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- Why use an independent specialist
like ourselves?
We have stocked home beer and wine
making products since 1994 and since that time have built up knowledge which is freely passed on to customers.
Some advice is given below and is given in good faith, to the best of our knowledge.
Care has to be taken when choosing beer bottles, pressurising
a keg, selecting plastic containers for fermenting, etc. If you just buy something off a supermarket shelf you may be unaware
of potential problems - a little knowledge can be very helpful!
General Hints and Tips
- Keep
it warm. Yeasts like steady warm temperatures- too hot and there could be off flavours - too cold and the fermentation
will be very slow. Swings of temperature and the yeast may stop working
- Keep it clean. Use special sterilising solution
to minimise risk of infection
- Choose right type of plastic. No scratches to
avoid risk of infection. Use a bin -with lid- made for the job (our fementation buckets are made from food grade plastic)
If you try to use a bucket or dustbin it might contain plasticisers that might leach out.
- If
storing wine or beer in bottles use PET plastic screwtop bottles for safety. Don't reuse glass beer bottles for storing
beer unless they have been made to withstand pressurising more than once eg bought from a home brew shop
Choice
of Keg
We recommend bottling your first batch of "beer".
PET plastic bottles are readily available and cheap! Don't forget to sterilise and prime! If you enjoy your brew
you might then like to invest in a keg. We strongly recommend our cheapest keg a 2" neck vent cap with swing
tap. Use petroleum jelly (trade name Vaseline)on all o-rings and threads.Keep back a few pet bottles
and fill these first - then put the rest of the brew into the keg. This has 2 advantages. You will be able to drink the bottled
brew first because it will clear quicker and, because you are putting less than 40 pints into the keg, there will be more
headroom in the keg for the gas to form which hopefully will last during the lifetime of the brew.
If after getting
halfway through the keg the beer becomes flat it is acceptable to reprime the keg.
If however the keg has difficulty
staying pressurised then buy a 2" cap with S30 brass fitting and an S30 cylinder total cost about £28. Check the
valves work on the fitting by half-filling the keg with water and giving a 1 second squirt of gas. Never leave the cylinder
on the fitting and never over - pressurise the keg
Choice of demijohn
We are finding that cheap glass demijohns are getting harder to come by.
We stock plastic (PET} demijohns
which are cheaper than new glass demijohns and have 2 advantages
(1) Can be safely shaken under pressure.
Never shake a glass demijohn under pressure, always instead decant it to and fro into a suitable sterilised container
(2) Hold 5 litres (standard glass demijohns hold l gallon ie 4.55 litres) This gives potentially more headroom, especially
useful when fermenting red wines which can be very vigourous, to the extent of bubbling into the airlock and outside!
Please note if using plastic demijohns to facilitate sealing use petroleum jelly on threads and grommet.
Click here for useful "frequently asked questions" on Young's website
Just look what you can make!!
- 6 bottles of wine from a kit. Start up cost ca £15
Types available (a) single grape,
ready in 3-6 months (b)
Port type, ready in 3 weeks (c)Country
wine, ready in 7-21 days
(d) style wine ready in 7-21 days - 6 bottles of high
alcohol (21%) spirit or liquer type
- 6 bottles of
wine from flowers/fruit, start up cost ca £21
- 40
pints beer using plastic bottles, start up cost ca £22
- 40 pints beer using vented keg, start up cost ca £43
- 40 pints beer, keg, gas injection, start up cost ca £70
As hobbies go
this is not expensive but it IS great fun and very rewarding! You can make 30 bottle wine kits and save even more money! At Davids we have
probably the best selection of beer and winemaking supplies in Torbay with 15 years in the trade for you to call upon. ! - We usually have the
following kits in stock -
Bitter, lager, real ale, stout, mild and cider kits
6 bottle wine, port, and high alcohol kits Solomon Grundy 7 day fruit wines (£8.65) Butler (£9.50) Includes Portavino variety Cans (£6.99 & £7.49) Beaverdale single grape (£10.99) Prohibition high alcolol (£12.40)
30 bottle wine kits Solomon Grundy (£20.99) Montego
(£14.95)
Please note all prices given are a guide
only and are subject to change! We also have other
kits from time to time and we have yeasts and all sorts of sundries so whether you are new to the hobby or someone who is
very experienced, why not come in for a chat? Our main supplier is Ritchies who over the years have
been very innovative, also have imported some brilliant kits. Of course we have long time contacts with Hambleton Bard and
Youngs but unfortunately we no longer deal with Youngs (see link to their website above) because they changed terms of payment
in Jan 2009 and we consider the new terms unacceptable!
Click here to visit Ritchies Website
Click here for Hambleton Bard website
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