Reply to: Back in the land of the living

[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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[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.

[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]

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?

[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.

[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.

[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]

Grape wine - got a vine in the garden. left it too late really this year otherwise would have had enough for a good 5 gallons or so.

Fantastic. Never had a chance to do grape wine. But there are obvious reasons for using them.

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.

Compared to making wine a beer kit is a peice of pee. You buy kit, sanitise equipment, throw kit in fermenting barrel, top up with water, make sure at right-ish temp, throw yeast on top, ferment for ten days to two weeks. And then bottle or barrel - which is a pain in the a$$ compared to making it.

To barrel - you can buy plastic barrels for around £40 and co2 bulbs or similar to gas. In the barrel it will absorb the co2 making it gassy. I use corneleus kegs which are stainless and a bit more robust. They come from the days when pubs used to buy their soft drink syrup in these - homebrewers pinched the idea and hold 19 litres so are perfect for the job - they cost around £50 modified with a tap and inlet for gas canister. S30 gas canister costs £15 with a refil being £4. Corneleus kegs are much better than plastic barrels.

However, I don't do kits very often. I do all-grain brewing, which is where you soak the malt/malts of your choice and add which ever hops you like. Giving a lot more freedom to the way the beer turns out. It is a longer process but you brew beer like the breweries do - sort of. Set up costs vary, but can be done from around £100 ish upward dependant upon your DIY level.

Good benchtime pastime if you like drinking beer.

HTH

- any tips?

Yeah. Stop snorting they sodium metabi.

[wurzel]

Owww, Sodium metabisulphate cleansing of the nasal passages. Painful, but sparkly clean now.

There is a worse one, but I can't remember what it is. Something to do with cirtic acid and something else mixed together - possibly sodium metabisulphate. Causing the production of a gas that can kill you.

What wine you brewing anyhow. Kit or country wine?

Got a rhubarb wine on myself and barrelled 10 galln of bitter last night.

Grape wine - got a vine in the garden. left it too late really this year otherwise would have had enough for a good 5 gallons or so.

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?

[conned tractor]

Owww, Sodium metabisulphate cleansing of the nasal passages. Painful, but sparkly clean now.

There is a worse one, but I can't remember what it is. Something to do with cirtic acid and something else mixed together - possibly sodium metabisulphate. Causing the production of a gas that can seriously harm you.

What wine you brewing anyhow. Kit or country wine?

Got a rhubarb wine on myself and barrelled 10 galln of bitter last night.

[wurzel]

To put it frankly, that sounds absolutely ******* horrific

Did you have to stay over in hospital?

No, but I probably should have gone there. Just drank a lot of water but even that hurt.

[milanbenes]

must have a been a picture, did you video it ?

Milan.