I don’t see all I need on your web site. Can you supply?
We shall probably be adding new products to this site forever. We
carry a wider range of products in our stores. Please e-mail us
on sales@brewgenie.co.uk
with any enquiries that you may have. We purchase from all the major
manufacturers and wholesalers so can quickly obtain anything not
in stock.
Can I use any old equipment?
Home brewing equipment often seems similar to items around the home
such as buckets and spoons, but brewing equipment is often made
of special materials, the use of which will affect the result. Old
brew bins and fermenters do need replacing every few years as well,
because they get small scratches through use which allow bacteria
to hide and although you will sterilize sometimes the bacteria will
survive in these scratches and harm your brew.
Is sterilizing my equipment necessary?
Yes. The majority of home brewing failures are due to a lack of
cleaning and sterilizing. Cleaning is the removing of visible dirt
and residue from your equipment and sterilizing is the treating
of the equipment to eliminate and prevent the growth of spoilage
organisms.
If your equipment is badly soiled, then leave in soaking overnight
in a sterilizer solution. If it is clean then a 15 minute soak is
sufficient. Remember to totally swill all equipment immediately
before use otherwise the sterilizer will harm the yeast. Make sure
you use a proprietary sterilizer such as VWP, Bruclens or Ritchies.
Sodium Metabisulphate is not a proper sterilizer.
Can I amend the instructions that come with my kit?
No. Although wine and beer kits use basic principles, each will
have slightly different ways of making. Following these instructions
to the letter will guarantee success. Remember, the manufacturers
want the kit to turn out ok, and they know best how to make it work.
Why are some kits a lot more expensive than others?
They are, generally, a lot better. Although as a company we don’t
sell poor quality kits - all will produce a drinkable product, it
is accepted that like commercial products, homebrew kits come in
many different levels. Put simply, you get what you pay for. Why
not treat yourself occasionally to a kit at the next price level
just to see what a difference it will make - you may be pleasantly
surprised.
I’m making wine from fruit, do I need to add things
to it?
Firstly make sure you are following an up to date recipe. Don’t
rely on old recipes being suitable. If the recipe calls for things
like Pectolase or Yeast Nutrient for instance, then use it. You
wouldn’t make a cake following a recipe and miss out, say,
eggs because you didn’t have any, so remember things like
nutrient to feed the yeast, pectolase to prevent a pectin haze and
Potassium Sorbate to kill the yeast before you bottle.
If I add more sugar to my beer kit will it make it stronger?
While to a certain extent maybe you risk killing the yeast by over
feeding resulting in very sweet malt with no alcohol. A much better
way to improve the kit is to add a beerkit enhancer instead of sugar
or to reduce the sugar to 500g and add 500g of spray malt. This
will give the beer more body and flavour. Or quite simply buy a
kit with more malt in the first place. You will see in our stock
lists that the beer kits have a weight attached to the description.
This tells you how much malt is in the kit. Kits from 1-5kg to 2kg
need an addition of 1kg of sugar to help them brew out whereas kits
over 3kg have sufficient malt to brew on their own and don’t
need any additional help. You can always adjust the outcome of your
brew but remember that if you follow the instructions given by the
manufacture then you will be guaranteed success.
I’m a manufacture or supplier of products which may
be of interest to the homebrew trade. Are you interested?
We are always considering the merits of new products. If you don’t
see your products on our site please contact purchasing@brewgenie.co.uk
