Hi all,
Thought I would introduce myself - I have only been brewing for the last six months or so, so am ony just starting out - I did some when I was a lot younger, but have I realised, like most things in life, brewing has moved on from the nasty kits that gave you beer tasting like Kestrel (or that might have just been the kits I was using at the time).
Anyway, after looking at a lot of different types (and spending months trying to decide which one to start with), I found a little homebrew shop near to my work in Cheltenham, so went along one lunchtime to buy the bucket and the beer. Ended up spending about an hour chatting to the shopkeeper, and sampling some of his own brews, which he had in mini-kegs as tasters in the shop. Result - original ideas of the Woodfordes Wherry soon disappeared, and I walked out the door with a Foresters Summer Glory.
Once home, it wasnt long before the kit was on the go (as a co-op with a friend and ex-neighbour), and bubbling away in the corner. The whole process, from boiling the hops through to sealing the beer was great fun, and then the music of bubbling beer topped it off - I was a happy man :
The next few days to a week were spent listening to the music, and watching the liquid gradually, but invisibly, turn to golden nectar. When the fermentation had finished, I moved the bucket to a colder part of the house, and let it settle for another week or so. Then one Sunday, we spent a good two hours or so bottling (from sterlising through to sealing), and ended up with about 45 old Spitfire bottles of what already tasted a gorgeous beer.
When it was finally ready to drink, we tried the first couple of bottles, and realised that it was a beer that if we were served in the pub with, we would happiy stay all night in that pub - my half of the 44 bottles (we drank one to even things up at bottling stage...!) didnt last very long at all after that, even though the intention was to sample a few, and take the advice of Pops Homebrew of maturing the beers over 3 to 6 months or more.
Anyway, I am now well and truly hooked on homebrewing, and am on the way to having a good selection maturing in my partners garage (out of my reach!), but with the intention that the selection gets wider over time.
Having had a look through this website as a guest, it looked pretty good, friendly and useful, so here I am. In particular I like the reviews of the beers (a really useful part of the site for newbies such as me) and I have no doubt that I will be using other sections in due course. I have every intention of posting on my brew days, with pics when I work out how to add photos, and to do reviews and updates on the beers I brew, as they mature over time.
Look forward to chatting with you all
Cheers :drink:
S
We had decided on glass bottles rather than kegging, or using plastic bottles
Thought I would introduce myself - I have only been brewing for the last six months or so, so am ony just starting out - I did some when I was a lot younger, but have I realised, like most things in life, brewing has moved on from the nasty kits that gave you beer tasting like Kestrel (or that might have just been the kits I was using at the time).
Anyway, after looking at a lot of different types (and spending months trying to decide which one to start with), I found a little homebrew shop near to my work in Cheltenham, so went along one lunchtime to buy the bucket and the beer. Ended up spending about an hour chatting to the shopkeeper, and sampling some of his own brews, which he had in mini-kegs as tasters in the shop. Result - original ideas of the Woodfordes Wherry soon disappeared, and I walked out the door with a Foresters Summer Glory.
Once home, it wasnt long before the kit was on the go (as a co-op with a friend and ex-neighbour), and bubbling away in the corner. The whole process, from boiling the hops through to sealing the beer was great fun, and then the music of bubbling beer topped it off - I was a happy man :
The next few days to a week were spent listening to the music, and watching the liquid gradually, but invisibly, turn to golden nectar. When the fermentation had finished, I moved the bucket to a colder part of the house, and let it settle for another week or so. Then one Sunday, we spent a good two hours or so bottling (from sterlising through to sealing), and ended up with about 45 old Spitfire bottles of what already tasted a gorgeous beer.
When it was finally ready to drink, we tried the first couple of bottles, and realised that it was a beer that if we were served in the pub with, we would happiy stay all night in that pub - my half of the 44 bottles (we drank one to even things up at bottling stage...!) didnt last very long at all after that, even though the intention was to sample a few, and take the advice of Pops Homebrew of maturing the beers over 3 to 6 months or more.
Anyway, I am now well and truly hooked on homebrewing, and am on the way to having a good selection maturing in my partners garage (out of my reach!), but with the intention that the selection gets wider over time.
Having had a look through this website as a guest, it looked pretty good, friendly and useful, so here I am. In particular I like the reviews of the beers (a really useful part of the site for newbies such as me) and I have no doubt that I will be using other sections in due course. I have every intention of posting on my brew days, with pics when I work out how to add photos, and to do reviews and updates on the beers I brew, as they mature over time.
Look forward to chatting with you all
Cheers :drink:
S
We had decided on glass bottles rather than kegging, or using plastic bottles
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