Hello Fellow Beer Geeks!

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Vicendea

New Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Messages
17
Reaction score
3
Location
NULL
Hi Everyone!

I’m chomping at the bit to get back into some brewing! I brewed for about 5 years back in Australia and made beer at an intermediate level with liquid yeasts and the like, and was quite happy with my results. However that stopped when I moved to London almost 10 years ago due to the lack of space. However I’ve recently moved into a more spacious house with a shed that has been converted into a bar! :thumb:

So the stars have aligned and I’m about to dive down the rabbit hole of beer geekery. I want to ease back into it and do my first brew with a kit and malt extract, maybe do a quick 10 minute boil with a few extra hops for flavour and steep a bit of grain too. I have zero equipment except for a bottle capper and I was hoping you lovely people could point me in the direction of the best place to get my kit. And perhaps a recommendation of a checklist of what I need and what the best kit is these days, as I’ve heard even things like sterilisers have improved over the last 10 years?

I’m looking forward to getting into this seriously over the next few years, so I’m willing to spend a bit extra for good kit, provided the value is there.

I would like to get a brewing refrigerator to ensure I can ferment the beer in controlled temperatures, is there somewhere I could get this 2nd hand, or would it be best to convert a 2nd hand fridge myself?

Also, is there anywhere in London where I could get cheap large beer bottles, and does anyone have recommended stackable plastic boxes to store all the bottles in?

Sorry for all the questions, but please let me know your recommendations, and when my bar/brewery is up and running I’d love to have some fellow beer geeks over if they live in London :thumb:

Cheers
 
Welcome to the forum :cheers:

If you plan on buying online have a look in the sponsor forum for the member discount codes.
 
Hi n welcome..

5star-starsan and its equivalents are no rinse sanitisers that save a shed load of rinsing and water ;) @ upto £15 a bottle it may seem like its 3-4x the cost of the usual bleach based option but 1 bottle will last a few years with a dilution rate of 8-10ml to make 5l of sanitiser.. unlike the traditional product which you will need to restock every 3-4 brews..

wilco's is a good high street supplier of basics for kit and cold side brewing. for AG the off the shelf options are limited to cheap n cheerful and tight volumes (Pico boiler..30l)
or built to spec custom jobs which is really a diy job if you can tighten a nut with a spanner and wire a plug. Or one of the 1 pot kettle rims machine options, Braumeister at the top of the price list with grainfather at about half that cost and the ace and bulldog systems coming in at a lower price point. while im a grainfather fanboy, the ace and bulldog systems also have thier equally 'loyal' supporters.. tho i think most will agree with its new controller the G/F is leading the pack with current tech features,,
 
Thanks, so any recommendations on which home brew websites are the best and any particular starter kit?
 
our local home brew shop is run by brewers (family business) and online at stonehelm.co.uk (sound folk, silly name tho.. if ringing with a query Stefan the brewer is generally there fridays and saturdays.. ) Ive laso had very positive dealings with the copper kettle online brewshop again run by a brewer happy to chat brewing for hours if you let him..

for starter kits the only real consideration is will you package in bottles or a pressure barrel, and select the kit accordingly pressure barrels are a little less hassle to clean n rinse etc than 40 x bottles but cant contain the same level of pressure and are therfore less suitable for highly conditioned or more fizzy brews. while bottles can contain much higher pressures and will work with low thru to highly conditioned beers. If compiled by the brewshop or the supplier afaik both coopers and youngs distribute complete starter kits with bottles or pressure barrels?? just ensure it contains the basic neccessary equipment of
1) suitable fermentor
2) thermometer
3) hydrometer
4) trial glass for use with the hydrometer
5) siphon tube and tap

everything else jugs scales spoons etc you can borrow from the kitchen to start with ;)

in general UK homebrew shops give pretty good pre and post sales service, tho there was one recently highlighted as selling its customers very short and not answering post sales emails/calls when it comes to me i will name n shame here ;) if no one beats me to it..
 
OK, so I've chosen this kit as it was the only one with two fermentation vessels as I want to rack my beer for secondary fermentation. Seems like a decent deal to me for £43?

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Equipment-Only-Starter-Kit-5-Gallons.html

I've also decided to go with the Evil Dog Double IPA kit to start with and got some Dried Isinglass finings as well as some Five Star San No rinse sanitiser.

I just need to work out what I'm going to do for temperature control. I would love a converted fermentation fridge, but I guess there's not a lot of them being sold and I'd have to make my own?
 
er.. just my opinion but its got no bottles or pressure barrel,
packaging the beer for consumption is pretty crucial ;)

And taps on the FV's ?? some luv em others hate em.. i am in the pro camp BUT they can limit your options when cheap and cheerful temp control methods are used, a simple water bath can be used to keep a brew cool in the summer and also warm in the winter with an aquarium heater, however a tap on the FV can be an obstacle to this and also require extra cleaning and sanitation if used.. AND... drawing off the sediment cleanly with a tap and staedy tip with or without wedge aids can be a black art.. might be best to stick with no taps and a siphon to draw off clean bright beer to start with, you can always add one to a bucket/fv but removing one and repairing the hole is impossible..??
 

Latest posts

Back
Top