Not sure i can be bothered to move on from kits

[Godsdog]

45 years of kit brewing for me and I'd say at roughly 25 or more kits a year,currently up to 18 this year ( I do love my beer) and can't see me moving away from them now as I prefer the quickness of them and can make a Bostin tweaked kit brew for under 30 pence a pint

 

[Robin54]

45 years of kit brewing for me and I'd say at roughly 25 or more kits a year,currently up to 18 this year ( I do love my beer) and can't see me moving away from them now as I prefer the quickness of them and can make a Bostin tweaked kit brew for under 30 pence a pint

Is it true that they once found blood in your alcohol system??:mrgreen:

 

[Godsdog]

Is it true that they once found blood in your alcohol system??:mrgreen:

Yup and still a fighting fit 70 kilogrammes

 

[Robin54]

Yup and still a fighting fit 70 kilogrammes

Chuffing' Nora:thumb:

 

[BREWERS DROOP]

Done both kits and all grain,and can honestly say i will still do both,the Festival kits are really easy,and good quality.But i have 2 small brick workshops full of junk and decided to clear one of them out to do a project over several months, and build my own 100ltr electric brew shed,still not done yet,couple of more things to get,but done a couple of boil in a bag brews in a single pot on a gas stove and the taste is impressive.Get yourself on flea bay buy something cheap and try it,or try someones all grain brew and "taste the difference" if you think its good,go for it.

 

[Dutto]

Thanks for this. You've added one thing I wanted to know - a 7l stockpot. What size brew can you do with that?

If I go extract or AG it will probably be set up in the garage, ..........

All you need for most 23 litre beer kits is 3 litres of boiling water so a 7 litre pot should be adequate for most kits.

I would give the garage a miss. I did my first AG boil in the garage early on in the year when it was reasonably chilly.

Never again!

After a 60 minute rolling boil just about everything was covered with condensed moisture; especially the steel tools (chisels, files, saws etc) that I have hanging off pegboards attached to the walls.

All AG boils are now done outside under the lean-to! :thumb:

 

[dad_of_jon]

I've been doing kits a couple of years now and like the thought of moving on to extract brewing and AG brewing. Therre are 2 problems.

The first being I would need to buy the kit. I've asked on her ea couple of times what the minimum you need is but not really had a proper answer. How big a pot or boiler would I need to move to extract brewing? How much will I have to spend?

The second is doing a kit is fairly quick and simple with the worst part being all the cleaning and steralising (there is a thread on worst part of brewing where most people said this that I saw). If I go on to extract brewing I understand it will take about an hour longer. Is that right? Although the idea of producing your own beer I'm not sure I can be arsed with that and the wife complaining of the smell....or I will be forced into the garage with a camping gas stove.

And how long does it take for AG brewing? All day?

So come on guys, try to persuade me its worth it! I do like the idea of creating my own beers.

Hiya Ale,

extract is a great step up with a minimum of extra kit required. Wilkos do a big pot good enough for a part boil - you can top it up to the required volume the same way as you'd top up the cans from a kit. you may need to chill some of the top-up water to get your correct pitching temp.

http://www.wilko.com/casserole+stockpots/wilko-stock-pot-12l/invt/0322498

extract is however, dearer than ag but you can do a 15 min boil or not at all if your extract is factory sealed e.g. from muntons. the main worry being for extract brewers being how much hoppiness is needed and what yeast to use :grin:

 

[BeerisGOD]

Hiya Ale,

extract is a great step up with a minimum of extra kit required. Wilkos do a big pot good enough for a part boil - you can top it up to the required volume the same way as you'd top up the cans from a kit. you may need to chill some of the top-up water to get your correct pitching temp.

http://www.wilko.com/casserole+stockpots/wilko-stock-pot-12l/invt/0322498

extract is however, dearer than ag but you can do a 15 min boil or not at all if your extract is factory sealed e.g. from muntons. the main worry being for extract brewers being how much hoppiness is needed and what yeast to use :grin:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15-Litre-...1b0e286&pid=100005&rk=1&rkt=6&sd=160901418854

I thought this looked pretty good too.

Dad_of_jon
Would I have to use more than the recommended hops in a recipe if I did just use 6-7L for the boil (with steeped grains and torrefied wheat wort)

the LME is factory sealed and im considering just pouring it all in the FV first
:-?

 

[BeerisGOD]

45 years of kit brewing for me and I'd say at roughly 25 or more kits a year,currently up to 18 this year ( I do love my beer) and can't see me moving away from them now as I prefer the quickness of them and can make a Bostin tweaked kit brew for under 30 pence a pint

have to admire this, and lets remember that 'tweaked' kits can make an amazing pint.

im still going to try to try the extract route, it seems too tempting for the sake of a bigger stock pot/smaller boil.

:whistle:

 

[Ale]

After starting this thread at the "thinking about it" stage, I am now thinking, f*** it, I might just do the simple AG recipe people have put the link to.

Someone mentioned platic bottles affectng the taste of soft drinks so might beer as well. Im thinking of getting glass bottles to see if this improves the tase. I could get Wilkos ones at £4 for 6 bottles full of air or pay the extra and gets ones full of beer...I think I know which one will win. 10 bottles needed fo rthe 5l brew.

 

[Covrich]

Chuffing' Nora:thumb:

He is only 4ft 2" though:lol: