StillSmart

well i bought this kit from willingsons £23
Contains -

25l bucket and lid

Hydrometer

Syphon tube with clip

Beer pack

Beer yeast

Steriliser

Instructions
Not included -

Pressure barrel or bottles
So far so good with this kit, my only concern is there is no air lock. With the lid on tight after a while it looks like it is going to blow off!!

nah! it\'ll build up pressure until it finds a weak spot and seep the gas out there.....

I was thinking of doing a Gluten free beer, can you use all our spirit gear for it. One of my fermenters has only been used once to rack off to allow for settlement.

Yeah of course bundy.you are talking about using a fermenter to brew a beer in right??just give it a good clean as you normally would.

Thanks Marc, I do miss the good old Ale....been 8 years. It will still cost $60 for 60 375 bottles to make using a gluten free kit, but better than $80 a carton for 24 330ml bottles from the local bottle shop.

cool,i am looking at going halves with a mate and making a batch of apple cider,never brewed beer before so might give cider a crack first.

right day 5, checked the SG 1004, time to barrel it =)

(instructions said to barrel/bottle it at day 4-6 or when the sg went below 1006)
bought a pressure barrel (wilkingsons £19), sterilised barrel and syphon kit. transfered beer, added the 85g of sugar it said on the instructions, and sealed it up
now just 2 days in the warm, then 14 in the cool, then time to sample

foRUM warrior

If you take any notice of the instructions on any beer kit as to the time to leave the beer to come into condition, I can guarantee you will be very dissapointed with the taste.I brew a lot of beer and it needs at least six weeks minimum to come into condition and develope its full flavour,what I have is 7 barrels that are always full of beer apart from the one that im drinking that way when I start a new barrel its in perfect condition,and when the barrel I am drinking is getting close to empty on goes another brew ready to refill the barrel.I know its quite a lot of money to spend on the barrels but you will end up with a supply of beer far superior to 99% of the over priced tastless p*ss that you buy in the pub.

I fully agree with Optic. Beer needs time to develop it\'s flavour and if you dabble with IPA\'s you need at least 6 months. Like Optic we have plenty of kegs. to achieve this
Opus

please do correct me, but i was under the impression that home brew\'ed beer \"went off\" if it was not consumed in a reasonable amout of time (of being ready to manufacturers instructions)?
well looks like i am gunna have to find a cheaper supplier of barrels lol

Must admit I\'m not to familiar with beer kit brewing as we do whole grain brewing with our own recipes. We store ours in Cornelious Kegs with about 20 PSI of Co2. The longer maturing beers such as IPA(6 months) have higher Hop content which also helps as an anti-bacterial. As I understand it the problem is oxidisation so if you exclude oxygen with Co2 you should\'nt have a problem.
Opus 27

thanks for the info Opus
i am seeing quite alot of brewers (on other forums i browse) are using cornelious kegs now, they do look quite good if somewhat expensave.

time to sample
Smells good . Over all it dose not taste too bad, alittle weak and bitter, but not bad at all

foRUM warrior

give it another four weeks and then try it again it will taste a hell of a lot better, I can promise you that.
Optic

Hi guys,
I brew cider, ginger beer, real ale, bitter, lager, sugar wash,... everything in the same two fermenters (not all at the same time tho\'). With your lids and airlocks just throw them away is a popular bit of advice.. just put some glad wrap over the top and hold it down with the rubber seal out of the lid. Put a pinprick in the top to let out the carbon dioxide.
Good forum to learn everything about homebrewing- http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com
Cheers!