My username is wheaty, a shortened version of the village name where I live about 25 miles north of London. Sadly there is an old brewery in the village which is used by the current owners as a beauty parlour.
I used to extract brew in my late teens and early twenties. I've done nothing for many years but recently did an all grain brewing course with London Fields Brewery in Hackney (London E8).
I got really enthused by some US brewers when on trips to the US. The US style highly hopped IPAs and Pale Ales from several craft brewers across the country were a welcome change from the bland stuff from the big nationals.
UK breweries like LFB, the wonderful Thornbridge, the Kernel, BBN, and some 1 or 2 pub microbreweries (including Yubberton whose YPA is fantastic) have inspired me to continue brewing. I have about 12 recipes so far and have recently found the BeerEngine - not brewed anything using it yet.
The plan is to get a small unit (BrewMagic, BruGear or similar) from the US to brew barrel size batches for a year to perfect the recipes and ensure consistency, then to look for another brewer to join with to start something commercial up.
I'd like to hear from anyone about their experiences starting up a brewery - be great to learn from anyone with something to share.
I am in the making mistakes and experimenting phase right now. I currently have a batch of US style Pale Ale which I bottled yesterday and am planning a batch of table / session pale ale which I will split - using half with saison style yeast to see how that goes.
I used to extract brew in my late teens and early twenties. I've done nothing for many years but recently did an all grain brewing course with London Fields Brewery in Hackney (London E8).
I got really enthused by some US brewers when on trips to the US. The US style highly hopped IPAs and Pale Ales from several craft brewers across the country were a welcome change from the bland stuff from the big nationals.
UK breweries like LFB, the wonderful Thornbridge, the Kernel, BBN, and some 1 or 2 pub microbreweries (including Yubberton whose YPA is fantastic) have inspired me to continue brewing. I have about 12 recipes so far and have recently found the BeerEngine - not brewed anything using it yet.
The plan is to get a small unit (BrewMagic, BruGear or similar) from the US to brew barrel size batches for a year to perfect the recipes and ensure consistency, then to look for another brewer to join with to start something commercial up.
I'd like to hear from anyone about their experiences starting up a brewery - be great to learn from anyone with something to share.
I am in the making mistakes and experimenting phase right now. I currently have a batch of US style Pale Ale which I bottled yesterday and am planning a batch of table / session pale ale which I will split - using half with saison style yeast to see how that goes.
