Homebrew thread

[Ferris]

Shows how behind the times I am! Sounds really nice, I bet it would go great with chocolate in yer stout. A few bottles of that would age nicely I reckon.

[chveik]

Another tasty ingredient which is banned for containing too much coumarin is bison grass, which is why you can't buy Zubrowka vodka in the US.

such an awful, awful country

[Blue Jam]

Happy National Homebrew Day, everyone!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/4728/brewing-big-for-national-homebrew-day/

[NattyDread 2]

Happy National Homebrew Day, everyone!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/4728/brewing-big-for-national-homebrew-day/

Wahey! Might have to crack open a bottle of my latest to toast it. It's been under 2 weeks in the bottle so won't be braw yet, but it's a celebration!

[touchingcloth]

I can vouch for the tastiness of tonka beans having had a custard made out of it once, but they started to get introduced to Masterchef around the same time as the tuile was phased out, and got dropped around about the time the jus was reintroduced. Buttery biscuit tonka, de-fackin-licious.

Nice labels!

I don't have a proper printer but I do have a tillroll/thermal printer kicking about from an abandoned project. I wonder if I could use that to print some lineart/vector labels if I got an adhesive roll.

Might have to be ascii art actually, I abandoned the project because I couldn't get the thing to print bitmaps which it is supposed to be able to do.

What make is the printer? I work with thermal ones at work sometimes, and printing bitmaps on them is always spoken of in a hushed, arestruck voice. My suspicion is that it's something which may have once been possible with the right drivers and firmware, but became quietly deprecated. If you come up with a solution I'd love to hear it, though.

[Ferris]

I used to use those A4 sheets with precut labels that go into a printer and come with a bit of very basic software to lineup your design with the labels. Stick your design in, hit print and away you go.

It was quite effective, but then I got lazy and stopped bothering :(

[Sebastian Cobb]

What make is the printer? I work with thermal ones at work sometimes, and printing bitmaps on them is always spoken of in a hushed, arestruck voice. My suspicion is that it's something which may have once been possible with the right drivers and firmware, but became quietly deprecated. If you come up with a solution I'd love to hear it, though.

It's a goojprt QR203 which is apparently compatible with the APS ELM203-CH.

[touchingcloth]

It's a goojprt QR203 which is apparently compatible with the APS ELM203-CH.

I'm not familiar with the make, but a google turns up loads of results of them printing 1/2d barcodes, but none of actual images, and that's very familiar from the googling I've done around makes of thermal printers I have used. It may be possible to do through some arcane fucking about, but as the main use we have for them is printing tickets it's always been easier to have the ticket stock pre-printed with artwork and logos.

You could get some old Letraset stencils and Tipp-Ex onto the bottles directly. They'd look like lovely old port bottles, except with some gutter-tier filth if Blue Jam's efforts are anything to go by.

[Sebastian Cobb]

There's some indication someone has used one to send bitmaps over infrared. I should investigate that really, but if it's not supported by the linux lpt modules that means I'd probably have to modify the drivers. At which point I could buy another thermal printer that comes from the raspberry pi kits that is confirmed to work and save myself a lot of time.

But for the price of another one, I could probably get a used colour laserjet or something off of gumtree.

[touchingcloth]

It's the cost of the cartridges they get you with!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!1

[Blue Jam]

I used a laser printer for the labels above. For printing photos and graphics you can't beat an inkjet printer, but I mainly print documents and got a laser printer after owning too many crap inkjet ones. Laser printers are made for business rather than home use, which means A. They don't come with a load of crapware, and B. They just fucking work. I got my Samsung one for about £50 from Amazon Warehouse and it's still working nine years on. You'll never make pretty labels with a cheap laser printer though.

Been quite tempted to buy some of these bottlecaps and labels:

https://www.yourbrew.org

[Sebastian Cobb]

This seems not too bad. 140 labels for a tenner.
https://www.banana-print.co.uk/stickers-labels/

Discount print indicated it's even cheaper but their site navigation was bost.


I've just sterilised and rinsed my bottles, they're drying on the bottling tree. I've moved my bucket into the bathroom and put it on an upturned plastic box in the bath and am going to leave it overnight to settle.

[Blue Jam]

Do you not just "autoclave" them in the oven with a bit of foil over the neck?

I used to use those A4 sheets with precut labels that go into a printer and come with a bit of very basic software to lineup your design with the labels. Stick your design in, hit print and away you go.

Hahahaha, I used a bit of Pritt Stick on mine!

[touchingcloth]

Do you not just "autoclave" them in the oven with a bit of foil over the neck?

This. I can't remember how we sterilised bottles when making beer at university - there's a strong chance we didn't at all - but I've made a fair amount of jam since then and the sterilisation process has always involves putting the jars in a hot oven.

[Ferris]

Mrs Ferris and her chemistry degree recommended the oven/autoclave thing, but I've found sticking them in the dishwasher on the super hot wash setting has been more than sufficient. Easier too, and I'm lazy.

[touchingcloth]

Ha, the oven is definitely easier than the dishwasher for jam jars, mainly because it has more shelves.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I sterilise jars in the oven when I'm doing chilli sauce and that, but I can't get 40 odd bottles in my oven, and I don't have a dishwasher.

[Sherringford Hovis]

Sterilises bottles and equipment, and can be added to homebrew booze in tiny quantities as a preservative.

[Blue Jam]

This. I can't remember how we sterilised bottles when making beer at university - there's a strong chance we didn't at all - but I've made a fair amount of jam since then and the sterilisation process has always involves putting the jars in a hot oven.

Mrs Ferris and her chemistry degree recommended the oven/autoclave thing, but I've found sticking them in the dishwasher on the super hot wash setting has been more than sufficient. Easier too, and I'm lazy.

At werk I use baked Pyrex glassware for working with transfected E. coli, human cells and other things which need to be kept much cleaner than beer and it never even occurred to me to try any other method. You just have to let the oven cool down slowly (switch it off and leave the door closed) so the bottles don't crack because normal glass is more fragile than Pyrex. To sterilise the caps I just bake them in a parcel of foil.

My oven also won't hold 40 bottles so I'll just do 10 or so when I'm also cooking food in there and then store them until I have enough. Putting foil over the top means you can store the sterile bottles and just use them whenever you're ready so there's no rush to get them all done at once.

Using the oven is a bit like sterilising bottles for jam, except you let the glassware cool down first. I've made jam before too (red onion and chilli) and hearing the button on the lid pop in as the jars cool down and you get the natural suction is always satisfying.

The dishwasher method is another good one and will get them clean and get the labels off too, so that's three birds with one stone. Alas I no longer have a dishwasher :(

[Sebastian Cobb]

I doubt I could even do 10. Whatever fucker that lived here before me managed to lose the oven racks so I've just been cooking everything on the grill tray.

[touchingcloth]

Oven shelves are one of those things which are maddeningly nonstandard in size. Our current place only had one shelf in the oven, so we popped down to the shops to pick up a replacement only to find that a) no fucker sells them as parts, and b) even if they did they vary so much that you'd be unlikely to find one which fit nicely. We bought a cheap one on eBay which was very slightly too large and then just bent the ends over, so now we have a shelf which either sticks up or hangs down depending on which way you insert it, careful mate, innuendo that, careful.

Carevole, Mate? Doesn't really work, does it.

[Blue Jam]

Crevole. As in Kid Crevole and the Coconuts.

[MojoJojo]

Sterilises bottles and equipment, and can be added to homebrew booze in tiny quantities as a preservative.

You need quite a lot of that, and it ends up expensive. There was a time in the early noughties when the only alternative was VWP. Which isn't great because it foams up.

The last time I got into winemaking I came across a nice suggestion. Basically when you are finished with a demijohn, clean it and put an inch or so of steriliser in the bottom and a stopper in the top. Then when you next want to brew give it a swish round and pout it out and you're good to go. Unfortunately the winemaking bug left me before I could try it out properly (i.e. I have demijohns that have had steriliser sat in the bottom for the last few years).

Where this was suggested said the steriliser was a dissolved gas and keeping it air tight would stop it going "off". Can't remember the steriliser, and it might be bollocks anyway.

[pancreas]

Sterilises bottles and equipment, and can be added to homebrew booze in tiny quantities as a preservative.

Street: The Embalmer.

[MojoJojo]

I just done some research and I think that my previous post is all bollocks.

[Sebastian Cobb]

[Blue Jam]

Excellent stuff, SC!

I'm going to order another homebrew kit tonight. Brewstore are accepting orders for limited periods each day, and at different times so everyone can get a chance to order. Found dried bison grass available on eBay too, can't wait to play around with some new flavours.

[Ferris]

Nice one, did you still notice the hoppy aroma or had it settled a bit?

[Sebastian Cobb]

Nice one, did you still notice the hoppy aroma or had it settled a bit?

It still tasted hoppy with the mouthful I had out of the vase/gobfuls starting the syphon but is dying down a bit.

I think if I try it again I'll only use one bag.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Excellent stuff, SC!

I'm going to order another homebrew kit tonight. Brewstore are accepting orders for limited periods each day, and at different times so everyone can get a chance to order. Found dried bison grass available on eBay too, can't wait to play around with some new flavours.

Cheers! I think I'm going to have a weekend off then kick off another one. I've been impressed with the simplicity of the bulldog kits so am probably going to stick with them while I get acquainted with the process. I'm tempted by their pilsners and their cerveza's.

I had a look last night and some places were sold out. This place seemed well stocked and cheaper than some of the others if you're planning on doing more:
https://brew2bottle.co.uk/products/bulldog-40-pint-beer-kits?variant=15194446364787