East Durham Brewery Project

[Cwrw666]

I always find brewing in winter is better because there's no flies about and flies are seriously bad news for causing infections.

 

[T.E.D.B.P]

Why can't you brew in winter?

The garage doesn't have heat or power. So I can't get it warm enough.

And I simply don't have space at home.

 

[T.E.D.B.P]

Not much of an update, but considering the uproar when I tried to "suspend" my posts, I suppose I'd better give some feedback on my one and only brew to date.

Made 10L of a TT Landlord clone extract recipie I came across. Frankly, I'm chuffed to bits - its been conditioning for about 3 weeks, and it tastes fantastic. By far far far the best beer I've ever made. I'm sure it would pass a "yes, that's beer you bought" test if someone did a blind test with some shop-bought beers.

I did make a few little errors along the way, which I've noted down and will correct next time - but mainly it was due to not having the exact setup I want when working in my kitchen! Good to get that "new metal" off the kit though :)

One small issue - when I open the bottle, the initial smell is quite fruity. Not in a nice way. It "gasses off" when poured though. I suspect in a few esters from having a too-high fermenting temperature. I'll try to keep my next batch cooler if possible and see if the issue remains.
Any advice is very welcome, though?

 

[Birkin]

If I was serious about making money from micro brewing, here's what I would do.

- Start reading, buy or download lots of books, read enough to disillusion yourself into thinking that you're an expert.

- Start brewing, develop your knowledge into a practical skill, I suggest 23l brews and distribute among mates, don't ever ask them if they like your beer, ask then what they didn't like about it.

- as you start to refine, visit as many brewery's as you can, by this stage you will have so many questions for them

- take your new learning's and adapt to micro brewing, start scouting local pubs

- offer test samples, do whatever it takes to get your beer into local pubs, even if you initially have to give it away. Be in the pub when it's introduced, go and get some feedback

- if it doesn't work, continue to refine current recipies and keep trying to develop new ones, get your beer into shows, as you win awards use them to sell your beer

- always learn, always adapt.

That would be my strategy

 

[T.E.D.B.P]

Funny, I had a Sam Adams Boston Lager the other day - and it had a very similar gas-smell as my beer.

Tried a few more last night, 5 weeks into conditioning - wow. Its absolutely lovely. Clear, good head, great mouth-feel. I'm honestly surprised, as I know there is a huge amount I can improve on.

 

[T.E.D.B.P]

Argh, unexpected outcomes - I was having problems syncing my entire photo album with Flikr, and in the end I gave up and wiped the lot - and moved to google photos for backups.
But that means everything I posted here is lost.
Anyway, here's an update photo - yes, I've finally got back to it after 6 months - the house renovation is done (aside from building a new fence) and its up for sale. And I've been out of work since November, so I have the time.
Everything is now set up - all I need is the 12V electrics system and I'm ready to go. My cousin has some expertise in this, and he's designing something for me - so hopefully that'll be in place in the next week or 2.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

That has come a long way from the leaky filthy state it was in when you first posted a picture.

Do you have a water supply?

 

[MyQul]

Whats the bath for. Bit of a scrub up during the boil? :lol:

 

[terrym]

Whats the bath for. Bit of a scrub up during the boil? :lol:

Yorkshire square fermenter? :hmm:

 

[T.E.D.B.P]

That has come a long way from the leaky filthy state it was in when you first posted a picture.

Do you have a water supply?

I have a tap at the house over the road - and 6 25L food-safe water containers - currently filled with a a spoonfull of cleaning solution to get that "new plastic taste" out of them.
Going to pour it into the bath at some point this week and give that a good clean before its ready for use. Speaking of which........

Whats the bath for. Bit of a scrub up during the boil? :lol:

Its something I read on another homebrew website as a way to buffer against temperature changes (i.e. between day and night)

You fill the bath with about 80 litres of water. So when it starts to get warmer, the water takes a long time to heat up, and this prevents the FV's from heating up too quickly.
And the opposite at night time.

I think I'll be able to get 3 FVs in there. Given I'm planning on doing 1 batch per week, I think that's perfect.

 

[Leon103]

I read this thread some time ago so forgot all the details. But what is the plan with this venture? WHen do you step up to commercial brewing? brewing in a garage is nothing like running a brewery.

 

[T.E.D.B.P]

I read this thread some time ago so forgot all the details. But what is the plan with this venture? WHen do you step up to commercial brewing? brewing in a garage is nothing like running a brewery.

The plan with the venture is that its a long way in the future. The project is/was now to learn a lot about homebrewing in a non commercial way.
Maybe in a year, maybe more, maybe never there could be a jump to a commercial premise

But for all intents and purposes, the "project" is parked as I've got phase one ready to go.

I did kinda say this a while ago - that I wouldn't be posting anymore - but there were a few people asking me to hang on, so I have done.

But realistically, I think I was right - park this account and re-register as myself. I've got the garage brew room up and running (well, almost - just those electrics to build), and now I need to learn about ingredients and methods as a standard homebrewer would.

I'm happy with that.