Brewing circle.

Hey fellow home-brewers,
While I appreciate that this forum is something of a virtual "home brewing circle", I'm thinking of setting up one in my locality for real.

I know that we tend to be a solitary lot, working in the darkness of our cellers on our next explosive brew, but I think that it would be beneficial to set up a group - both in terms of shared experience, drinking our brews, and just a get together of like-minded people.

I've seen these circles on TV (e.g. the Chiddock Cider Circle in Devon, in River Cottage), but I've never heard of one over here.

I know there's at least one home-brewer close to me, met him once in the home brew store in Mountmellick. There are probably others.

Thoughts, anyone?

Druss.

BTW, mentioning the cider circle, I really liked their ancient apple press, it gave me the impression the circle on the go a very long time indeed.

Mister Burns

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hey fellow home-brewers,
While I appreciate that this forum is something of a virtual "home brewing circle", I'm thinking of setting up one in my locality for real.

I know that we tend to be a solitary lot, working in the darkness of our cellers on our next explosive brew, but I think that it would be beneficial to set up a group - both in terms of shared experience, drinking our brews, and just a get together of like-minded people.

I've seen these circles on TV (e.g. the Chiddock Cider Circle in Devon, in River Cottage), but I've never heard of one over here.

I know there's at least one home-brewer close to me, met him once in the home brew store in Mountmellick. There are probably others.

Thoughts, anyone?

Druss.

BTW, mentioning the cider circle, I really liked their ancient apple press, it gave me the impression the circle on the go a very long time indeed.

Have you checked out www.nationalhomebrewclub.com bound to be a club near you

I didn't know about this - cheers!

Druss.

vapour_trail

Hi Druss , Im in Meath and Im just starting out. I dont know anyone that home brews or anything of the sort, so I'd be up for the idea. Have you considered setting up a private facebook group maybe for Irish Home Brewers?

Khannie

It's probably handy enough to get a sub forum (or sub-forums) set up here if necessary. That's worth considering too.

Saruman

Welcome to the most rewarding hobby in the world. It's also a hobby that can become a career for some people as they end up starting a brewery. Many of our Irish microbreweries started out as homebrewers not so long ago.

The OP said

I know that we tend to be a solitary lot, working in the darkness of our cellers on our next explosive brew

Actually nothing can be further from the truth.

Beer is, and always has been a social drink. The brewing of beer is the same.

Homebrewers all around the country get together all the time, not only to taste each others beer and look for feedback, but to hold open brewdays where members of the public can come along.

Someone already posted a link to the NHC site. Keep an eye on it for events and open days. In fact there's one going on right now at the Maker Faire.

granda

Deleted User wrote: »

Hey fellow home-brewers,
While I appreciate that this forum is something of a virtual "home brewing circle", I'm thinking of setting up one in my locality for real.

I know that we tend to be a solitary lot, working in the darkness of our cellers on our next explosive brew, but I think that it would be beneficial to set up a group - both in terms of shared experience, drinking our brews, and just a get together of like-minded people.

I've seen these circles on TV (e.g. the Chiddock Cider Circle in Devon, in River Cottage), but I've never heard of one over here.

I know there's at least one home-brewer close to me, met him once in the home brew store in Mountmellick. There are probably others.

Thoughts, anyone?

Druss.

BTW, mentioning the cider circle, I really liked their ancient apple press, it gave me the impression the circle on the go a very long time indeed.

hi druss
i,m in louth and going to start brewing again after a couple of years break, where abouth in meath are you based

sharingan

Saruman wrote: »

The OP said
Actually nothing can be further from the truth.

Beer is, and always has been a social drink. The brewing of beer is the same.

Since my beer started to get good, I have found that the hobby gets very social - goes down a hit at BBQs and festivals.

Saruman

Saruman wrote: »

Actually nothing can be further from the truth.

Please take my initial post with a degree of levity - somewhere in my youth I noticed the prevalence of pubs in our culture and made the connection between alcohol and society!

vapour_trail wrote: »

Hi Druss , Im in Meath and Im just starting out. I dont know anyone that home brews or anything of the sort, so I'd be up for the idea. Have you considered setting up a private facebook group maybe for Irish Home Brewers?

Much as I think this is a great idea, I already maintain one FB page, and while I love home brewing, my efforts around it are rather specific. Someone with a broader grounding and with far more knowledge would be a better person to set a page like this up!


In any case, thank you everybody for their replies, I do appreciate it.

while I love home brewing, my efforts around it are rather specific.

Sorry, just regarding the above - my efforts are focused on a specific area of homebrewing (hedgerow and country wines), but I'd love at some point to branch out to producing my own beers, stouts and ales.

All I need is time, space and the cash to buy all the cool equipment (someday I'll have all three at the same time)!

Druss.

sharingan

Deleted User wrote: »

All I need is time, space and the cash to buy all the cool equipment (someday I'll have all three at the same time)!

You don't need much equipment to get started on beer, even if you are doing extract, partial mash, or full mash for 5 Gallon batches.

I know guys who make smaller batches (12L or so) on stovetops, using stockpots, induction plates etc. Brew in a Bag is certainly the cheapest entry point into the process, and if you aren't doing full batch sizes, you may even have all the kit you need.

I did my first mash in a 9L stockpot. 1 Kg of grain, 250g of oatmeal, and boiled with cascade on some schedule that I have since forgotten. Used a basic meat probe/thermometer to get to strike temp (I mashed at *chicken*). Fermented in a demi john. Made 8 bottles of beer that tasted great.

Dont look at equipment purchases as a barrier to entry, you can make beer really cheap, with readily available kit, and small fermenters (I started off on DJs).

vapour_trail

Ive just started out on the kits and €100 would get you more than enough equipment to get you started !

sharingan

For the purposes of getting started on beer making, for the poster who already had a wine making hobby, you might be able to invest in the additional equipment needed for less than €20 depending on what you already had around the house.

A stockpot that can do full boil on your hob, a practical mash thermometer, and a muslin bag.

To do full batch beer brewing OTOH needs proper boilers and kit to do either passive or active chilling. DIY tricks can get you a lot of the way there, but there is some equipment purchase needed, and the most expensive is usually the boiler.

fitzywill

Anyone know where to get Grinbergen beer in Ireland, ideally Munster?

Saruman

fitzywill wrote: »

Anyone know where to get Grinbergen beer in Ireland, ideally Munster?

You could try Abbots in Cork city.