Glad to be

[Fuzzy-felt]

Hello everybody.
I'm Mark, and I live in Catford (London) with my wife and 8 kids. I used to make beer from simple kits over 25 years ago when at college, with varying degrees of success, and I fancied giving it another bash after all these years. I like the sound of being able to go down the all grain route, but for now I'm going to try out a couple of extract brews with added grain and hops, and hopefully work my way up before too long. Walk before I can run, eh?
I've kept all my equipment from years ago, but I'm a bit corncerned that it might have gone a bit manky, and is not worth the risk trying to use it. I've got about 100 glass pint bottles that I hope should be safe to use, once I've got the spiders out. I laughed when I found my first crown corker, which is just a metal handle and cup that you tried to align with the cap and bottle and then wallop the top with a mallet. How many bottles did I break with that bad boy, I wonder? The daftness of the design was only surpassed by that of the tight-fisted purchaser I suppose.
Anyhow, I'm sure I'll find plenty of great advice here.
Wish me luck.

 

[phettebs]

Welcome to the forum mate. Plenty of good advice on here.

 

[joe1002]

Welcome to the forum :

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome, things have changed a lot in 25 years, but all for the better.

 

[oldbloke]

I laughed when I found my first crown corker, which is just a metal handle and cup that you tried to align with the cap and bottle and then wallop the top with a mallet. How many bottles did I break with that bad boy, I wonder?

I've never broken a bottle with the hammer-on capper (rubber mallet, newspaper for a bit of cushioning under the bottle) but I have with the two-lever "Emily" capper.
First time I used a proper bench capper I nearly cried, it was so marvelous. 30 quid but worth every penny (and more), trust me.

 

[Fuzzy-felt]

I treated myself to a lever-action capper after struggling with the hammer-on one (I recall one time I didn't have a mallet or a hammer, so resorted to using a brick, which probably contributed to my bottle breaking), and got on with it much better, although I struggled a bit getting the legs to work uniformly. A bit like me now.

 

[Wendy1971]

welcome to the forum :thumb: