Home Brewing Next Stage

[Verb77]

Hi all;
I’m currently coming to the end of brewing my second batch of beer (from a can). I want to take my home brewing to the next stage as this was always my intention when I started off.

What are the options now for me and can anyone offer advice and recommendations of what to do and the type of equipment I will need. :hmm:

I have been all over the forum and there is so much in it I have no idea where to start. I am more than happy and rather looking forward to making what bits of kit I will need.

Carl
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[leondz]

Hi Carl,

Sounds good so far. I started with kits, then did some basic extract brewing (using either powdered malt sugar, or unhopped malt extract in a can), and then started adding hops and doing small mashes with specialty grain; I'm gradually building up all the kit to go full all-grain (AG) which is where most seem to end up. This route seems to have a pretty comfortable learning curve and gets you some good beer, spreading the cost out over time. Of course the downside is, it takes longer, and is overall more pricy than going AG to start off with - and many say that it's better to dive in at the deep end, else you'll just end up having to swim to it

There are AG brewing kits that you can pick up for under £150, with loads of equipment, and the guys on this forum are really helpful. These will mean you just need malted grains, hops, water and yeast to make your beer.

Alternatively, you can just buy a big pot, and then start making extract brews yourself - there are tons of recipe and the quality is very good. Or you could even just add hops and specialty malts into the process of making kits if you like! All depends on how quickly you'd like to dive in.

If you want clear cut options, you can either go extract or go all grain from here; you'll need a boiler to do good extract brews (the material for these is a little pricier), or an AG "brewery" to do all-grain - more complex and time consuming, but more flexible too, and high quality. Hop and grape have a package here - http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/catalog/de ... HA20225648

Good luck!

 

[corby_brewer]

http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/catalog/de ... HA20225648

EDIT - leondz beat me to it

 

[Muddydisco]

I would go straight to All Grain you'll only end up there anyway. which gives you more time to fine tune your brewing rather than learning extract then having to learn all grain!
I went from 3 kits to All Grain never looked back!
If you like a bit of Diy you could do something like this How to Make an AG brewery

 

[evanvine]

26 years ago I read Dave Lines “The Big Book of Brewing”, I’ve never looked back!
His ideas utilised a lot of stuff that is either quite cheap or you have around in a normal home environment any way.
He also sets you off down the road of modifying things for your self.
Then you come to THBF and the world’s your oyster!
You only need “Big Shinies etc” if you really want them.

 

[prolix]

I went straight from tins to AG using modified fermenters and budget kettle elements, then went to 5 gallon shiney now 10 g shiney.

Only advice would be to go 10 gallon as same effort for twice as much beer, I was having to brew once a fornight so as not to run dry

 

[Verb77]

Can anyone please explain what process I will need to go though in order to do AG Brewing. What leads to what, and what is actually going on during each stage? I have read so much over the last few weeks I’m beginning to confuse myself I think. :hmm:

Regards

Carl

 

[tubby_shaw]

What leads to what, and what is actually going on during each stage?

Ok here goes in simple terms.
Prepare your mash liquor. This is the water used for the mash, at the minimum you need to dechlorinate and raise the temperature to strike heat.
Prepare your grist. This is the mixture of malts and grains that will ultimately provide the sugar for the yeast to convert to alcohol and give the sweet base flavour to the beer.
Dough in. This is mixing the grist with the mash liquor so that the temperature of the mash liquor falls to mashing temperature 65C +/_ 3C so that the enzymes present within the malts can convert the starch in the malt grains to sugar.
Mash. A 60 minute to 2 hour rest where the enzymes within the malt do there thing.
Sparge. This is simply rinsing the grains to relase the sugars trapped within the grain husks.
Boil. This extracts the bitterness from the hops, degrades the proteins etc in the wort so that clarity in the finished beer can be achieved and sterilises the wort.
Cooling. Reduces the temperature of the wort so that the yeast can be pitched without killing it and to acheive the cold break which also helps with final clarity.
Pitching the yeast. Adding yeast to start fermentation.
Fermentation. The action of the yeast on the sugars in the beer to produce alcohol and CO2, esters are also produced etc which affect the final flavour of the beer.
Clearing. Allowing the yeast to drop out of suspension and clean up after its self.
Bottling/kegging. Transferring the "green" beer to it's final storage vessel. Primings are added at this stage which are extra sugars to encourage carbon dioxide formation.
Maturation. The beer will drop bright and become carbonated, complex biochemical reactions occur which smooth out flavours etc.
Drinking. The act of consuming the beer.
Drunkeness. The outcome of too much of the above.


There is much more detail but those are the basics.

 

[evanvine]

Once again very succint TS, an excellent resume.
Especially the part about getting pissed!