Busy times from home brew shops

[Drunkula]

i cannot get brewing sugar anywhere. So, it's gonna be cane sugar and hope for the best

What are you using it for?

I did not-a-kit and a kilo using a mash with and without sugar made to the same ABV at the the same rate you'd do a kit and it was really good - the sugar one was more like a pub pint.

I inverted sugar the other day for fun and I might do that as another split experiment, not a kit and a kilo one with invert the other normal sugar.

 

[foxy]

I have ordered 100 kg of grain already got the hops got, about 20 kg of grain on hand our local home brew closes tomorrow indefinitely, but will do mail order and pick up.

 

[Arcs]

What are you using it for?

I did not-a-kit and a kilo using a mash with and without sugar made to the same ABV at the the same rate you'd do a kit and it was really good - the sugar one was more like a pub pint.

I inverted sugar the other day for fun and I might do that as another split experiment, not a kit and a kilo one with invert the other normal sugar.

I did manage to get some EDME, so I am thinking half and half mix with cane sugar and see how it turns out. I did an MYO IPA a while back with just cane sugar and it worked out really well. Atm, I don't think many people would be too bothered by pub pints seeing as they cannot get them

 

[Horners]

I'm confused on which business can stay open with the restrictions on people movement to non essential business...we've assumed my wife's shop will have to close for now as it's retail pet stuff and dog grooming.

Pet shops are allowed to stay open. Not sure what the definition of pet shop is mind. See here : Further businesses and premises to close

 

[Drunkula]

@Arcs - I also did a split with the MYO IPA and that was spraymalt vs brewing sugar. The brewing sugar was by far the winner as the spraymalt robbed all the hop flavour and it wasn't an IPA any more - over time as they hops died they got closer and we're talking 5 months but then the malt was better but it sure wasn't an IPA. I really didn't think sugar would ever win over malt but in two experiments it has. Gash Slugg also approves of sugar in IPAs.

 

[An Ankoù]

Lovebrewing in Liverpool has closed both its shops due to demand/backlog and safety. I just put a £71 order into brew2bottle and paid the $5 for next day delivery but for the life of me i cannot get brewing sugar anywhere. So, it's gonna be cane sugar and hope for the best

I shouldn't worry about using table sugar. If you add it to the end of the boil, the acid nature of the wort will begin to break it down into its constituent single sugars and if added later, the yeast will break it down. While fructose has a different structure to glucose, it ferments to exactly the same alcohol and exactly the same by-products. Some say cane sugar is better than beet, but both are do refined that I doubt the difference is discernable.

 

[Drunkula]

Nice one, Ankou - I'd never thought about the boil being acidic enough to invert the sugars. I've heard it takes half an hour but as it cools is that still enough to do the job?

I'd still love to find out some way of knowing if invertase has a taste, and could be le twang of legend. After that thing I did a few weeks ago the sugar making cidery thing is definitely debunked for me, even though I thought it was 100% confirmed. I tried a brew during fermentation - it was like some mad apple car freshener - two days later zero apple. Nothing. If it was acetaldehyde the yeast had cleaned it up completely. I wondered if the legend came from yeast n procedures being pretty crappy in the old days.

I'm going to stop derailing this thead now. I am backing away. Byeeeee.

 

[Arcs]

@Arcs - I also did a split with the MYO IPA and that was spraymalt vs brewing sugar. The brewing sugar was by far the winner as the spraymalt robbed all the hop flavour and it wasn't an IPA any more - over time as they hops died they got closer and we're talking 5 months but then the malt was better but it sure wasn't an IPA. I really didn't think sugar would ever win over malt but in two experiments it has. Gash Slugg also approves of sugar in IPAs.

Yes but as some of you have missed the point or misread what I said. The IPA i did was purely with melted cane sugar. So what I did, was boiled it, leave it and then reboil. Turned out real nice. I've experimented many times with approach to brewing beer. All of them have turned out fine save the MYO lager which got oxidised somehow. There may be a correct formula to follow. But the way things are, you can mess about with the order. For example. If I wanna when temps are low, pour a new batch on an old yeast cake from a previous brew aka the trub which still as we all know has active yeast left in there, then if need be, pitch some crappy yeast on it later, I can do that. I just need to make sure there is enough cold water in the vat which was already sanitised and unopened. Then mix an extract with the cane sugar in the pan, then pour moderately onto the previous batch and it does kick off. I doubt you would get away with that during summer temps, but for winter, I find it works well and helps stop it from stalling. You may or may not agree, but I found it works quite well as long as you are not using gervin yeast ahem....Brewing sugar is nice, but cane sugar works well if there is no alternative to use at the time.

 

[obscure]

Just had an email from malt miller stating they are suspending order taking but will still ship existing orders. Suspect it’s only a matter of time before the other online sellers follow suite.

 

[Arcs]

And yes I do know what a heat pad is, but where there is a will there is a way. I just simply moved the batch to my living room and it plodded on slowly until it got there.

 

[An Ankoù]

Malt Millers stopped taking new orders, but will fulfill existing ones.

 

[Arcs]

Just had an email from malt miller stating they are suspending order taking but will still ship existing orders. Suspect it’s only a matter of time before the other online sellers follow suite.

Sadly it's gonna be this way until the pubs reopen. I had to compromise alot today on what I wanted to buy but I have 200 pints of beer incoming and some of it I'd already tried before and it was good stuff. I got 5 extracts in total, rest DME plus next day delivery == £72 quid ouch.

 

[Arcs]

I am not planning on going all grain until late August. It's easy enough from what I have seen. But right now, I'll bite yer arm off for what I can get ><

 

[Arcs]

Nice one, Ankou - I'd never thought about the boil being acidic enough to invert the sugars. I've heard it takes half an hour but as it cools is that still enough to do the job?

I'd still love to find out some way of knowing if invertase has a taste, and could be le twang of legend. After that thing I did a few weeks ago the sugar making cidery thing is definitely debunked for me, even though I thought it was 100% confirmed. I tried a brew during fermentation - it was like some mad apple car freshener - two days later zero apple. Nothing. If it was acetaldehyde the yeast had cleaned it up completely. I wondered if the legend came from yeast n procedures being pretty crappy in the old days.

I'm going to stop derailing this thead now. I am backing away. Byeeeee.

If memory serves me well, ahem lol, I won 2 ciders and both of them turned out at 10.4 % abv. Then I watched a bearded and bored vid and how he pasteurised his cider and watching bottle bombs become a seriously dangerous piece of work with the process of boiling the cider in the bottles to neutralise the yeast. Then seeing how the bottles erratically exploded during that pasteurising process. I took one look at that and thought, nah, not doing it. I spent alot of time collecting those bottles. I aint ruining them, some of them if looked after may become collectors items for some poor guy who has an obsession with beer brands. But seeing the explosion really did put me off brewing cider. I drank those two once fully fermented out of the vat. I had only 4 may be five uncarbonated, I was totally off my rocker. Never again will I brew cider. It was my tipple in my youth but certainly not now - again, pure cane sugar + extract of MYO. I'd rather stay awake rofl

 

[Edison]

I'm hoping or HB suppliers will stay open, I don't think delivery services (e.g. Amazon) are currently affected but I guess the individual businesses need to decide how 'essential' they are (grain is food, right?). It looks like BrewUK are still open at the moment [edit] and CrossMyLoof are open on their ebay shop only now. Collecting from a local microbrewery could be tricky.

I've got about 7kg of pale malt left over as I was planning some holiday beers anyway, perhaps making 2 session strength brews could be the way forward? Anyone have any suggestions of their favourite lower strength brews?

 

[Cyberjip]

I'm confused on which business can stay open with the restrictions on people movement to non essential business...we've assumed my wife's shop will have to close for now as it's retail pet stuff and dog grooming.

Pretty sure pet supplies store what on the List to stay open.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-52010555
Probably depends if they sell pet food,and how the owner/manager interprets "essential"

 

[terrym]

A suggestion to those of you who running low on supplies and won't be able to top up, but want to carry on brewing. Simply brew a lower strength beer which uses less ingredients.
For example I made up a low ABV beer a few weeks back, and all it used for a 9 litre brew was 700g malt and 14 g of hops.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/low-alcohol-homebrew-beer.84831/

 

[cushyno]

That jolly chappie Michael Gove was on TV this morning. He stated that online shopping for foodstuffs and essential equipment for daily exercise would still be possible online and that delivery operators should keep running.

I suppose it depends on the individual home brew stores and warehouses and their suppliers, whether they have the supply chains in place with enough goods flowing, and if they can pack goods without risk to themselves and customers.

I placed an order yesterday with HBC. I hope it doesn't get cancelled.

 

[Clint]

Yeah my Mrs could stay open but 99% of her business and staff are in the grooming so it'll have to wait...

 

[Clint]

Malt Miller not taking any more orders until they work the back log as they are on reduced staff and are waiting to see if there's further restrictions.