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Not home brew, but I was in The Bacchus last night, and they've started serving Flying Dog beers. Dunno if anyone's ever had them before, but it's a small Denver brewery - the old fellas who founded the brewery were mates of Hunter S Thompson and the bloke who does the art for the bottle labels is Ralph Steadman, who used to do the art for Thompson's books.

 

Anyway, it's quality beer. The Porter is class. Give it a blast next time you're in there, or if you're a Rehills regular they sell it in there.

 

http://flyingdogales.com/about-us/the-flying-dog-story/

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Going through the painful stage of waiting :(

 

When stuff is brewed it needs two weeks in a bottle in a warm environment to create co2 (the fizz) in the headspace of the bottle and then at least 4 weeks in a cold environment to condition the beer, ie transfer the fizz from the space to the beer.

 

Even then, most old hands say you should refrain til it's had at least 3 months in the bottle as by this stage the real flavour is just coming through.

 

Currently I have 40 pints of Coopers lager bottled, 40 pints of ST Peters Ruby Red bottled and 40 pints of Woodfordes Wherry real ale to brew tomorrow.

 

On top of that I have a couple of gallon of cider and 4 gallons of fruit juice wine on the go.

 

Should be some astounding summer garden you tube sessions late July / early August.

 

I am also getting very tempted and giving all grain brewing a go which is basically taking the raw hops and grains and making a beer from scratch.

 

While it's cheaper than buying a kit beer, the initial outlay for equipment is quite high so I will give myself a few months to see if the novelty wears off first.

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I am also getting very tempted and giving all grain brewing a go which is basically taking the raw hops and grains and making a beer from scratch.

 

 

I had some of that made in a Zulu village when I was in South Africa.

 

It was grim :(

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just in case anyone is considering giving this a go, Tesco currently have a half price sale on everything in the Home Brewing section in store only (Only the big stores in Kingston Park and Durham sell them).

 

Includes equipment, beer kits, lager kits, wine kits etc.

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good hobby. Beer and wine can give good results, however the problem with beer is keeping the gas in the barrell, unless of course you bottle it which involves a lot more messing about.

 

And buy a heat mat, well worth it.

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good hobby. Beer and wine can give good results, however the problem with beer is keeping the gas in the barrell, unless of course you bottle it which involves a lot more messing about.

 

And buy a heat mat, well worth it.

 

Aye just bottles for me Leazes. Think the barrels are for the more prolific drinkers.

 

Im actually having the opposite problem trying to keep temperatures down. Probably need to get a cheap fridge off ebay, fit a temperature control and use that.

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I brewed barrells and bottles, at different times. I got pissed off trying to keep the barrell cool and keeping the gas in it, so i tried bottles. I thought about getting a 2nd hand fridge and taking the inside out to put the barrel in to keep it cool, but never did.

 

Haven't done it for a long time now though, but the heat mat is great for wine and beer, it keeps the temperature constant during the brewing.

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  • 3 weeks later...

For those who wanted an update....... :)

 

Currently have produced

 

Beer / Lager

 

46 Bottles of Coopers Lager. (Drinkable but not really for me)

46 Bottles of St Peters Ruby Red Ale (Turning into a very nice drink --- Still needs more time in bottle)

46 Bottles of Woodfordes Wheery (Deeeeeeeeeeeeelicious)

46 Bottles of Coopers Real Ale (Not tasted yet)

 

 

Cider

 

Numerous Gallons of Turbo Cider (using 56p apple juice).

Have this off to a fine art now and the end result is equally as good as your normal low to middle market cider such as Woodpecker. Add your black currant or mixed fruit cordial and you have a very close Koppenburg rip off for 45p a bottle.

 

Alcoholic Raspberryade

 

Not my cup of tea but the girls like it.

 

Wines

 

Made a few gallons of WOW (Wurzels orange wine) which has turned out very nice but none of us are great white wine drinkers so not sure what will happen to this! If you want to know what it is look here

 

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=10179

 

Just bottle two gallons of Ribena rose 13% which is another one for the ladies but I had a taste and again it is fantastic for pennies a bottle.

 

Conclusion

 

So far everything has turned out great apart from the Coopers Lager. Good fun and plenty of alcohol for a fraction of shop prices.

 

I have however decided that kits are probably not for me and I am now looking to move on to All Grain brewing. This is basically making the beer through a boiling process using raw grains, hops and malt and will allow me to virtually make a clone of any beer on the market with practise and using online recipes.

 

Already have the boiler identified.

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If anyone's looking to get into this sort of thing, you're probably 3 months or so away from being able to pick up all CT's stuff on ebay. :P

 

Not a chance :lol:

 

As it happens I have just set away a gallon of cherry wine, a gallon of Rose and a gallon of cider. (A gallon is 4.5 litres for the younger ones). :)

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Have this off to a fine art now and the end result is equally as good as your normal low to middle market cider such as Woodpecker. Add your black currant or mixed fruit cordial and you have a very close Koppenburg rip off for 45p a bottle.

 

If that's what you need to make it taste like pear cider, there's something very wrong in your brewing process somewhere. :D

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I'm a traditionalist. If it's not pear then it's not Kopparberg, no matter how much they try to besmirch the brand with such variants. <_<

When I was in Denmark Kopparberg was 7.5% and everyone drank an Elderflower version. We never get the proper versions :(

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