Any Home Brewers on Here

[Longsider]

Just picked up a starter kit from here:

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product ... arter-kit/

And this brew kit, that seems to get good reviews.

https://darkrockbrewing.co.uk/product/d ... -enhancer/

Any tips to get the best from this intro kit.?
Thanks

[Taffy on the wing]

Don't forget to sterilize your bottles properly........i made stout in my early teens, anyone who drank it puked 30 mins later........bloody awful tasting too!

[Claret86]

I used to do homebrewing for a couple of years, worked in the beer industry for over 15 years.
The three most important things to homebrewing are:
Cleaning (make sure everything is impeccably cleaned and then sterilised.)
Time ( give your beer the proper time to ferment and then mature. I used to mature my beer 1 week for every % of alcohol. Then I'd bottle it.)
Temperature control. (Different yeast work better at different temperatures. But they like to stay at that temperature. It's hard with homebrewing to control but if you look on the Internet for ideas, people can be quite innovative.)
Also, be VERY careful if you start bottling it. If you over prime it, it can be dangerous

[Claret86]

I'd just add, that I would either boil all the water first ( a faff) or use bottled water. You can tell the difference when just using ordinary tap water. Water profiles are a big thing in brewing. One of the main reasons beers change when brewed on a different plant

[helmclaret]

I did quite a few different brews during covid lockdowns…

As mentioned above cleaning and hygiene is key. Follow the instructions and you can’t go wrong. There’s a good home brew shop in Burnley and the guy in there was a useful sounding board. Experiment with glass and plastic bottles - both have pros and cons.

[Longsider]

Yes, from what I'm reading keeping things clean is key. I think the kit comes with some sterilising fluid so I'll be sure to use that. I've ordered plastic bottles so will be using them to begin with.

[Claret86]

I did quite a few different brews during covid lockdowns…

As mentioned above cleaning and hygiene is key. Follow the instructions and you can’t go wrong. There’s a good home brew shop in Burnley and the guy in there was a useful sounding board. Experiment with glass and plastic bottles - both have pros and cons.

I can second that. I remember when they first started as a market stall on Burnley market. Then they got the shop on Standish street

[BabylonClaret]

Sanitise, sanitise, sanitise. It's the biggest thing that can scotch the result. Getting sone wild yeast or bacteria isn't going to kill anyone or necessarily make them sick or anything but it could easily sour the taste.

And don't overheat - this time of year your ale yeast will most likely do fine at room temp.

[claretabroad]

As mentioned by all the above: hygiene. Be paranoid. Nothing worse than a ruined batch because you were lazy about it. You can buy no rinse oxygen based sanitiser which I find better than the bleach based ones.

Make a yeast starter 24-48 hours ahead of brew day. There's loads of videos on t'interweb about how to do this but using a big quantity of liquid yeast is quicker and more efficient than just throwing the little sachet of dried yeast on top.

Don't take the lid off your fermenter too often. It is tempting to get in there to have a look and a sniff. Its ok to do a few times but doing it too often could cause problems.

Go and buy a load of swing top bottles like grolsch or somesuch. It'll make bottling so much easier.

[eastanglianclaret]

Yep! Clean....clean...clean and clean again. I use sodium metabisulphite (also goes under the name of campden tablets I believe, but I use the powder). Another piece of advice would be to talk to the retailer. Most of the ones that I've met/spoken to are real enthusiasts and are more than happy to share their wisdom be it about equipment, ingredients, method etc....

Agree with claretabroad above with respect to swing top bottles, I would also add that the bottling device known as the 'little bottler' is a useful piece of kit.

[Clovius Boofus]

Our kid brews his own. The advice he gives out, apart from all of the above, that it should also be treated as a hobby, rather than a way in which to enjoy good, inexpensive beers at home. Some of the stuff he brews is exceptional.

[MrTechno]

I need to get back to doing this myself, unfortunately having two young kids it’s been difficult to do it. All good advice on here, the main thing is as others have said sterilising. It looks like in the kit you’ve got you’ve got some steriliser so all good there. As you go you’ll develop processes to make sure you work in a way that’s quicker and more sterile. Once you mix your steriliser I always used to put some of it into a bottle with a cap on it to use as a spray just in case, kept a jug of it I could dunk in anything that might need to be sterile like a thermometer etc…

Don’t cut corners with brewing, I once used a hose pipe I had outside that I cut down to syphon beer for bottling that I sterilised as I hadn’t got a new pipe, needless to say it ruined my beer haha! Also like others have said don’t be tempted to open you fermenter to have a look before it should be ready. Keep the fermentor in a room that has the least temperature change eg under the stairs, in cold weather I’d wrap mine in a sleeping bag.

The other thing is it’s a rabbit warren to go down, especially if you really get into it. Temperature control gauges, corny kegs, taps, bottling systems. For now, personally, I wouldn’t worry too much about your water profile you need to get a water profile report and adjust the chemistry if the water to do this effectively. A yeast starter will eat more of the sugars in the brew and create more alcohol but it should work if you activate your yeast 20 mins before you pitch. I never had any issues with doing it this way.

Last thing I’d say is try and aim for all grain brewing where you try and do it all from scratch. Making your own beer in this way and having it with your friends and family is a great experience. Good luck, you’ll love it