Uncrushed grain supplier?

[clibit]

If Tony's anything like me, he's just ordered some stuff and will work out what to brew later!

 

[Tony1951]

I had a look at that one myself. Not made wine for years but tempted to give it a go I must admit...Gervins do a high alcohol wine yeast I think?

What are you thinking of brewing with that bundle of joy?!

I have the Hughes home brewing book and I just made one called Summer Ale. If I like that, I will knock out more of it, but I thought the stuff I bought was pretty generic for beers of the ale style and I could mess about with the different hops a bit. The little bit of chocolate malt can be played with too. I just started ordering hops and thought I should add the malts to make the postage worthwhile - and the yeasts... I need yeast, or I will be reduced to pitching new brews onto the trub of the last lot which is how I did five brews on the trot a couple of months ago... Mind you, they were kit extract brews so there was none of that bread like protein lying in the bottom of the FV.

I used the spare cooper's kit yeasts for all my AG brewing. It works and as far as my untutored pallet is concerned, it hasn't added any bad flavours or let me down at all. The US05 is supposed to be a very clean yeast though, so if it is cool enough, it should be good. I suspect the Cooper's yeast is probably more tolerant of heat than some, which is probably why I have got away with some of my recent 'hot brews'. They often got to 24c according to the stick on thermometer, and I think it is reasonably accurate.

 

[ManseMasher]

I've got that book too..fancy the old style ales. Mind you, I would like to have a go at every style of ale on the planet, so I guess I'm just not picky!

 

[Tony1951]

I've got that book too..fancy the old style ales. Mind you, I would like to have a go at every style of ale on the planet, so I guess I'm just not picky!

:)

One of my lads turned up with it on Father's Day. Tragedy is, I think he paid the full list price for it at the local Brew shop we were discussing. It is available on Amazon for about 20% of that price - maybe 25% if you don't have Amazon Prime and get free delivery. Anyway - I was well pleased when I opened the parcel.

Yes - if I live long enough I might make my way through the recipes.... :lol: It's nice to look at the ideas and the pictures anyway. A long time ago I bought the Big Brew Book by a guy called Dave Line... It makes AG brewing seem very complicated. Sadly, I think the author died young from sampling his recipes too much.

 

[clibit]

I just keep stocks of a variety of malts and hops and work with what I have got. I like to have pale malt, wheat, caramalt, dark crystal, chocolate, roast barley and maybe black in the store cupboard. I often have others, I currently have crystal rye and roasted rye, which are both great, and Special B.

The hops have got out of control, I'm a hop hoarder, but I like to have a few English (EKG, First Gold, Northdown, Challenger, Admiral and Bram X are my favourites) and a few American (from Centennial, Simcoe, Citra, Columbus, Amarillo, Apollo, Cascade, Cluster, Crystal, Nugget) and some from down under (Motueka, Wakatu, Nelson, Galaxy, Green Bullet). Forgot Europe - I really like Bobek, Aurora, Brewer's Gold, Northern Brewer). That's 24 hops which are the ones I have honed it down to. I'm sure there are some I've yet to try that will be added eventually.

At the moment I have all the ones I've listed except Nugget, Wakatu, Nelson, Galaxy and Aurora. And I've got half a dozen I haven't listed.

I need to get them used and order according to need a bit more! Maybe get it down to about ten cheap hops that I keep in stock for impulse brews, and order the more expensive ones when I decide to brew with them.

1. First Gold or EKG or Challenger (all similar-ish) 2. Northdown or Northern Brewer 3. Centennial (Love it) 4. Simcoe (really versatile) 5. Cluster or Nugget 6. Motueka 7. Green bullet (great bittering and Styrian aroma) 8. Bobek or Aurora (similar flavour) 9. Columbus (versatile) 10. Brewer's Gold

Something like that. I'm justing thinking out loud about rationalising my hop collection! I love the Citra, Amarillo, Galaxy type hops but only occasionally, I can make all sorts of brews with those ten and be happy every time.

 

[ManseMasher]

I'm going to have to try and stock up. I have half a dozen half bags of hops in the freezer, but the grain store is empty!

 

[Tony1951]

I just keeps stocks of a variety of malts and hops and work with what I have got. I like to have pale malt, wheat, caramalt, dark crystal, chocolate, roast barley and maybe black in the store cupboard. I often have others, I currently have crystal and roasted rye, which are both great, and Special B.

The hops have got out of control, I'm a hop hoarder, but I like to have a few English (EKG, First Gold, Northdown, Challenger, Admiral and Bram X are my favourites) and a few American (from Centennial, Simcoe, Citra, Columbus, Amarillo, Apollo, Cascade, Cluster, Crystal, Nugget) and some from down under (Motueka, Wakatu, Nelson, Galaxy, Green Bullet). Forgot Europe - I really like Bobek, Aurora, Brewer's Gold, Northern Brewer). That's 24 hops which are the ones I have honed it down to. I'm sure there are some I've yet to try that will be added eventually.

At the moment I have all the ones I've listed except Nugget, Wakatu, Nelson, Galaxy and Aurora. And I've got half a dozen I haven't listed.

I need to get them used and order according to need a bit more! Maybe get it down to about ten cheap hops that I keep in stock for impulse brews, and order the more expensive ones when I decide to brew with them.

1. First Gold or EKG or Challenger (all similar-ish) 2. Northdown or Northern Brewer 3. Centennial (Love it) 4. Simcoe (really versatile) 5. Cluster or Nugget 6. Motueka 7. Green bullet (great bittering and Styrian aroma) 8. Bobek or Aurora (similar flavour) 9. Columbus (versatile) 10. Brewer's Gold

Something like that. I'm justing thinking out loud about rationalising my hop collection! I love the Citra, Amarillo, Galaxy type hops but only occasionally, I can make all sorts of brews with those ten and be happy every time.

LOL - sounds like you have a hop repository like that world wide seed repository in some nordic mountain fastness. You could set up your own hop shop.

I need to discover the delights of the less fashionable hops and leave the APA ones alone for a bit.

Right - enough of this lying about browsing brewing sites... I'm going to ride my bicycle about in the fresh air. Dog is tired. I am not.

 

[clibit]

I have decided that as great as the fashionable APA hops are I don't want them all the time. I like the English and European grown hops I listed, you can make any kind of ale with them and they are tasty and very drinkable. So I mix up my brews between these and the American/NZ type ones.

 

[ManseMasher]

I'm with you on that one -a good stock of base English hops has done me well. I am just about to order a dwarf rhizome for my garden...

 

[Tony1951]

I'm with you on that one -a good stock of base English hops has done me well. I am just about to order a dwarf rhizome for my garden...

I have a plan to plant some hop rhizomes and train them up a clothes line pole and onward into a big flowering cherry tree. Not sure which to get yet, but time to find out before they come available. It would probably be most sensible to buy one like cascade which is on the more expensive side when bought at the HB shop. That way you grow the more expensive hop and buy the cheap ones.

I'm wondering if I need to dry them (bit of a faff that) and may try just freezing the whole crop and use them totally fresh out of the freezer. Thinking is that I might keep more of the volatile oils and flavours that way. Perhaps there is some flaw in my cunning plan that I haven't seen yet..... No idea really.

 

[ManseMasher]

I'm going to go with drying. Will order Prima Donna - apparently it's a close relative of first gold/fuggles. A kilo of hops in a couple of years. Happy days!!

 

[clibit]

From what I've read I think Prima Donna is the same as First Gold, just how it's sold in plant form or something. Could be wrong. I reckon it's possibly the best one to grow at home, in English conditions - dwarf variety, and a lovely hop.

 

[Tony1951]

From what I've read I think Prima Donna is the same as First Gold, just how it's sold in plant form or something. Could be wrong. I reckon it's possibly the best one to grow at home, in English conditions - dwarf variety, and a lovely hop.

Looks good that. Maybe a tasty dwarf variety is the way to go. Even this one seems to grow to as much as 15 feet, so dwarf must be the way to go for a suburban back garden.

 

[jenivida]

probably an obvious answer to this but how do you get the discount on thehomebrewcompany and geterbrewed?

 

[Slid]

probably an obvious answer to this but how do you get the discount on thehomebrewcompany and geterbrewed?

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=52924

Is Getererbrewed

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=52967

Is HBC - I got some stuff from this supplier about 18+ months ago and was very pleased with the service and support.

 

[MyQul]

I just keep stocks of a variety of malts and hops and work with what I have got. I like to have pale malt, wheat, caramalt, dark crystal, chocolate, roast barley and maybe black in the store cupboard. I often have others, I currently have crystal rye and roasted rye, which are both great, and Special B.

The hops have got out of control, I'm a hop hoarder, but I like to have a few English (EKG, First Gold, Northdown, Challenger, Admiral and Bram X are my favourites) and a few American (from Centennial, Simcoe, Citra, Columbus, Amarillo, Apollo, Cascade, Cluster, Crystal, Nugget) and some from down under (Motueka, Wakatu, Nelson, Galaxy, Green Bullet). Forgot Europe - I really like Bobek, Aurora, Brewer's Gold, Northern Brewer). That's 24 hops which are the ones I have honed it down to. I'm sure there are some I've yet to try that will be added eventually.

At the moment I have all the ones I've listed except Nugget, Wakatu, Nelson, Galaxy and Aurora. And I've got half a dozen I haven't listed.

I need to get them used and order according to need a bit more! Maybe get it down to about ten cheap hops that I keep in stock for impulse brews, and order the more expensive ones when I decide to brew with them.

1. First Gold or EKG or Challenger (all similar-ish) 2. Northdown or Northern Brewer 3. Centennial (Love it) 4. Simcoe (really versatile) 5. Cluster or Nugget 6. Motueka 7. Green bullet (great bittering and Styrian aroma) 8. Bobek or Aurora (similar flavour) 9. Columbus (versatile) 10. Brewer's Gold

Something like that. I'm justing thinking out loud about rationalising my hop collection! I love the Citra, Amarillo, Galaxy type hops but only occasionally, I can make all sorts of brews with those ten and be happy every time.

Flippin eck, Clibit!

And I thought I overdid it when took your advice and bought 7x100g from worcester hop shop to negate the shipping costs

 

[clibit]

Flippin eck, Clibit!

And I thought I overdid it when took your advice and bought 7x100g from worcester hop shop to negate the shipping costs

I know. I feel better for getting it off me chest. :???:

 

[MyQul]

I know. I feel better for getting it off me chest. :???:

H.A. - Hops Anonymous.

"My names Clibit and I'm a hop addict." :lol:

 

[jenivida]

Thanks Slid

 

[Tony1951]

Received my order consignment from The Homebrew Company this morning. All correct and very good prices. Most items are at half the price of the local home brew shop, so no complaints there. Plus - they have a great range of goods and a two day turn around from order to delivery.

They also use DPD as a courier which is great because IF you have the tracking number, DPD will keep you up to speed about where the items are and when they will be delivered - even to an hour long delivery window. See below for the tracking screen from the DPD website.

One small issue is that I had to email Shane at The Homebrew Company to get the tracking number, which must be a pain for him, though not really for me. If they could adapt their business process to send that number with the confirmation email, he wouldn't be getting bothered by people like me who don't want to hang about wondering when the items will arrive. DPD by the way are a great delivery company and their delivery estimates are always correct.