Home Brew Questions

[ExtraRefined]

An ounce? That's going to be a pricey brew!

I'd suggest putting it in secondary, and doing a really high gravity barley wine / belgian quad. THC is soluble in alcohol but not meaningfully in water. I've made weed vodka before and that worked well enough, although the taste was questionable.

 

[Voley]

An ounce? That's going to be a pricey brew!

It's a lot to lose if it fucks up. I can see why badseed gave up on the idea.

 

[Addy]

Fuckin'ell

Quick question Butch, Addy et al.

I've got a mate who works for an Irish company that makes some kind of black beer who has gone to extreme ends to encourage my new hobby and has supplied me with no end of assorted freebies including bottles, caps, and even 3 shiney silver kegs so I can think about building a AG brewery 'in me shed son'

Anyway in return I said I'd brew him a batch and he's got me a kit and I fancy doing him something unique. He's given me a brown ale kit that makes 40 pints. (Brewmaker 1.8kg)

I have acquired some organic chocolate wheat, some boadicea hops, a hop bag and some dark spray malt. I've got little more than your average kit brewers set up but I have got some big pans. How could I go about making a half arsed extract kit with these ingredients and a big pan and my hob?

Cheers folk.

ETA
Oh and I've got some biscuit malt/grain whatever. Chocolate biscuit brown ale?? can ya see where i'm coming from with this?

You need to be cautious of using wheat as it leads to good head retention but also makes a brew rather lively, so I would only use about 100g
In a 5 gallon kit, steeping 200g of biscuit / Crystal malt @ 67c in 4 litres of water for 30 minutes will give a nice biscuit flavour.
if you add 100g of your choc wheat and 200g of chocolate malt (about £2 for 500g) and do the same you will get the chocolate flavour in there too.
Boadicea hops are like the marmite of hops... some people love them, others dislike them, so i'd err on the side of caution and use 25g on a 10 minute boil in the wort once you remove your grains.

A bit of Gambrinus honey malt would sit well with this recipe i'm thinking

The beauty of tinkering with recipes is the unique outcome, so whatever you do, log it all down incase its a big success.

Here is a rough guide I made for tinkering with a kit

Good luck and report back

 

[friedaweed]

You need to be cautious of using wheat as it leads to good head retention but also makes a brew rather lively, so I would only use about 100g
In a 5 gallon kit, steeping 200g of biscuit / Crystal malt @ 67c in 4 litres of water for 30 minutes will give a nice biscuit flavour.
if you add 100g of your choc wheat and 200g of chocolate malt (about £2 for 500g) and do the same you will get the chocolate flavour in there too.
Boadicea hops are like the marmite of hops... some people love them, others dislike them, so i'd err on the side of caution and use 25g on a 10 minute boil in the wort once you remove your grains.

A bit of Gambrinus honey malt would sit well with this recipe i'm thinking

The beauty of tinkering with recipes is the unique outcome, so whatever you do, log it all down incase its a big success.

Here is a rough guide I made for tinkering with a kit

Good luck and report back

You sir are a gentleman and a scholar.

Fortunately I have some organic chocolate malt. Taking into account your offerings of wisdom I'm thinking.....

200g of biscuit malt
100g of choc wheat
200g of organic choc malt
In the oven for 30 mins in 4 ltrs of water at 65 degrees.

Drain off and give it a 40 min boil adding 20g of the Boadicea hops for the last 10.

Chill the mofo with some sterilised cooler blocks.

500g of dark spray malt
500g of home made Belgian candy sugar

Add the Brown ale kit and make up to 23 ltrs.

= Big Pete's Chocolate Biscuit Xmas Brown Ale

Wadda ya think matey?

 

[Addy]

Sounds like a winner

 

[Addy]

28 hrs in and my Coopers Stout starts to spew...

I wouldn't want it any other way

 

[friedaweed]

Been a busy night at the Freidaweed Brewshack too

Kegged my first Bitter. Muntons Old English Bitter.
So fucking chuffed when I tasted it and it tasted like real beer

and bottled my turbo Lady Juice

Elderflower and Strawberry Cider. 7.8%
So fucking scared when I tasted it and it warmed my cockles

Better get on with the washing up if i'm going to get my Chocolate Biscuit Brown Ale on tomorrow

 

[friedaweed]

28 hrs in and my Coopers Stout starts to spew...

I wouldn't want it any other way

Is that a Ditch's formula Coopers stout?

I'm making that next. After the Grand Cru, or maybe after the diablo or maybe after the liver transplant

 

[Addy]

Is that a Ditch's formula Coopers stout?

I'm making that next. After the Grand Cru, or maybe after the diablo or maybe after the liver transplant

Aye, Coopers Original Stout (19l brewlength), 1kg of Dark DME and a mug of organic brown sugar.

It's 1 of the easiest drinking and simplistic brews to do.
10 days in FV, keg, add co2 and drink. Doesn't get any better than that.

 

[friedaweed]

Aye, Coopers Original Stout, 1kg of Dark DME and a mug of organic brown sugar.

It's 1 of the easiest drinking and simplistic brews to do.
10 days in FV, keg, add co2 and drink. Doesn't get any better than that.

I'll be reet onto this I have the coopers in already after reading his thread. I did wonder if Ditch was possibly our very own Rory. Similar beautiful turn of phrase

 

[Addy]

Ditch is quite a charactor, I'd love to meet him for a pint or 10 and chew the fat.
Maybe next time I visit family in Eire i'll do it.

 

[friedaweed]

Did the old Belgian Candy sugar last night for my forthcoming Diablo and Grand Cru.

2 kilo of sugar, big pinch of citric acid and enough water to cover. Heated up to to 120c on a high heat.

Lower the heat and allow it to rise to 130 and then hold at 130c by adding about an egg cup full of cold water every so often.

After 25 mins it starts to go a nice yellow amber colour

Around the hour mark it's showing a nice ruby colour and the whole house smells like a sweet shop.

Once you get the colour you want crank it up to 150c, turn off the heat and pour into a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Voilà. Belgian Candy Sugar

Piss easy really innit

 

[ExtraRefined]

Candi sugar works well in ESBs and barley wines too, and is cheap.

Make sure you don't add too much colour for the Diablo it's supposed to be straw yellow. Commercial tripel brewers such as Westmalle do just add plain sucrose as I understand it, as they want to add strength but no body or flavour.

 

[friedaweed]

Candi sugar works well in ESBs and barley wines too, and is cheap.

Make sure you don't add too much colour for the Diablo it's supposed to be straw yellow. Commercial tripel brewers such as Westmalle do just add plain sucrose as I understand it, as they want to add strength but no body or flavour.

Ahhh! thanks for that. I actually thought it might be a darker beer than that. Mind you there's no saying you cant have a red diablo I might start a craze. I do have the triple in though so might do that instead. Ohh decisions decisions

Anyway I'm starting my chocolate biscuit dark ale and 500g is going in there.With a spare fermenting bin next to it it would be rude not to start one of the breferm kits to keep it company

I must admit it was so much fun making it I might have to run off an pale amber batch as well for the diablo.

Red Diablo ? It has a nice ring

 

[Dovydaitis]

really must get started on this soon, feel like I'm really missing out! will wait till I'm back down Bournemouth way as they have a tidy little brew shop that is nicely stocked and has friendly, knowledgeable staff.

 

[og ogilby]

Just got the bug myself, partly thanks to this thread. I started about a month ago and I'm just about to put my sixth brew on.


EDIT. Seventh brew. I forgot the 23l of rose wine I did for my girlfriend.

 

[friedaweed]

really must get started on this soon, feel like I'm really missing out! will wait till I'm back down Bournemouth way as they have a tidy little brew shop that is nicely stocked and has friendly, knowledgeable staff.

Do it you'll never look back

Just got the bug myself, partly thanks to this thread. I started about a month ago and I'm just about to put my sixth brew on.


EDIT. Seventh brew. I forgot the 23l of rose wine I did for my girlfriend.

Great isn't it. Can't wait for Xmas and new year whereby I shall be spending two weeks drinking it all

 

[friedaweed]

So got round to making my mate his well earned batch last night

Saint Pete's Chocolate Biscuit Boadicea Brown Ale

The Swag
1 Brewmakers 1.8kg Northumberland Brown Ale kit
500g Home-made Belgian Candy Sugar (Ruby ruby ruby ruby)
415g Dark Spay Malt (I’d used the other 85 to prime a barrel)
85g Dark Molasses (That 85g had to come back from somewhere and it was in the baking cupboard)
200g Biscuit Malt
200g Organic Chocolate Malt
100g Chocolate Wheat
22g Boadicea Hops (Apparently the Marmite of hops according to Addy )
A bottle of Cornish Knocker (To lubricate the brewer)

The Swagger
Grains Steeped in oven with 4 litres of water @ 67c in shiny pan for 45 mins
kit tin (Cleaned and Glue removed) warmed in boiling hot water in pan number 2.
Kit contents into FV.
Candy sugar into kit tin and topped up with boiling water, left in the pan of bubbling water to dissolve. Mucho stiro.
Dissolved candy sugar into FV.
DME into kit tin topped up with boiling water and dissolved.
DME into FV
Empty pan 2 and rinse
As if by magic the mash is ready.
Cover mash pan with hop bag netting and fix firmly in place with clean crepe bandage.

Empty upturned mash pan straight into pan 2, leave to drain and turn the boil on.
Remove mash pan once drained
45 minute boil
Boadicea Hops in hop bag number 2 for last 10 minutes.

Chill wort in sink full of all that shit that’s been clogging up the freezer. (Summer’s over kids the ice pops are surplus)
Put chilled wort into FV
Top up to 23 litres.
As if by magic it’s 20c
Pitch Yeast.
Put lid on and wait for it to be blown off in 24 hours
OG 1042

It's already got an inch of thick creamy foam on it and an airlock that sounds like a 50cc moped

 

[og ogilby]

Great isn't it. Can't wait for Xmas and new year whereby I shall be spending two weeks drinking it all

I'm just thinking of setting up a space in an outside building for storing/conditioning my beer, but I'm just wondering if we have a hard winter, like the last two, will that be a problem for the beer?

 

[friedaweed]

I'm just thinking of setting up a space in an outside building for storing/conditioning my beer, but I'm just wondering if we have a hard winter, like the last two, will that be a problem for the beer?

I've cleared out my garage and made a nice storage space for the bottles and a brewery in the making. Mines got lecky in so I have considered wiring up an old storage heater that's been left in there but I'll take a chance and see how winter progresses. I may end up using the loft for storage. As you say if we have another minus 12 job this winter I'd be using more lecky to heat the garage than the house.

Have you got any loft space?

 

[og ogilby]

I do have loft space, but I don't think I fancy carting all this lot up there.


So you reckon -12 will harm the beer. So what if it's just a regular winter, down to something like -5?

 

[friedaweed]

I do have loft space, but I don't think I fancy carting all this lot up there.


So you reckon -12 will harm the beer. So what if it's just a regular winter, down to something like -5?

No idea dude to be honest but i'm sure minus 12 would make it nice and solid. Addy and Butcher will know I would imagine
There's not enough alc in beer to stop it freezing past zero I would guess so if it's a risk then I'd say either use a greenhouse heater or go with the loft, spare wardrobe, under the stair, etc.

 

[friedaweed]

You could dig a cellar

http://www.wikihow.com/Store-Beer

 

[og ogilby]

I'd say either use a greenhouse heater or go with the loft, spare wardrobe, under the stair, etc.

The trouble with all the indoor spaces, especially the loft, is that it's going to be pretty warm until the weather really gets cold.

I guess I'll go ahead with my plan to store in the outside building, then bring it in the house if we have a bad forecast.


One other thing. I bought a Brewferm Diabolo kit from my local HB shop and on the tin it says the OG should be 1075. When I checked mine it read 1060. I mentioned this to the lady from the HB shop and she said that they get loads of customers asking the same question and the reason the reading is lower is that you would have to stir the wort for ages and ages to get it all mixed up right so the reading would be correct. She assured me the brew would be 1075, even though I got a much lower reading. Is this right? and if so, what's the point in taking an OG reading?

 

[friedaweed]

The trouble with all the indoor spaces, especially the loft, is that it's going to be pretty warm until the weather really gets cold.

I guess I'll go ahead with my plan to store in the outside building, then bring it in the house if we have a bad forecast.


One other thing. I bought a Brewferm Diabolo kit from my local HB shop and on the tin it says the OG should be 1075. When I checked mine it read 1060. I mentioned this to the lady from the HB shop and she said that they get loads of customers asking the same question and the reason the reading is lower is that you would have to stir the wort for ages and ages to get it all mixed up right so the reading would be correct. She assured me the brew would be 1075, even though I got a much lower reading. Is this right? and if so, what's the point in taking an OG reading?

Not sure but someone will know. To be honest I use the hydrometer because i'm a bloke and numbers are like that 'Gregory's Girl' thing with us aren't they but to be honest I don't really care what the ABV is so long as nature's done it job and then you get what you get innit

I do like the idea of using the plasterers whisk and power drill to get a good aerated mix though

 

[ExtraRefined]

I do have loft space, but I don't think I fancy carting all this lot up there.


So you reckon -12 will harm the beer. So what if it's just a regular winter, down to something like -5?

Very roughly, beer will freeze at its ABV below zero, so yeah -12 will freeze almost everything. You could always make an eisbock?

 

[friedaweed]

Very roughly, beer will freeze at its ABV below zero, so yeah -12 will freeze almost everything. You could always make an eisbock?

I have a plan for keeping my beer warm if there's a bad winter....

 

[friedaweed]

An empty FV is a sad FV. The 40 mints of brown ale's now got a little Belgian sister sat next to him
Brewferm Grand Cru with 550g of the ruby red candy sugar. Wish I'd done a double batch of this now

 

[Dovydaitis]

has anyone done milestone old home wrecker? I can get it in a starter pack from bigger jugs and it sounds quite tasty

 

[Addy]

Racked my IPA tonight and added finings ready to drop in the corny tomorrow.
Stout will be kegged on saturday, then its the St Peters ruby red and a Coopers APA (bastardised) to go on sunday.
Also got a peach wine kit to get going for the mrs.