Topic: Home Brewers?

[Uncle Joshua]

Just got my first batch on the go ;D

Has that gone bang yet?

[queenbee]

I have one of these but I bought mine on the internet, It saves us a fortune I have used the internet to get recipes and a friend of mine gives me great advice on the use of it. If you need any information send me an e-mail.

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

That photo looks as if it was taken in the wilds of Tennessee. ;D

I make wine and beer but sporadically. I always make 5 gallons of anything at a time. Less is too much work for what you end up with. The wine I still have from my last ventures are rosehip and mango, gooseberry, rhubarb and elderflower, and blackberry and blackcurrant. I try to make mixes of ingredients to get a fuller flavour. If I get my act together this year I will make wine with golden hedgerow bullaces. The last lot I made was good.

It's hard to make wine as good as what you buy as commercial wine standards have risen so much. (I remember Algerian Reds!) But on the plus side it costs next to nothing, tastes fair and you can pour half a bottle into some dish you are cooking without wincing at the cost and enjoy a glass or two with a meal every day if you wish.
 On the other hand beer is fairly easy to make much better than what gets offered by the vast industrial brewers.  Small brewers still make the best beers of all: I can't match their products.

[OllieC]

We do beer kits (mostly the £25ish ones although right now I'm drinking Geordie with enhancer) & wine kits, as well as the lovely Orange Juice Wine (have 10gal of that in fvs at the mo!). Being able to get drunk for under £1 makes it taste even better.

Ollie can you pass on the orange juice wine recipie please ?

Sorry, only just noticed this post. I got it from another forum but have been playing around with it enough to feel that I have my own version. If you google "Wurzel's Orange Wine" you will find the original which he got from someone else and tweaked... Here's mine:

For 5 gal:
5 litres Orange Juice (from concentrate stuff works but I normally use whatever fresh stuff without bits is on offer).
5 litres pressed grape juice (I use the red stuff and end up with a Rose).
7½ lb sugar
5 tsp nutrient
G.P. yeast
2 1/2 tsp tannin
1 tsp Pectic Enzyme
5 tsp glycerine
Water to 5 gallon

Dissolve sugar in a few pints of boiling water.

Add the juice and then stir in the rest of the ingredients (I thoroughly mix each ingredient with a half pint of juice or cold water to make sure it dissolves).

Top up to 5 gallon, check initial S.G. which should be about 1.085.

Make sure it's the right temp for your yeast & dry pitch it.

Ferment to dry (I get down to 0.990) - rack when stopped and clear however you like to do it - I use that clay stuff and bottle between 5 and 10 days after racking. By doing it this way I then leave out the K Sorbate and the Campden tablets. Takes about 4 weeks from beginning to drinking. Serve chilled!

[Mothy]

I've just started brewing beer from kits and have started with a Woodefords Wherry which was great.
I am just about to start a 30 bottle Sav blanc wine kit made by Muntons.
Will let you know how it goes.

[French-Dream]

It's a bit long in the tooth this thread but here go's. I'm a AG brewer have been for a number of years now, I've a 100 litre kettle, 80 litre mash tun, 8 cornies, but I'm giving it a rest at the moment as we've now got a plot to keep up with and I'm doing more fruit wines. Hope to get going again with the brewing when the plot goes into the winter months.