Beer Making

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Having finished the bottle I'm pretty pleased with the result. Given it has taken about six weeks to produce I was a little scared to try it. Beer is pretty hard to muck up so you should be able to get something drinkable even if you don't follow the process exactly. Apart from not being crystal clear it was a really enjoyable drink. Not as hoppy as I would like but the other bottles will not go to waste.
 
Whenever we go in for something we really like, we use to demand high standards of ourselves, which is commendable, as it ensures that we gain experience in that field and get better and better.
I am sure that you used the best ingredients and took meticulous care throughout the brewing process, Glen, that’s why I am glad to hear that you are pleased with the result.

Although I don’t drink beer (nor any other type of alcohol), I hope that you enjoy your own homemade beer to the fullest by taking time to savour its aroma. :)
 
Thanks Lady. I've always drunk beer and other beverages because I like the taste rather than the need to get inebriated (apart from a couple of experiences when I was a lot younger). I would rather have one beer I like every now and then rather than a few of something that I don't like and is cheap. When we do our Christmas shopping trip to France it is funny to see people buying beer and wine you can get at home only a bit cheaper rather than some local beers that are even cheaper but much better!

I also value my driving licence more than having a drink and risking myself and more importantly others. I have always felt comfortable about not having an alcoholic drink if we go out and sticking to soft drinks. The only annoying thing about avoiding alcoholic drinks when out is the price of soft drinks. Though not the same price as a pint they are sometimes not that far away.

This is the kit my wife got me for Christmas and was used to create the first batch. Beer Making Kit: Everyday IPA® - Beer Making Kits - Shop

The next beer will be this one: Beer Making Mix: Grapefruit Honey Ale - Beer Making Mixes - Shop

If anyone is thinking about doing some brewing I would consider the kit as it has everything you need (apart from bottles) to get you started. The instructions are pretty good and easy to follow and the end result has proved to be drinkable too. Brooklyn Brew Shop have a recipe book which can be used for small batches but also gives ingredients for larger batches too. Once the next batch is done I'm going to have a look at getting ingredients rather than getting a pack.
 
I see they make a beer tasting kit ( 4 glasses and a notebook ) whats that about ? where is the beer :confused:
 
Grapefruit Honey Ale

Was processing but should be there soon.

[video=youtube_share;XMqnJXn7L3g]http://youtu.be/XMqnJXn7L3g[/video]
 
Thanks guys. It does smell just as you would imagine. You can use spent grain in bread so investigating a few recipes. This one is also pretty active straight from the start. It is producing a bubble every second which sounds like a little tap dripping that can be heard through out the house!
 
The latest beer seems to have got past the frantic fermentation phase and has settled down to a slower fermentation rate.

The ingredient kits I have been using have cost about £15 which is a little expensive but convenient as it has the grain, yeast, sanitizer, Candi sugar that you need and no more. Just been ordering ingredients to make a couple of batches from recipes but with some variations to see what happens. What I have ordered cost just over £30. Initially that looks similar to the kit price for two batches. However, much of the grains, yeast, hops and sugar will do about four or five (or more) batches with only the main grain being purchased. A 3kg bag of malt is about £9 and should do 2 or 3 batches. So the cost to produce 4 litres / 8 500ml bottles is about £7 or less than a £1 per bottle (ingredient cost only as the equpimento cost has already been written off). As discussed here and in the bread thread it isn't about cost but it does start to make sense. A reasonable local (as in UK produced) craft beer seems to be around £2 a bottle at the moment and a Chimay Blue can be well over £3 (about £1.20ish when we get it in France)!

The plan for the next batch is to go for a light European type ale (say Leffe Blonde) but with more bitterness and hoppy flavour. I've ordered three types of hop; Cascade and Columbus (both from the US) and Golding (from the UK). Thought about using Fuggle hops but that can have a "wet dirt" and "old man" flavour/aroma which isn't what I want from the next batch. That would be more suitable for a more traditional UK bitter style beer.

Beer tasting terms are not like the polite wine tasting descriptions. They tend to be more realistic if sometimes a little strange. One term that became a "standard" was gorilla's armpit - a generally unpleasant, sweaty aroma!

So once this batch has been bottled In just over a week I can get started on the next one.

Cheers!
Or as you say in;

Afrikaans - Gesondheid
Albanian - Gëzuar
Arabic - Fisehatak
Armenian - Genatzt
Azerbaijani - Afiyæt oslun
Basque - On egin
Breton - Yec'hed mat
Bulgarian - Na zdrave
Catalan - Salut, Txin Txin
Chinese - Yung sing
Cornish - Yeghes da
Croatian - živjeli
Czech - Na zdraví
Danish - Skål
Dutch - Gezondheid/Proost
English - Cheers
Estonian - Tervist
Finnish - Kippis
French - À votre santé
Gaelic - Sláinte
Georgian - Vakhtanguri
German - Prost
Greenlandic - Kassutta
Hebrew - L'chaim
Hungarian - Egészségedre (singular)/Egészségetekre (plur)
Icelandic - Skál
Italian - Cin Cin
Japanese - Kampai
Kikuyu - Rathima andu atene
Latvian - Uz veselibu
Lebanese Arabic - Kesak (sing.), Keskun (plur.)
Lithuanian - i sveikata
Macedonian - Na zdravje!
Occitan - A la vòstra
Polish - Na zdrowie
Sesotho - Nqa
Slovak - Na zdravie
Slovene - Na zdravje
Somalian - Auguryo
Spanish - Salud
Swedish - Skål
Tagalog - Mabuhay
Ukrainian - Budmo
Urdu - Djam
Vietnamese - Can chén
Welsh - Iechyd da
Yiddish - Lechaym
 
Afrikaans - Gesondheid Albanian - Gëzuar
Arabic - Fisehatak
Armenian - Genatzt
Azerbaijani - Afiyæt oslun
Basque - On egin
Breton - Yec'hed mat
Bulgarian - Na zdrave
Catalan - Salut, Txin Txin
Chinese - Yung sing
Cornish - Yeghes da
Croatian - živjeli
Czech - Na zdraví
Danish - Skål
Dutch - Gezondheid/Proost
English - Cheers
Estonian - Tervist
Finnish - Kippis
French - À votre santé
Gaelic - Sláinte
Georgian - Vakhtanguri
German - Prost
Greenlandic - Kassutta
Hebrew - L'chaim
Hungarian - Egészségedre (singular)/Egészségetekre (plur)
Icelandic - Skál
Italian - Cin Cin
Japanese - Kampai
Kikuyu - Rathima andu atene
Latvian - Uz veselibu
Lebanese Arabic - Kesak (sing.), Keskun (plur.)
Lithuanian - i sveikata
Macedonian - Na zdravje!
Occitan - A la vòstra
Polish - Na zdrowie
Sesotho - Nqa
Slovak - Na zdravie
Slovene - Na zdravje
Somalian - Auguryo
Spanish - Salud
Swedish - Skål
Tagalog - Mabuhay
Ukrainian - Budmo
Urdu - Djam
Vietnamese - Can chén
Welsh - Iechyd da
Yiddish - Lechaym

lol prost :D
 
to yours or to your health , see the list of Laka , online french .. ;-) :) , à vôtre santé Glen..
 
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Second batch has completed fermentation. This one is a grapefruit and honey ale. Got 7 500ml bottles out of it which is a good yield. You are supposed to add more honey to the beer before bottling to help carbonate the beer when in the bottle (the yeast starts to ferment again gassing the beer in the bottle) but I just added a little Belgian Candi to do that. You can be a bit more precise doing it that way.

Had a quick taste it and it was OK. It is difficult to say a lot more at this time as there is still a lot of yeast to settle out which affects what the final flavour will be. 2-3 weeks in the bottle and we can find out.

Tomorrow I will start my first batch using my recipe and not from a kit. Aiming for a Belgian blonde style beer but with more hoppy flavour than usual with that type. Plan to do another batch of that later to see if I can reproduce it.

Beer making was developed as a form of "liquid" bread food. If it is good enough for Belgian Trappist monks (and other religious orders in France and the Netherlands) to make and drink then everyone should enjoy it! The only drink I can think of that has a religious connection in the UK is Buckfast Tonic Wine made at Buckfast Abbey. For some reason , "Bucky", has become the drink of choice for "neds" up here in Scotland.
 

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I'm looking for a way to assign keys to the sounds and use it (that doesn't cost anything). I know I can do it in Logic Pro but finding out how to do it is probably going to take longer than doing it! I'm disgusted with myself as I might have to resort to reading the manual. Found a course for it but it is 7+ hours long - not something you can do whilst doing something else.
 
Currently have two beers fermenting. One has been on the go for a couple of weeks and in theory should have finished by now. The other still (should) have a week to go. The first one is still showing signs of activity (occasional bubbles through the airlock). The second is also doing the same.

Ideally you would use a hydrometer to determine if fermentation is still ongoing. A hydrometer is used to take a gravity reading before you add the yeast and then later on. As fermentation takes place and more sugar is converted to alcohol the reading will change. When the reading stops changing fermentation has completed. You can then take the original gravity reading and the final reading to work out the alcohol content of the beer. With large, 5 gallon (19L) batches you have enough volume to not miss using some to take a gravity reading (in theory you shouldn't put the sample back into the batch as you risk contamination).

With a small batch like mine taking samples for measurement has a couple of effects. One, the volume lost would be quite a high percentage of the brew and second, to get the sample out would risk disturbing the batch and making it cloudy. So, for me it is easier to do it by eye and watch the airlock. Either way it is best to give the yeast enough time to do their job. Once fermentation has completed they also tidy up after themselves by helping to remove some odd flavours from the beer and a sinking to the bottom and clarifying the beer. The beer will never be as clear as shop bought beer as that is usually filterd and processed to get it clear though some bottled beer is bottle conditioned. Leaving the beer longer than the estimated two weeks is better than bottling too soon. Some lagers can take up to three months to ferment!

Also been looking at mini-kegs rather than bottles. The kegs would hold a single batch and would probably save room. The only issue is that you can't just put a couple of bottles in the fridge you have to keep the whole keg in there.

In the picture, the beer on the right is the Belgian strong ale and the one on the left is the partial wheat brew. I don't really have anywhere dark and room temp that I can put them so was just experimenting with foil to see if there are any differences. Light can cause some off flavours but the room they are in doesn't get a huge amount of light so seeing what (if any) difference it makes.
 

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