Homebrew twang

[clibit]

Like I said, little kids and AG don't mix easily. I would still do extract rather than kits though. I like choosing the ingredients and making beers that I construct from ingredients I know I like cos I've used them and got to know them. All I am saying is that AG is not difficult, and does not require a big outlay, and in my experience makes much better beer. Many UK homebrewers stick with kits and never venture away, and will never know. Which in my experience, is a big shame.

Aleman's comments are interesting. Cheers.

 

[graysalchemy]

When it comes to wines I wouldn't think twice about kits but I do by mid range and upwards kits spending about £50-£60 for a 30 bottle Kit.

 

[morethanworts]

...just to briefly concur that THT is definitely not 'yeasty'. Nor, in my opinion, will pouring sediment from a bottle of really good beer result in a homebrew taste. Some folk do that deliberately - and I don''t just mean wheat beers!

Poor rinsing of chlorine sanitisers, underpitching, poor temperatures... all these things (and more) cause different 'off tastes', but there is another taste which was far too common and consistent in the 30 odd kits I did for it to be any one of those things in particular.

 

[Slid]

When it comes to wines I wouldn't think twice about kits but I do by mid range and upwards kits spending about £50-£60 for a 30 bottle Kit.

Too bad you can't plant your own vineyard in purgatory.

BTW - How would you assess the quality of the mid-range kits against say the £5 a bottle Pinot Grigio my dear wife buys?

I am sort of thinking about making stuff she might drink, but it will be a long process and needs a good start!

 

[graysalchemy]

I find that the beaverdale and vintners select red wines are easily the equivalent of a £5 supermarket wine. :thumb:

I have a cheap £25 white 'Chardonnay' kit which i am drinking at the moment, though it is better than a bottle of wow and a cheap cheap bottle of vin du table in certainly isn't a Chablis, but still pleasant and drinkable.

 

[MattN]

I find that the beaverdale and vintners select red wines are easily the equivalent of a £5 supermarket wine. :thumb:

I have a cheap £25 white 'Chardonnay' kit which i am drinking at the moment, though it is better than a bottle of wow and a cheap cheap bottle of vin du table in certainly isn't a Chablis, but still pleasant and drinkable.

Just out of interest what is it? I have had mixed results on cheap kits a couple were very good. (a couple not so good)

 

[graysalchemy]

A cantina one. :thumb:

 

[MattN]

Ahh good. This is on my to do list. How many litres of grape juice do you get with it, does it tell you what the ingredients are, how much sugar does it come with and what is the OG?

Thanks

Matt

 

[Slid]

I find that the beaverdale and vintners select red wines are easily the equivalent of a £5 supermarket wine. :thumb:

I have a cheap £25 white 'Chardonnay' kit which i am drinking at the moment, though it is better than a bottle of wow and a cheap cheap bottle of vin du table in certainly isn't a Chablis, but still pleasant and drinkable.

Good advice, I feel, thanks again for informed input.

I may leave the much loved other half to her own devices.

For now :hmm:

 

[Aleman]

Take this wine discussion elsewhere

 

[Darren Jeory]

No, finings don't seem to inhibit bottle conditioning. I do only carbonate it up to about 1.95 volumes of Co2 though. I have noticed that there is hardly any sediment in the bottle. (a fine dusting)

My understanding is that finings bind proteins together which sink to the bottom and leave the yeast alone...am I misinformed?

 

[Darren Jeory]

It's a kit thing. Extract brews are better, but all grain is the answer, if you make the effort to make an all grain brew you will be gob smacked. I wasted many years of my life doing kits or avoiding doing kits and then one day I bought some grain...

Why keep making something over and over and keep wondering about the twang? Ditch the twang! Get a stock pot and a mesh bag, and mash some grains, and then boil your wort with some lovely hops of your choosing.

If you can't be bothered to do that, at least make extract brews with dried extract and steep some grains like Crystal/Chocolate (any grains that don't need mashing), and boil with hops - you can experiment and find which grains and hops you like best - and which yeast too. It's a doddle. A monkey could do it.

If you lived in Preston and some rich bloke in Honolulu offered you a life swap, would you hang around in Preston? (sorry Preston folk!). Whenever I go in a homebrew shop I am struck every time by the realisation that most UK homebrewers just open a can whith no clear list of ingredients, pour it into a bucket with some water and give it a stir, before sprinkling some unknown yeast on the top. Wake up folks! It took me years for this to hit me. Don't be like me and waste the best years of your life on kits! To me now the majority of pub beer is rubbish. And for £3 I can buy the ingredients for about 15 (500ml) bottles of homebrew. Grain is cheap.

If I lived in Preston and someone in Ukraine offered me a life swap I'd take it

 

[Darren Jeory]

I think I might eventually go this way, my problem is that I live on an island which has no bags of grain sold in shops, so I'd have to order everything online, and grain is very heavy so postage costs might be prohibitive unless I order a very big shipment - then I have the problems of keeping it fresh in storage etc.

I imagine other people who live out of the way have similar issues.

It's not that bad in fairness...the malt miller delivers for under a tenner