Full Mash Tower Brewery

[Vaclav]

Hi there,
I am new to brewing own beer and i would like to know expret's opinion on the Full Mash Tower Brewery from Hamsted Brewing Centre. Is it any good? I know it costs about £300, but would it make brewering beer easier? Or should i buy some Starter kits? If so, which would be the best?
Thanks Vaclav

[rick_huggins]

Hi,

An intro would be good...

I've popped in and had a look at the tower brewery and to be honest; you could make it yourself easily enought for 1/3rd of the price.

At the end of the day it's only 30lt FV's with boiler stat's hardly rocket science but if your not DIY minded I'd suggest the H&G one for £145ish

[lukesharpe]

Start off with a couple of kits to get warmed up. Then all you need to worry about it a Fermenter and keg. Once you are confident with that, then either make yourself a boiler or get one off Ebay. You can get some nice Burco boilers for less that £50 if you hunt around. You can use the boiler as a Mash tun if it has a resonable thermostat. Then later consider a proper Mash tun. Building up softens the finanical blow and allow you to learn the process bit by bit.

This is how I progressed, my first couple were kits and then moved on to All Grain. Woodefords Werry is a nice one to kick off with.

[rick_huggins]

Start off with a couple of kits to get warmed up. Then all you need to worry about it a Fermenter and keg. Once you are confident with that, then either make yourself a boiler or get one off Ebay. You can get some nice Burco boilers for less that £50 if you hunt around. You can use the boiler as a Mash tun if it has a resonable thermostat. Then later consider a proper Mash tun. Building up softens the finanical blow and allow you to learn the process bit by bit.

This is how I progressed, my first couple were kits and then moved on to All Grain. Woodefords Werry is a nice one to kick off with.

What he said

[lukesharpe]

This is the first kit I ever make. Just a barrel and a bin.

Pressure keg £30
Fermenting vessel £7
Woodforde's Werry kit £19
Your own homebrew beer.. priceless

Works out at £1.40 per pint. If you don't include the asset cost it's 47p per pint.

[Normski]

Hi Vaclav
If you have a Wilkinsons near you. You can start realy cheaply. FV £8. Wherry £15. Keg £18. Then spend the rest of your money on kits.

[Brupert]

I'm with Normski (yet again!) Start nice 'n easy with a fine wherry (easy & b***dy good) save your money & spend it on more kits. Bravo Norm

[GARYSMIFF]

I was going to make one of the Brew Trees

http://www.brewtree.com/index.html


but built the below link see my signature.

[lukesharpe]

Gary's setup is up there with the Zen Garden Tea Room brewery.

[Vaclav]

This is the first kit I ever make. Just a barrel and a bin.

Pressure keg £30
Fermenting vessel £7
Woodforde's Werry kit £19
Your own homebrew beer.. priceless

Works out at £1.40 per pint. If you don't include the asset cost it's 47p per pint.

Thanks, at least i save a little bit But could you please have a look on http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Woodfordes-Micro- ... otohosting and tell me, what do you think about this kit. To me it seems to be perfecto i meant perfect, but i would like to know profesional's opinion. Thanks

[Brupert]

Yeah Vaclav,
that is the kit I bought, but I got mine from http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/

It's £10 cheaper for exactly the same home brewery kit & the service is stunningly good. If you buy a second beer kit this will take your total over £60 and qualify you for free postage. I recommend the Admirals reserve.

You can also phone anytime and get an answer (even Sundays) . Order now & I bet you get it delivered day after next.
They really are switched on.
P.S
I am not in any way connected with the site.

This kit would need extra stuff adding to it for a full mash brew, but like Luke says start off easy for a few to get the feel. I think that's good advice.

Let us know how you get on.

[lukesharpe]

When I started out I already had some kit from my wine making so I didn't need things like Hydrometers etc. This is a perfectly good way to get all the bits and bods you need for a reasonable price. I would have no problems in recommending this kit if you are starting from scratch. But have a shop around, you might knock a few quid of the price. Don't forget to take into account delivery.

[Vaclav]

Thanks, but i got another question (got pissed yet?) Would you recommend me to bottle it?

[Parva]

Bottling is the cheaper and better option in most cases, your local landlord will happilly give you empty Magners bottles, you just need crown caps and a bottle capper. Kegging is another option which may look simpler but the cost at the outset and the additional problems with storing beer in bulk as opposed to bottles is a downside. It's easier to store beer in bulk in a keg but then you may get problems of cloudy beer and low carbonation. Bottling beer takes more effort but you have a better chance of getting a clear and well carbonated beer. Horses for courses.

[lukesharpe]

My preference would be to keg starting off. A lot less fiddly that mucking about with bottles. I'm not adverse to bottling and I've done it on many occasions. I collected the StBernard beer bottles from Tesco. The ones with the fliptops. So I don't have to worry about capping.