home brew west opening in liosbaun

left_behind

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/index.asp

always wanted a go at it. definately goin down for a look

bonzodog2

Cool, haven't done any of that for years. Hard to stop for the night when you have gallons of the stuff lying around though !

dilallio

Great stuff.

I think I will be hinting strongly for one of these as my Christmas pressie

JONJO THE MISER

Oh excellent, was thinking about setting up one of these shops years ago.

JONJO THE MISER

Great website, 26 Eur for 40 Pints of Ale:eek:
If i get into this i will be drinking every night:o

left_behind

theres a voucher in yesterdays galway independent for 20% off

GalwayGaillimh

I remember when I was an altar boy drinking the wine in Church , tasted a bit like buckfast, used to have speed wobbles after it.

GalwayGaillimh

With these home brew kits no matter what your religious persuasion you can turn water into wine or beer! No miracle needed!

TheCosmicFrog

Just spotted this thread. Only started brewing a few weeks back when a friend showed me how to make a basic Turbo Cider (Lidl apple juice and bread yeast in a 5L water bottle - happy days...).

Went out to this place on the same guy's recommendation. I find them very helpful out there. They had a €35 all-in-one brewing kit last time I was there - not sure if it's still for sale. Didn't have the room for a 23L fermenter in the house so have just opted to use the 5L demijohns as usual. Bought a basic beer starter kit - Finlandia Traditionnel was on offer at the time. Not the biggest fan of the resulting beer (too plain for me, needs a bit of a kick - will choose a different kit next time), but everyone else seems to love it so it's always a hit at house parties :pac:

Just bottled another batch of it today, this time made with green tea and spray malt as well as the wort in the can. My next plan is to buy a stout making kit and add in Lapsang Souchong tea.

left_behind

started mine yesterday 23 liters in the spare room wardrope bubbling away.

fergiesfolly

You might post back here to let us know how you get on. I've been itchin to try it myself, but I need to clear some space first. By the way, which kit are you using?

left_behind

i got the coopers wheat beer. similar i hope to erdinger. the shop is more of a warehouse and the guy who works there is sound and will answer your questions

joeKel73

Nice to see more Galway boardsies getting into home brewing! Maybe a Boards Brewers BYOBs meet in a couple of months...?

Myself and the housemates started in mid-August. Got this kit from homebrew west. [EDIT: link correctly, they've changed the kit online, we got the kit with the brewbelt, but was €20 cheaper than it is now, must have got the opening discount]

Shortly after bought an additional 48 bottles to allow a more steady supply. And on the opening day got another 48, with the plan of allowing everything an extra 2 weeks or so to condition nicely. So have 142 PET bottles now.

So far have done;

1. Canadian Blonde Lager + 1kg Dextrose
This came with the kit, it was drinkable but didn't really carbonate for us using 1.5 carbonation drops. As a result it was sweeter than it was meant to be as the carbonation sugar hadn't fermented. We reckon now we were storing it at too low a temperature. Wouldn't recommend.

2. Finlandia Traditional Ale + 1kg Dextrose + plus 500g extra light spraymalt
Nice beer, very drinkable. Bit bland for my liking but a good crowd please because of that - found non-beer drinkers even enjoy it.

3. 3.2 Kg All Malt Coopers Brewmaster Irish Stout Kit (incl 1.5kg can Light Malt Extract)
Very nice!! Highly recommend this one. Not as thick and smooth as a Guinness but great flavours, flavours a bit strong after 2 weeks... they mellow out more after another week or two.


4. Muntons Connoisseur's Wheat Beer 1.8 Kg + 1kg Muntons Brew Enhancer
This has been in the bottles for around 12 days now. I have one in the fridge right now so will have my first sample in a few hours. Will probably give it another week.

5. Muntons Gold IPA - 3kg kit
It's been in the fermentor for 8 days, will leave it there until Thursday maybe.

On the opening day we picked up ingredients for the next one too - Finlandia Apple and Pear Cider +1kg Dextrose.

Also had a go at 5L of mead. Bit of an experiment.

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Bought a basic beer starter kit - Finlandia Traditionnel was on offer at the time. Not the biggest fan of the resulting beer (too plain for me, needs a bit of a kick - will choose a different kit next time)

Same here! But would probably brew again to have in stock for the timid beer drinkers...

left_behind wrote: »

i got the coopers wheat beer. similar i hope to erdinger. the shop is more of a warehouse and the guy who works there is sound and will answer your questions

Yeah they're sound out there, very helpful giving advice. They have a few beers brewing in the shop there too.

TheCosmicFrog

Very interesting Joe, thanks for sharing your experiences.

Funnily enough, I was out there today and bought the Cooper's Canadian Blonde and Cooper's Brewmaster Irish Stout. Shame about your bad experience with the Canadian Blonde. I spent ages trying to choose which lager kit to buy and bought the Blonde on your man's suggestion. The lager is supposed to be a crowd-pleaser anyway. Not a huge lager drinker.

I've kicked off the Irish Stout with vanilla and Lapsang Souchong tea, and bottled my Hard Root Beer, so looking forward to the resulting brews.

fergiesfolly wrote: »

You might post back here to let us know how you get on.

Not sure if you're referring to me, but will update anyway! Tasted my Hard Lemonade today (just squeezed lemon juice, water and lots of sugar with bread yeast). Absolutely delicious and would recommend to anyone as any easy and fun brew. Can also be halted after two or three days to make a non-alcoholic version.

The green tea ale (using Finlandia Traditionnel kit) was a real surprise. I was thrilled with the result. It was made by adding 1 litre of green tea (two tea bags used) to the existing 3.5L of wort in the 5L fermenter. The result is a really refreshing and light malty drink. Much nicer than just the kit by itself.

We're currently running a brewing group in 091 Labs called 091 Brew Masters. Most of us are just beginners like myself, but a few are quite proficient so I'm getting to taste lots of different brews, mostly non-alcoholic soft drinks but a few harder things like cider and ginger beer. I'm more into the prolonged brews, personally. It's interesting to see the flavours change over time.

Irishgoatman

I opened a Home Brew shop in Lancashire back in the 80's, and turned a hobby into a business. Great fun.

Just a couple of things I've noticed here.

Firstly I see that quite a few people are using bread yeast and I am wondering why. Sachets of brewers yeast should not be expensive and you'll get a much better fermentation. A slow fermentation is always better for the strength of beer because yeast is suicidal insofar as the alcohol that is produced from the sugar kills the yeast, so a slow ferm. keeps the yeast alive longer.
The second point that I've noticed is a mention of secondry fermentation in the bottle. Screw top glass bottles are always better, or grolsh style bottles with the flip stopper better still, and a constant warm temperature for about a week is needed then store for as long as possible before drinking. I've a bottle of beer in my fridge that I bottled in 1994! I drank the next to last bottle about 2 years ago and it was still excellent!. I keep resisting the urge to open it.

It's good to see home brewing taking off over here at last. Pity I got rid of all my equipment about 10 years ago because it was taking up room in the garage and couldn't get the kits or supplies needed.

sharingan

foto joe wrote: »

Nice to see more Galway boardsies getting into home brewing! Maybe a Boards Brewers BYOBs meet in a couple of months...?

Well as the Cosmic Frog said, the Tribesmen have been running an informal brewing club out of 091 Labs for the past ~2 months. Very Beginner/Budget oriented.

Our last event: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056413597 was a real hit and I hope to get around to documenting what we did and posting pics,notes and videos online.

Hopefully we can keep it going, but our two most experienced brewers are in the process of leaving. It would be really cool to build a small community around it - it was really starting to take off.

We have a brew going in the space - we were making it a regular monthly thing, and that could be a good format - every 4 weeks, start a brew, bottle the previous one, and have a bit of sampling and discussion.

sharingan

Irishgoatman wrote: »

Firstly I see that quite a few people are using bread yeast and I am wondering why. Sachets of brewers yeast should not be expensive and you'll get a much better fermentation.

2 reasons: availability and price. Brewers yeast is only available online or from the few and far between home brew retail stores (the point of this thread). Bread yeast is plentiful and extremely cheap - about 8 sachets of bread yeast to one sachet of specialty brewing yeast. At our brewing workshops we keep some bread yeast on hand in case someone arrives without. Though for out main ferments we tend to use a specialty yeast.

But point taken on the quality.

A slow fermentation is always better for the strength of beer because yeast is suicidal insofar as the alcohol that is produced from the sugar kills the yeast, so a slow ferm. keeps the yeast alive longer.

Well I have never had a problem making very strong brews. Its trivially easy, to the point that I would consider it a basic beginner problem. A crazy brew I made stalled when the ABV got too high, but resumed when I diluted it with water.

FYI - I do a lot of earthy brews, haven't done any kit brewing yet. Hence a lot of my findings are a bit out of the ordinary.

I agree with you 100% that lengthy sessions in the primary fermenter make for great brews.

The second point that I've noticed is a mention of secondry fermentation in the bottle. Screw top glass bottles are always better, or grolsh style bottles with the flip stopper better still, and a constant warm temperature for about a week is needed then store for as long as possible before drinking. I've a bottle of beer in my fridge that I bottled in 1994! I drank the next to last bottle about 2 years ago and it was still excellent!. I keep resisting the urge to open it.

It's good to see home brewing taking off over here at last. Pity I got rid of all my equipment about 10 years ago because it was taking up room in the garage and couldn't get the kits or supplies needed.

Its really taking off - one trend I see a lot of is students learning home brewing. They like parties, but cant keep them served. Many are especially learning brewing in order to have a supply to be generous with.

Fuinseog

does it do wine making kits as well?

TheCosmicFrog

Fuinseog wrote: »

does it do wine making kits as well?

It does indeed. It even has some mad ones like cherry and barley wine, etc. Really great selection out there.

sharingan

Barley wine is meant to be really nice - it was recommended to me.

joeKel73

I still haven't made it to 091 labs, sounds like some interesting projects happening in there. Hopefully I'll make it over soon!

Bottled the IPA this evening and put a Finlandia Pear and Apple cider with 1kg dextrose in.

You sound like you're doing some good experimenting with your brews TheCosmicFrog. I must get more creative with my next batches!

TheCosmicFrog

foto joe wrote: »

You sound like you're doing some good experimenting with your brews TheCosmicFrog. I must get more creative with my next batches!

I'm just a eejit whose experimental brews have (so far...) turned out quite well!

Here's some photos of my work:

Irish Stout after 24 hours:


Turbo Cider with Turkish Apple Tea after four weeks in bottles:

BeerNut

sharingan wrote: »

Barley wine is meant to be really nice - it was recommended to me.

Barley wine is a type of beer -- a strong ale.

barone

must call out there,im interested in cider making

Irishgoatman

BiddyBob wrote: »

Was in the shop today. They are giving 20% off next Saturday too. Muntons will be there launching the new iBrew. Sounds like there will be some cool new wine kits made from pure grape juice, no water even is added. Probably very pricy though?

Muntons have always been a good reliable kit. When I had my shop I only used kits, although I sold natural ingredients, because if you follow the instructions you can't go wrong.

Pure grape juice wine kits were around in the 80's and were excellent but, as you've guessed, very pricey compared with other kits.
Having said that, if you want a wine for a special occasion, other than daily slurping, these are the ones to go for. My advice is always try a one gallon (6 bottles) first and if you like it move on to 5 gallon. It works out much cheaper in the long run.