Increasing numbers going AG.

[Aleman]

Started with malt extact brew when I moved into my first home of my own in 1978, was brewing AG within a year so about 32 years. Guess that makes me an old fart of the forum.

Yep beat me by a year . . . You are the old Fart !! .. .. Actually Chelston Brewery is the oldest Fart as far as I know

 

[dennisking]

Quick unscientific calculation, I brew on average every other week so that's 26 per year, plus a few extra ones before Xmas, party's, for myself and friends and even for some firms party's in the 1980`s. Take off the odd week for holidays I would put the figure at around 30 per year. So 32 years x 30 brews =960 brews, that's a lot of farts, old and new.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

I used this for 15 years and would use it again.

AG doesn't need to be expensive.

BB :thumb:

 

[battwave]

Excellent; great pictures! The common themes seem to be use of what's available, and maximum utilisation of gravity; not a pump in sight!

Hopefully an encouragement to those looking to strike-out into AG Land.

 

[dennisking]

Excellent; great pictures! The common themes seem to be use of what's available, and maximum utilisation of gravity; not a pump in sight!

Hopefully an encouragement to those looking to strike-out into AG Land.

Things were very basic in those early day, as was the literature available but we still made great beers.

 

[evanvine]

Things were very basic in those early day, as was the literature available but we still made great beers.

The literature I remember was limited to Amateur Wine Maker.
Dave Line's "Big Book of Brewing" was a revelation!

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Things were very basic in those early day, as was the literature available but we still made great beers.

The literature I remember was limited to Amateur Wine Maker.
Dave Line's "Big Book of Brewing" was a revelation!

First book I ever read, it was a scruffy tatty book I borrowed off a mate at work who was doing partial mash, I must have read it front to back 10 times and it still had me wondering if it was too big for my limited knowledge regarding brewing.
All the pieces were put in place by a homebrew shop owner in Wakefield called "Dave James"who later went on to start his own micro under the name of "Fernandes", he must have got fed up of me going in asking about "bucket in a bucket technology" with a few hundred holes. :whistle:

FERNANDES

BB :thumb:

Remember the days before the internet, information was hard to get :cry:

 

[Virgilartois]

My wife bought me a Young's Definitive Lager kit for my birthday two years ago, handed me this old book of hers, and regretted it ever since.

When the cover portrays two men with sideburns drinking from a plastic barrel in a shed, you can be fairly sure it's either complete and informative or it's gay sailor ****.

 

[snail59]

That's fantastic. Thought for a moment the Author was HE BRAVE but it's H.E BRAVERY which ain't much better. Bet there both wearing Sandals :rofl:

 

[dennisking]

Things were very basic in those early day, as was the literature available but we still made great beers.

The literature I remember was limited to Amateur Wine Maker.
Dave Line's "Big Book of Brewing" was a revelation!

David lines books were a god send, I started with the 2 Ken Shales books, brewing better beers and advanced home brewing, as you said both published by Amateur Wine Maker, but if you read them now they are almost embarrassing despite the fact he was a local hero living 5 minuites walk from me. Mainly extract brews, if I remember correct in the 1st book he writes a quick piece on AG but states its not worth the hassle

 

[Baz Chaz]

....... Mainly extract brews, if I remember correct in the 1st book he writes a quick piece on AG but states its not worth the hassle

....... if ever there was a statement made that was so wrong :whistle: that was a cracker :lol:

 

[MikeB]

I've come back to brewing after twenty years when I last did it as a student.

Have done six kits in quick succession mainly because BrewUK were offering a bit of a stonking deal in December which allowed me to get three FVs and kegs. I'm drinking the last keg of Wherry now and have three extract brews conditioning.

I did my first AG on Saturday! A Young's Special recipe pack from Worcester Hop shop. I haven't set up a complete AG system yet so this first one was a kind of BIAB/batch sparge that went really well: ended up with 25l @ 1044 and also managed to get a rolling boil on my hob. So pleased with how it went that I'm going to do another this weekend and then order all the last bits of gear I need next week. 10 gallon batches, here we come! :grin: :

 

[pjbiker]

I have the very same 'sparklets' plastic keg in my shed, donated from a family friend who dabbled with kits in the seventees. The 'o'ring is missing and a bit of an odd size but I have fermented a TC in it successfully.

I'd love to do a 'Back to the Future' photo
http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut ... he-future/

 

[Virgilartois]

Another reason to go AG: I just worked out that I can make 23 litres of really good ale for about £6.00 (not including the propane, sadly). Stella Artois is about £1.70 per litre right now. Yeah, I'm alright, thanks.

 

[MikeB]

Another reason to go AG: I just worked out that I can make 23 litres of really good ale for about £6.00 (not including the propane, sadly). Stella Artois is about £1.70 per litre right now. Yeah, I'm alright, thanks.

This is one of the reasons I got back into brewing. I love my ale but couldn't really afford to buy the bottles from the supermarkets and don't really go out drinking much, if at all these days. So I'd buy the "3 for £20" boxes of Stella... but now I will have far superior beer to savour at a fraction of the cost. And the idea of making up my own recipes is just mouthwatering :grin:

 

[rickthebrew]

This is one of the reasons I got back into brewing. I love my ale but couldn't really afford to buy the bottles from the supermarkets and don't really go out drinking much, if at all these days. So I'd buy the "3 for £20" boxes of Stella... but now I will have far superior beer to savour at a fraction of the cost. And the idea of making up my own recipes is just mouthwatering :grin:

:clap:

 

[dennisking]

My wife bought me a Young's Definitive Lager kit for my birthday two years ago, handed me this old book of hers, and regretted it ever since.

When the cover portrays two men with sideburns drinking from a plastic barrel in a shed, you can be fairly sure it's either complete and informative or it's gay sailor ****.

Wow as I said I have several books from that era, I think that one even pre-dates that.

 

[Virgilartois]

She got most of her ideas for wine from that book and she makes wine from things I thought were only ingredients in Shepherd's Pie. Still turns out to be some of the nicest tasting rocket fuel I've ever imagined could be fermented with bread yeast. That book only goes into extract brewing; no mention of AG or kit brewing to be seen. Guess it was just the times... 1974. I just love the smug look on the brewer's face and the surprised, pleased look on the drinker's face. Yesh, old duck, in fact I DID brew that entirely from grain in this bucket!"

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Capper on the table is like mine, BOOTS??

 

[battwave]

I'm becoming increasingly curious about the statistical significance of so few people starting AG in the 6 - 10 year window. Does this coincide with a period of excess prior to the onset of the current recession? Were people so well-off they didn't need to start brewing?

OR

Maybe the wider thing represents a continuous stream of people trying it for a couple of years and giving-up, along with a bunch of gnarled old brewers who've been at it since the start of time.


Maybe we need another survey to determine which is the case?http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/posting.php?mode=reply&f=36&t=14495#