Homebrew in Limerick

direbadger

I used to make homebrew and I got my supplies from the homebrew shop on Thomas Street. It's gone now; If you know Limerick the homebrew shop used to be where Micro-Ireland on Thomas Street is now. Anyway I assumed that he had just closed down but I heard a rumour the other day that he was still running the business from somewhere else (perhaps from home?)
I know it's a long shot, but does anyone know anything about this? I'd like to get back into the brew!

kenmc

I think it's www.thehomebrewcentre.ie
could be grogsmugglers.com either though

noby

Yep, it's the home brew centre. In Killaloe now.

direbadger

That's him alright! I recognise the site. I really thought that this would come to nothing. Thanks a lot lads!

kenmc

No worries, let's know how you're getting on.
On another topic, does anyone know of any homebrew clubs around Ireland??? I read about them all the time in the states.
(although a bit pointless me asking at the moment cos I'm off around the world for a year in January!! - still, maybe when I come back - hope to get into all grain then too!)
EDIT: just saw in the "girls on guinness" thread that you're female! WOW! don't think I've ever heard of a female homebrewer before! Nice one! So whats up first then? A Blackcurrant Stout

The Sweeper

kenmc if you want to start a "how to homebrew - getting started" thread on here I'll sticky it. Could start your own homebrew club...

direbadger

kenmc wrote:

A Blackcurrant Stout

Errr, no thanks

I'm no expert or anything. I've made a few barrels from the kits on this page:
http://www.thehomebrewcentre.ie/beer_kits.htm#hbrews
For a while (when I had a bigger flat) I used to always have one keg of stout and one keg of ale on the go (Clinton Morrison and Damien Duff I used to call them, happy days) There isn't a wild lot of difference in taste between the two from the kits to be honest! I'd really love to get into making the stuff from scratch some day. Maybe wine too. My nana used to make a lot of wine and has won prizes for it. Now a demijohn is too heavy for her to carry but I've got all her recipes lying idle in my cookbook. It would be nice to make that stuff some day. I'm in a small flat now though...

kenmc

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

kenmc if you want to start a "how to homebrew - getting started" thread on here I'll sticky it. Could start your own homebrew club...

Thats not a bad idea (re the homebrew howto). Might see if I can get around to it in the near future. As for the homebrew club, well I was hoping that there was one around that I could learn how to do full mash, and how to get/make the necessary equipment....
as I said though, will have to wait a year till I get back from around the world... my world wide beer tour!

noby

Don't let the small flat put you off. For partial mash, all you need is a large pot on the cooker, and somewhere to stick a couple of fermenting bins/demijohns (cupboard under the stairs or something)


MAJD, if I get a chance, I might put together a brief outline of homebrewing. Perhaps Ken might add a bit to it too.

kenmc

Yeah, was just thinking of the structure of it... I guess we need something like
Whats Needed Equipment Wise
How To Start (Kits/Partial/Full Mash)
Bottling/Kegging options
List of suppliers in ireland/UK
An FAQ
.......

kenmc

direbadger wrote:

I used to always have one keg of stout and one keg of ale on the go. There isn't a wild lot of difference in taste between the two from the kits to be honest!

I found the Coopers Stout to be a nice stout, quite chocolatey/coffeeish. Also liked the Coopers Real Ale - but definitely found them to be quite distinct.
Also, I tend to leave them mature a long time before drinking. I still have some of the stout which was brewed in August.
I've done a lot of the Brewferm beers from Belgium - there's a Duvel clone in there which I made which is absolutely delish (only had one so far, leaving it as long as I can!) also an abbey ale, Christmas Beer and a White beer. Biggest problem is that they are small kits - 9L is the Duvel and Abbey, 15L for the White and 7 for the Xmas beer. And I'd to get them in from the UK, so it's a bit pricey, but definitely worth it. Hoping to leave a load of these for the year I'm away, when they come back they should be excellent. All around 8% cept the white, it's 5%.
Stay away from the cheapest of the cheap kits though, the ones that promise pints of beer for 10p or something...

direbadger

kenmc wrote:

but definitely found them to be quite distinct.

Mine probably all tasted very similar for two reasons: I only ever left them alone to mature for the recommended minimum of time (3 weeks if memory serves) and I was most often motivated by cheapness when purchasing a kit.

kenmc

what you need to do is brew like a demon initially, get a good stockpile going, buy plenty of booze for the bottles only, and then you will have a decent maturity level for your stockpile....
and don't go super cheap - even if you get up to a euro a pint, thats still around a quarter the price of the pub!