Kiwi newbie just moved to London

[tysonzane]

Hey Chaps and Chapesses,

I'm a kiwi that has just moved to London for a change of scenery, new employment challenges and just for the adventure in general.

I've been a long time craft beer fan back at home and also a motorsport head. All of my spare time basically went into working on and racing my Honda Civic rally car (its one of the quicker 2wds in NZ). Anyway, with a bit of extra time up my sleeve in London and as someone that always likes to have a hands on project I've decided that I'll join the home brewing adventure.

At the moment I'm just being a sponge and trying to absorb as much information as possible. I'm more the type to research the **** out of something and make sure I nail it the first time rather then just buy the first kit I see, follow the instructions and then scratch my head as to why things didn't go to plan. I've been scouring the internet, listening to podcasts and soon to be reading books. Its interesting to learning about other peoples experiences and what people believe is the right and wrong way to doing things - there is some conflicting info out there!

I plan on starting with extract brewing and starting with easy-ish kits to see how I get on.

I'm torn between bottling and kegging. Kegging looks great how things can be done quicker and you cant beat a fresh beer straight from the tap but the initial setup cost is quite daunting and also difficult to get hold of a small fridge in London with no car. Bottling certainly is alot cheaper but I'm not looking forward to the extra cleaning and then sourcing bottles in the first place (I was scratching my head today as I was considering a 15 box of Budweiser for 10p).

Overall I'm looking to slowly continue to read and research and then assemble my brewing setup as I start earning my first pounds. I'm hoping I can pick up second hand bits and find cheap bits in stores and across the net. Can anyone recommend top quality Homebrew stores in London that are helpful for first timers? I've already decided I'm going to start with an immersion wort cooler (maybe make one myself even) and a fermentation heating pad.

One thing that has caught me off guard is researching about water for brewing. I've basically found out that the more you know the more you realise you dont know. I know that London water is supposed to be good for Porters but Pale Ales and IPAs are my preference. I'm hoping that using an extract kit I can 'get away with' the water not being perfect for my beer style.

Finally, can anyone recommend any good books that explaining the brewing process well for first timers and also offer advice on equipment?

Its great to be here team!

 

[MyQul]

Welcome to the forum and the big smoke.

I'm in Sarf London myself. If your also south of the river your in luck because theres two great places to buy well priced ingredients as well as get advice if needed . One in Brixton ttp://londonbeerlab.com/home-brew-supplies/ and one in Bermondsey https://ubrew.cc/ Think the DME is £6/1kg at both places. I asked them how much it was at Ubrew last week as I need it for starters and I'm sure that's what they said

Your right, London water is great for dark beers Stouts/Porters/Mild but not so much for Bitters and Pales and so I have recently started explore water chemistry.

Bottles - you can get as many free 330ml and some 500ml as you like from London beer lab. I replaced all my PET coopers ones with 330ml at the start of the year.

Greg Hughes book is great and explains all the different brewing processes as well as fantastic reciepes for most beer styles and is only �£3
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1409331768/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20=

 

[tysonzane]

Thanks for the message! I'm in Hammersmith but traveling to find a good supply store isn't a problem.

Thats good to know about the bottles. So do you literally ring up and ask for some bottles and then go and collect? Sounds good to me!

 

[MyQul]

No need to even ring. Just rock up there on Sunday or late Saturday afternoon after they've had lots of brewing sessions and fill yer boots (well ya bags anyway).your doing them a favour as they have to take them to the recycling.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum :

 

[ManseMasher]

Welcome aboard, and a +1 for Greg Hughes' book. Some nice recipes in it too.

 

[dad_of_jon]

Hey Chaps and Chapesses,

I'm a kiwi that has just moved to London for a change of scenery, new employment challenges and just for the adventure in general.

I've been a long time craft beer fan back at home and also a motorsport head. All of my spare time basically went into working on and racing my Honda Civic rally car (its one of the quicker 2wds in NZ). Anyway, with a bit of extra time up my sleeve in London and as someone that always likes to have a hands on project I've decided that I'll join the home brewing adventure.

At the moment I'm just being a sponge and trying to absorb as much information as possible. I'm more the type to research the **** out of something and make sure I nail it the first time rather then just buy the first kit I see, follow the instructions and then scratch my head as to why things didn't go to plan. I've been scouring the internet, listening to podcasts and soon to be reading books. Its interesting to learning about other peoples experiences and what people believe is the right and wrong way to doing things - there is some conflicting info out there!

I plan on starting with extract brewing and starting with easy-ish kits to see how I get on.

I'm torn between bottling and kegging. Kegging looks great how things can be done quicker and you cant beat a fresh beer straight from the tap but the initial setup cost is quite daunting and also difficult to get hold of a small fridge in London with no car. Bottling certainly is alot cheaper but I'm not looking forward to the extra cleaning and then sourcing bottles in the first place (I was scratching my head today as I was considering a 15 box of Budweiser for 10p).

Overall I'm looking to slowly continue to read and research and then assemble my brewing setup as I start earning my first pounds. I'm hoping I can pick up second hand bits and find cheap bits in stores and across the net. Can anyone recommend top quality Homebrew stores in London that are helpful for first timers? I've already decided I'm going to start with an immersion wort cooler (maybe make one myself even) and a fermentation heating pad.

One thing that has caught me off guard is researching about water for brewing. I've basically found out that the more you know the more you realise you dont know. I know that London water is supposed to be good for Porters but Pale Ales and IPAs are my preference. I'm hoping that using an extract kit I can 'get away with' the water not being perfect for my beer style.

Finally, can anyone recommend any good books that explaining the brewing process well for first timers and also offer advice on equipment?

Its great to be here team!

tesco's value water (chase spring) works well for me, you could get tesco to deliver it you've no car.

 

[tysonzane]

Awesome. Sounds cheap too!

 

[YeastFace]

Welcome .

 

[Covrich]

Welcome , extract sounds a good place to start, by that I take it you mean boil extract and add your own hops?

+1 the with Greg Hughes book , only £3 gives you a full down of teh basics and has pretty much a recipe for every single style

 

[Garethgareth]

Welcome tysonzane!

 

[AussieLondon84]

Hey Chaps and Chapesses,

Bottling certainly is alot cheaper but I'm not looking forward to the extra cleaning and then sourcing bottles in the first place (I was scratching my head today as I was considering a 15 box of Budweiser for 10p).

One thing that has caught me off guard is researching about water for brewing. I've basically found out that the more you know the more you realise you dont know. I know that London water is supposed to be good for Porters but Pale Ales and IPAs are my preference. I'm hoping that using an extract kit I can 'get away with' the water not being perfect for my beer style.

Hey mate, I have the same worries about water, I am going to trial using those 17p 2 ltr bottles of filtered water that Tesco and ASDA sell, I just ordered 24 online with my beer order from ASDA today (it's minimum �£40 for delivery from most supermarkets) but they sell 24 bottles of 300ml budweiser for �£12 right now and they are crown seal (NOT twist) and are brown glass so perfect for beer.

I would go with bottles as I had a keg setup in Australia (where I am from) but here I rent in a shared house so I don't want to spend on a major keg setup as I may not live here forever.

If you want to do what I did, use ASDA (you can use Tesco also or other supermarkets online (since you don't have a car same as me so this is why i suggest this), but ASDA have the cheapest price on the bud bottles.
I ordered some smart price thin bleach, a few boxes of the bud 24 x 300ml bottles for �£12 each, and also 24 bottles of the 17pence 2 litre smart price water (it has no chlorine in it as it has been filtered so this is good for brewing as it's not like we can afford to use Evian haha).

Btw I think you meant to say the £10 for 15 bottles of Budweiser and not 10p haha, as 10 pence would be a bit too cheap yeah? haha

Hope I have been of some help to you.
You guys will win the Rugby World Cup I bet haha

 

[tysonzane]

Thanks for the welcome guys!

Welcome , extract sounds a good place to start, by that I take it you mean boil extract and add your own hops?

+1 the with Greg Hughes book , only �£3 gives you a full down of teh basics and has pretty much a recipe for every single style

Cool, i'll look into Greg Hughes book. Yup boil extract and then add my own hops. Looking for an easy and forgiving recipe/kit to get me started.

Hey mate, I have the same worries about water, I am going to trial using those 17p 2 ltr bottles of filtered water that Tesco and ASDA sell, I just ordered 24 online with my beer order from ASDA today (it's minimum ��£40 for delivery from most supermarkets) but they sell 24 bottles of 300ml budweiser for ��£12 right now and they are crown seal (NOT twist) and are brown glass so perfect for beer.

I would go with bottles as I had a keg setup in Australia (where I am from) but here I rent in a shared house so I don't want to spend on a major keg setup as I may not live here forever.

If you want to do what I did, use ASDA (you can use Tesco also or other supermarkets online (since you don't have a car same as me so this is why i suggest this), but ASDA have the cheapest price on the bud bottles.
I ordered some smart price thin bleach, a few boxes of the bud 24 x 300ml bottles for ��£12 each, and also 24 bottles of the 17pence 2 litre smart price water (it has no chlorine in it as it has been filtered so this is good for brewing as it's not like we can afford to use Evian haha).

Btw I think you meant to say the �£10 for 15 bottles of Budweiser and not 10p haha, as 10 pence would be a bit too cheap yeah? haha

Hope I have been of some help to you.
You guys will win the Rugby World Cup I bet haha

Awesome. You sound like you're on a similar mind frame to me!

Keen to hear how you get on with your water.

I'm pretty confident in going ahead with bottles. Particularly if I can use the Brixton spot to get some freebies (and also buy some dirty Bud to sip while my brew is fermenting).

I hope you're right about the RWC!! :) It looks like its not impossible to see you in the final :) .

 

[Alexislife]

Welcome :

 

[ProjectBeer]

From personal experience definitely ring the Beer Lab and they will set aside bottles for you instead of tossing them in the recycling bin outside. They're getting busier and they don't get many people collecting bottles.

Failing that - get friendly with the staff at your local and see if they are ok with setting bottles aside...it's definitely easier to do rather than looking like a loon with a bag of empties on the tube!

As for books, I'd also recommend howtobrew.com by John Palmer. Really informative stuff.

UBrew, as MyQul mentioned, hosts the London Amateur Brewers first Monday of each month and it's open for anyone to pop by. I haven't been yet but may pop down on Monday with some pale ale I've just brewed (if it's carbed up enough by then...only bottled on Tues!)

Oh, and welcome to the forum :)

 

[AussieLondon84]

Thanks for the welcome guys!



Cool, i'll look into Greg Hughes book. Yup boil extract and then add my own hops. Looking for an easy and forgiving recipe/kit to get me started.



Awesome. You sound like you're on a similar mind frame to me!

Keen to hear how you get on with your water.

I'm pretty confident in going ahead with bottles. Particularly if I can use the Brixton spot to get some freebies (and also buy some dirty Bud to sip while my brew is fermenting).

I hope you're right about the RWC!! :) It looks like its not impossible to see you in the final :) .

I mean yeah Bud is terrible but those are epic bottles to homebrew in, as you don't want green glass like most others, and the lip of the bottle is solid on the Buds, and they are cheap.
Bonus is the labels are paper so easy to get off more so than Heineken or such (plus those are green glass anyway).

Let me know how it goes.
I am a bit fussy as I don't want to use any randoms bottles, i'd rather know I got them new.
Also at ������£12 for 24 bottles thats a steal, the only bad thing is you have to drink the Bud inside haha.
They are sturdy bottles though.
Just remember to take the labels off haha.

Not to be an advert for ASDA supermaket (I like cheap things haha) but they do delivery and if you choose Tuesday-Thursday at certain times the delivery is only ������£1 (min order of ������£40 for the total order).
Basically I order heavy items like cartons of beer or cartons of coke etc and liquids etc this way since I have no car in London, then I pick and choose fresh ingredients at the shop that are light to carry and where I want to inspect the quality of before picking etc

If you are in London also then maybe I can give you a bottle of my brew for you to try if you are about in central same time as me or such.
I live in East London.

I work in a Central London pub, wanted to try doing a homebrew in the cellar at my pub (a lager using proper lager yeast that needs cold temps) on the spare tap using a empty 50L SANKE key the pub has, but my boss says they won't allow us to ferment or keg in it the pubs cellar as it's part of a large company plc and they are worried about occupation health safety stuff sadly.
I even said it would not be for sale and only free samples to regulars and staff after a shift as this would avoid the need for the alcohol licence and tax as it is given away, but they still said no.