Home Brew Questions

[kwaimaisabai]

I'm assuming your problem is in the hops. A couple of ideas. I'm new to this too and have no idea what I'm doing but there's a few things you can tweak.
Use fewer hops. Use half a pack and save the rest so you can try another one with a pack and a half.
Dry hop for a shorter time.
Dry hop for a longer time. Do they bitter if you leave them longer?
Dry hop at a different time. Has your wort hit FG when you hop? Add hops before your wort hits FG. Try adding hops after your wort has been at FG for a few days.

 

[diond]

I'm assuming your problem is in the hops. A couple of ideas. I'm new to this too and have no idea what I'm doing but there's a few things you can tweak.
Use fewer hops. Use half a pack and save the rest so you can try another one with a pack and a half.
Dry hop for a shorter time.
Dry hop for a longer time. Do they bitter if you leave them longer?
Dry hop at a different time. Has your wort hit FG when you hop? Add hops before your wort hits FG. Try adding hops after your wort has been at FG for a few days.

Cheers kwaimaisabai - that's certainly food for thought. I will find it hard not too use all the hops as I'm a complete hop head! The odd thing is though, my own recipes don't seem to suffer from this taste, although I've only done 1/2 a dozen of my own compared to the kits.

 

[badseed]

I think the carpet will have to go in the front room and be replaced with laminate flooring. This has blown my savings on booze accrued through this hobby thus far.

Off topic by a country mile. Your house insurance, if you have it, might cover this.

 

[TopCat]

I scrubbed the enormous stain out.

 

[Dovydaitis]

So I get the vwp out and select a dj to sterilise. I pop to aldi to grab 3k of nanas so I can make longdog 's nana wine.

I bung the vwp and hot water in the dj named Jamie (don't ask, got given 6 and this one had its name written on it). As it does its stuff I get my bag of magic out:
Bubbler- check
Nanas- check
Dj- check
Various additives- check
Sugar- check
Yeast- .................... *paging yeast, it's your big moment*

Note to self, nip to wilkos tomorrow for yeast

 

[fractionMan]

So I get the vwp out and select a dj to sterilise. I pop to aldi to grab 3k of nanas so I can make longdog 's nana wine.

I bung the vwp and hot water in the dj named Jamie (don't ask, got given 6 and this one had its name written on it). As it does its stuff I get my bag of magic out:
Bubbler- check
Nanas- check
Dj- check
Various additives- check
Sugar- check
Yeast- .................... *paging yeast, it's your big moment*

Note to self, nip to wilkos tomorrow for yeast

got any bread yeast? Use that.

 

[fractionMan]

So I put on 80 pints of ale this weekend.

1: a two tinner IPA in a fermentation bucket. I'm gonna stick it in re-used supermarket mini kegs.
2: a two timmer - one wilko lager tin, one 21 pint boots bitter that expired in 1994. In a pressure barrel, where it's going to stay without secondary fermentation. I might chuck some in bottles if I can be arsed.

Wish me luck!

 

[Dovydaitis]

And the nana puke is in!

 

[TopCat]

Well the double concentrate winter warmer ale was very good. The red wine was excellent and did not last long.
I have forty pints of stout on the go. Plus the same of red wine. About to start forty pints of red wine, bitter, cider and lager this weekend.

 

[shambler]

Would anyone be kind enough to recommend me a starter equipment kit? The OP is quite old now, and I'm not sure which one on the link is being referred to

How does this look?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Home-Brew...087?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35ccf2c9a7

 

[TopCat]

Would anyone be kind enough to recommend me a starter equipment kit? The OP is quite old now, and I'm not sure which one on the link is being referred to

How does this look?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Home-Brew...087?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35ccf2c9a7

Hi shambler. This starter kit looks fine to me. You might save a fiver if you bought all the bits in Wilko but you would have to lug it home.

Go for it say I. Before you know it your home will stink, and the bath will be full of bottles. It's very rewarding to be honest. Most of the effort is cleaning stuff but you get more organised over time. I urge you to keep a journal of what you brew and how you brew it.

 

[TopCat]

I have just bottled up 40 pints of stout and 40 of cider. The latter had no extra sugar added, just Apple juice and yeast. The last batch that had a kilo of brewing sugar added was just too damn strong.

I am rather enjoying this hobby. I have learnt a lot over the last year and have not produced anything that was not drinkable.

 

[TopCat]

Just done my first lager and bottled another five gallons of red wine. It's so easy to keep at right temps at the moment.

 

[TopCat]

The stout I did was fucking lush.

 

[fractionMan]

my brew from a 20 year old boots bitter kit and a lager kit "tastes like tomato soup" according to my mates

 

[TopCat]

Pretty much all I drink is what I brew/ferment. I am really enjoying doing this now. I'm organised and I love the product.

 

[badseed]

Sour cherry wheat beer.
Added 2kg of sour dark cherries after 10 days primary.
I blended the cherries in some pre-boiled water as a kind of shitty pasteurisation process.

 

[TopCat]

Well th weather is warm enough to commence brewing. Forty pints of bitter started. Cider soon and then wine.

 

[friedaweed]

Yes I clean some barrels out this weekend

 

[TopCat]

Started eighty pints of cider today.

 

[TopCat]

Forty pints of wine wil go in this weekend. The house is gonna stink.

 

[TopCat]

Then I will get onto the stout!!!!

 

[doddles]

40L of Belgian American Pale Ale brewed on the weekend. Hopped like an APA but using Belgian trappist yeast. I'm going to Brett half of it.

 

[TopCat]

Not sure it's a good idea for a pisshead to have so much booze in the house. I solved this by drinking most of it.

 

[Thisiswhoiamnow]

Got 23litre of Ginger Beer finishing up, 45 bottles of Golden Ale from a kit rapidly declining in fridge number 2. Forgot to add finishing hops so some fresh lime is necessary, but it goes down well.

 

[friedaweed]

Just opened a bottle of shiraz I put on the rack in June 2014. It tasted shite when I brewed it. So glad i laid it down for a couple of years
It's gonna be lovely in 2018

 

[Whatnow?]

Just bottled cascade hopped coopers kit and a bucket of ginger beer. Finally got the kitchen clear of buckets, bottles and kegs. Tho now the shed is rammed, swings and roundabouts

 

[TopCat]

It's getting to the sort of temps I need to crack another three hundred pints out.

 

[William of Walworth]

For a long time I've avoided looking at this thread. To avoid being tempted into anything resembling hard work

But our mate Mr Orange, rarely seen, is almost certainly bringing some very special home brewed strong stout -- also perhaps some other home brewed special -- to our last festival of the season next weekend


Respect to all the deep cleaners and sterilisers then!

 

[existentialist]

For a long time I've avoided looking at this thread. To avoid being tempted into anything resembling hard work

But our mate Mr Orange, rarely seen, is almost certainly bringing some very special home brewed strong stout -- also perhaps some other home brewed special -- to our last festival of the season next weekend


Respect to all the deep cleaners and sterilisers then!

It's really not as hard as it's made out to be. IME, you don't even really need to be that bonkers about sterilising everything.