The Goatreich
Landlord.
Hi guys,
I've recently put my first ever brew on to ferment and have discovered I'm hooked on this stuff, so I thought I'd find a nice online community of like-minded people.
I took a trip to my local home brew shop last weekend (Home Brew Crew in Cardiff - highly recommended if you're local) and they instantly kitted me out with a fermenting bucket, brewing sugar, siphon tubing, sterilising powder, airlock...and most importantly the beer.
As a first brew we went with a simple Cooper's lager kit, as my girlfriend would like to enjoy this experience too, and she's not into dark beers, whereas I'll drink anything. The next batch I have in mind with either be a stout or porter though.
So yes, we set the fermentation off last Sunday, and it's happily bubbling away every 30 seconds or so in our kitchen, which confuses the dog somewhat. My next mission was to find beer crates to store the bottles in, and I struck gold yesterday on adtrader when someone less than 10 miles from my house was selling 7 dozen Newcastle Brown bottles, in crates, along with a load of brewing gear.
Potential hiccoughs from the first brew so far:
[*]I used a sterilised wooden spoon as the stirring utensil as I didn't have a plastic one at the time. I hope this doesn't end up infecting the brew.
[*]I didn't stir the mix after adding the yeast as the instructional video I watched just showed the guy sprinkling it on top. However, the bubbling bucket in the corner tells me that this doesn't seem to be a huge problem.
Next stage - bottling. I've bought a syphon tap ready, and am prepared for the frothy mess. I don't have a hydrometer yet, so will just have to wait for the brew to settle down so I know it's ready for the next stage.
Sorry for the long first post, I look forward to reading all your tips and tricks on the forums.
I've recently put my first ever brew on to ferment and have discovered I'm hooked on this stuff, so I thought I'd find a nice online community of like-minded people.
I took a trip to my local home brew shop last weekend (Home Brew Crew in Cardiff - highly recommended if you're local) and they instantly kitted me out with a fermenting bucket, brewing sugar, siphon tubing, sterilising powder, airlock...and most importantly the beer.
As a first brew we went with a simple Cooper's lager kit, as my girlfriend would like to enjoy this experience too, and she's not into dark beers, whereas I'll drink anything. The next batch I have in mind with either be a stout or porter though.
So yes, we set the fermentation off last Sunday, and it's happily bubbling away every 30 seconds or so in our kitchen, which confuses the dog somewhat. My next mission was to find beer crates to store the bottles in, and I struck gold yesterday on adtrader when someone less than 10 miles from my house was selling 7 dozen Newcastle Brown bottles, in crates, along with a load of brewing gear.
Potential hiccoughs from the first brew so far:
[*]I used a sterilised wooden spoon as the stirring utensil as I didn't have a plastic one at the time. I hope this doesn't end up infecting the brew.
[*]I didn't stir the mix after adding the yeast as the instructional video I watched just showed the guy sprinkling it on top. However, the bubbling bucket in the corner tells me that this doesn't seem to be a huge problem.
Next stage - bottling. I've bought a syphon tap ready, and am prepared for the frothy mess. I don't have a hydrometer yet, so will just have to wait for the brew to settle down so I know it's ready for the next stage.
Sorry for the long first post, I look forward to reading all your tips and tricks on the forums.
