in the begining

I used to brew years ago but with kits , they got boring to be honest and as i used bottles i seemed to be constantly washing them out . I eventualy gave it up and went to the pub.

zip forward almost 10 years and i have another go ! one kit later im bored again so this time i look into full grain brews.

Full grain brews are the closest you will get to replicating what goes on in a big brewery , in fact unless they malt their own grain then its exactly what happens in a brewery. you control the recipie and the conditions ,therefore what pours into your glass at the end of the day is what you want not what a kit decides you want. it tastes far far better than anything you will get from most pubs and certainly anthing from a can.

i bought the basic equipment:

one boiler, electrim from ebay . you can spend a fortune on these but if i had to buy one again id go for a basic boiler from leyland homebrew with two elements and wouldnt bother with a thermostat . to clean i just bung in a couple of tea spoons of wvp and let it soak over night it will be pretty odour free and sparkling bright in the morning.

you also need a chiller : this is side ways on in case you were wondering, you stick this in your brew and connect it to a tap then turn it on, it will chill it down from boiling to "yeast ready " temp in about 20- 30 minutes, thats important but im not going to go into that here.

then you need something to ferment it all in ;

these bins are well cheap , try wilkinsons or a home brew shop , this currently has 30 pints of my strong stout in. i know it looks like tar but believe me it will be nice when its done . when you get one of these put a drum tap in it near (not completely on) the bottom , you dont want to be messing around with syphons trust me.

then once its fermented you need some barrels, again get them cheap from wilkos or a home brew shop, do not get ripped off check around for what youre buying. get a pressure inlet valve for the lid (s30) that will let you put some gas in . you can mess around with bottles if you like but i just cant be arsed myself. these are the cheapest you can get then they get a bit more flashy but basicaly do the same thing.

then after a few weeks just drink it ! simple ! well actually i havent even begun to explain the whole process. to find this out you are better off looking at http://jimsbeerkit.co.uk/index.htm .

you will also need a sparging arm and some hose, a grain bag and of course some grain , all cheap and down to personal choice for type.

jims beerkit is the site i used for my first batch and quite frankly you wont find an easier to follow demonstration, theres a good forum as well so you can register and learn why you have brewed 40 pints of vinegar , no its easy honestly. once you get started you cant stop though its highly addictive then you end up getting things like this;

then it all starts to get silly , but you'll see that in my next blog on wednesday when i brew my next batch.

oi!