Topic: home brew virgin

[misfit]

well just bought my self a home brew kit as a birthday present from the wife  ;D so expect lots of silly questions in the coming months  ::) ;D

this is the kit below, anyone used this kit before, any tips etc ??
also is there any kit you can recommend i should be on the look out for, for future brews. hoping to brew some wine at a later date as well :D



the kit comes with a canadian blond beer can as an upgrade from the coopers can apparently  ??? :D

[OllieC]

Use the hydrometer, don't rush things, use the hydrometer, sterilise everything and use the hydrometer.

[misfit]

do you think I should use the hydrometer tho ??  ;D

[the_snail]

1st rule of home brewing is steralization

2nd rule of home brewing is patients

3rd rule of home brewing is enjoy making the beer and enjoy drinking it :)

From a Homebrew Grain ' n ' Hop Masher

[OllieC]

snail is right of course.

The reason I emphasise the hydrometer is this - search any home brew forum and you will find it full of questions from beginners asking why their brew has stopped bubbling. Without an initial & final reading people can only guess what's going on. With some numbers they can have a good guess instead!

If you take an initial reading from the hydrometer and then a reading when it stops bubbling, then another one a few days later if it appears to be around where you expect, then you will know if it has stopped because it's ready for conditioning or stopped because the yeast is unhappy or dead.

[Gordonmull]

I third the hydrometer advice. Worst case, if you bottle too early, the bottles could explode. Best case, it will still be fine but most likely is that, even when you chill the brew, it still p*sses out the top of the bottle as soon as you open it.

Also, keep detailed notes the first couple of times you brew kits. That really helped me out in the beginning e.g. by looking back after the first time I could draw up a list of everything I needed to sterilize. Very annoying to find that you forgot to do the can opener or the stirring spoon and you've now chucked all your sterilizing fluid.

Personally I stopped doing beer kits a long time ago and just do wine and turbo cider. The only one I ever actually really liked, that didn't taste of "hombrew beer" was coopers european lager.

Above all enjoy yourself and don't get annoyed at mistakes. We all make 'em, even those of us that have made hundred of brews. But be careful - I speak from experience that alcoholic pepsi, turbo cider, hard lemonade, alcoholic ginger beer and other weird and wonderful things may be just round the corner if the bug really bites you.

This is what happened to me, and what's there is by no means massive compared to some others!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57278801@N04/5436829180/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57278801@N04/5434274747/

Have fun!

[Uncle Joshua]

1,Steralization
2, Hydrometer
3, Mop
4, Next Kit.
5, Don't rush

[misfit]

thanks for the replies  :)

had already thought about keeping notes so a notepad is now on the "to get" list  ;D

had a browse through the drink section on here and also a few home brew forums and already seen lots i fancy brewing, orange juice wine, toffee apple cider, ribena wine to name a few, but they are a bit further down the line  ;D

after seeing those pics i think im gonna need a bigger boat  :o ;D

[Uncle Joshua]

had a browse through the drink section on here and also a few home brew forums

Which forums did you look at? Jim beer kit is about the best there is.

[misfit]

registered on "the home brew forum" ill go and have a look at jims beer kit, im sure i have been on there already but not to have a proper look around  :)