Hello everyone, I'm based in Handforth Cheshire and have done a lot of reading on this very helpful forum so am hoping I have a good idea of how to get started.
I seem to have been on a bit of a beer spending splurge in recent weeks, prompted by dry January and seeing an ad from a company that deal in home bar setups/rentals - Kegman. I decided February would definitely not be dry!
I decided to set up my own system and got a Lindr CWP-100 chiller plus a second hand font from ebay, some valves and pipes and regulators plus a CO2 cylinder and then bought a keg of Moretti and spent a weekend making my bar out of decking from B&Q
I was a bit wary of how quickly I could drink my way through a keg before it goes off and so got a smaller 30l one of Moretti. It lasted two weeks!
I then got a 50l Stella, an old favourite, but I was shocked to read that having already reduced the ABV to 4.8 it will now be 4.6 in future. A shadow of its former self in the eighties and nineties when as I was at university and a session on Stella always ended in silliness. Fortunately my keg is old stock and still 4.8, but it prompted me to Google a bit more and I came across various homebrew recipes for authentic Stella and so I decided it was time to get back into home brewing.
I've ordered a Grainfather 30l conical fermenter that arrives on Monday. I know this is rather spendy of me and usually people start off with a plastic bucket, etc. But I have done that as a teenager and as I want to brew lagers as well as ales, I will be able to hook up the cold water recirculation from the CWP-100 to the fermenter to get the cold temperatures needed to brew lagers. I also read that temperature control of the fermentation is one of the key success factors for home brewing, so given I've not been on holiday in ages I thought I'd invest that saved money in quality from the outset.
My first brew will be a Youngs American Pale Ale kit that I have read good reports of on this forum. I plan to keg it and serve through my existing font setup when it's ready.
I've also ordered a Robobrew to get into all grain later, but that's on backorder at the moment.
I know I have spent loads and am at risk of being "all the gear with no idea", but am hoping that having read a lot and bought quality kit, I'll be making some really nice brews for years to come.
Cheers
I seem to have been on a bit of a beer spending splurge in recent weeks, prompted by dry January and seeing an ad from a company that deal in home bar setups/rentals - Kegman. I decided February would definitely not be dry!
I decided to set up my own system and got a Lindr CWP-100 chiller plus a second hand font from ebay, some valves and pipes and regulators plus a CO2 cylinder and then bought a keg of Moretti and spent a weekend making my bar out of decking from B&Q
I was a bit wary of how quickly I could drink my way through a keg before it goes off and so got a smaller 30l one of Moretti. It lasted two weeks!
I then got a 50l Stella, an old favourite, but I was shocked to read that having already reduced the ABV to 4.8 it will now be 4.6 in future. A shadow of its former self in the eighties and nineties when as I was at university and a session on Stella always ended in silliness. Fortunately my keg is old stock and still 4.8, but it prompted me to Google a bit more and I came across various homebrew recipes for authentic Stella and so I decided it was time to get back into home brewing.
I've ordered a Grainfather 30l conical fermenter that arrives on Monday. I know this is rather spendy of me and usually people start off with a plastic bucket, etc. But I have done that as a teenager and as I want to brew lagers as well as ales, I will be able to hook up the cold water recirculation from the CWP-100 to the fermenter to get the cold temperatures needed to brew lagers. I also read that temperature control of the fermentation is one of the key success factors for home brewing, so given I've not been on holiday in ages I thought I'd invest that saved money in quality from the outset.
My first brew will be a Youngs American Pale Ale kit that I have read good reports of on this forum. I plan to keg it and serve through my existing font setup when it's ready.
I've also ordered a Robobrew to get into all grain later, but that's on backorder at the moment.
I know I have spent loads and am at risk of being "all the gear with no idea", but am hoping that having read a lot and bought quality kit, I'll be making some really nice brews for years to come.
Cheers
My wife would never let me get away with that.
). Looks like youre well on your way, good luck on your first brew and may it outshine the new cats pee Stella!
with a sixteen year old son who is just starting his beer journey and a girlfriend who hasn't yet put her foot down at repurposing the kitchen as a workshop for such projects 
