oh to be a brewer.

[papasplow]

hey there folks! my names danny and im new to this brewing m'larkey, i have ohbeary to blame lol (not that its a bad thing!). ohbeary brought me a kit as a secret santa prezzie at work and, its got to be said, NOW IM HOOKED!! lol im on my 3rd and 4th brew already! i have a lychee+grape (wine #1) and ace fruit juice+grape using the same recipe. my 2nd brew was one from vimto cordial which was bottled up and is going down FAST! i had to fortify it with some vodka so its got a slight vodka tang to it but hopefully that should go with time (if it lasts that long!). if any of you have some good advice to give to a newbie then it would all be greatly appreciated! maybe some new recipe's to play with

[ms67]

hey Danny,

two tips i would give you are keep enjoying brewing and buy a book too. I recommend a book cos then you can dip into it anytime you have a few mins and its much easier to read than a browser. i'd recommend CJJ Berry, "first steps in winemaking". it is out of date, and as such most of the recipes call for a bit too much sugar. But that aside it's so well laid out and such an easy read. It has heaps of recipes in it laid out by month from what you can forage at the time (great for when you want to brew something but are not sure what, and with spring coming there is a heap of foraging coming), or what was seasonal fruit back in the day! He covers all the must know "technical" basics and has useful tables for such things as OG and expected ABV etc, conversion tables blah blah blah.

Bob is working on updating his recipes. But you may just find it a good place for inspiration (as i have done for many years) and then go looking for a recipe that is more to your tastes.

[Cellar_Rat]

Welcome - thisis one of the few hobbies which is fun, interesting, social-able and saves you a fortune.

I have a few PDF books if you are interested - let me have your email address (by PM) and i will happily whizz them over. You will also find loads of info on this site. Plenty of bedtime reading.

[lockwood1956]

Progressive winemaking (duncan & Acton) fantastic reading material, and will take your winemaking to a higher level.

have a look at the tutorials section on here, and have a look at our youtube videos

http://www.youtube.com/winesathome

[lockwood1956]

Also some free reading material here

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=1990

[papasplow]

cheers guys! this is gonna be a real big help! alot to look into and play with.

[lockwood1956]

moved to general winemaking area

[lockwood1956]

[papasplow]

its ok to experiment with it lol if i take a fall itll be a lesson lerned and i shall just have to start again, i shall read my way through as much as possible and reserch wot i can.

[ms67]

i dont think i have ever met a brewer who wasn't keen to start experimenting straight away. the alternative being making lots of "safe" wine. as long as failed experiments wont put you off brewing i think its a good thing. you'll be so chuffed that you got "wine" from your experiment that your product will taste like nectar to you. Some years later you may repeat one of those experiments and wonder how you made it so well first time round but never could repeat it!

the usual experiments seem to be uber strong brews, olde worlde recipes/techniques, favourite foodstuffs made into wine. a mate of mine started his first brew from his own grapes, but when he saw a recipe for coffee wine his face beamed pure enthusiasm for giving it a go.