Where do I start?!

[welshbrew83]

Hi

I've brewed a kit and an extract but since tasting an Ag brew I realize that's the way forward!! Basically I'm looking for a little guidance on the basic equipment,(mash tun boiler) hops malts etc. I have two kegs, two FV and all the other basics.
Beer wise I like londons pride, old speckled hen, Greene king ipa and other ipas.

Any help/info etc would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance!

[Billy Hunt]

For the recipes you can't go wrong with Graham Wheelers latest book.

Equipment wise;
A 25 litre plastic boiler will cost about £70 or you could make one yourself if you're feeling confident.
You could buy a cool box mash tun for about £70 or like me you could make one from a £7 Asda cool box and a few quids worth of copper piping.

Re: ingredients
Cellars in Cardiff sell all the grains and hops that you will need but I buy my stuff from Leyland Home Brew who charge £6, which is about the same as a return trip to Cardiff for me.

[grmills]

If you like London Pride and Speckled Hen try the London Pride recipe in Dave Line's book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brewing-Beers-T ... 1854861255). This book gives sound entry-level advice, suggest that this would be a good way to get started.

[welshbrew83]

thanks for the replies! been away alot recently so not been on the forum for some time. Have got everything in place now, (except the mash tun which i will be making this weekend). Will be getting the brew going in a couple of weeks.

thanks again

[booldawg]

Hope all goes well, exciting times when all the kit is up and running! Have you decided on a first brew yet?

[Horden Hillbilly]

Any help/info etc would be greatly appreciated!!

For guidance, click on the uk-homebrew link in my signature.

[Spin]

I've just started doing all-grain using my new 10 gallon brewery from Hop & Grape which I am very happy with. I'd recommend it.
The user by the name of Parva on here gave me lots of good advice to get me started. Here is a link to the thread.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25883

Also, my first all-grain recipe was a porter. It hasn't finished fermenting yet. But I was told this would be a good one as a first try as with it being a dark, strong tasting beer then you won't notice any off flavours or hazyness so much.

[Earth Titan]

Just be warned it is addictive...

I started in an efort to save me money, but having just tried my first brew using liquid yeast, in a bid to improve the process and more expensive hops, plus wheet malt etc.... etc... the price differential starts to reduce.

But as I can brew a better pint than I can buy in any of the local pubs, with more character than those in supermarket bottled beers, I don't care about the price anymore...

I used a plastic H&G boiler and a home made mash tunn.

My only suggestion as a must have would be a wort coiler, to reduce the length of brew day. I made one from copper microbore coiled round a fire extinguisher, which gets connected to the outdoor tap using a hosepipe. It cools the wort to pitching temp in 10 minutes as opposed the 4 hours my first brew took.