This home brewing malarky is addictive!

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PortersBrew

PortersBrew

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Well the home brewing bug has well and truly bitten! I've got a coopers real ale conditioning and a coopers cerveza fermenting.

I wanted to try a cider brew and came across a strawberry turbo cider recipe on here. It looked easy enough for a beginner. The bonus being the better half also liked the sound of it!

Recipe is from this thread: http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=57362

All mixed up and the SG is 1056. I imagine I should be looking for a FG of around 1000 once the primary fermentation is finished?

A few questions I have if anyone would be kind enough to answer:

1) How long approx will the primary fermentation take?

2) What's the ideal temp for the fermentation (between 21-27 deg C like the kits I've made)?

IMG_20160202_175.jpg
 
Its hard to put a time on fermentation unless you use a thermostatically controlled heat source, i don't and my wines take about 2 weeks in my kitchen in winter and just over a week in summer.
 
Agreed - very addictive. I told SWMBO that I would be sticking to brewing beer. That lasted abut a month... WOW is bubbling away nicely; just trying to decide which TC recipe to try first.
:whistle:
 
it sure is buddy

at around 20-22 deg, my tc will take a week to 10 days to get down to 1.000 (they have always stopped there)

I bottled my last batch on thursday and it's carbed and cleared already. I use grolschies but usually use a couple of pet bottles so I can tell if they're carbed (bottle becomes firm to the squeeze)
 
You can say that again! I went to Wilko to buy a demijohn and an airlock to make a small batch of mead late last year and a couple of weeks later I had this lot on the go!

img-20150822-00027-236.jpg


One of the most absorbing, fun and rewarding hobbies I have ever had. Funny thing is, I don't actually drink that much. In fact I drink less now than I did before I started home brewing because it seems silly to buy a bottle of wine when I have some at home but I don't want to break into my stash!

I tend to stick to occasionally drinking my wonderful Cooper's Stout and that's about it.

I started out with a demijohn and an airlock last year but now my kitchen sometimes looks like Frankenstein's laboratory!

HAPPY DAYS :)
 
FatDad said:
You can say that again! I went to Wilko to buy a demijohn and an airlock to make a small batch of mead late last year and a couple of weeks later I had this lot on the go!

img-20150822-00027-236.jpg


One of the most absorbing, fun and rewarding hobbies I have ever had. Funny thing is, I don't actually drink that much. In fact I drink less now than I did before I started home brewing because it seems silly to buy a bottle of wine when I have some at home but I don't want to break into my stash!

I tend to stick to occasionally drinking my wonderful Cooper's Stout and that's about it.

I started out with a demijohn and an airlock last year but now my kitchen sometimes looks like Frankenstein's laboratory!

HAPPY DAYS :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for that!!! :whistle:

SWMBO has just seen the photo and immediately asked "Why haven't you got any of those cheap bottles?"

I had to point out that when I started brewing they had hardly invented plastic, never mind bottles of that size, but I have this feeling that when we are in France and buying 5 litre bottles of water (terrible tasting stuff that fish make love in) I will be expected to bring them home!

I suppose the good news is that there will be a lot more WOW's on the go by the end of June!

Thanks again! :thumb: :thumb:
 
Dutto said:
Thanks for that!!! :whistle:

SWMBO has just seen the photo and immediately asked "Why haven't you got any of those cheap bottles?"

I had to point out that when I started brewing they had hardly invented plastic, never mind bottles of that size, but I have this feeling that when we are in France and buying 5 litre bottles of water (terrible tasting stuff that fish make love in) I will be expected to bring them home!

I suppose the good news is that there will be a lot more WOW's on the go by the end of June!

Thanks again! :thumb: :thumb:
Click to expand...

The water bottles are between �����£1 and �����£1.50 (sometimes even 50p) each with the water in so I just buy them at Tesco and use the water for my wine, it works out fine and they are already sterilised - Tesco even delivers so I don't have to carry them home - everyone's a winner!

BTW the gromits for the lids cost pennies on ebay so you can put in an airlock, a quick go with the drill and it's ready to go. As long as you get the same bottles each time the lids can be used again and again.
 
PortersBrew said:
Well the home brewing bug has well and truly bitten!
Click to expand...

I cant disagree with you there, I only gave it a crack because I love gardening and had a decent amount of grapes from my Vines this year. Ok, they only made me a gallon, but I have started to train the Vines correctly so expect more next year.

This is me so far, pretty pleased considering I only started in October 2015, I now have 7 DJ

Bottled:-

6 bottles (1G) Red wine from my own grapes. I noticed it has crystals forming in the bottles, which apparently is a sign of a good quality wine. Commercial vinyards filter these out

10 bottles of Sloe Wine made with fresh sloes and concentrated red grape juice. Only got 10 bottles because it was very cloudy and took forever to settle.

6 bottles of Blueberry wine, made from blueberry juice. Tastes great but will try adding concentrated red grape juice next time. Fresh blueberries are expensive!

6 bottles of Mango wine. Made from fresh Mangoes which were in reduced section in Sainsburys. Added 1 litre of apple juicse as it wasnt great, but the apple just made it. Would add concentrated white grape juice if I do it again.


Awaiting Bottling

2 Gallons of Sloe and Raspberry wine. Just about finished fermenting, measured at 0.998 so have added stabilizer and then leave it to sit in the DJ, in the garage until its settled.


On the Go

1 Gal of Mead, added a little Ginger and black pepper as suggested in another thread. Very slow fermenting, started in November, stalled and took a couple of attempts to restart, still a way off but I can see its fermenting.

2 Gal of Ginger wine. Being one to tweak recipes, I used 500g of Raisens and 500g of Prunes instead, and probably alot more ginger than needed :lol:


Planned

Turbo Cider
Rosehip Wine
Parslay wine.... sounds horrid, but its meant to me pretty good!
 
NCFCcrazy said:
I cant disagree with you there, I only gave it a crack because I love gardening and had a decent amount of grapes from my Vines this year. Ok, they only made me a gallon, but I have started to train the Vines correctly so expect more next year.

This is me so far, pretty pleased considering I only started in October 2015, I now have 7 DJ

Bottled:-

6 bottles (1G) Red wine from my own grapes. I noticed it has crystals forming in the bottles, which apparently is a sign of a good quality wine. Commercial vinyards filter these out

10 bottles of Sloe Wine made with fresh sloes and concentrated red grape juice. Only got 10 bottles because it was very cloudy and took forever to settle.

6 bottles of Blueberry wine, made from blueberry juice. Tastes great but will try adding concentrated red grape juice next time. Fresh blueberries are expensive!

6 bottles of Mango wine. Made from fresh Mangoes which were in reduced section in Sainsburys. Added 1 litre of apple juicse as it wasnt great, but the apple just made it. Would add concentrated white grape juice if I do it again.


Awaiting Bottling

2 Gallons of Sloe and Raspberry wine. Just about finished fermenting, measured at 0.998 so have added stabilizer and then leave it to sit in the DJ, in the garage until its settled.


On the Go

1 Gal of Mead, added a little Ginger and black pepper as suggested in another thread. Very slow fermenting, started in November, stalled and took a couple of attempts to restart, still a way off but I can see its fermenting.

2 Gal of Ginger wine. Being one to tweak recipes, I used 500g of Raisens and 500g of Prunes instead, and probably alot more ginger than needed :lol:


Planned

Turbo Cider
Rosehip Wine
Parslay wine.... sounds horrid, but its meant to me pretty good!
Click to expand...

That its some brewing since October!
 
Measured the SG tonight and it's at 1002 and all the stuff that was floating has sunk, so will be bottling that one evening this week when I get some spare time.
 
PortersBrew said:
Not yet, but planning on dry hopping with cascade when I brew the Coopers Australian Pale ale.
Click to expand...

Everybody hops the APA with cascade. Except me. I used Goldings. I steeped 250 grams of Cara Pils too. Gives it a lovely head.
I'll be using cascade next time though.

How does the Real Ale taste? I've got one in the FV at the moment.
No hops but brewed with 1Kg of LDME.
 
Pirate_Pete said:
How does the Real Ale taste? I've got one in the FV at the moment.
No hops but brewed with 1Kg of LDME.
Click to expand...

The real ale kit tastes good. Although it's my first home brew so nothing to compare it to. I put it in a pressure barrel but wishing I'd bottled it now too be fair.
 
PortersBrew said:
The real ale kit tastes good. Although it's my first home brew so nothing to compare it to. I put it in a pressure barrel but wishing I'd bottled it now too be fair.
Click to expand...

What did you brew it with. As in Malt extract or a brew enhancer?

I've got another can here along with a packet of Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 ready to go. Although I'm beginning to think using a kilo of LDME is the way to go. The Coopers English Bitter with LDME is bloody lovely. My missus and kids went away the other weekend. One of my English mates came around and we knocked back a fair few. He loved it.
I only bottle my beer.
 
Pirate_Pete said:
What did you brew it with. I've got another can here along with a packet of Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 ready to go. Although I'm beginning to think using a kilo of LDME is the way to go. The Coopers English Bitter with LDME is bloody lovely. My missus and kids went away the other weekend. One of my English mates came around and we knocked back a fair few. He loved it.
I only bottle my beer.
Click to expand...

The Real Ale was brewed with Brew Enhancer 2.

Will be bottling or my future brews too. The Young's pressure barrel was bought in the Tesco sale for £10 so no major loss there.
 
Tried one of the bottles of cider last night. Half for me and half for SWMBO .

Was nice although still had a bit of a strong cider 'twang' to it. Swmbo also liked it although I got the feeling she'd like it a bit more mellow.

Will leave it another few weeks and try another to see if it's improved.
 

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