Greetings from North West London!

[Petros]

Hey there,

Thought I'd say "hello" and introduce myself! I'm Peter, a 19 year old student from North West London, whose just starting out homebrewing (I ordered most of my equipment and ingredients today, am planning on attempting an IPA!) I'm also in charge of a Uni bar next term, which should be good fun, dabble around with liqueur (not liquor!) making, and generally enjoy good beer, drinks and food! Hopefully I'll be able to glean some pearls of wisdom from everyone, and document my attempts at brewing!

Out of interest, many young people on here who do the odd spot of brewing at least?

Pete :drunk:

 

[Dieseljockey]

Hi P..You could not be in a better place :

Wish I was your age just starting out on the brew road :clap:

Have a great time my friend ...just take in all the info :pray:

 

[Petros]

Thanks DJ!
I've been reading a lot of posts on here, as well as a variety of websites across the net. The main thing I've done hopefully is grabbed a simple recipe, avoided kits, and am trying to follow everything through so that I get a drinkable beer!
My dad once tried to home brew about 15 years ago, when I was a kid. He brewed it for 2 days then drank it and it was a disaster. Apparently the yeast in his kit didn't work so he used bread yeast instead! :lol:
It is somewhat handy though in salvaging old kit and happening to have a few old books about! :)

 

[Cussword]

That's the way, straight to the dark side :party:

 

[Moley]

Thank you :clap:

Without wishing to appear too much of a grumpy old git, and without wishing to offend too many of the readers, it seems to me that most of the younger contingent who join the forum are just looking for the quickest or cheapest way to get wrecked, get disillusioned when they find their kit ‘largers’ (sic) are going to take longer than a week and leave.

To have a new, younger member who is interested in finding out how to do things properly and wants to brew a beer which might actually taste of something and who can construct a coherent post (apart from one slight whose / who's conflict) makes a very refreshing change.

All the information you could want is right here, I would suggest that you start with the “How To” guides. There's a lot to learn but I get the impression that you have the capacity. If there's anything which doesn't make sense don't hesitate to ask.

Welcome to the forum :

 

[Petros]

Haha! Cheers for the welcome (and grammatical correction!)! :
Drinking habits of my generation are a long and complex topic; I can well believe many do come to the forum looking for a cheap way to get wrecked drinking complete urine. I work in one bar and run another during University term time, however, and most people are open to a few more interesting drinks and what not!
I have quite a few friends who love a few good beers, as opposed to err... a "good few", if you get my drift!
Still, I reckon things are somewhat improving in that sense- the only sad thing is how bad people are at having any drinks socially- half of my friends love a few pints and a chat, the rest view drinking as an absolute taboo, unless they go out to a club and pass out in the street. :wha: I still can't figure it out!
Speaking of which, I need to head to work in 20 minutes, off to Wetherspoon's in the town centre on a Friday night to work... I don't really want to think about the horrors which await! :hmm:

 

[Fally over oops]

hiya mate and welcome. i just joined a couple of days ago and already have had 25 litres of pear cider saved from the drain tx to help from the forum. and simply trawling the forums while i'm not busy has answered a lot of questions i would have been asking. this is a great place you've found 'young un'

 

[Moley]

Haha! Cheers for the welcome (and grammatical correction!)! :

Sorry, I have a reputation to live down to. :whistle:

off to Wetherspoon's in the town centre on a Friday night to w**k... I don't really want to think about the horrors which await! :hmm:

'nuff said, we've got one of those too, but I wouldn't go near it on a Friday night

 

[31bb3]

welcome to the forum AG is by far the best

 

[CptnCrackoff]

Greetings!!
Good to see a younger brewer than me! I'm 26, and can remember being 19 although I doubt I had your more responsible attitude to alcohol.
As per moleys comment it does seem refreshing to have a potential new young brewer that doesn't use the words 'pisshead' or 'wrecked' in their first post.
I only brew kits for the moment, although I am planning to go all grain when I get a little less time!! Working 7day weeks whilst the harvest is on.

Good luck with the brewing, there's a wealth of knowledge here- remeber to ask as many 'silly' questions as possible.

Cc (jon)

 

[beginner]

Hello Pete,

I'm a newbie to homebrewing as well, just starting my third 'kit', and the help and advice i've received is invaluable.

 

[Petros]

Hey everyone!
Cheers guys for the welcome! Perusing the forum everything looks really good!
I'm sure AG is the best way to go in the long run, but for my first attempt at a brew, I'll try and keep things simple :)
I can't wait to just get going, have a go at something new, wallop up a few picks of my first brew and see how things turn out!
Turns out as well that my Uni bar had 5 demijohn's lying around as well, which are never being used for anything! So I can definitely get a loan of some equipment for some mad experimentation in small batches as well :)
What kits have you made Captncrackoff and beginner? Just wondering how they turned out, to see what I may be in for! :)

 

[Tony]

Hi Petros
Nice to meet you! I'm in North London, if there is any way I can help, just ask. I've made a couple of kit beers but that was a long time ago; now I do AG only - but if I can help at all, just shout!

Good luck!

 

[beginner]

Hello Pete,

My first kit was a Wherry bitter which is a premium 'two can kit'. This kit is pretty straight forward, although i have seen a few posts about it sticking occasionally, my SG was 1040, and after 6 days i got a constant reading of 1010 so i kegged it. It has now been conditioning now for about 5 weeks, but have been told it's best left up to 3 month for best results. I'm very pleased with the outcome of my first brew, and couldn't wait to start my next one.

My second kit was a Youngs Definitive 'one can' job, were you make it up with brewing sugar/bke etc, i used 1k added normal granulated sugar for this brew,. This one seemed a very quiet ferment with not to much activety going on in my fv, with my SG at 1042 i got it down to about 1008 FG after 11 days and so i botttled. They've been conditioning for two weeks now, and are as clear as bell, but on sampling one or two for QC puposes :whistle: , they've got a very slight chemical after taste, but this hopefully may go after further conditioning.

My next kit will be a Coopers real ale, which i will be started on monday. :

Jeff

 

[Samarith]

Welcome to the forum, Pete.

Sounds like you've got your sights set on the dark side and from what I've seen its the place to be.

There are decent kits (Woodfordes seem very popular) and something called extract brewing (boil you own hops with the malt) which is an intermediate step from kit to AG. I only mention these because the AG route requires either time to collect/make the equipment or a small wad of cash to buy a prebuilt AG micro-brewery.

AG is the thing to aim for but you can try the others while you get there.

 

Welcome to the Forum Petros.
I see you've settled in nicely, having committed a "moleyism".

 

[Tony]

"moleyism".

 

[artyb]

Hello Pete,

My first kit was a Wherry bitter which is a premium 'two can kit'. This kit is pretty straight forward, although i have seen a few posts about it sticking occasionally, my SG was 1040, and after 6 days i got a constant reading of 1010 so i kegged it. It has now been conditioning now for about 5 weeks, but have been told it's best left up to 3 month for best results. I'm very pleased with the outcome of my first brew, and couldn't wait to start my next one.

My second kit was a Youngs Definitive 'one can' job, were you make it up with brewing sugar/bke etc, i used 1k added normal granulated sugar for this brew,. This one seemed a very quiet ferment with not to much activety going on in my fv, with my SG at 1042 i got it down to about 1008 FG after 11 days and so i botttled. They've been conditioning for two weeks now, and are as clear as bell, but on sampling one or two for QC puposes :whistle: , they've got a very slight chemical after taste, but this hopefully may go after further conditioning.

My next kit will be a Coopers real ale, which i will be started on monday. :

Jeff

you may have to condition the water before brewing, i use 1 camden tablet per 5 gallons, i do it in a seperate fv,that has a tap on then let it drop into the brew from above to get some air into the brew, :thumb:

 

[beginner]

artyb :thumb:

 

[Petros]

Thanks for all the words of wisdom! I've whacked up my intended plans in the Brew Day forum, so that hopefully you'll be able to stop me doing anything stupid :)
I'll then probably mess something up when I do it anyways, photograph the ensuing maelstrom of wort and swear words, and have a laugh anyways!
Pete