conkerwood

[micoo]

just started downing my muntons conkerwood WOW fantastic, only 3kg kits for me from now. what a difference, fantastic malty flavor, retains tight foaming head right down to the bottom of the glass. highly recommended.

 

[evanvine]

Great, thats a start.
Well done.
Now the "Dark Side" beckons!

 

[micoo]

on the verge of AG . but cost of equipment, buying grain etc, boiling for hours. is it really worth it. when you can get results like this for less than £20 just adding water and yeast.

 

[timbowden]

Yes, it is worth it!!
I've been making lots of kits and recently did my first AG. Well, to start with i thought that it was too much time and that the convenience etc with kits was the way to go. How wrong i was :clap:
Tasted my first AG brew and no kits for me from now on! Kits are good but when you've made/tasted your own AG i doubt you'd go back! Yes it takes more time but i'm now making 10 gall batches instead (also it is cheaper than kits when you have the stuff!) :thumb:

 

[31bb3]

im drinking old conkerwood at the moment dont think it'll be he last time i brew it its really nice as are all of the muntons range

 

[klaus]

Just had a quick taste of my Muntons Conkerwood Black Ale, brewed from a kit dated BBE sometime 2006, but worked very well, with the help of some new Safale yeast. The fortnight is not quite passed but I couldn't helf myself. Have a taster lemonade bottle with about 1 litre, but just poured a small glass.
Very smooth, good alcohol content, just the right balance of bitterness and sweetness, fizz is ok could be slightly more but overall feel and taste is like coming from a Pub's beer pump, only better. This will definitely improve with every week passing.
I have only done one tin of the kit, giving me a crate of 20 0.5 litre bottles so in about three weeks time I start the next batch. Splitting the kit makes bottling easier for me because I can't stand the thought of doing 40 odd bottles in one go. Barrel is also a pain space wise.
BTW, as I travel to Germany at least once a year I now bring back a crate or two of German beer, can be had for 8 Euros each which includes deposit, for 10 litres. So I drink the beer and then fill it up again with my brew. But the main thing is that the crates are standardised and stack safely.

 

[Muddy Funker]

on the verge of AG . but cost of equipment, buying grain etc, boiling for hours. is it really worth it. when you can get results like this for less than £20 just adding water and yeast.

Well done on a successful brew, I can get ingrediants (grain. hops, yeast) for a 40 pint brew for less than a fiver at a local microbrewery.

Once you've got the equipment AG works out loads cheaper than kits, plus you brew to your taste. It's awesome!

:

 

[luckyeddie]

on the verge of AG . but cost of equipment, buying grain etc, boiling for hours. is it really worth it. when you can get results like this for less than £20 just adding water and yeast.

In a word - YES!!!

I brewed kits, then extracts, for 30 years.

I went AG this year. I have just thrown together AG#20 (OK, I'm a lush) and I haven't brewed one that was inferior to the best kit (Brewferm Tripel) I ever did.

A word of warning though - it WILL consume your life (or a serious part of it) - you are talking about 6-7 hours to put one together including the cleaning up, as opposed to half an hour.

But it's fun. Have a friend around when you're brewing - and of course the 'rests' while you are waiting for the mash, sparge water heating and the boil gives you ample time to 'test' previous batches. It's fun to drink at 8:00 am on a Sunday morning. By the time you get around to crash-chilling, you're my best mate, you are (hic!)

 

[jinxy72]

AG can be done cheaper than buying a 3v system :thumb:

 

[evanvine]

AG can be done cheaper than buying a 3v system

If you could indsulge an old ignoramous who doesn' know what "blog" is.
What is a "3v" system

 

[keith1664]

3 vessel I'd assume. HLT, MLT and boiler.

 

[evanvine]

3 vessel I'd assume. HLT, MLT and boiler.

You mean it was that simple!
Oh dear!!!