got 45 bottles to scrub clean, sterilise, rinse and stick caps on. With a keg, you've just got that to clean, fill it up and screw the cap on. Bottles are great if you can be arsed, but after a couple of brews the thought of going through all that again stunts the momentum somewhat!
Get a medium priced keg with one of the larger lids so you can get your arm inside to was it. I've had the same keg for 7 years now and it's still going strong (yes quite a perpetual student I must admit!). It's a Hambleton bard keg, with the tap at the bottom (don't be tempted by the king keg it's not worth it).
With a keg you've got two options, either wait till it's ready, throw a party, crack the top open and guzzle the lot in a night
OR get a gas canister to pressurise it to have beer on tap at any time. It can last for months in a keg that way, though it won't ever get the chance
You've done well to find the forum man, good luck with the brewing
Rob
I'm a student and if you're anything like me, probably a lazy bastard!
The investment of a keg instead of bottling is well worth it in my opinion. I know they cost a bit, but you'll make your money back within one batch of beer, and from then on you're laughing.
With bottles, you've got 45 bottles to scrub clean, sterilise, rinse and stick caps on. With a keg, you've just got that to clean, fill it up and screw the cap on. Bottles are great if you can be arsed, but after a couple of brews the thought of going through all that again stunts the momentum somewhat!
Get a medium priced keg with one of the larger lids so you can get your arm inside to was it. I've had the same keg for 7 years now and it's still going strong (yes quite a perpetual student I must admit!). It's a Hambleton bard keg, with the tap at the bottom (don't be tempted by the king keg it's not worth it).
With a keg you've got two options, either wait till it's ready, throw a party, crack the top open and guzzle the lot in a night
OR get a gas canister to pressurise it to have beer on tap at any time. It can last for months in a keg that way, though it won't ever get the chance
You've done well to find the forum man, good luck with the brewing
Rob
FV: -
Conditioning: AG34 Randy's Three Nipple Tripel 9.2%, AG39 APA for a mate's wedding
On bottle: AG32 Homegrown Northdown ESB, AG33 Homegrown Cascade Best
On tap: -
Garden: 2x cascade, 2x Farnham whitebine (mathon), 2x northdown, 1x first gold
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
And equipment wise I started with the following:
Keg
Fermentation bucket
Paddle
Syphon
Thermometer
Hydrometer
Sterliser
Can of beer ingredients
1kg spray malt
I brewed like this for years with most batches being ace. The only one that was marginal was one where I put a stack of extra sugar in to get it up to 6.5% - tasted like I'd dropped a couple of shots of cheap whiskey in every pint
Muntons IPA is pretty scrumptious and their Irish stout
Keg
Fermentation bucket
Paddle
Syphon
Thermometer
Hydrometer
Sterliser
Can of beer ingredients
1kg spray malt
I brewed like this for years with most batches being ace. The only one that was marginal was one where I put a stack of extra sugar in to get it up to 6.5% - tasted like I'd dropped a couple of shots of cheap whiskey in every pint
Muntons IPA is pretty scrumptious and their Irish stout
FV: -
Conditioning: AG34 Randy's Three Nipple Tripel 9.2%, AG39 APA for a mate's wedding
On bottle: AG32 Homegrown Northdown ESB, AG33 Homegrown Cascade Best
On tap: -
Garden: 2x cascade, 2x Farnham whitebine (mathon), 2x northdown, 1x first gold
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easty
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
spot on you can't beat wilkos for basic equipment, 2l plastic pop bottles are cheap no need to buy extra caps , only need to sanitize 12 bottles per batch, use cheap bleach for sanitizing 2 lt cost about 40p and lasts ages, kegs get expensive when you have 4 batches in rotationtimothio wrote:I just spent hours typing a huge answer, then my connection went down and it was all lost so i just got 2 (ish) words for you: Wilkos (for your basic equipment) and ASDA (for your water/bottling requirements)
Is all.
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beertrix
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
try your local freecycle network for free homebrewing gear also being a brewing student it would only
be right for you to dabble in the turbo cider malarky its quick easy cheap as chips and strong a feck
be right for you to dabble in the turbo cider malarky its quick easy cheap as chips and strong a feck
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chris_reboot
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
bit late to chip in as you've priced up already, but brewmart in sheffield are great for pricing online thebrewmart.com I think it is
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Vaclav
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
Why?Bobba wrote: It's a Hambleton bard keg, with the tap at the bottom (don't be tempted by the king keg it's not worth it).
Vaclav
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EoinMag
Re: Student Home Brewing, new to the game!
I have one fermenter with a tap, I only use it as a bottling bucket and have never used the tap while it is a fermenter, don't see the point, but as a spare vessel that I use purely for bottling, it's great.