Facebook Friends

The Brewing Bug has it's own facebook page, we also manage a popular whiskey or whisky page. Over the next few weeks we are going to be posting firstly funny advertising relating to brewing and whiskey on these pages so please check them out and like if you like etc.

The main reason for doing this is to increase page likes on the facebook pages and hopefully get more engagement, which will encourage more content, but we want to be getting the content right so you keep coming back.

Our brewing bug youtube site is doing well, some videos better than others and this is allowing us to create more content that people like to watch.
Click here for our Brewing Bug FB page.

Click here for our Whiskey or whisky FB page.

And Click here to go to our YouTube Channel.

Wilko Red Wine Kit: The Making of.....

Recently, tidying up my computer I came across some videos of me making the Red Wine Kit from Wilkos.

I had already posted what was included in the Wilko Wine Kit:

 

But having found the other videos I thought it only fair to post them as they could help others when starting out on such a great hobby.
   




Now if you hold on, or skip through to the end of the vid you'll see that I would recommend this kit, the demijohn and wine alone are well worth the money, and for the next brew you'd only have to but the actual wine refill as you had everything else, the cost of a 're-fill' and sugar comes in around a tenner, for 6 bottles of wine.....sorry tasty, drink me wine is an absolute no brainer. It's cheap, easy to do and gives great results, give it a go, and if you get stuck watch my video........or send me a message etc.

Thanks for reading and cheers! :)

Making Yeast Nutrient at Home

Here's a quick way to make Raisin Yeast Nutrient for your home brews. Now generally these aren't use in beer brewing, but can be. Mainly raisin yeast nutrients are used with cider, mead and wine making.
Some brewers enjoy the added depth of flavor raisins bring to the party, but as well as giving the yeast more to work with, a raisin yeast nutrient is often felt to improve the bouquet/smell of the finished product.
I have tried raisin yeast nutrients on several differing home brews and to be totally honest I don't find much difference with yeast cultivation of flavor changes. Maybe I just don't have the pallet other brewers do, but by all means give it a try and let me know how you get on. :)

To make the raisin nutrient get about 100g of raisins in a saucepan with water that covers them by an inch or so. Bring them to the boil and simmer till they are plump and easy to mash, mash to a paste and make a raisin tea, depending on the wort/brew it is being added to you may wish to remove excess raisins.

Happy brewing.
Cheers :)

Taste Test: Coopers Australian Lager

This was my first attempt at beer making, and it was very successful. I bought the Coopers DIY beer kit that came with an Australian Lager malt extract.

I made it up as per instructions and sampled a little when bottling. It says that it makes 40pints, but I got 37 pints out of it, but I stopped bottling when the sediment was being picked up by the siphon.

After 2 weeks in the bottle I started drinking and sharing with friend and family and to my surprise everyone seemed to enjoy it. In fact if anything it was me that was more critical on it's taste, I found it a little too yeasty in flavor, but as the weeks past and the more I sampled, the less this was noticeable and it matured into a very, very enjoyable drink.

Two months after bottling, needless to say, they had all gone and they were most enjoyable. I probably wouldn't do anything different apart from maybe leaving it longer before drinking. I would highly recommend and will be making again in the future.

I hope you like the review and video, please feel free to like and comment etc

Making the Coopers DIY Beer kit from start to finish

As my previous posts have shown, the Coopers DIY beer kit is a great kit to get to start your beer, cider or ale brewing adventure.

So, I have put together a little video that shows the process from beginning to bottling, at which point after bottling and conditioning for a couple of weeks is ready to drink.

The reason I did this is to show how easy it is, and at this point of writing this I have actually sampled it and would recommend the Australian lager kit all day long!

So if you're new to brewing, or thinking of starting a new hobby, then check it out and see how easy it is!

Thanks for reading and or watching and please comment etc.

Cheers!

Brewing From a Kit: The Basics

Having truly now been bitten by the brewing bug! I thought it best to share some of the little wisdom I have learned along the way.....so far.

I have only made a 40pint beer kit and a 6 bottle red wine kit to date, but I have learned a thing or two which hopefully will help anyone getting into the home brew hobby.

One of the first things I discovered is that there a loads and loads of brewers/wine makers out there! Some will drink pretty much anything and some take it very VERY seriously!

Before brewing anything I thought wort was the same thing as a wart! Beer and wine making were the same thing and I didn't know there was a difference between sterilize and sanitize, although I still regularly use the wrong word!

Let me address some of the points:

So what is Wort?
Well it seems that wort is the liquid or brew before it is fermented. Once fermentation has taken place it magically is beer, wine or spirit etc.

All home brew is the same thing, or process........WRONG! I never had a clue that the processes in beer, wine and spirit making were so different. It seems that each area has specialist equipment and to be extremely knowledgeable across all areas will take some time. Certainly longer than I've been doing it!

Do you sanitize or sterilize?! Well generally the equipment is sanitized, which in lay mans terms means cleaned very well. Sterilized means it's perfectly clean, which is pretty hard to achieve....but I still prefer to say sterilized! And does it really matter? Well in the grand scheme of things probably not but sanitized is probably the word I should be using.

I also got hung up on what is a PET bottle, 'cos I'd never heard of one before and the most confusing (for me) the hydrometer test.

Please click on the links above to see my videos on them.

Also if your starting out, stick to the ingredients, recipe or guides. Don't go all maverick too early or it may become an expensive hobby with poor results. If you have any good, easy recipes then please share them, as I find them I'll try the ones that I fancy the most and review them etc.

It may also pay dividends to invest in the right equipment, I still don't have a funnel.....and it would really help!

Thanks for reading and happy brewing! :)

What's in the Coopers DIY Beer Kit

A closer look at what is actually in the Coopers kit. I opted for the Australian Lager kit and looking forward to brewing a few other types and brands in it etc.

Hope you like the video, please let me know your thoughts on it, bear in mind I'm still settling into the whole video thing :)

Wilko: Cabernet Sauvignon Starter Kit

Here's what's in the Wilko 6 bottle red wine starter kit. I think it's great! 

When starting out with these sort of hobbies it can be a little confusing.....well it has been for me! I'm rapidly learning though as I don't particularly want to mess up one of my beer or wine projects! :)

I'll be making this kit in a few weeks so watch out for the video and let me know if you have any hints or tips for an easy to make beginner wine! Thanks for reading/watching! :)

Coopers DIY Beer Kit 2016

The brewing bug has taken it's first tentative steps and invested in the coopers DIY Beer Kit.

This kit includes pretty much everything you need to get your first home brew under way. As I say in the 2nd video it's a shame they don't actually include a DVD and a sterilizer or sanitizer would be great for the next brew.

Overall though it's a pretty comprehensive kit and although it may seem a little pricey, as you can re-use most of the kit it means you'll be producing relatively inexpensive alcoholic beverages before you know it.

Hope you like my first video, sorry about the sound issues, there appears to be a slight problem with the sound when I record. :)

The Brewing Bug gets social!

We are proud to say that we are now on Facebook and YouTube so if you want to get in contact, ask a question, check out what we're up to etc then please do!

Hello World!

Greetings and salutations to everyone!

Most importantly welcome to The Brewing Bug. So what is the brewing bug? Well I thought I'd try a new hobby, making a little home brew and .......caught the bug! Yep that's right the 'brewing bug!'.

But when starting out in this new hobby I found that there are a lot of terms and use of language that I was not used to. So I thought I'd document my experiences and hopefully help anyone else starting out with beer or wine making and hopefully learn and improve my brewing skills along the way.

I hope my blogging helps and welcome any comments, requests, questions or advice.

Best brewing luck to us all! :)