Hello! I'm new here and will need help!

[LadyBrewer]

Hello everyone. I thought I should introduce myself. I've brewed from kits before, and all grain on a very small scale with the Home Brewtique BIAB equipment, but now I'm looking forward to brewing on a bigger scale from the basic ingredients. I live on a little island, so may have a few logistical problems ordering equipment and ingredients - we'll see! Thank you in advance for any expert advice you are able to give me!

 

[An Ankoù]

Welcome.
What little island would this be? What volume do you want to scale up to and what do you want to brew?

 

[LadyBrewer]

Thank you. Sanday, Orkney. Up to about 40 pints at a time initially. I love porters and stouts, but they sound a bit more difficult for someone who is basically a beginner. I've done a fair bit of reading on the subject and like the idea of smash beers. Mind you, a decent pint of bitter would be a very good start!

 

[LadyBrewer]

Welcome.
What little island would this be? What volume do you want to scale up to and what do you want to brew?

And I really enjoyed the BIAB method, so would be quite happy to do that.

 

[The Baron]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Porters and stouts are one of the easiest beers to make and are very forgiving so do not worry about doing them

 

[LadyBrewer]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Porters and stouts are one of the easiest beers to make and are very forgiving so do not worry about doing them

Thank you. In that case a porter would be a good thing. A London Porter?

 

[LadyBrewer]

As I can't just nip down to the home brew shop I have to put a bit of thought into ordering. Would I be better ordering bottles or a couple of kegs? Do you need CO2 to use kegs? I'm not sure if I'll be able to get hold of CO2 cylinders easily here.

 

[LadyBrewer]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Porters and stouts are one of the easiest beers to make and are very forgiving so do not worry about doing them

Any porter/stout recipes you can recommend?

 

[The Baron]

Just find a recipe off the internet or one of the forum members will probably post one for ypou to follow, just be careful with the roast/dark malts as they can become too acrid for some people oh and do not use black treacle on your first one as that too can be a acquired taste

 

[The Baron]

Do the co2 search in your area first to find if you can get it as you will deffo need it for kegging but bottles is a good way to start too. Most brewers start with bottles then some stay with them or progress to Corny kegs usually

 

[LadyBrewer]

Do the co2 search in your area first to find if you can get it as you will deffo need it for kegging but bottles is a good way to start too. Most brewers start with bottles then some stay with them or progress to Corny kegs usually

I'll see if there's anywhere for CO2 next time I'm over in Kirkwall, but to be honest I don't go off island very often! I think it'll be bottles for me to begin with.

 

[Dads_Ale]

The Greg Hughes Home Bew Beer and CAMRA Brew Your Own British Real Ale books have lots of recipes and other information on brewing. Either or both are a worthwhile investment.
For ingredients it may be worth while going round the online homebrew shops to see what the postage charges are as it may be better to buy a large single order rather than a lot of little ones. It may also be worth looking at getting a grain mill so as you can but whole malt as this will last longer than pre-crushed.

 

[LadyBrewer]

The Greg Hughes Home Bew Beer and CAMRA Brew Your Own British Real Ale books have lots of recipes and other information on brewing. Either or both are a worthwhile investment.
For ingredients it may be worth while going round the online homebrew shops to see what the postage charges are as it may be better to buy a large single order rather than a lot of little ones. It may also be worth looking at getting a grain mill so as you can but whole malt as this will last longer than pre-crushed.

Thank you very much for the advice. There's still time for me to drop some Christmas present hints! That mill sounds a good idea if I end up buying big bags of malt.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hello and welcome, any ? just ask lots of knowledge on here

 

[LadyBrewer]

Hello and welcome, any ? just ask lots of knowledge on here

Thank you. Much appreciated. I will have plenty of questions!

 

[An Ankoù]

The Baron is spot on when he says stouts and porters are the easiest to get right. Here's a recipe that'll make something like draft Guinness (the very creamy head requires nitrogen, which is not for a beginner's budget- or mine).
https://homebrewanswers.com/guinness-clone-recipe/I hesitated to link this because it's American, but it's as well to be aware of the pitfalls of American recipes from the beginning as the internet is full of them and, by and large, they're ok.
First the American gallon is only 80% of the UK (proper) gallon. Fortunately this recipe is in litres so 19L would be considered 5 American gallons while 5 of our gallons would be 23 litres. Always work in Kg and Litres to avoid confusion.
Second 2-row malt. All (just about) UK malting barley is 2-row so you don't need to worry about it. (A lot of American malting barley is 6-row so they need to make the distinction)
also
2 hops are used, either of them would do.
Wyeast labs, Irish Ale Yeast. There's no need. Get some Beòir yeast from CML or use S-04 or even US-05, or Nottingham. Something nice and easy.

I'd recommend you bottle to start with. I think you're already familiar with many of the processes from your earlier experience.

As for ordering your stuff, plan ahead and get as much as you can for a single delivery charge. i live in France and order from Ireland- the homebrew company or geterbrewed. I can get up to 30 Kg of stuff for a single delivery charge. If I want a few hops or some yeast, I go to crossmyloof their postage is cheaper than ordering the stuff locally in France.
https://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/https://www.geterbrewed.com/https://www.crossmyloofbrew.co.uk/
Hope that helps.

 

[DavidDetroit]

Bottling allows you to rely less on outside sources which might be a positive.
+1 on @the baron comment. Stouts are very forgiving. In my experience, they also carbonate more slowly, especially ones in the higher ABV range so don't worry if they don't carb fully in two weeks or even a month.

 

[LadyBrewer]

The Baron is spot on when he says stouts and porters are the easiest to get right. Here's a recipe that'll make something like draft Guinness (the very creamy head requires nitrogen, which is not for a beginner's budget- or mine).
https://homebrewanswers.com/guinness-clone-recipe/I hesitated to link this because it's American, but it's as well to be aware of the pitfalls of American recipes from the beginning as the internet is full of them and, by and large, they're ok.
First the American gallon is only 80% of the UK (proper) gallon. Fortunately this recipe is in litres so 19L would be considered 5 American gallons while 5 of our gallons would be 23 litres. Always work in Kg and Litres to avoid confusion.
Second 2-row malt. All (just about) UK malting barley is 2-row so you don't need to worry about it. (A lot of American malting barley is 6-row so they need to make the distinction)
also
2 hops are used, either of them would do.
Wyeast labs, Irish Ale Yeast. There's no need. Get some Beòir yeast from CML or use S-04 or even US-05, or Nottingham. Something nice and easy.

I'd recommend you bottle to start with. I think you're already familiar with many of the processes from your earlier experience.

As for ordering your stuff, plan ahead and get as much as you can for a single delivery charge. i live in France and order from Ireland- the homebrew company or geterbrewed. I can get up to 30 Kg of stuff for a single delivery charge. If I want a few hops or some yeast, I go to crossmyloof their postage is cheaper than ordering the stuff locally in France.
https://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/https://www.geterbrewed.com/https://www.crossmyloofbrew.co.uk/
Hope that helps.

That's brilliant! Thanks. I don't know where I read that stouts and porters were harder to get right, but the news that they aren't has made my day! I will go with the bottling initially at least. It was more laziness/tidyness on my part that was pushing me towards kegging, but bottling looks like the way to go first of all.

 

[LadyBrewer]

Bottling allows you to rely less on outside sources which might be a positive.
+1 on @the baron comment. Stouts are very forgiving. In my experience, they also carbonate more slowly, especially ones in the higher ABV range so don't worry if they don't carb fully in two weeks or even a month.

Thanks. That's handy to know about the carbonation. I'm going to have to stay on the shop bought beer while I wait for my stout to be ready!

 

[LadyBrewer]

The Greg Hughes Home Bew Beer and CAMRA Brew Your Own British Real Ale books have lots of recipes and other information on brewing. Either or both are a worthwhile investment.
For ingredients it may be worth while going round the online homebrew shops to see what the postage charges are as it may be better to buy a large single order rather than a lot of little ones. It may also be worth looking at getting a grain mill so as you can but whole malt as this will last longer than pre-crushed.

That's the Greg Hughes book ordered.