Hello from A Welshman now living in Scotland

[Geoffinthewilds]

Hi All,
I'm Geoff originally from North Wales, but have lived in rural Aberdeenshire for the last 3 years, moved up as I work in Oil & Gas. I have had a few goes at homebrewing in the past and enjoyed it, but got fed up of the faff of bottling etc.

Decided to give it another go while on lockdown and got a Wilkos Cerveza kit in the fermentor as I type and started a Magnum white wine kit yesterday. I have looked at the all grain method and think that is the way I will go once I gain a bit more experience and have a good read of this brill forum.
Take care all and staty safe
Cheers
Geoff

 

[Banbeer]

Hi Geoff, welcome to the forum buddy, Bottling is such a chore, I have just ordered a 19L Corny Keg so hopefully this will arrive in the next few weeks. Happy brewing

 

[Rodcx500z]

Welcome and happy brewing

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Hi Geoff
It's horses for courses some beers you wouldn't put in a keg and some are better from kegs. I always put English bitter in my corny but my IPA and strong beers I bottle. I've spent 2 hours this morning bottling 39 bottles of APA but that's not a chore at times like these.

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

Hi Geoff, welcome to the forum buddy, Bottling is such a chore, I have just ordered a 19L Corny Keg so hopefully this will arrive in the next few weeks. Happy brewing

Hi Banbeer,
I know what a Corny Keg is but is it just used to Caorbonate the beer and make it easier to use with no bottle hassle? and thanks for the warm welcome

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

Welcome and happy brewing

Thanks

 

[Banbeer]

I know what a Corny Keg is but is it just used to Caorbonate the beer and make it easier to use with no bottle hassle?

Yeah, basically fill the corny and purge all the oxygen out and then add C02 and leave for a week or so or there's a technique that allows you to force carbonate and can be ready in a day or so. You can then pour using a beer tap etc.

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

Hi Geoff
It's horses for courses some beers you wouldn't put in a keg and some are better from kegs. I always put English bitter in my corny but my IPA and strong beers I bottle. I've spent 2 hours this morning bottling 39 bottles of APA but that's not a chore at times like these.

Think its just me got lazy , When the supermarkets had the deals on it was far to easy tom pop in and buy the latest deal, then the dreaded min unit price for Alcohol came in and made it more expensive overnight, it was great when I used to drive up and down the UK, could stock up in England and bring it back to Scotland, it even felt a bit naughty lol. I used to use the cheap syphon from Wilkos and always ended up stirring up the mirky bottom so need to see whats on the market syphon wise and seen them spring loaded bottlers that looks like it would help. I never minded putting the caps on, I enjoyed that part, but even better getting them caps off :-)

 

[Ashley]

Hi Geoff (From an Englishman now Living in South Wales)

i completely agree! i brew in 50+ litre batches and bottling 100+ bottles at a time got me so frustrated that i bought 6 19l kegs. very few bottles needed these days :-)

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

Hi Geoff (From an Englishman now Living in South Wales)

i completely agree! i brew in 50+ litre batches and bottling 100+ bottles at a time got me so frustrated that i bought 6 19l kegs. very few bottles needed these days :-)

We all get about eh?, enjoy the Valleys hope they treated you to a usual warm Welsh welcome?. I will have to look into these Corny kegs, I have a few plans on what I want to do homebrew wise, fancy a go at All Grain but had a look at some of the equipment and the prioce was eye watering, so was going to go down the pub cooler and pub style set up as a mate of mine can get all I need for a reasonable amount but I do enjoy the homebrewing and the dream would be some day to open my own Micro Brewery in France or Spain.

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

Yeah, basically fill the corny and purge all the oxygen out and then add C02 and leave for a week or so or there's a technique that allows you to force carbonate and can be ready in a day or so. You can then pour using a beer tap etc.

May have to look at that in the future sounds like a plan for my lazy ass , thanks for the eplanation

 

[Ashley]

We all get about eh?, enjoy the Valleys hope they treated you to a usual warm Welsh welcome?. I will have to look into these Corny kegs, I have a few plans on what I want to do homebrew wise, fancy a go at All Grain but had a look at some of the equipment and the prioce was eye watering, so was going to go down the pub cooler and pub style set up as a mate of mine can get all I need for a reasonable amount but I do enjoy the homebrewing and the dream would be some day to open my own Micro Brewery in France or Spain.

AG doesn't have to be expensive. there are some really expensive bits of kit out there but if you're clever with it you can do it quite cheap. my hole punched 70 litre kettle was purchased with elements and a thermometer, a sight ghlass and all the stuff i needed to assemble it myself. i'm pretty sure it cost me about £170 all in. the mash tun is a converted igloo mash tun which are about £80 i think but it lasts ages. you'll probably already have fermenters and air locks. you'll need a wort chiller which a decent one will set you back about £100 and some garden hose/outside tap. once you have it, you have it.

and you don't have to buy a big setup. my ex partner bought me a beginner set (which cost about the same as the kit i bought afterwards) that did 30l brews. the reason i do big batches is because it takes virtually the same amount of tiume but yhou get twice as much beer from it

 

[Banbeer]

This is quite a good intro and there are another 3 parts so you get a real good overview of kegging

 

[Hengoedbrewer]

Hello from a Welshman living in Wales still! You'll like it here, people are great and extremely helpful.

In terms of all grain-you can start as small as you like. I have just produced the best beer I ever have made using a 15L stockpot and BIAB method. Not to say I won't get electronic equipment at some stage but if you want to give it a try on a small scale it is a lot easier and cheaper than you think if you want to just paddle before diving right in. Have a look at the "have a go at simple AG" thread.

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

AG doesn't have to be expensive. there are some really expensive bits of kit out there but if you're clever with it you can do it quite cheap. my hole punched 70 litre kettle was purchased with elements and a thermometer, a sight ghlass and all the stuff i needed to assemble it myself. i'm pretty sure it cost me about £170 all in. the mash tun is a converted igloo mash tun which are about £80 i think but it lasts ages. you'll probably already have fermenters and air locks. you'll need a wort chiller which a decent one will set you back about £100 and some garden hose/outside tap. once you have it, you have it.

and you don't have to buy a big setup. my ex partner bought me a beginner set (which cost about the same as the kit i bought afterwards) that did 30l brews. the reason i do big batches is because it takes virtually the same amount of tiume but yhou get twice as much beer from it

Thanks Ashley,
I will do some further investigation, the kit I saw on a homebrew site was in the £1000's so will look further into it and build up my kit bit by bit and would prefer to brew more being a complete drunkard lol

 

[Ashley]

Hello from a Welshman living in Wales still! You'll like it here, people are great and extremely helpful.

In terms of all grain-you can start as small as you like. I have just produced the best beer I ever have made using a 15L stockpot and BIAB method. Not to say I won't get electronic equipment at some stage but if you want to give it a try on a small scale it is a lot easier and cheaper than you think if you want to just paddle before diving right in. Have a look at the "have a go at simple AG" thread.

Hengoed eh? not far from me :-)

 

[Ashley]

Thanks Ashley,
I will do some further investigation, the kit I saw on a homebrew site was in the £1000's so will look further into it and build up my kit bit by bit and would prefer to brew more being a complete drunkard lol

When i first went AG it was a bit bewildering. i found kegging to be the same but watching lots of youtube videos helped make it feel more familiar. And once ytou think you know what you want to do, you can always run your opinions by the forum and see what people think :-)

 

[Hengoedbrewer]

Hengoed eh? not far from me :-)

Small world! I lived in Hengoed when I joined (Tir-Y-Berth) but in Caerphilly now. :)

 

[Ashley]

i love Caerphilly! whenever someone comes to visit me i take them to see caerphilly castle. love the views from there!!!

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

This is quite a good intro and there are another 3 parts so you get a real good overvue of kegging

Thanks for that, defo sounds the way to go for me, will have a look about and get a feel for the prices