Mrs Smith Brews

[Mr & Mrs Smith]

My wife is a homebrewer and opened Pandora's box by getting me into it. My wife is a plant biologist at SmartParc Derby and previously worked with GM crops. I work at Rolls Royce SMR. The kids are doing their own thing so we are doing ours. I am looking forward to exchanging some brewing knowledge on this fine forum.

 

[Galena]

Welcome, nice to have Mr & Mrs Pitt Smith on board . Lots of knowledge on the forum, lots of opinions too welcome to a great hobby, any particular style of beer you favour?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome the forum

 

[Rwilts]

Welcome

 

[MashBag]

Hmm.

"the chap on the forum said you are doing it wrong dear"

Welcome aboard, and while we are here does anyone know a good divorce lawyer?

 

[Deadhead]

Fab! What kind of stuff do you like to brew?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

That avatar is the Pitts




Sorry couldn't resist.

 

[MashBag]

Nope this is a Pitts

 

[An Ankoù]

Nope this is a Pitts

View attachment 102350

.... and this is a Brad:

 

[Mr & Mrs Smith]

Welcome, nice to have Mr & Mrs Pitt Smith on board . Lots of knowledge on the forum, lots of opinions too welcome to a great hobby, any particular style of beer you favour?

Fab! What kind of stuff do you like to brew?

We brew most everything but at the moment we are in a pickle we had the Brewzilla 3-1-1 for two years and it just conked out. It was 2nd hand I hasten to add so between the two of us we have chipped in £3000 to get new gear we have been brewing with all makeshift but brewing excellent beers.
So we need fermenters x 2, kegs x 4, all-in-one x 1, and a 3-keg fridge. Everything else we have.

 

[Galena]

Another route is to build your own, large stainless pot, drill a few holes, add an element and a few taps, buy grain basket and a separate pump and PID controller. Then the whole thing can't conk out.

 

[MashBag]

What sort of beers are you brewing?

 

[Nucbrewer]

Welcome! Wish I had a budget of £3000 for shiny new kit. Are you planning to pressure ferment?

 

[An Ankoù]

Welcome! Wish I had a budget of £3000 for shiny new kit. Are you planning to pressure ferment?

Glad I haven't (although being retired, kids kicked out of the nest, mortgage paid, I could, for the first time in my life, find it). I started brewing as a student, with bits and pieces that I could find or press into servive cheaply and that's still part of the attraction.
If course I've upgraded my kit over the years to SS kettles. I have three in various sizes, but I only use one at the moment. I still save my 8 litre Volvic PETs for experimental batches and the beer brewed in my plastic fermenters is every bit as good as that brewed in the SS fermenters. If and when, out of curiosity, I decide to experiment with pressure fermenting, I'll fit a reliable pressure relief valve to an old King Keg.
Can't see there being any hurry for that, though as I've got at least a dozen hop varieties and many yeasts to play with first.

I fully appreciate different people brew for different reasons, and collecting shiny kit may be one of them, but it's not for me, ta.

 

[Nucbrewer]

Upgrading the electrical supply to my garage would be first on my spending list rather than new shiny kit.
My favourite fermenters are the flat bottom Fermzilla which are currently £20.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Ah! An interesting new discussion - what would you prioritise your hard earned cash on? (not altogether sure anyone actually asked that but…).

For me it’s storage and dispense. You can brew with any old kit but keeping your beer in good condition and serving it correctly?

Also, welcome Mr & Mrs Smith

 

[Mr & Mrs Smith]

What sort of beers are you brewing?

As mentioned almost all beers.

Welcome! Wish I had a budget of £3000 for shiny new kit. Are you planning to pressure ferment?

Well I doubt the full 3K will go on equipment, what is left over will go into the grain coffers. No, not planning to pressure ferment until someone can come up with evidence that it will produce a better-tasting beer. We will however be carbonating in the keg/fermenter.

Glad I haven't (although being retired, kids kicked out of the nest, mortgage paid, I could, for the first time in my life, find it). I started brewing as a student, with bits and pieces that I could find or press into servive cheaply and that's still part of the attraction.
If course I've upgraded my kit over the years to SS kettles. I have three in various sizes, but I only use one at the moment. I still save my 8 litre Volvic PETs for experimental batches and the beer brewed in my plastic fermenters is every bit as good as that brewed in the SS fermenters. If and when, out of curiosity, I decide to experiment with pressure fermenting, I'll fit a reliable pressure relief valve to an old King Keg.
Can't see there being any hurry for that, though as I've got at least a dozen hop varieties and many yeasts to play with first.

I fully appreciate different people brew for different reasons, and collecting shiny kit may be one of them, but it's not for me, ta.

Well, spending helps the economy and the homebrew stores, most likely buy from one of the sponsors on the forum as they all seem represented on Homebrew Forum UK. Will show that their advertising is paying its way, I will expect a discount mind.
Our philosophy is buy once cry once.

Upgrading the electrical supply to my garage would be first on my spending list rather than new shiny kit.
My favourite fermenters are the flat bottom Fermzilla which are currently £20.

Already have the power supply necessary so no problems there. I am looking at conical to reduce any impact the yeast's surface area at the bottom of the fermenter may have.

Ah! An interesting new discussion - what would you prioritise your hard earned cash on? (not altogether sure anyone actually asked that but…).

For me it’s storage and dispense. You can brew with any old kit but keeping your beer in good condition and serving it correctly?

Also, welcome Mr & Mrs Smith

You are right it does open up a point of discussion. I am sure everyone will have their own priority/priorities.
My first priority is for an all-in-one which can keep a steady mash temperature throughout the vessel, I do realise this is no achievable without being hands-on during the mash regime.
Second, controlling the fermentation temperature to the yeast's liking.
Third, as you mentioned storage of the finished beer our house is an old house with a coal cellar with the coal shute which I have blocked off and insulated. It seems it keeps a stable temperature of 13-14C throughout the year. Ideal for bottled beer but not for growing mushrooms.

 

[Mr & Mrs Smith]

Another route is to build your own, large stainless pot, drill a few holes, add an element and a few taps, buy grain basket and a separate pump and PID controller. Then the whole thing can't conk out

Yes, I could build my own vessel but I just don't have the time, the money I would save on materials I would lose through the time spent. It was the elements that let me down in the Brewzilla, obviously the cemented-in elements are a problem to replace. Plus it had served its purpose of learning about the pros and cons of a single-vessel brewery.

 

[MashBag]

My first priority is for an all-in-one which can keep a steady mash temperature throughout the vessel, I do realise this is no achievable without being hands-on during the mash regime.

I do like where you are coming from.

Buy a braumeister. At least see one before you buy anything else.
All brewing devices are not equal.

A BM does keep a steady mash temperature throughout the vessel.

It will also do it without being hands-on during the mash regime. Mine does - everytime. I didn't buy a machine to have to babysit it. Tbh if that's the case you might as well buy a burco .. And the element is replaceable.

What beers have you brewed so far?

 

[An Ankoù]

Well, spending helps the economy and the homebrew stores,

Spending on equipment mainly helps the economy of China. I'm proud to say that one of my kettles was made in Spain and another made in Italy, but the SS Brewtec one is deffo Chinese. Guess which ones are better quality. Malt and hops, on the other hand, are of known provenance and this should suffice to keep my suppliers in business.

Our philosophy is buy once cry once

My philosophy is mend, re-use and adapt. The consumer, throw-away economy is destroying the planet. Avoid plastics, but if they can't be avoided then reuse and reuse. My old Fermenters from Hop and Grape gave 20 years service and the only reason I've replaced them is because the lids fell to pieces. They now serve for collecting apples at cider time. Replaced with Braumarkt plastic buckets, a tad smaller and thinner, but I expect to get a least ten years out of them.