Voley
🐀
Excellent, ta. I'll just sling a sachet in as usual, then.
Home Brew Questions
- Thread starter Voley
- Start date
Excellent, ta. I'll just sling a sachet in as usual, then.
badseed
Mighty but thin.
Lime, Coriander and Honey
Generic Lager or Belgian ale kit
1 kg ldme*
500 g Maltodextrin*
100g Coriander Seeds
3 limes
50g Halertau
250g Honey
Saflager Yeast
*1.5kg of ldme would be a reasonable substitute
If you do not rack you will need a brew bag for the Coriander and maybe the hops. I would avoid any flavoured (eucalytus etc) honey and use pure clear stuff
Zest and juice limes
Crack Coriander seeds
Boil 2 litres water with Lime zest for 20 minutes
Add ldme, maltodextrin and half the hops boil for another 20 mins
Add Coriander, lime juice and Honey and boil for further 5 minutes.
Turn off heat and steep for 15 minutes.
Add everything including the kit, seeds and the remaining hops to the fermenter and top up to 23 litres.
Primary ferment 1 week 11 degrees*
Secondary ferment 1 week 11 degrees*
Cold Condition/lager 1 week at 1 degree*
The first few times I madew this I couldn't control the heat so it was just left out, still tasted great.
This is a cloudy and strong beer with a beautiful smooth texture, strong citrus flavours and a slight honey finish.
Gets you really fucked up too....
Generic Lager or Belgian ale kit
1 kg ldme*
500 g Maltodextrin*
100g Coriander Seeds
3 limes
50g Halertau
250g Honey
Saflager Yeast
*1.5kg of ldme would be a reasonable substitute
If you do not rack you will need a brew bag for the Coriander and maybe the hops. I would avoid any flavoured (eucalytus etc) honey and use pure clear stuff
Zest and juice limes
Crack Coriander seeds
Boil 2 litres water with Lime zest for 20 minutes
Add ldme, maltodextrin and half the hops boil for another 20 mins
Add Coriander, lime juice and Honey and boil for further 5 minutes.
Turn off heat and steep for 15 minutes.
Add everything including the kit, seeds and the remaining hops to the fermenter and top up to 23 litres.
Primary ferment 1 week 11 degrees*
Secondary ferment 1 week 11 degrees*
Cold Condition/lager 1 week at 1 degree*
The first few times I madew this I couldn't control the heat so it was just left out, still tasted great.
This is a cloudy and strong beer with a beautiful smooth texture, strong citrus flavours and a slight honey finish.
Gets you really fucked up too....
I'm gonna need to get an old fridge and set it up in the shed for these brewing temperatures - I've always brewed my lagers as "california common" (aka "steam") beers, ie using lager yeasts and recipes at room temperature, but I think that has to change...
Stig
Condimentalist
Nah, the stuff breeds readily enough. If you're really paranoid about it, start off a culture (half a litre of apple juice, bit of sugar, and pitch the yeast, let it brew away for a day or so under cover, so it gets to rehydrate and breed like little rabbits, then pitch that into your main vessel full of apple juice.
Random interesting tip: www.hopandgrape.co.uk sell PROPER MICROBREWERY METALWARE!!
12 gallon, £492. Get in!!
Don't!
You'll start me off.
Don't!
You'll start me off.
Oi! We're not getting rid of the lodger for one of those!
'Quick question' my arse.
These things, like beer, have to be savoured to be properly appreciated.
Stig
Condimentalist
'Quick question' my arse.
It was a quick question. How was poor NVP to know there was a secret heaving undercurrent of chunky-jumpered brewers lurking the forums?
Funky_monks
Neo-Rustic
Try a milk chiller - for dairying. May'aps you can get one on e-bay.
Stig
Condimentalist
That was the last but one of my kit brews, so it started with the two tins of Brewpaks Fixby Gold (highly recommended) and boiled that up with Susan hops.
My mistake was that the whole 100g of susan hops (at three intervals during the boil) was 9.8 alpha acid which is pretty damn high, so on reflection I probably shouldn't have bunged in the whole pack of hop pellets that came with the brupaks kit aswell for good luck.
I like it hoppy though dammit, and I'm the one who has to drink it. 
It is a lovely colour, innit. (Gold my arse. Should be called fixby amber.)
Stig
Condimentalist
Actually having said that has prompted me to do a quick review of all the kits I've used. Here's the site I got them from:
http://www.art-of-brewing.co.uk/acatalog/AoB_OnLine_Catalogue_Beer_kits___Premium____________9.html
EDME SUPERBREW STOUT 40p 1.8kg
Not bad, it's one of the better ones that needs sugar added. All the others below were 3kg no sugar ones which was a vast improvement, but this stood up to those ok
AoB PREMIUM DRAUGHT BITTER 40p 1.8kg
Meh. Wouldn't throw it away, but it tastes of... home brew.
BRUPAKS BIRKBY BITTER 3Kg Ref: 1430
Not bad at all. Definitely use the extra hops. All of them.
BRUPAKS SCAMMONDEN DARK 3Kg
Sort of porterish, homebrewy tinge though.
BRUPAKS FIXBY GOLD 3Kg
So good I bought it twice
MUNTONS PREMIUM GOLD MIDAS TOUCH ALE 3.6kg
Very tasty but it was not gold, it was amber, as was the lying fixby gold.
MUNTONS GOLD IMPERIAL STOUT 40p 3kg
Very nice indeed with a few litres of freshly brewed freshly roasted coffee poured in after the boil. That's the one in the other photo, above.
I think that's my complete history of brewing.
Apart from the very first two:
Youngs generic lager; came with bucket and spoon etc when all the kit was originally bought:
Most excellent for ridding the garden of slugs. do not drink.
Tom Caxton Real Ale from Wilkinsons.
Tastes of the very essence of home brew. A bit like the taste of plastic buckets
http://www.art-of-brewing.co.uk/acatalog/AoB_OnLine_Catalogue_Beer_kits___Premium____________9.html
EDME SUPERBREW STOUT 40p 1.8kg
Not bad, it's one of the better ones that needs sugar added. All the others below were 3kg no sugar ones which was a vast improvement, but this stood up to those ok
AoB PREMIUM DRAUGHT BITTER 40p 1.8kg
Meh. Wouldn't throw it away, but it tastes of... home brew.
BRUPAKS BIRKBY BITTER 3Kg Ref: 1430
Not bad at all. Definitely use the extra hops. All of them.
BRUPAKS SCAMMONDEN DARK 3Kg
Sort of porterish, homebrewy tinge though.
BRUPAKS FIXBY GOLD 3Kg
So good I bought it twice
MUNTONS PREMIUM GOLD MIDAS TOUCH ALE 3.6kg
Very tasty but it was not gold, it was amber, as was the lying fixby gold.
MUNTONS GOLD IMPERIAL STOUT 40p 3kg
Very nice indeed with a few litres of freshly brewed freshly roasted coffee poured in after the boil. That's the one in the other photo, above.
I think that's my complete history of brewing.
Apart from the very first two:
Youngs generic lager; came with bucket and spoon etc when all the kit was originally bought:
Most excellent for ridding the garden of slugs. do not drink.
Tom Caxton Real Ale from Wilkinsons.
Tastes of the very essence of home brew. A bit like the taste of plastic buckets
Voley
🐀
You read my mind. I was just about to ask for a bit of advice on which kit to go with next. I was going to go with this:
Sounds nice. Anyone tried it?
I'm being swayed by Stig's description of Brewpaks Fixby Gold though. Really full-flavoured bitter bitter is what I'm after. Dunno if Fixby Gold's meant to be like that but it looks like it from Stig's photo.
Sounds nice. Anyone tried it?
I'm being swayed by Stig's description of Brewpaks Fixby Gold though. Really full-flavoured bitter bitter is what I'm after. Dunno if Fixby Gold's meant to be like that but it looks like it from Stig's photo.
Yeah, I'd agree with you on the Youngs kits. My "weedy lager" was a Young's kit, though I bought a few more as I believed the weediness of the brew to be down to my brewing skills (or lack of them) rather than the quality of the kit. I know different now.
I was also unimpressed when one of their bitter kits started "fermenting" in the can - I phoned them up, and they insisted point blank that there could be nothing wrong with their kit; it must be something I'd done.
I rate Edme, but haven't tried any of the Brupacks ones - I think I will, now.
I was also unimpressed when one of their bitter kits started "fermenting" in the can - I phoned them up, and they insisted point blank that there could be nothing wrong with their kit; it must be something I'd done.
I rate Edme, but haven't tried any of the Brupacks ones - I think I will, now.
Yes, but.'Quick'cider question. If I'm not too bothered about it being 8% and just want it a bit sweeter and palatable to the ordinary human being, would diluting it by a third with apple juice work?
If you do that, any live yeast left in suspension (count on it, there will be some) will simply start fermenting the sugars in that, too!
The trick is to kill the yeast with a few campden (sodium metabisulphite) tablets, THEN add the apple juice. If you can manage to keep it all carbonated at the same time, brilliant, otherwise you'll have to drink flat cider or force-carbonate it.
badseed
Mighty but thin.
NVP said:'Quick'
Try adding lactose, it is perfect for this. It is non-fermentable, don't add too much though try about 100g, taste it and add another 100 if required.
Voley
🐀
Lactose, eh? Never heard of that before, badseed, cheers.
Right. My big batch of cider doesn't seem to be doing anything. I poured all the apple juice in yesterday afternoon, pitched the yeast and left it overnight. I didn't add the sugar as I thought it might overflow. I was expecting it to be bubbling away merrily this morning but there's nothing going on.
Can you advise whether a couple of things that I've done might have affected this? I've also pitched in 40g of mulled wine spice (dried cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and a few others). Also, I use vodka in the airlock and a decent glug or two managed to find it's way in while I was getting the lid on. Do you think either of these things will have made a difference?
Or does it just take a long time to get going when you're doing such large amounts?
ETA: I've added the sugar this morning in an attempt to get things moving.
Right. My big batch of cider doesn't seem to be doing anything. I poured all the apple juice in yesterday afternoon, pitched the yeast and left it overnight. I didn't add the sugar as I thought it might overflow. I was expecting it to be bubbling away merrily this morning but there's nothing going on.
Can you advise whether a couple of things that I've done might have affected this? I've also pitched in 40g of mulled wine spice (dried cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and a few others). Also, I use vodka in the airlock and a decent glug or two managed to find it's way in while I was getting the lid on. Do you think either of these things will have made a difference?
Or does it just take a long time to get going when you're doing such large amounts?
ETA: I've added the sugar this morning in an attempt to get things moving.
Mine typically took at least a day to get going.
The mulled spices will make a slight difference, but nothing to worry about, same for the vodka. I think the bigger brews DO take longer to get going (hence why people often make up a small yeast starter batch and pitch that once it's got going), but it's almost certainly no problem.
It's still not doing anything.
How warm have you got it? How warm was it when you pitched the yeast?
And do you have any more yeast handy?
I'd leave it another 24 hours, then make up about a pint of water 3:1 cold:boiling (so the water's at about 25-30C. Add a couple of teaspoons of sugar (I put it in the boiling water before I add the cold to sterilise it and dissolve it easier), dissolve them, then pitch the yeast into that. Cover, and let it brew up a bit - maybe for 4-6 hours - before pitching into the cider.
Consider buying some tronozymol from your homebrew merchant for the next order you place - that's something I've occasionally used as a "magic spell" when brews get stuck (other people's, usually
).It is possible that the acidity of the apples is upsetting the yeast and making it slower to start, and if it's quite cold that might be holding it back, too. What yeast was it you used? I usually use a champagne yeast for ciders, though I've had success with Saflager S.23 too (stinks like a bastard while it's going, though, phwoaar), but they're bother lower temperature yeasts, and of course a champagne yeast won't mind an acidic must.
Voley
🐀
It's 19 degrees C right now and was about the same when the yeast went in.
Reckon I'll leave it overnight and follow your advice tomorrow if nothing's happened. The yeast I've used is Young's Ale Yeast - this stuff:
The gallon I got going in the demijohn is bubbling away very happily and that's right beside it at the same temperature. If I poured that into the currently inactive one, might that kick it off?
Reckon I'll leave it overnight and follow your advice tomorrow if nothing's happened. The yeast I've used is Young's Ale Yeast - this stuff:
The gallon I got going in the demijohn is bubbling away very happily and that's right beside it at the same temperature. If I poured that into the currently inactive one, might that kick it off?
Almost certainly. There might be a slight pause (so don't panic!). Then, once it's going nicely, you can draw off a gallon for the demijohn again...It's 19 degrees C right now and was about the same when the yeast went in.
Reckon I'll leave it overnight and follow your advice tomorrow if nothing's happened. The yeast I've used is Young's Ale Yeast - this stuff:
The gallon I got going in the demijohn is bubbling away very happily and that's right beside it at the same temperature. If I poured that into the currently inactive one, might that kick it off?
