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Jamesman

Jamesman

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Hi everyone, I'm from Liverpool living in Germany. I want to start brewing because I can't really get any British beer over here so I thought I'd try and brew my own. In the past I've done a few kits but nothing serious. This time round I'd really like to get into all grain. I've got no brewing kit at the moment. I'm just reading all I can before I take the plunge. Cheers.
 
Welcome Jamesman. There's nothing as good as a good pint of English beer, whether it be mild, bitter, stout, or imperial tripe shandy. All grain is definitely the way to go. Stouts and porters are the most forgiving for the complete newbie, in my experience.
 
An Ankoù said:
Welcome Jamesman. There's nothing as good as a good pint of English beer, whether it be mild, bitter, stout, or imperial tripe shandy. All grain is definitely the way to go. Stouts and porters are the most forgiving for the complete newbie, in my experience.
Click to expand...
Hi An Ankoù, exactly right. I usually get home 3 or 4 times a year and have a few pints but because of covid I haven't been back since Feb 2020. German beers are lovely but I'm craving the English stuff now.
 
Welcome Jamesman. Where in Germany are you? I'm in Austria and happy to help with any info regarding "local" homebrew supplies shops. Just send me a message on here. Good luck with the adventure.
 
phillc said:
Welcome Jamesman. Where in Germany are you? I'm in Austria and happy to help with any info regarding "local" homebrew supplies shops. Just send me a message on here. Good luck with the adventure.
Click to expand...
Hi Phillc, niceone thanks a lot. I've found a few online but not that many. A few in Belgium aswell. Ive been reading through the forum a bit and getting pretty overwhelmed by all the info. The thing I've learned is I know next to nothing:laugh8:. It's a steep learning curve.
 
At least you'll have a good cheap supply of flip top bottles to use, trouble is you might have to drink the beer first.
 
Jamesman said:
ur
Click to expand...
My experience is that it's still cheaper to get your ingredients from Ireland. I found the Belgian suppliers, to be generally a bot dearer and the delivery charges very high. As you're a beginner, keep it as simple as you can. Brew in a bag or three-vessel brewing and plastic fermenters. Don't get involved with expensive kit, pressure fermenting, transferring under pressure, etc, etc. Geterbrewed and thehomebrewcompany both do a basic starter kit. You need to decide where you're going to brew and your volume size. UK and Irish suppliers also crush the malt for free meaning you don't have to invest in a malt mill. Crushed malt is good for at least a couple of years if you keep it properly.
Keep it simple. Start off cheap. Learn the basics of brewing rather than advanced techniques downscaled from industry,
That's my advice.
Get a decent book like Greg Hughes or, even better, an older edition of Graham Wheeler (The new one's not very good)
 
An Ankoù said:
My experience is that it's still cheaper to get your ingredients from Ireland. I found the Belgian suppliers, to be generally a bot dearer and the delivery charges very high. As you're a beginner, keep it as simple as you can. Brew in a bag or three-vessel brewing and plastic fermenters. Don't get involved with expensive kit, pressure fermenting, transferring under pressure, etc, etc. Geterbrewed and thehomebrewcompany both do a basic starter kit. You need to decide where you're going to brew and your volume size. UK and Irish suppliers also crush the malt for free meaning you don't have to invest in a malt mill. Crushed malt is good for at least a couple of years if you keep it properly.
Keep it simple. Start off cheap. Learn the basics of brewing rather than advanced techniques downscaled from industry,
That's my advice.
Get a decent book like Greg Hughes or, even better, an older edition of Graham Wheeler (The new one's not very good)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice. I was gonna ask about a decent book. I'll check those out. I'm not far from Düsseldorf. I forgot to say before. Cheers.
 
Jamesman said:
Thanks for the advice. I was gonna ask about a decent book. I'll check those out. I'm not far from Düsseldorf. I forgot to say before. Cheers.
Click to expand...
Hi, welcome to the forum. If you are new I would highly recommend treating yourself to a 30l microbrewery. They cost between £350 - £500 but as you mash and boil all in one machine it saves on space and you can control the temperatures and times very accurately.
I bought one of these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/beertorr...251427?hash=item1a8444ce23:g:ilgAAOSwn7Zep9zOand have been very pleased with the results.
You'll still need a fermenter but the 25L plastic ones are a great starting point. Buy 2 as you'll need them both. You'll also need a syphon with a tap as an easy, cheap way to bottle. If you can collect the flip top beer bottles they save buying a crown capper and caps.
It's worth buying a no-rinse disinfectant for cleaning equipment and a bottle tree to hang bottles on to dry before bottling.
Above all experiment and have fun.
 
BartonMillBrewer said:
Hi, welcome to the forum. If you are new I would highly recommend treating yourself to a 30l microbrewery. They cost between £350 - £500 but as you mash and boil all in one machine it saves on space and you can control the temperatures and times very accurately.
I bought one of these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/beertorr...251427?hash=item1a8444ce23:g:ilgAAOSwn7Zep9zOand have been very pleased with the results.
You'll still need a fermenter but the 25L plastic ones are a great starting point. Buy 2 as you'll need them both. You'll also need a syphon with a tap as an easy, cheap way to bottle. If you can collect the flip top beer bottles they save buying a crown capper and caps.
It's worth buying a no-rinse disinfectant for cleaning equipment and a bottle tree to hang bottles on to dry before bottling.
Above all experiment and have fun.
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for the advice. I have looked at the all in one systems. Brew monk, Hopcat, robobrew etc. As far as I can tell most of them are the same product with a different name. I've watched quite a few YouTube videos of people brewing with them.I do fancy buying one but I'm just wary at the moment because I don't really know enough. It's interesting about the fermenters. Are certain ones better than others? Don't they all do the same job? I presume the more expensive ones are better quality? Cheers.
 
Jamesman said:
Hi, thanks for the advice. I have looked at the all in one systems. Brew monk, Hopcat, robobrew etc. As far as I can tell most of them are the same product with a different name. I've watched quite a few YouTube videos of people brewing with them.I do fancy buying one but I'm just wary at the moment because I don't really know enough. It's interesting about the fermenters. Are certain ones better than others? Don't they all do the same job? I presume the more expensive ones are better quality? Cheers.
Click to expand...
First welcome to the forum.

With regards to fermentors most are in reality the same thing a big bucket you can ferment in I like my stainless steel fermentor but a plastic one would do the same job at a fraction of the price. Of course their are pressure fermentors which I am yet to try so cannot comment on those.

If your just starting out with All Grain have you considered doing a small batch on the stove, the outlay is minimal and you can produce some pretty decent beer this way most recipes can be easily scaled down.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/have-a-go-at-simple-ag.51779/
This thread was what inspired me to give all grain a go, you may also want to consider BIAB brewing which makes it even easier. I don’t doubt that more complicated techniques or all in one machines produce excellent beer but when you get right down to it you can produce decent beer with nothing more than a big pot, a net bag, a heat source, a thermometer plus a bucket to ferment in (plus your grain, hops, yeast and a sanitiser).
 

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