Back in the land of the living

[wurzel]

Cheers for the advice - I'm very tempted like you to do it from scratch. I feel like I'm cheating if I make it from a kit.

I noticed also that this local home brew centre sells stills - I said to the guy there surely you need a licence for one of those & he said he can get away with it by selling them as "working models" !

[conned tractor]

You are not cheating by using kits, its still dammed good beer. Just limits the flexability somewhat. There is a stage inbetween using extract.

Kit beer is a good starting place and believe me a lot less time consuming. An all-grain brew will take you around 4-6 hours, although this is mostly waiting.

You will use all the equipment for kit beer for all grain anyhow if you decide to take that route.

Good youtube video on all grain brewing here. It is in four parts and is quite thorough and easy to understand and Engilsh (as in not american).

Dont know much about distilling - jut to give the first few frops to the fairies.

[RichardCranium]

I'm seriously considering brewing my own beer - there's a garden centere down the road that does all the kits - you pay about 20 quid & get enough to make 40 pints. Never made beer before - any tips?

If you're making wine already, you'll find making beer from kits to be a doddle.

Don't use the kits that have one can and need sugar. Use a two can kit. The results are worth the £10 difference. (Unless you are a student, of course.)

I noticed also that this local home brew centre sells stills - I said to the guy there surely you need a licence for one of those & he said he can get away with it by selling them as "working models" !

In theory you do need a licence but in practice nobody bothers. Just do NOT get tempted to sell the results!

BTW, you can get rocket fuel yeast that will convert a sugar / water mixture into 25% alcohol (and even up to approaching 40% if you are really careful) which is less fiddly than using a still. But if you're going to do that, you may as well bung a mattress under a bridge and start living there now.

[The_Equalizer]

Just thought I'd add my comments as I've just got back in the the real 'Noddy' end of homebrew ie. tin + water + yeast + 4 weeks = beer. Still it's great fun and very easy to do. Once I bought the basic kit it only took a couple of hours to set-up plus a couple of hours two weeks later to transfer to the pressure barrel. The end result is normally like an average pint in a pub. Very tempted to move on to cider using pure apple juice instead of a kit. Anyone had a bash at cider?

[conned tractor]

Just thought I'd add my comments as I've just got back in the the real 'Noddy' end of homebrew ie. tin + water + yeast + 4 weeks = beer. Still it's great fun and very easy to do. Once I bought the basic kit it only took a couple of hours to set-up plus a couple of hours two weeks later to transfer to the pressure barrel. The end result is normally like an average pint in a pub. Very tempted to move on to cider using pure apple juice instead of a kit. Anyone had a bash at cider?

Never tried doing cider - although i'd give turbo cider a go.

Someone bought some for me from a west country farm shop this year. Came in what looked like a 5 litre oil container and tasted like battery acid.

[The_Equalizer]

Sounds like the proper stuff to me. Much underrated although seriously lethal. I'm surprised that more people don't give brewing a go. You can make good pints for about 30-40 pence and very tax efficient which has to appeal to contractor types.

[threaded]

When I'm in England I go to this market stall in Doncaster fish market and there's a guy who does these 'just add water kits' of his own devising. Pretty good stuff.

[wurzel]

Anyone do sloe gin? Bumper crop this year. Got 2 litres on the go - traditionally have the first glass on Christmas Eve. Can't wait.

[conned tractor]

Anyone do sloe gin? Bumper crop this year. Got 2 litres on the go - traditionally have the first glass on Christmas Eve. Can't wait.

The sloe crop was huge round here also, shame I am not too keen on sloe gin.

The blackberry crop was a bit dissappointing (was going to do blackberry wine), although may have been my timing.

Going to do a christmas barley wine myself - although will have to drink very young. Any other christmassy type drinks being being done?

[wurzel]

Any other christmassy type drinks being being done?

I do a good Christmassy cocktail. Basically, it's made from aged rum and condensed milk served warm infused with whole vanilla pods and cinnamon sticks.