Hello from a sunny yet nippy Birmingham

[Rich82]

Hi everyone. I have been spending the last few weeks studying the posts on here and thought it was time I joined, and maybe one day put something back in as opposed to just constantly taking everyone else’s advice. Thanks to everyone that has posted on here, as I have probably read it, and took guidance from it at some point. I am pretty new to home brewing, I started after a visit to Australia. It seems everyone out there does it, must be because beer / decent beers are quite expensive out there. After coming home I was bought a Young’s lager brew buddy kit for my birthday. I made the included lager kit and it didn’t go to well, it stayed cloudy had a wheat beer type taste about it and kept going flat. Needless to say I was the only one who drank it (after half a keg it tasted o.k. to me). I tried a couple of wines and out of the 4 that I tried to brew 1 was successful and not too bad tasting, the other 3 ended in disaster, 1 dropped demijohn (not by me), the bottom fell off the 2nd of the demijohns, and a cracked demijohn forced me to discard the contents of the third as I wasn’t sure if glass slivers would have got into the brew. For various reasons I put the brewing on hold, but now I am determined to get back into it. I have just bottled/kegged my first home brew in 3 years and decided to go for a Cooper’s draught, as this was not the cheapest but not the most expensive. I also drank it whilst in Oz and thought it was one of the better mass produced beers that they had there. I apologise in advance to all the hardcore brewers as I am only doing the easier mix and go kits at the moment, however when I have some success I will advance, starting with one of my local brew shops “design a brew kits” which seems to be half way between mix and go kits and full brewing. Eventually I want to try some recipes i have in a book that was bought for me with the kit a few years back, “an enthusiast guide to homebrew beers” as it has recipes for extreme beers. They sound fun!! Well i apologies for the waffle and basically hello to everyone. :

 

[RobWalker]

welcome! where are you from? i'm down in Longbridge and there's a fair few brummies on here :)

 

[Rich82]

Thanks. That makes a change, we’re normally pretty scarce. I’m East Birmingham, a place called Castle Bromwich if you know it, it’s near the airport.

 

[Wendy1971]

Welcome to the forum :thumb:

 

[shocker]

hello from another newbie !

 

[The Ginger Ninja]

Welcome :

 

[eggman]

Welcome to the forum :

 

[Vossy1]

Welcome aboard Rich :thumb:

I apologise in advance to all the hardcore brewers as I am only doing the easier mix and go kits at the moment, however when I have some success I will advance

No apologies required, I rebuff your apology here with :lol:
Nearly all the 'hardcore' brewers (I don't class myself as one) started on kits, it's a gr8 way to get into the hobby

 

[RobWalker]

Let me tell you, compared to the other home brew forums i've been on, this one is anything but "hardcore." It's full who enjoy the fun in brewing, and barely anything more...check out the ribena wine topics if you need any more convincing :mrgreen:

 

[Rich82]

Good good sounds like I’m in the right place then. Thanks for all the welcomes and thanks in advance for all the help I'm going to get, I'm going to need it. :

 

[Moley]

1 dropped demijohn (not by me), the bottom fell off the 2nd of the demijohns, and a cracked demijohn forced me to discard the contents of the third as I wasn’t sure if glass slivers would have got into the brew.

Glass demijohns, with proper handling, should last you a lifetime. However, they do not take kindly to being knocked together and they will not withstand any pressure so never use solid rubber bungs unless you are certain that wines have completely finished and have been stabilised.

One thing they absolutely will not tolerate is thermal shock, if you wash with hot water and then rinse with cold, that's when the bottoms start falling off.

Stick with the winemaking, but I would suggest you switch to 5 litre plastic mineral water bottles, they will withstand any amount of abuse, and at a quid or less including the water for their first brews, they can be stamped flat and recycled when they start to look a bit battered.

Welcome to the forum :

 

[bellowsface]

Hi and welcome, i too am pretty new to the forum, and i am just up the road so to speak in sunny Cannock

 

[Rich82]

1 dropped demijohn (not by me), the bottom fell off the 2nd of the demijohns, and a cracked demijohn forced me to discard the contents of the third as I wasn’t sure if glass slivers would have got into the brew.

Glass demijohns, with proper handling, should last you a lifetime. However, they do not take kindly to being knocked together and they will not withstand any pressure so never use solid rubber bungs unless you are certain that wines have completely finished and have been stabilised.

One thing they absolutely will not tolerate is thermal shock, if you wash with hot water and then rinse with cold, that's when the bottoms start falling off.

Stick with the winemaking, but I would suggest you switch to 5 litre plastic mineral water bottles, they will withstand any amount of abuse, and at a quid or less including the water for their first brews, they can be stamped flat and recycled when they start to look a bit battered.

Welcome to the forum :

Sounds like I did everything wrong with the glass demijohns then? I have some 1 gal water containers from Asda now so will adapt them and start again with the wine.

Hi and welcome, i too am pretty new to the forum, and i am just up the road so to speak in sunny Cannock

Excellent, I do a lot of work in Wolverhampton and keep saying I will go to the chase more. So yeah quite near.

 

[31bb3]

WElcome to the forum from not so sunnt Brownhills :hmm:

 

[Good Ed]

a place called Castle Bromwich if you know it, it’s near the airport.

it was practically an airport when they were building the Spitfires

Welcome :

 

[equiliser]

:party: Nice to see another new face :party: