American vs British equipment questions

[Madman]

Hello new to the forum and soon to be new to the UK
Moving from America to Lakenheath with the USAF end of summer and wondering what equipment conversions I may need to make so I know what to leave behind. I have a propane burner and it uses the common propane connection that any stove or gas grill uses here in the states, does anyone know if the UK uses the same type of connection and propane tanks as the US? Also, for kegging here I have a co2 tank that's pretty easy to just go get filled locally, is that pretty similar and easy to do over there?
Finally, in general is homebrewing a common hobby in the UK? Meaning are there plenty of resources/shops to buy or order supplies such as grains and hops?
Thank you all in advance

 

[RobWalker]

welcome! be sure to enjoy our gross traditional foods like marmite, faggots and deep fried fish eggs with eels.

the majority of brewers on this forum at least use electric and stovetops instead of propane. i'm sure you could easily find a converter from a trade place though, somewhere like Screwfix.

Gas is easily swappable :thumb:

Home brewing is pretty common, more so in recent years. our forum sponsors are all good places to start, but you may find ingredients you havn't seen before, and ingredients you will want don't exist here. notably things like special b, honey malt are not available. you won't struggle for hops and malts online. but you'll need to do a bulk order unless you can find a good local shop. big supermarkets like large tesco, wilkonson's, and a few more carry basic home brew kits and basic equipment/chemicals, should you need to pop out. I pay about £12 for the average 23L all grain brew - $18. That can be more or less depending on ingredients but it's a good rough guide. beer is very expensive in the pubs over here, and the cost is one of the reasons why home brew is growing - £2 a pint is a minimum in our pubs. Places with a decent range you're likely to pay £3 for a pint. Compare that to £12 for 40 pints and, well, you do the math :lol:

hopefully you'll enjoy some of the foraged brewing you can easily do here - elderberries, apples, sloes, lots of wild flowers are all readily available at the right time of year and people let them go to waste, so they can always be convinced with a few bottles in return :lol:

finally - wetherspoons pubs are never short of a real ale :thumb:

 

[FuzzySteve]

You'll be pleasantly surprised how popular homebrewing is over here. There's not a homebrew shop on every corner, but one per town is not uncommon, and there are plenty of online shops that'll ship to you within a couple of days.

With regards to your propane query, all suppliers of LPG in the UK use the same connection for vapour off take (which most if not all appliances such as burners, BBQs etc use) which is a 37mbar Pol fitting, readily available for around $10-$15. You'll need to hire a cylinder/tank as here in the UK we don't buy our own to refill them as the major suppliers are reluctant to fill anyone's cylinders but their own.

CO2 suppliers differ slightly as they seem to be a little more free and easy with filling other suppliers bottles etc, but the regulators are fairly standard once again, as can be seen here:
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewit ... 0548303070

Edit: Rob beat me to it, but I hope the info is useful. Enjoy your stay, and the beer!!

 

[Madman]

Thanks for your responses, I know of marmite, have had fish eggs and eel, afraid to google the other

 

[daverawck]

Thanks for your responses, I know of marmite, have had fish eggs and eel, afraid to google the other

hi and welcome like the response try googling savory duck :hat: :drink:

 

[dennisking]

I can assure you faggots in the UK is completely different to faggots in the US.

 

[richc]

special b, honey malt are not available.

50% correct....

 

[Swazi]

I can assure you faggots in the UK is completely different to faggots in the US.

And, to "bum a fag?" is a pretty innocuous request too

 

[PD]

 

[RobWalker]

special b, honey malt are not available.

50% correct....

wow, never seen it available until now. isn't it meant to taste like raisins? could be awesome in a stout, might have to order some...

 

[artyb]

I can assure you faggots in the UK is completely different to faggots in the US.

And, to "bum a fag?" is a pretty innocuous request too

he he he..... pmsl..

 

[pittsy]

no one's mentioned it's easy to get german and belgian grains if your brewing authentic beers . p.s welcome to the forum and welcome to the uk when you get here and you will defo need a warm coat , cold crappy weather will be normal ... no sun .

 

[Good Ed]

Welcome in advance, as Pittsy says +1

Where are you from in the States? and do you fly planes? hopefully we'll have no more wars (as in pig's might fly)

Sometimes US hops can be in short supply, but I notice the Malt Miller (one of our sponsers) has been able to get a good stash that should see us through this year. But I'd bring all your gear all the same.

 

[rpt]

One thing to bear in mind is that pipe threads here are mostly BSP rather than the NPT used in the States, although some things use totally different threads. Not sure what threads are used by gas.

 

[rpt]

you do the math :lol:

I think you mean maths.

 

[oldbloke]

When working recipes watch out for that thing where US pints & gallons are only 4/5 the size of ours!

 

[rpt]

When working recipes watch out for that thing where US pints & gallons are only 4/5 the size of ours!

Stick to litres - it's unambiguous.

 

[stu]

Hi and welcome.

I drove past Lakenheath yesterday afternoon :lol: fairly strange kind of place I've always thought - but then you may well have lived in little enclosed worlds before. It's actually a beautiful area - Thetford Forest on your doorstep etc.

Some of the Malt Barley used in Scotch Whisky is grown in Norfolk because it is almost entirely Grade 1 Agricultural land and the fens which are in your area represent half of the Grade 1 land in the UK - There you go, factoids for your mates in the US.

As for shops, there isn't too much in the area that I can find. There's a shop in Bury that does some basic stuff, but probably your best bet is Norwich (an hours drive, but well worth the trip - it's a very historic City on the Norfolk Broads which you can get a cheap river bus up and down).

I don't actually live in the area any more (I wish I did), but my family does so I'm often in the area for a visit.

 

[CRoark]

here are some things that I have found as I am also currently in the process of converting my equipment over to use here in the UK..

http://www.gasproducts.co.uk/acatalog/Gaslow_Gas_Fittings.html for propane adaptor

http://www.teamonslaught.fsnet.co.uk/co2_info.htm CO2 adaptor. You will have to do some searching for CO2 as I have found that it's not as easy to come by as in the states. there is a good thread of CO2 dealers on this site that can point you in the right direction.

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=26434

hope that helps!