Home Brewing anyone done it?

[somebodysfool]

We already have chickens, fruit trees and a vegetable plot and are about to add home brewing to the mix.

Strolling through a boot fair recently we came across home brewing equipment going for a tenner. There was tons of stuff including a fruit press, barrels, buckets, 8 5 litre glass wine bottles and much more basically everything you would need for beer/wine making at home.

It was an impluse buy and didn't realise what a bargain we had got until we started looking into it. It was the sellers grandads and he had been a serious home brewer for most of his life.

I have read that beer and wine kits can give a very good result but they are relatively expensive compared to brewing from scratch though we have bought two good quality ones to start us off. Has anyone given it a go who can offer any tips?

My dad makes fruit wine by buying up reduced pure fruit juices and adding the sugar and citric acid. think there is another ingredient too but it takes minutes and is not expensive. As for storing the results just use juice bottles. Many things can be found on freecycle.

This is the perfect time to start making your elderflower champayne (the flowers have just bloomed). My mum and dad have a few different wines formenting at the moment (i used to brew my own wine around 6 years ago and stopped when i had the kids!). my mum also grows her own fruit and veg, but we went foraging for nettles and she has a nettle wine on the go just now.

www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/elderflower-champagne-rec ipep1.html

www.brew-magic.co.uk/recipes.aspx

www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/

ht tp://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/index.php/recipes-nettle-beer

It is comepletely satisfying to fill your wine rack with your own produce ;)

Enjoy.

This book is FANTASTIC for information on where to find and how to identify naturally grown wild herbs.. which can be used for wine or beer. Also contains some recipes ;)

www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10051_184753_100_48155_ category

Book looks interesting. We have started with kits just to get the hang of it and am pleased to say have red wine and beer bubbling away. Have no idea how they will turn out but fingers crossed.

CAMRA does a good home-brewing book for beer, and if you want to make cider in the autumn, I'd recommend the Pooley & Lomax book (Amazon).

i;ve just started off some elderflower champagne, does anyone know where to get champagne yeast on the high street? i've found it online but theres normally a min delivery and i only want a sachet worth a pound!

i used to make mead YEARS ago. just in demijons, its really easy tho, apple juice, honey and a bit of yeast. can be deceptively strong tho!

Saladbomb, try your local hardware store. Ours has some brewing equipment and yeast. Otherwise CAT me and I'll get you a sachet and post it to you at cost!

oh thanks very much! i ended up buying some on line yesterday as found somewhere that delivers next day and i will be in work all week so cant get to the shops. i'll need to add the yeast in the next day or two although it was looking a bit 'frothy' this morning so with any luck i'll be able to do without. exciting! also made some raspberry gin, all about the fruity booze this weekend :D

many thanks for the offer!

Saladbomb - Just in case you didn't already know - champagne yeast isn't essential for Elderflower Fizz - the traditional Elederflower 'Champagne' recipes actually use the naturally occurring yeasts on the flowers (which die off when you get around 5-7% alc),

I made some last year with cheap white wine yeast, the reason I used yeast at all was because I wanted to add hot water to the flowers initially to prevent mould (which would have killed off the naturally occuring yeast in the process).

The fizz is caused by un-fermented sugar producing CO2 after bottling...

Which brings me on to the next tip - only use bottles designed for high pressure! Never use ordinary wine bottles.... tick tick BOOM! Grolsch bottles, plastic bottles which had carbonated drinks in etc are all good.

somebodysfool - I am so jealous - you got a fruit press!!! That's going to be sooo handy in the autumn - never mind adding yeast - you can make some really tasty fresh juice with that.

Try this recipe in the autumn - it really rocks (if I do say so myself

www.convergency.co.uk/blog/2009/11/nommos-elderberry-and-bramble-wine/

I managed to spot a pressure barrel on my local freecycle this week, so I can finally make the Beer kit I was bought for my birthday by my work mates months ago

hey nommo thanks for your advice, the recipe i;m using says to add a pinch of yeast if it doesnt start to 'froth' after a few days so i'm just hedging my bets really. i got champagne yeast because i read that if you use bakers yeast (which i alresdy have) it affects the flavour. and yes i;ve got some swing top bottles to put it in, dont want it exploding all over the place!