Be honest...

[Saisonator]

I actually struggle to find beer worth buying in the supermarket now. Even when my beer is not perfect, it still has more flavour, body and head than 95% of beer in Tesco.
I tend to buy stuff like Czech lager and pilsner, because it is difficult to re-create at home and is well crafted and clean tasting.

 

[AdeDunn]

From what I've seen of kits, there seem to be 3 recurring problems with kits:-

1) Dates been too long. Just how long they think the yeast/concentrated wort/hops last just sat on shelves seems to be a little on the over confident side. :lol:

2) The instructions are never right, and always generic. I've found that if a kit is from the same company, it comes with the same instructions.

3) The kit makers are over-confident in the capability of the kits. Hence they come out way nicer when you tweak the heck out of them....

As I mentioned elsewhere, I've made 7 kits to date. One of these is still fermenting (Youngs AIPI) with no tweaking as had a good long date (2019), huge packet of yeast (20g) AND a nice big pack of hops for a dry hop. :thumb: The other 6, 4 score a meh with me. It was only when I bought 2 cheapo Wilko's kits and tweaked them with extra hops etc that I produced a genuinely nice beer. There lies the problem though, one I see some kit makers finally addressing, people buy a kit wanting a simple all in one kit to brew up. What they really end up with is a base kit that needs more purchases to turn into something actually enjoyable.

That's why I decided to try AG. I considered extract brewing, but with mini mash or grain steeping it just seemed nearly as much work as AG. But if I was going to have to do loads to a kit to make it nice I figured I'd rather just make my own.

I'm now just weighing the ratio of work:results. I probably deep down have no real intention of going back, just wondered if other folks had had the same 2nd thoughts when starting out with AG. Peer support and all that.:thumb: When I taste my first AG, I may have a moment of enlightenment, and never question myself again. But that golden ale, and the Wilko's cerveza, both made with kits as a base, are pretty darn yummy and were done in a fraction of the time..... :lol:

 

[AdeDunn]

I actually struggle to find beer worth buying in the supermarket now. Even when my beer is not perfect, it still has more flavour, body and head than 95% of beer in Tesco.
I tend to buy stuff like Czech lager and pilsner, because it is difficult to re-create at home and is well crafted and clean tasting.

Brewdog Electric India is the only commercial beer that I find truly delicious to be honest. Hence my first BIAB was an attempt at a clone of this. :lol: I'd add Titanic Plum Porter to the list, but I have to go to Stafford for that, can't buy it locally. :whistle:

 

[AdeDunn]

Well, what is your efficiency? BIAB and batch sparging do decrease your efficiency.
I use a bucket in bucket system, and I fly sparge. I had a couple of sessions where I did more batch sparge, and my efficiency dropped. So now I am back into fly sparging.
And I do stir every twenty minutes. When I did not stir, my efficiency dropped too.
My last calculated efficiency is 82.5%. But I set it for recipe formulation always to 80%. That is efficiency into boil kettle. My last two brewhouse efficiencies came out above 83%.

The BIAB I did I got 61% efficiency according to my brew day post. The stove top I got 53% efficiency (no bag, mashed loose then filtered through a bag). The BIAB I did do a dunk sparge, which could be what got me to 61%..... Which is a bit worrying really. OG was good with the stove top, but only thanks to boiling down nearly 14 litres of 1.032 to about 6 or so litres of 1.070 wort... Yeah, using a 30 litre pan to get 4.5 litres of usable wort. :whistle:

 

[GlentoranMark]

Bottling is more a PITA but I sometimes put off a brew because I know it takes so long.

I've 2 kits to use I bought last year in the Tesco sale. I much prefer AG even though it takes far longer. I've never had the twang with an AG that I get in certain kits.

 

[AdeDunn]

Bottling is more a PITA but I sometimes put off a brew because I know it takes so long.

I've 2 kits to use I bought last year in the Tesco sale. I much prefer AG even though it takes far longer. I've never had the twang with an AG that I get in certain kits.

Read a few posts from people who find bottling a PITA. My wife helps with this, sanitising them and putting the caps on whilst full, I sit and fill them from my bottling bucket using a bottling stick. Fast and easy combined with batch priming in the bottling bucket. :thumb: I put the bucket on a shelf high enough so I can do it seated. You can see the shelf with FVs on it in the pic. Makes taking samples from the tap easy too. Probably should wrap the FVs to block out light, but it doesn't seem to have had any effect on the beer so far.

 

[TheSalad]

Brewdog Electric India is the only commercial beer that I find truly delicious to be honest. Hence my first BIAB was an attempt at a clone of this. :lol: I'd add Titanic Plum Porter to the list, but I have to go to Stafford for that, can't buy it locally. :whistle:

Titanic Plum Porter is lovely stuff. Waitrose sell it.

 

[AdeDunn]

Titanic Plum Porter is lovely stuff. Waitrose sell it.

I live in Wolverhampton, you think we're posh enough to have a Waitrose? :lol: Tettenhall have been trying to secede from Wolverhampton council for years now, we're not posh enough for their liking. :lol:

I keep trying to persuade Titanic to open a pub down here! They make some delicious ales. Slaters have after all....:thumb: Not that we go to the pub that often these days, when we do it's for a carvery and a diet cola.... :cry:

 

[suffolk]

I went from Extract to AG using the GF.
I will not do Extract again unless I run out of stocks and need a quick fix

 

[GlentoranMark]

I've corny's and mini kegs but I do like to bottle a few. I've 40 pints of AG Stout to bottle today but I put it off mainly because I couldn't be arsed

It's part of the hobby though and shouldn't be a chore, I really should love to do it.

Read a few posts from people who find bottling a PITA. My wife helps with this, sanitising them and putting the caps on whilst full, I sit and fill them from my bottling bucket using a bottling stick. Fast and easy combined with batch priming in the bottling bucket. :thumb: I put the bucket on a shelf high enough so I can do it seated. You can see the shelf with FVs on it in the pic. Makes taking samples from the tap easy too. Probably should wrap the FVs to block out light, but it doesn't seem to have had any effect on the beer so far.

 

[Gunge]

Read a few posts from people who find bottling a PITA. My wife helps with this, sanitising them and putting the caps on whilst full, I sit and fill them from my bottling bucket using a bottling stick. Fast and easy combined with batch priming in the bottling bucket. :

Drifting off topic but what the hell! Am I the only guy in the known universe who doesn't mind bottling? Get Zep on heavy rotation, roll up sleeves and get down to the task, then when done stand back resplendant in the fruit of your labour. And when some clown comes around moaning about the price of beer you can cast open the door to where the beer is kept, to reveal floor to ceiling, wall to wall bottles 6 deep whilst cackling "it's mine, all mine muhahaha".

 

[MyQul]

Drifting off topic but what the hell! Am I the only guy in the known universe who doesn't mind bottling? Get Zep on heavy rotation, roll up sleeves and get down to the task, then when done stand back resplendant in the fruit of your labour. And when some clown comes around moaning about the price of beer you can cast open the door to where the beer is kept, to reveal floor to ceiling, wall to wall bottles 6 deep whilst cackling "it's mine, all mine muhahaha".

I dont really mind bottling either. Once I've got everything ready, bottles and syphon star san-ed, priming solution in the beer and 30 mins elapsed, the actual bottling bit I find really relaxing

 

[AdeDunn]

We don't mind bottling either. As I said, tis a cinch with 2 of us, a bottling bucket, bottling wand, bottle washer and star san. :thumb: Oh and seeing the full bottles amass over time.... lmao

Try explaining to somebody though that you're not about to drink it all any time soon.... My mum likes to worry I am trying to destroy my liver! :lol:

 

[MyQul]

I went AG about 3-4 years ago and I wouldnt go back to kits. One of the reasons being in the back of my mind I would know I could make a better beer for half the price,

I can only brew in the kitchen on the hob and have no where to brew outside. As a consequence I've alway brewed maxi-biab (make a concentrated wort and dilute in the FV). My kitchen isnt very big and tbh, I've alway found brewing 23L of beer a bit of PITA (messy, not enough room, cant find stuff because everything is everywhere, etc). Until recently.

I went to 5L stove toppers and really enjoyed making them. All the problems of doing 23L magically went away doing small brew lengths. Plus if I only did a 30min mash/30min boil and prepared the water and milled the grain the eve before, I could knock em out in about 1 1/2 hours. The only problem was 5L isnt much beer. Then about 3 brews ago I had a go at doing exactly the same thing but making 10L instead of 5L. I found I could brew a 10L in about the same time as 5L (give or take about 15mins).

Brewing is now an absolute joy. I brew every saturday now (and sometimes on a monday eve too!). It also means I can make different things as I'm making a shorter brew length.

 

[Saisonator]

Drifting off topic but what the hell! Am I the only guy in the known universe who doesn't mind bottling? Get Zep on heavy rotation, roll up sleeves and get down to the task, then when done stand back resplendant in the fruit of your labour. And when some clown comes around moaning about the price of beer you can cast open the door to where the beer is kept, to reveal floor to ceiling, wall to wall bottles 6 deep whilst cackling "it's mine, all mine muhahaha".

When you drink a bottle of beer, what happens to the bottle between then and filling with beer again?

 

[Duxuk]

Why not introduce yourself more gently by doing some extract brews? I moved from kits to dry malt extract. Hop wise it's the same as AG. I then started to steep crystal, which doesn't need mashing, to improve mouthfeel, sweetness and flavour. It was still a big step up to BIAB but my 6 hour brew day now only takes 3 hours and a bit. I don't see me changing my system to a 3 vessel after 104 brews. Who drank all that?

 

[Gunge]

When you drink a bottle of beer, what happens to the bottle between then and filling with beer again?

Apart from the obvious answer of lying around for a little while waiting for their turn to come again, this sounds suspiciously like one of those 'where do flies go in winter' type of questions!

 

[AdeDunn]

Why not introduce yourself more gently by doing some extract brews? I moved from kits to dry malt extract. Hop wise it's the same as AG. I then started to steep crystal, which doesn't need mashing, to improve mouthfeel, sweetness and flavour. It was still a big step up to BIAB but my 6 hour brew day now only takes 3 hours and a bit. I don't see me changing my system to a 3 vessel after 104 brews. Who drank all that?

Because it's even more expensive than kits, and still involves messing with super sticky gunk AND you still have to boil it. :lol: I did consider trying extract, but decided to skip it for these reasons. :wink:

Apart from the obvious answer of lying around for a little while waiting for their turn to come again, this sounds suspiciously like one of those 'where do flies go in winter' type of questions!

I can answer that one, they find a nice crack somewhere not too cold and hibernate there. Butterflies actually do the same thing would you believe?

As to what happens to bottles between drinking and refilling. Well, they sit in a bucket until my wife washes them, sanitises them and hands them to me to fill with beer/cider/perry/hydromel..... :twisted:

 

[AdeDunn]

On a related note, my wife and DD2 have been really enjoying themselves today making dog biscuits with some of my used grain. :thumb: Our dog seems to find them delicious from the 2 she's had.

 

[Gunge]

On a related note, my wife and DD2 have been really enjoying themselves today making dog biscuits with some of my used grain. :thumb: Our dog seems to find them delicious from the 2 she's had.

Another + for AG... geezer down the road gets all my spent grain for his hens, and I get lots of eggs in return. That means it's more or less free! But I think I'm gonna hold some back and try making biscuits or flapjacks, summat like that.