The unofficial YF Home Brew thread...

Any home brewers in the house?...

There's a new store (Brew Zealand - lols) in Petone (the bloke in the store is an Everton supporter, so be nice to him)...and I bought a starter brew kit, probably going to bottle my first "batch" this weekend... any tips? Do's/dont's/dares?

The kit had a "Munich Lager" which I'm having a go with at the moment - may give a cider a crack next; tasted some in the shop and it was quite nice - not as sweet as most of the mainstream ones... this will keep SWMBO happy (pun intended) too. After that who knows... they stock spirits and all sorts - seems pretty fool proof these days; unlike the paint stripper of days gone by...

Cheers (hic)!!!

I make kit wine and in the summer homemade cider. The only issue with brewing/wine making in winter is keeping the tempreture high enough for the yeast to still work. Also checking the gravity at various stages is essential.

I'm still iffy about getting into stills and making spirits. Don who stands with us in the zone makes his own and states he drank some only to have his face go numb for awhile which does not sound healthy!

Haha!!! I got a little heat pad for mine which keeps it warm at night... old mate at the shop said that brewing lighter beers (lagers) is fine when it's cooler but the heavier ones need more heat. Kinda makes sense - though I guess the proof is in the drinking :-)

I tried to make a home brew in about 1994, which ended in disaster.  Being a bit thick, I decided to double the amount of sugar that needed to be added, hoping that it would make it more alcoholic.  I had about 30 bottles lined up around the wall in the upstairs part of the flat, and we came home one day to find one of the bottles had exploded and there was some fairly big shards of glass embedded in the wall.  For the safety of the rest of the flat, I had to put on every item of clothing I had, carry each bottle individually downstairs to the back garden (with all the care of someone from The Hurt Locker), and then open them.  Each bottle gave me the appearance of someone who had just won a Formula 1 event.  Nerve-wracking stuff.

Cue some little cunt adding the next post of "you were flatting in 1994?  I was only 1 year old then.  Lolz".

I've got that to look forward to tomorrow... was gonna go flash and get some of those Grolsch/Altenmunster style swing tops for the whole upmarket wankstain look but probably best to go with PETs until I know what I'm doing.

We've had enough ambos and fireys in Petone over the last few weeks as it is!

I make Vodka.  I have a fractionating distillation apparatus and get very clean tasting Vodka.  It is pretty easy and ends up at about $7 per bottle.

I had half a bottle of Stoli Chilli Voddy at my 21st... haven't had it for years... if I could replicate that for $7/btl I'd be a very happy man - in more ways than one!!!

Sure, 25 litre brew tanks which I fill with warm water and 6Kg white sugar to a total of 22litres.  I add 1 packet of Triple Distilled Turbo Yeast (buy from Hauraki Homebrew www.haurakihomebrew.co.nz).  Put on the lid with a bubbler and wait 2-3 weeks.  I do a crude and refined distillation as I have a hand built distillation apparatus with 2 stems, but you can buy a shop bought 1-pass system from Hauraki homebrew which should do.

Each 22L brew makes about 4 x 1125L Vodka at 37%

Bottling day tomorrow - was advised to put the brew on the garage floor for a couple of cool days worth of settling and drawing all the shit down (well, something like that).

So we're nearly kinda there... now I need a bluddy beer fridge!

Sounds like I've inherited another barrell. More beer!

how did the bottling go?

I did it last Wednesday so too early to know/taste... it's bluddy muddy so hopefully will settle a bit in the bottle... the process itself was surprisingly easy (once I worked out how to attach the thing to the tap - haha), will have a crack at some cider once I've got the second barrell.

Even if it tastes like sh*t initially, it is kinda fun and undoubtedly I'll get better at it... and start trying some random stuff - as you do.

It smells bluddy delicious (well, like beer). I didn't test the gravity at the beggining (instructions - who reads them!) so have no idea of that nor the abv either.

So as long as it tastes ok (and hopefully clears up a bit) it'll be interesting to see how many bottles I can consume before falling over - that should give me an approximate abv, not that it matters lol

Right then... currently drinking my first brew after a couple of weeks in the bottle - it's smooth and malty, though lacking much behind that. This will develop as the original advice is 3-4 weeks (I'm impatient).

Yesterday, I did 10 ltrs of pear/strawb cider (SWMBO) and after prompting the Blue Liverpudlian at Brew Zealand that I'm keen to push boundaries, have gone for a pils with a massive Czech hop overload for my next brew - he reckons 6-7%. Awesome. 

This is fun, you should give it a crack.

Oh, and if your Scottish - it works out bluddy cheap too!!!

Had a whiff of the cider yesterday - she's a bit strong!!!... ahhh well - bottling next weekend :-)

Brew #1 is now suitable for public consumption - and pretty easy to drink too just quietly!!! Bottled my Petone Hardcore Ale yesterday and jeez it smells divine... the cider looks/smells the bizzo too!

It's gonna be a great summer!

Cock Ale anyone? An old recipe that was popular a 3 - 4 hundred years ago.

To make Cock-Ale

PERIOD: England, 17th century | SOURCE: The Closet Of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digby Kt. Opened, 1677 | CLASS: Authentic

DESCRIPTION: A drink of ale, chicken broth, & sack

To make Cock-Ale.

Take eight gallons of Ale, take a Cock and boil him well; then take four pounds of Raisins of the Sun well stoned, two or three Nutmegs, three or four flakes of Mace, half a pound of Dates; beat these all in a Mortar, and put to them two quarts of the best Sack: and when the Ale hath done working, put these in, and stop it close six or seven days, and then bottle it, and a month after you may drink it.

Sack is an old term for fortified wine from Spain so a good dry sherry would do.

Mace is hard to get so I'd add pepper or maybe allspice, to the mix.

I have a gallon demijohn so it might be worth a go as I am not buying eight gallons of ale just to throw a chicken in.

I reckon 4 bottles of beer.

A small chicken

400gs of raisins and a tin of dates, (stoned).

Spices, etc.

Boil chicken bones and all for 3-4 hours. I reckon you boil it in the ale, but you wouldnt what to boil off the alcohol?

Seperately  bring rasins, dates and spices together in a blender and blitz.

Add this to a bottle of sherry.

It says add this to when the ale "hath done working" - which suggests when it stops fermenting??? or does it mean when the cock is boiled?

Stick the lot in a demijohn and put on an airlock.

bottle after a week and leave for a month.

Drink

Go to hospital.

Suggestions or thoughts?

 Just found another recipe - I think the ale is unfermented.and you add the chicken to the sack and spices and add that to the finished ale. Remeber ale would have to be fairly fresh as there are no preservatives in those days.

A similar recipe was printed in 1739 in The Compleat Housewife:

Take ten gallons of ale, and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him, and stamp him in a stone mortar till his bones are broken (you must craw and gut him when you flay him); then put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put it to three pounds of raisins of the sun stoned, some blades of mace, and a few cloves; put all these into a canvas bag, and a little before you find the ale has done working, put the ale and bag together into a vessel; in a week or nine days time bottle it up; fill the bottle but just above the neck, and give the same time to ripen as other ale.[3]

 

http://www.beerandbrewer.co.nz/_blog/Magazine/post/Cock_Ale/ 

This is another modern interpretation. I still think thye should have used a sherry as that is what sack is.

Don't have an ale kit so must buy one.

I may give that one a miss FT...

Looking forward to my Beerbon tho!!! Will be approx 7-9% of bocky, peaty, smokey goodness :-)

Anyone one here make Kahlua? Would like to get some off ya.

Oh and Frankie, in 1994 I was 34.

Keen to get into this and make some hoppy IPAs which is pretty much my beer style of choice.

Any tips welcome as I have no idea where to start really and those Coopers kits I see in the supermarket are the only things I've really seen.  I am assuming that stuff will not produce the results I am after...

I've done my third brew with a $100 Copper Tun kit (ironically, it's plastic) but so far so good... first two went down well with people though my third is an unknown as yet - it's another couple of weeks away from being ready, though I went mad and added some bourbon chips and peat flavouring to it. Had a chat to an expert who reckons I'll have a 7-9% monster bock on my hands - he's even keen to try it... smelt bloody amazing when I bottled it!

But yeah, get a kit - it's a shit load of fun... and depending where you are, hook into the local brewing supply shop (if you're in Welly I know of ones in Newtown, Waterloo and my local in Petone) and they're very happy to help... as are "proper" craft brewers too... I'm still in nappies but having a ball! 

Oh, and join SOBA - discounted beers/events and a great way to network too!

I'm in Hataitai and I know of the Newtown place you mean.

Am a SOBA member too but all I've ever used it for is drinks discounts sand went to a couple of their expos!

How big a space do you need? I've just moved house and there's a small outdoor area that seems suitable.

I use this company - good selection, very prompt, great service - http://www.haurakihomebrew.co.nz/

The beer-bon is spectacular!!!...

http://www.harveynorman.co.nz/home-appliances/kitchen-appliances/juice-and-beverage-makers/williamswarn-all-in-one-personal-brewery.html?gclid=CMn51LXk8LwCFRFvvAodlxQA6Q

Quality beer in 7 days? But it cost $7200. Anyone wanna start a YF version of kickstarter? We all chip in an then we get put on a roster to use it.

I've researched these things - apparently they're not that flash... certainly not for the $$$$ lol

Yeah, you wouldn't be far off... that reminds me - business plan!!!

Who said silly?... the collective conscience?