Hi from a Yank at Hilfield Friary, West Dorset

[kacanepa]

Hello all!

I've joined the forum because I'm about to brew my first batch of beer...in a couple of years. I've been brewing since 2000 and love my all grain equipment and cornie kegs. Trouble is, all of that is in Alaska and I'm in Dorset. What I have to hand are very large stainless steel pots for boiling, a commercial cooker to boil on, two 25 litre fermentation buckets, a hydrometer, both analog and digital scales and not nearly enough 500 ml bottles. Oh and some air locks plus some 1 gallon demijohns.

Right. So I'm back to the beginning, brewing from extracts. Except I never brewed using spraymalt since liquid extracts were pretty cheap in America. Which is not the case on this side of the pond. Also, I'm used to chilling the wort using an immersion chiller which I don't have now. And I was so very lucky to live in a city with a brewery that would happily give me (for free) all the yeast I might need for a brewing session. Also, not the case now.

Consider me a newbie with lots of questions. A newbie on a very limited budget and with limited equipment. Can anyone recommend where I should order ingredients from? Can anyone point me to a how-to for the new brewer? How about some spraymalt based recipes? Is there any place (other than eBay) that lists used brewing equipment for sale?

And, finally, anyone in this forum live in Dorset, preferably the more westerly side? It would be nice to be in contact with other homebrewers.

Thanks for any and all help! With any luck, I'll be brewing within the week!

 

[31bb3]

Welcome to the forum

 

[LeedsBrewer]

Welcome. Order ingredients from sponsors at the top or do a google search for your local homebrew store. For a basic How to guide on extract:
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2672

Also it's worth checking out the whole "how to..." section on the forum. It's very informative for noobs like me.

Also http://www.howtobrew.com Palmers website covers all the basics.

Feel free to come on here and ask as many questions as you like. :thumb:
There is also a recipe section at the top left of the page though it's mostly AG. The only extract recipe i've been looking at for a while is the one on www.brewuk.co.uk "Way to amarillo". It's 3kg light DME and 50g Amarillo. Gets very good reviews. (though most shops are out of stock of amarillo at the moment!)

 

[RokDok]

Good Evening from a fellow West Dorset Brewer,

I live in Sydling St Nicholas, about 3 miles South of you.

I can help you out with some bottles.

You can have a bottle or two of my beer from which it's easy to culture the yeast- I've got a safale 05, wards, burton, Notts,and will shortly be culturing Guinness & Fullers ESB yeast- let me know if you want a milk bottle of yeast.

I'm afraid I've only done AG so can't help you out with extract etc, but could help you out with some Amarillo hops.

PM me,

RokDok

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome.

 

[GrumpyBunny]

Welcome aboard :

 

[Andyhull]

Hi and welcome :