spray malt - where do you get it from?

[BIGTRACTOR]

hi, would like to use spray malt for future brews, firstly, having never seen it before, what form does it come in? is it in a can or dry packet?

unfortunately, down here in devon i'm about 80 miles from nearest homebrew shop, as all local ones have closed.

just wondered if anyone can reccommend good online hb shop, can message me if forum frowns on advertising.

many thanks, matt

[Horden Hillbilly]

Hi Matt, this is where I order all my online supplies, this http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/admin/cata ... e=0&page=1 takes you to the page where the spraymalt is.

[BIGTRACTOR]

thanks, seems very good value, would i still use 80 grams of it, the same a sugar to prime 40 pints?

[eskimobob]

Well the spray malt I have used comes in a power form in a vacuum pack. Once opened it tends to scavenge moisture therefore store in an airtight container.

As for shops, I can recommend http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk. John is a nice guy and happy to answer your questions. I have also used a Brew shop (Brewmart) in Hillsborough but that was many years ago (just checked and they do mail order but don't seem to have a website).

Some guys here use http://www.leylandhomebrew.co.uk/ home brew too and seem pleased with it.

[Horden Hillbilly]

80g's will be fine, although I only use it for priming if I bottle my brew and intend to leave it for a good few months. I was led to believe that it is slower fermenting than sugar, therefore gives the yeast something to chew on while maturing. If I have a brew that I intend to start drinking fairly quickly, i.e. after a few weeks of maturing, usually my draught brews which go into my king keg pressure barrel, I use cane sugar (Tate & Lyle) or glucose brewing sugar. You can get glucose brewing sugar from http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/admin/cata ... e=0&page=1.

[BIGTRACTOR]

thanks everyone, seems that its not the be all and end all then, as i've only the one pressure barrel at moment, the beer is gonna get drunk pretty quickly, so reckon i will use brewers sugar.

i take it that PET bottles best for quick priming beer that you want to drink fairly quickly? and kegs are mainly for 'special' beer that is best giving patience and leaving a good while?

[Horden Hillbilly]

Matt, I have 4 King Kegs, 2 for me and 2 for Mrs Hillbilly, also 8 crates of bottles for me (12 in each) and 8 crates of bottles for Mrs Hillbilly, (I dare not mention how many bottles our wine rack holds!) although we have built up to this over a good number of years. We have completely differant tastes, I love bitter & red wine, she loves lager, white & rose wine, hence the large capacity.

We tend to bottle our brews which we mature for a few months and drink in the summer, I also have a small fridge used solely for cooling our bottles!

We tend to drink our keg brews fairly quickly during the cooler months of the year, we wish someone could invent a barrel cooler as even in the frozen north we find it gets too warm to enjoy our keg brews. Regarding barrel maturing time, as soon as a king keg becomes empty I try to ensure there is another brew ready to fill it up, it then stands until the other barrel has been consumed, as soon as that is empty we repeat having another brew ready & so on.

[BIGTRACTOR]

sounds a bloody good set up you got there mate! would love to think that some day might be somewhere close to your alcohol self suffieicency! ,must admit wine or beer does taste so much better knowing that this govt hasn't taken its toll from it!

surpsrised really that they haven't found a way of taxing it, i understand that it is illegal to make money from homebrewing, but imagine if everyone had a few demi johns or a couple of 5 gallon kegs on the go, millions of pounds would be saved,!!