Withdrawn: Looking for homebrew kit, have nice stuff to swap :)

[FoxyRick]

Withdrawn - I gave in and just bought what I needed.

I want to try my hand at making mead, so I need some kit. Demijohns, airlocks, syphon, maybe a big fermenter, etc... if you are into brewing I guess you know better than I do what I need. Also local honey - well, who knows who has what.

Clearly you'll need to be local-ish for demijohns and the like. I'm near Rawtenstall, Lancashire, and have a car

A quick dig into my stores brought the following unused or hardly-used kit to the surface. All was purchased new by me. I've put the approximate price I paid for (mostly my) reference.

• Wild Woodgas Stove Mk2, genuine, original, used twice and has the patina to show it. (£50)
• MSR Alpine 'Seagull' stowaway 1.1 litre S/S pot with integral handle and locking lid. Used twice with the stove and has a little soot still on it. Perfectly fits the stove inside (£19)
• Nitecore EA4W Flashlight, with pouch, neutral white tint (better than cold blue). Used only a few hours total (was my backup light) (£50)
• Speedhooks (6); some treble hook packs; instant 'just add water' smelly-fish-attracting bait (£25)
• Sawyer mini filter and 1l bag, unused, not even unpacked I think. Bought from Midnitehound's GB here (£21)
• Fallkniven F1 in leather sheath, edge only stropped and used lightly just to test against my TK2. Practically as new and has lived in my knife case most of its life (I use the TK2). (£120)

So, does anyone nearby have any brewing kit going spare?

Click the pics for a bigger one:

 

[Snake]

Not to detract from the trade, but if there is a wilko close to you they normally stock most of what you would require, and I consider the prices ok. http://www.wilko.com/homebrew/homebrew-accessories+equipment/icat/homebrewkit
I would help you out if I were closer, but you could easly get started with a dj + airlock, and a syphon for when it is finished, also you will want some sterileriser tablets for the dj before you start, and I would segest using lalvin D47 yeast, as I think it gave a better flavor when I had a go at making mead a few years ago

 

[FoxyRick]

Thank you Snake. I had considered Wilko, and was also going to check out the local car boots next weekend if it's dry.

I'm glad you recommended D47 - that was one of the yeasts I had shortlisted. I have realised that I might need to arrange cooling during fermentation. Our house is around the top end of the recommended temperature right now. I'm sure I can jury-rig that though; daily freezer packs and a few blankets comes to mind.

 

[Snake]

I have a very relaxed aproch to brewing I tend to ignore alot of the modern advice about camden tablets before syfoning and the like, I have an old homebrew book from my parents that is older than me and just follow that, as for temp, when I was wine/mead making the dj's just sat in a window sill or on the floor, at room temp.

 

[Snake]

Heres the book I use https://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-made-Country-Wines-beer-methglin/dp/060034424X dated between 1955 & 1979, nice easy simple recipies, no modern chemicals.

 

[JamPan]

I agree with the others. Wilkos is the place for all you need.

To this day I don't know how people have accidentally made vinegar.

I've used both the camden tablet / wine yeast method and the just shove it in a demijohn and see what happens.

It's all made drinkable wine or cider.

Never tried mead though.

 

[Snake]

Here's a the page from that book covering mead, I forget which i made, think I might have just used 4lbs of clear honey, and then followed the recipe.

 

[Snake]

To this day I don't know how people have accidentally made vinegar.

Think I have nearly hit vinegar with one batch of perry, it started off nasty when the ferment finished, and has just got worse with age normally cider gets better.

 

[FoxyRick]

Thanks, that looks a good book. I've just ordered a copy. It would be rude not to at £2.81 delivered

To this day I don't know how people have accidentally made vinegar.

Think I have nearly hit vinegar with one batch of perry, it started off nasty when the ferment finished, and has just got worse with age normally cider gets better.

Hmm... I'll have to be careful where I leave my big bottle of mother of vinegar I'm saving. I've had it going for a few years now, and always intended feeding it with left over wine. Left over wine... here... I think not

 

[JamPan]

Under that dry mead recipe. "Some of the best meads are matured for seven years" I seriously wonder how this ever happened. I've matured wine for a year, but after that it's getting drunk!

You'll be able to sell that perry vinegar to the health food shops! They love the apple cider vinegar. I was once speaking to a herbalist who was telling me of the benefits of drinking cider vinegar. I replied. "Wouldn't it be easier just drinking it whilst it's still cider? As it tastes nicer and it's still the same stuff." I had her quite stumped.

I did once make some cider with half crab apples before I knew what verjuice was. it was just like drinking strong alcoholic lemon juice, which did give me the idea that instead of adding citric acid or lemon juice into the wine recipes, which I consider cheating. It's better to put in a bit of crab apple juice if you can find a tree.

 

[slowworm]

I'd be interested to hear how the mead turns out, we might have a fair amount of spare honey from our bees this year and mead is on the list of things to try.

 

[FoxyRick]

I've matured wine for a year, but after that it's getting drunk!

Yep, after that time I'd be getting drunk too

That alcoholic lemon juice, heated with a bit of honey, could be a new cold remedy.

I'd be interested to hear how the mead turns out, we might have a fair amount of spare honey from our bees this year and mead is on the list of things to try.

I'll certainly let you know. Shame you're not a bit closer if you have spare honey.

 

[Snake]

Its quite easy to keep alcohol for a long time you just make alot of it, I started home brewing wines a maybe 10 years ago and then when we planted a lot of trees under a grant skeem, some of thoes trees were crabapple, only thing, I think the contractor went to a nusrey and just picked up reject apple trees, so some of these "crab apples" are the size of your fist and quite good eaters, so I started making cider, (I make more for the enjoyment of brewing than drinking), that year I made maybe 7 gallons, then the second year I asked anyone I new with an apple tree if I could have what they did not want, I continued this theam untill 2015 when the word had spread and I recon i received around 6 tonne of apples, this then produced around 800gals of cider, at this point I told people I was giving up making cider for a few years, and just started giving the apples to the cattle, this is how you find out that it matures and gets better with age.