Advice please

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

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

Jamie93

Active Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2017
Messages
40
Reaction score
2
Location
NULL
I have been home brewing for over 5 years now. I have had great success with making ale,wines and bitters. However I can't seem to get larger right. I nearly always buy kits except wine which I make from concentrate cranberry juice. With larger I make sure I follow all the instruction down to a tea. However it never seems to bubble or comes out flat. I went to the shop for advice, they said try keeping it at 20-25 degrees. I ended up buying a heating belt and a thermometer. However still nothing happend. And again it came out flat with no head. So I've given up now and just sticking to ales which turns out fantastic.
 
Thanks for the response. Sounds like the shop just wanted me to buy the expensive heating belt haha. I will try this next time. Many thanks
 
Thanks for the response. Sounds like the shop just wanted me to buy the expensive heating belt haha. I will try this next time. Many thanks

Jamie read through this forum about lager , there loads of info . any one can make good lager , the problem in the kit world is most of the instructions are rubbish. they tell you that you can be drinking first class beer in two -three weeks YOU CANT all the lads here will tell you its 6-10 weeks min and months for some . so do your research on this forum ask your questions and you will be making great lager and beers asap:thumb:
 
Thank you everyone for the advice. I will take it on board. I've ways wanted to make my own from scratch, but it seems tedious and hard work. Maybe il give it ago
 
Thank you everyone for the advice. I will take it on board. I've ways wanted to make my own from scratch, but it seems tedious and hard work. Maybe il give it ago

The Dark Side is calling you ... you do not know the power of the Dark Side ... it is calling you.

More seriously, AG ... is fascinating and hard work but most importantly it gives you total freedom and the results surpass any kit beer. Another + for me ... I pay 10% VAT on malt and hops whereas it is at 20% on kits or DME.
 
Thank you everyone for the advice. I will take it on board. I've ways wanted to make my own from scratch, but it seems tedious and hard work. Maybe il give it ago

It depends how much you enjoy it. If you feel that you might not enjoy it you can always try a micro batch on your stovetop, making 5L or so just to have a go and get a feel for the process.

My brother and I used to make kits together, but once I moved to all grain he lost interest in making it ( though he'll happily help himself to the finished product :lol: ). Not everyone enjoys the process, has time, space, money etc to make AG and that's fine.

There is far more to making a good beer than beer kit instructions would have you believe. They are often oversimplified so as not to put people off. Often being far to optimistic with fermentation, conditioning and maturation time scales. As well as being overly generous with priming sugar.

You can still make a nice beer using single can kits, you just need to pay attention to detail. Correct fermentation temps, style appropriate yeasts, style appropriate carbonation, dry hopping, treating your water for chlorine (if it is present), pitching enough yeast and allowing the beer enough time to mature.Just have fun! :thumb:
 
Back
Top