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Birkin

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I thought it was about time I signed up to this forum after a few weeks lurking in the shadows leeching from the wisdom of others.

I have a new hobby - All grain brewing. I am a man of many hobbies, I can't help it, hobbies are addictive. Anyway the piano playing and toylander construction (for my daughter) are on hold to make way for this fascinating hobby.

I've spent the last month or so absorbing information and making home brew. Here's where i'm at for anyone interested:

Mash tun made, bucket in a bucket method with the bottom chopped off one sat in the other, insulation jacket made from stuffing and windscreen protectors (The shiny things that some people use to keep the frost off)

Aquired a boiler, for my first batch I made do with a 15 Litre stock pot that I have and double boiled. Which was tedious. I now have a 30 Litre Burco tea urn.

Bought a bottle tree, racking cane and wort chiller. Drank enough Bulmers to have amassed a large headache and a collection of pint bottles. Bought a bench capper.

I did have a cheap plastic cantilever bottle capper. After decapitating half a dozen bottles with it I chopped it up and used it as a hammer on capper. Bought a bench capper for next time and never looked back.

On the subject of the boiler, I bought a 30 Litre Cygnet boiler new off of ebay for ��£70 posted. When i got it I filled it with water and put it on to heat. After an hour it came to the boil with a massive bang and blew the trip. I called Burco and they actually sent an engineer out to fix it, they said they rarely have issue's with them but when they do they prefer to know what the issue was.

The boiler now works perfectly (It had a shorted wire on the boil light, made in china 'nuff said). It's big enough for 23L batches as long as you don't mind adding a couple of litres back in on long boils, and maintains a lovely rolling boil on the high setting without issue!

I'm very new to the hobby but already on batch #3, I started all grain with a lager and ended up using beer yeast. After much reading and purchasing more equipment i'm in the process of building a temperature controller for a spare fridge I recently aquired and have the ingredients sat ready to go, including some proper yeast (White labs 830).

I couldn't resist sampling some of the beer yeast batch early, and it's pretty good considering! The first batch was a boil in the bag kit. It was ok. Those days are gone.

All grain all the way now!

Currently have a Hobgoblin clone in the fermenter (Orfy's HG 2), the German Lager with Beer yeast conditioning, and planning lager #2 as soon as I get this temp controller finished.
 
I thought it was about time I signed up to this forum after a few weeks lurking in the shadows leeching from the wisdom of others.

I have a new hobby - All grain brewing. I am a man of many hobbies, I can't help it, hobbies are addictive. Anyway the piano playing and toylander construction (for my daughter) are on hold to make way for this fascinating hobby.

I've spent the last month or so absorbing information and making home brew. Here's where i'm at for anyone interested:

Mash tun made, bucket in a bucket method with the bottom chopped off one sat in the other, insulation jacket made from stuffing and windscreen protectors (The shiny things that some people use to keep the frost off)

Aquired a boiler, for my first batch I made do with a 15 Litre stock pot that I have and double boiled. Which was tedious. I now have a 30 Litre Burco tea urn.

Bought a bottle tree, racking cane and wort chiller. Drank enough Bulmers to have amassed a large headache and a collection of pint bottles. Bought a bench capper.

I did have a cheap plastic cantilever bottle capper. After decapitating half a dozen bottles with it I chopped it up and used it as a hammer on capper. Bought a bench capper for next time and never looked back.

On the subject of the boiler, I bought a 30 Litre Cygnet boiler new off of ebay for ���£70 posted. When i got it I filled it with water and put it on to heat. After an hour it came to the boil with a massive bang and blew the trip. I called Burco and they actually sent an engineer out to fix it, they said they rarely have issue's with them but when they do they prefer to know what the issue was.

The boiler now works perfectly (It had a shorted wire on the boil light, made in china 'nuff said). It's big enough for 23L batches as long as you don't mind adding a couple of litres back in on long boils, and maintains a lovely rolling boil on the high setting without issue!

I'm very new to the hobby but already on batch #3, I started all grain with a lager and ended up using beer yeast. After much reading and purchasing more equipment i'm in the process of building a temperature controller for a spare fridge I recently aquired and have the ingredients sat ready to go, including some proper yeast (White labs 830).

I couldn't resist sampling some of the beer yeast batch early, and it's pretty good considering! The first batch was a boil in the bag kit. It was ok. Those days are gone.

All grain all the way now!

Currently have a Hobgoblin clone in the fermenter (Orfy's HG 2), the German Lager with Beer yeast conditioning, and planning lager #2 as soon as I get this temp controller finished.

Thats the way to go fella:thumb::thumb:
 
Welcome aboard - it sounds as if you've hit the ground running!

I certainly have! I'm a firm believer in learn by doing, I don't really know how best to explain this, but I generally find that I learn more if I just get stuck in and learn why I should have done things differently as I go along. It generates a much deeper understanding in the long run.

Here's a good example, my mash tun has a nice shiny easy to read catering quality temperature gauge which I shelled out all of £16 for after a few too many of my first brew. It's rubbish, it acts like a heat sink so the temperature drop is not at all representative of the actual temp drop as it has the effect of cooling a small volume of Wort around the probe. I find those cheap LCD thermometers (£2 off ebay) work much better as they don't have this issue.

I already have my next 3 brews planned. I'm still amassing bottles though so I'm currently limited by the amount of Bulmers that I can drink. (Mostly because of the conditioning time of lager, and that at the moment I'm bottle conditioning) I could just buy the bottles but that's not in the spirit of things.

Next is another German Lager, then a Stout (I have an idea for this, I've recently discovered Beersmith and some Guinness clone's, so this is going to be an experiment), then a Stella clone.
 
I certainly have! I'm a firm believer in learn by doing, I don't really know how best to explain this, but I generally find that I learn more if I just get stuck in and learn why I should have done things differently as I go along. It generates a much deeper understanding in the long run.

Here's a good example, my mash tun has a nice shiny easy to read catering quality temperature gauge which I shelled out all of �£16 for after a few too many of my first brew. It's rubbish, it acts like a heat sink so the temperature drop is not at all representative of the actual temp drop as it has the effect of cooling a small volume of Wort around the probe. I find those cheap LCD thermometers (�£2 off ebay) work much better as they don't have this issue.

I already have my next 3 brews planned. I'm still amassing bottles though so I'm currently limited by the amount of Bulmers that I can drink. (Mostly because of the conditioning time of lager, and that at the moment I'm bottle conditioning) I could just buy the bottles but that's not in the spirit of things.

Next is another German Lager, then a Stout (I have an idea for this, I've recently discovered Beersmith and some Guinness clone's, so this is going to be an experiment), then a Stella clone.

Never Lurk Birkin you will eventually get arested!:lol:

A german larger you have my attention :grin:
 
Welcome :-)

Your intro post peaks my interests :-)

You've got some tips in there I'm not aware of or thought about.

Welcome to the journey of homebrew.

I've had it in the neck for all my different hobbies too ;-)

Pull up a chair, your slippers are by the fire ;-)
 
Never Lurk Birkin you will eventually get arested!:lol:

A german larger you have my attention :grin:

Yeah, good German lagers are my main interest although I like a good stout too. I know a lot of people knock lagers because they're relatively plain compared to a hoppy IPA or similar.

I love a good, clean lager with a fresh taste and a hint of hoppiness about it. I also like that skunky taste that you get with Grolsh and Carlsberg, although I'm not a fan of Carlsberg, too watery, it feels to lack body to me.

I'll be brewing beers and stouts to keep me busy while I'm waiting for my lager to be ready :whistle:

One thing though, people really shouldn't steer clear of lagers for concerns over cooling, they used to brew it in winter and store it in caves hundreds of years before electricity was invented. 23 litres of beer has a long temp lag time so as long as you keep an eye on it you can lager with an ice bucket, and store in your cellar / garage over winter to condition.

Beer in summer, lager in winter, just brew enough through the winter to last the summer out, it keeps for months :D:D
 
Yeah, good German lagers are my main interest although I like a good stout too. I know a lot of people knock lagers because they're relatively plain compared to a hoppy IPA or similar.

I love a good, clean lager with a fresh taste and a hint of hoppiness about it. I also like that skunky taste that you get with Grolsh and Carlsberg, although I'm not a fan of Carlsberg, too watery, it feels to lack body to me.

I'll be brewing beers and stouts to keep me busy while I'm waiting for my lager to be ready :whistle:

One thing though, people really shouldn't steer clear of lagers for concerns over cooling, they used to brew it in winter and store it in caves hundreds of years before electricity was invented. 23 litres of beer has a long temp lag time so as long as you keep an eye on it you can lager with an ice bucket, and store in your cellar / garage over winter to condition.

Beer in summer, lager in winter, just brew enough through the winter to last the summer out, it keeps for months :D:D

I have recently done another larger using WLP830 yeast i think it was and my mad hop choice was Lublin :whistle:
 
I have recently done another larger using WLP830 yeast i think it was and my mad hop choice was Lublin :whistle:

Sounds good! I haven't come across Lublin in a recipe yet but I know this hop tends to be used in lagers. I'm brewing my next lager this weekend (After I've assembled my temp controller) with either Saaz or Hallertauer Hersbrucker, I have both and haven't decided which one to use yet. Probably the HH and save the Saaz for a Stella clone (Which has to be called Interstella)

Just out of interest, do you make a starter with WLP830? Most people seem to recommend it but the manufacturers say you can pitch it straight in.
 
Sounds good! I haven't come across Lublin in a recipe yet but I know this hop tends to be used in lagers. I'm brewing my next lager this weekend (After I've assembled my temp controller) with either Saaz or Hallertauer Hersbrucker, I have both and haven't decided which one to use yet. Probably the HH and save the Saaz for a Stella clone (Which has to be called Interstella)

Just out of interest, do you make a starter with WLP830? Most people seem to recommend it but the manufacturers say you can pitch it straight in.

My first larger a while ago no i didnt but this one i did, Stella clone oh now im interested lol

The thing with largers and thats why i dont do many tbh is the time factor and my tastes have changed quite a lot no im a ale addict , but i do love a really good crisp larger at the same time
 

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