Home brew kits

Hi all

I fancy having a go at making my own lager My plan is to start with the kits you can buy from Wilko's/The Range.

As I'm not far from the English border, it's cheaper for me to pop across and get my alcohol from England (Wales and Scotland have minimum alcohol pricing in place)! I bulk buy and save quite a lot of money by popping across the border.

I think, eventually, England may bring in the minimum pricing too, so thought it would be a good idea to have a go at making my own and perfecting it over time, as well as it being a bit of a hobby.

Has anyone tried these kits or made their own lager, etc?

Any tips?

I love Lidl's Galereux lager, which is 4.8% and I love their Perlenbacher Pilsner in bottles, which is also 4.8%. I am currently washing and keeping the bottles to re use and save money.
Favourite mainstream lagers are Budweiser and Peroni - just to give you an idea of my taste, if you have any recommendations

Hi Theresa, I have indeed made my own home brew back in the day, with good results. The best advise I could pass on to you is cleanliness, all your equipment must be very clean. Get yourself those sterilising tablets. I’m too lazy these days to do any beer or wine making. Before the kids came I had room to keep all my kit, ideally a room with a water supply. As you are on your own T the kitchen, you’ll only take up your own space Best of luck.

The kitchen is where I've planned the magic to happen Jim I have quite a big kitchen, so should be plenty of room for the equipment hopefully

Yes, I've had someone's home made cider in the past and the sediment/crap left at the bottom, that had built up, was horrible, so I'll be making sure everything is clean.

My main concern is the carbonation. Obviously I don't want a flat lager, but I don't want to be coming home to bottles that have exploded neither

Not that I'm any great drinker of beer - as some of you will know - but round here beer comes by the crate... ignoring imports, the *expensive* local stuff comes in at around 70 eurocents a half litre, with a few cents back on the bottle

T, many years ago, my dad used to make a pretty decent bitter, using a kit from Boots. He saved money on some things (used a plastic dustbin for fermenting, and siphoned the brew into bottles, rather than buy a posh special container with a tap!).
However, he always used big, heavy, 2-pint brown glass bottles, with ceramic screw tops to avoid explosions. Even then we did get the odd one or two and they make a phenomenal mess of sticky beer and glass splinters!
All this is to say that wherever you save your money, don't scrimp on your bottles!
Things may have moved on, but I'm not sure normal lager bottles will be up to the job...
Other than that, I echo Jim's advice about sterilisation - it's super important.
Good luck!

Thanks for the tips.

I can't wait to get paid and get my stuff and get started

My Mum used to make wine when I was a kid, even though she didn't really drink. It was a hobby for her and she used to give it away to friends.
She lives in a Dorma bungalow and I remember she'd made Mead and that exploded as it had got too hot in the Dorma bedroom Made hell of a bang

If I come home to lager that's exploded, I'll also be dealing with two drunken dogs who will have cleaned up the contents for me

have fun

This beer... you brewed it yourself? Oh, in the shed at the bottom of the garden? Hmmm. I'm not convinced it travels all that well...

Welcome to try, Almkerk The Netherlands.
I start with the malt. The big open pan shows the end of the fermentation process. I am trying to brew once a year.

Looking good jaaps, my days of beer drinking have become a thing of the past, it’s a good and bad thing it has to be said I can’t remember the last time I drank a full pint, I can manage the odd wee bottle of real ale or nice lager…..
It’s times like the Christmas meet that I tend to go bit over my limit but even then, long drinking sessions are really in the past.

Hi T - used to do tons of home brewing in the past. So a few pointers:

1) I found the Wilko tins good as an intro and they have most of the kit you'll need. The wilko tins are from a brewer in Norfolk I recall. You can also get 'all you need' kits online.
2) I preferred bottling rather than a pressure keg (leaked too much) and cleanliness is key for all the kit. I ended up getting a pro bottle capper as the lever capper had to be used with some pressure and broke a few bottles.
3) the ideal fermentation temp is c 20c for ale so in colder weather you need a heat mat or bubble wrap around the tub. You got access to an airing cupboard?
4) You can tinker around with the kits and add honey etc and if you really get into it then you can go the grain route.
5) labelling was fun and there are a few foc websites where you can design your own, print n stick to the bottles.
6) never had an explosion issue but need to leave enough space at the top of the bottle for the build up of CO2.

A satisfying hobby - enjoy

Thanks for all the tips and photos

Alan, yes, I'll be bottling, as I want to be able to put them in the fridge like I do with supermarket ones. I have been saving and cleaning my Lidl ones ready
If it all works well, I'll get a proper capper, but for now, I'll have a go with the lever type. If I break a few bottles, I'll just have to buy more Perlenbacher from Lidl, drink the contents, clean the bottles and try again

Thanks also for confirming that the Wilkos kits are good starter kits

If all goes well, I may have to buy a heat mat as my kitchen can be cold in the winter. I have an airing cupboard, but as I still have the old back boiler for heating, there's no room in the airing cupboard as there's still tanks in there

I have read about adding honey, but like you've said, I'll wait and see if I get into it first, regarding that and the grain route, etc.

I don't plan to label as I'll know what I've made and it'll only be me drinking it

I've clocked that Lidl fill their bottles to halfway up the neck, so I was going to do the same.

I hope it becomes a satisfying hobby, while eventually saving me some money too

Sorry T - gave you some duff info. I got Woodfordes Wherry real ale kit from Wilkos and not their own brand. The Wherry never let me down and provided c40 bottles of excellent ale. Never found it ready in 2 weeks though and the earliest 4 weeks. Once bottled leave at room temp for a further 7 days then transfer to somewhere dark and cool for a further 3 weeks. Not so good if you have a raging thirst

Btw never tried lager kits so process could be different

The kits are apparently ready in 3 weeks, but will wait and see on that one.

I may have to give up work in order to keep up with how much I drink

The main thing I need is something to hold bottles upside down while they are drying after washing! Trying to stop them falling over after washing them is proving difficult.

Big elastic bands to hold three or four together?

Six inch nails through a plank?

Upside down in a crate?

If you have a problem, Neil is Mr Solutions!

Sorted - https://brew2bottle.co.uk/products/stationary-50-bottle-drainer?currency=GBP

Beat me to it ! Got one of these bottle tree drainers myself and work a treat

Excellent, thank you both. There really is something for everyone out there

Neil, I was thinking of nails/screws into old wooden chopping boards actually

I'm here all week, folks!

Neil

Aye Teresa, as a tight git I would be making my own contraptions

Yep. Tried a few kits out, and so long as you keep everything clean before hand and keep the temperature fairly constant, you can get perfectly drinkable booze.

My neighbour grows a few hops so last time I added a bunch to the fermenter to get a hoppy nose.

I kept the fermenter in the bathroom as it's warmer, and more constant.

If you are bottling, get the bottle tree as linked above.
Get starsan for sterilising. And a pump bottle steriliser.
A fermentation bucket with bottling wand is much easier.

Kit lagers are more of a pale ale than proper lager. Without the proper temperature control and yeasts you can’t really do a proper lager. Some passable ones but don’t expect them to as crisp or clean tasting as good commercial lagers.

Make sure the bottles you are saving have a decent wall thickness. I have found bulmers bottles work well. Careful with the priming sugar quantities as this causes beer bombs. You can get more consistent results priming the whole batch before bottling.

Apropos of nothing in particular: http://www.lasko.eu/en/zlatorog is rather nice and particularly after flying in ground temperatures in the mid-thirties

Well, I bottled my lager a week ago and put one in the fridge yesterday, ready to try when I got home from work this morning (been working nights).

Didn't really fancy trying it when I got home though, so have just carefully poured one now.

For my first attempt and the cheaper cost of making it, I must say that it's not too bad

Not great, but not horrible either and acceptable to drink

It has a bit of a bitter taste to it, but fairly happy with my first attempt

Well done T.

It should improve with storage and mellow a bit. If you can wait for a month or two.