@ Popeye

[Apache]

Well, my beer is fabulous! A proper real ale for <50p a pint!!! I'm still a bit stunned by how much things have progressed since the days of those old Boots homebrew kits that tasted like watery yeast.

Ordering a Woodfordes 'Great Eastern' Pale Ale kit tomorrow - and its all your fault!

[POPEYE]

Is yours ready already? thought you started it after mine, i kegged mine on the 15th so it will be 6 weeks anytime now, i was gonna leave it another week but as you say your is fine i think i'll start bottleing it right away, mines smelling lovely cant wait to sample it, glad ya like mate, enjoy

[Apache]

Didn't bother bottling in the end. It was so nice from the keg that I didn't want to risk ruining it.

[POPEYE]

Gonna bottle mine but i need to do it without moveing the keg and risk stirring up any sediment! got some of those reuseable wire top bottles, aint made up my mind what to try next

[Apache]

I ordered my Pale Ale kit yesterday. They do 10% off on wednesdays

[KERRSURF]

User on here called Big Yin is a bit of an expert in these brewing matters, he makes and sells all the proper stuff for doing 'proper' homebrew.
I've sampled a few and can confirm they are the dogs danglies.

[BigYin]

Thanks for the thumbs up on my beer mate

The modern two can beer kits are very high quality and are attracting more and more people into homebrew because they work so well.

I've moved into the world of AG brewing (all grain) and brew from the ground, malted barley. The results from that have got better and better, and cost of the kit aside, a 40 to 50 pint brew costs about a tenner all in including grain, yeast and power consumption. Can't recommend it enough!

[POPEYE]

Thanks for the thumbs up on my beer mate

The modern two can beer kits are very high quality and are attracting more and more people into homebrew because they work so well.

I've moved into the world of AG brewing (all grain) and brew from the ground, malted barley. The results from that have got better and better, and cost of the kit aside, a 40 to 50 pint brew costs about a tenner all in including grain, yeast and power consumption. Can't recommend it enough!

What sort of equipment/cost is needed to do it your way Mike? (roughly)
i guess the low(ish) cost of the starter kit me and apache have makes them more attractive, the kit was about £50 and the beer kits £20, i do want to get another pressure keg at some point so i have a couple of beers on the go, and possibley a gas cartridge for a lager i want to have a go at,

we did the brewery trip at Gales some years back (long before Fullers took it over) really good and facinating, lovely smell, got quite pi$$ed but wasn't sick at all, that was several samples in the brewery, back to the clubhouse for some of their wines then back to the pub, trouble with pub beers (lagers and common named beers) is the soddin chemicles added to "keep" the shelf live,
anyway had a wee nip of mine last night and very nice indeed,

[BigYin]

Well, I built my brewery from plastic fermenters, lots of copper tube, various brass bits and taps, and some foil covered bubblewrap

I haven't ever actually totted up the price, but it was about £60 to £70 to make the boiler, the mash tun and to buy an extra fermenter to collect the wort.

On top of that a further £60 or so to build an immersion chiller to cool the wort after the boil, and then a further £80 or so to build a fancy PID temperature control that controls the heating elements in my boiler.

I've managed to acquire two King Kegs, at £40 a throw each, and I now also have two stainless steel Corny kegs, complete with a gas management panel to control the gas flow to them - that's £55 each for the cornies, and £70 for the gas panel.... Thankfully the fridge they are kept in was free through Freecycle!!!

So, costs can *ahem* gradually grow!!!

On the other hand, a fiver for grain, £2 for yeast, and 1 few quid spent on electricity, and you have the same amount of beer as a £23 kit provides

[BigYin]

If you do have any brewing questions, I use http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/index.php and it has been an amazing source of very friendly and helpful people

[Apache]

Sounds like an interesting hobby - when we move I'll be looking for a house with a cellar

My Pale Ale kit arrived today so I'll get up to the Malvern Spring later with my big bucket

[Apache]

I've just joined that forum - thanks for the tip!

[POPEYE]

Thanks for the link and info Mike, i'll be looking at that with interest, sounds like a real interesting hobby especially as i love makeing stuff, apart from inital cash outlay my only prob would be space, the bedroom! turf the surf out and use the garage!

[BigYin]

It is a dangerously fascinating hobby once you get into it

It doesn't have to cost mega bucks intitially though. You can make a mash tun from a £6 coolbox from Asda, and a boiler from an £8 plastic fermenter with the element from a £6 tesco value kettle. Add on a bit more for the brass and copper you need for a grain filter in the mash tun, and a hops filter in the boiler, and you can have a basic all grain setup for under £60 if you are careful.

Extra nice to have's are a second heating element in the boiler, and some way to control the heating of the boiler (the PID), and a way to quickly chill the beer after the boil is done - but you CAN just stick a lid on it and leave it in a cold bath overnight!

A few guys on the homebrew forum have gone way more complex than that though, and have big stainless steel systems, with pumps to move the beer between the different vessels, producing twice or three times the amount of beer I can do in my setup

It's quite possible to end up investing serious money in it, at which point it has really ceased to be a cheap way to make beer, and has truly become a hobby!

[POPEYE]

I can see how it could very easily become an expensive hobby, but there again dont most hobbys, worht it for the enjoyment ya get (not to mention getting pi$$ed in the process)

bottled mine last night and ran out of bottles!! theres about 7-8 pints left in the keg so i will be forced to either drink it or tip it! tough decision, dont want to leave it kegged as it'll go flat, (too much air in there now)