Homebrew at Glastonbury

[donthaveacoolname]

I have been a home-brewer for a number of years now but never took any to the festival. I'm looking for any advice, any of you might have in this area? I usually bottle in glass but obviously I cant if going to glasto so was looking at using Coopers 500ml PET bottles but have seen some folk talk about ordinary 2L soda bottles. Also worried about yeast sediment being stirred up. Again any advice would be appreciated. Also any beer styles that might suit the festival environment better that others?

[Guest]

To be honest, once I'm in the festival, yeast sediment in my beer is not a great worry for me. Guess that doesn't make me a connoisseur

[carlosj]

Option 1

Give them all to me

Option 2

I'd suggest using 1 litre or 1.5 litre bottles to make transporting easier (I've used these, no worries). Maybe reduce sugar in the bottles to reduce too much fizz, but if you check them in to the lockup, they'll settle. Check them in batches so the ones you don't want aren't disturbed.

Do you use kits or the full mash?

oh yeah, beer styles. Well, what do you like? I'd suggest a session beer, or beer you don't mind not cold, ie no lager as there's no fridge.. how about porter?

Edited February 13, 2015 by carlosj

[Mark E. Spliff]

Some beers can actually be nice with the sediment - the Germans and Belgians tend to pour the sediment from bottles of Wheat beer into their pints. With home brew though, you're usually already on the edge of it being disgusting and if it's had a second fermentation in the bottle, you'll have a tonne of sediment in there. Warm that and shake it up in your rucksack for an hour or two and it will be truly disgusting.

You could do what we do in the bars to allow us to serve from casks that haven't been allowed to settle - use 'bright' beer. I.e. ferment it, second ferment it and then syphon off the clear beer into the bottles leaving all the sediment behind. I think you might need to inject each bottle with CO2 to keep some fizz in the bottles though.

Way too much effort though. Bring spirits. Buy beer.

[donthaveacoolname]

Do you use kits or the full mash?

oh yeah, beer styles. Well, what do you like? I'd suggest a session beer, or beer you don't mind not cold, ie no lager as there's no fridge.. how about porter?

Full mash,

Was thinking about irish red or something like that not too fizzy ok warmer

Thanks for the thoughts

[Michaels denim shorts]

i got a cider brewing away now, was planning on a mix of a few bottles & probably a keg (food grade 25L water containers for about a fiver on ebay, complete with a tap. & can refill the bottles when empty

homebrew is awesome, i usually use a kit + some 100% juice & a bit more sugar for a bit more flavour, roughly 50 pints for about 20 quid should do nicely, about the cost of 4 - 5 pints at the bar, & far nicer to drink than gaymers, thatchers or whatever brewery has the bars this year

also the paper pint cups last year were shite, if you didnt drink it in 3 minutes you end up with it pissing out the bottom

[morph100]

I'm doing homebrew wine now got strawberry on the go and going to get a red and white load on so as well.

Was thinking about trying something else, might try cider or gin.....

[ian the worm]

Make the bear the normal way you make the bear.

Then decant it "Bright" into plastics to take for the weekend.

Then fill up the said plastics with your piss overnight and poor it in a passing long drop the next day.

Reduce reuse recycle!

[Sawdusty surfer]

Run it through a still, less space and less weight. Easy enough to do.

[carlosj]

Yeah, I'm going to have to get some done then, get back to full mashing. Sawdusty, what's your preferred drink? I owe you for the tickets :-)

[Sawdusty surfer]

. Sawdusty, what's your preferred drink? I owe you for the tickets :-)

I'm ashamed to say that I'm akin to an old tin bucket.....You can pour anything into me and I'll be happy!

Edited February 14, 2015 by Sawdusty Surfer

[donthaveacoolname]

Make the bear the normal way you make the bear.

Then decant it "Bright" into plastics to take for the weekend.

Then fill up the said plastics with your piss overnight and poor it in a passing long drop the next day.

Reduce reuse recycle!

How do you stop birght beer going flat?

[Michaels denim shorts]

How do you stop birght beer going flat?

is it not the same as any other brew, - more sugar at bottling stage? enough to carbonate, but not explode

[Michaels denim shorts]

You could do what we do in the bars to allow us to serve from casks that haven't been allowed to settle - use 'bright' beer. I.e. ferment it, second ferment it and then syphon off the clear beer into the bottles leaving all the sediment behind. I think you might need to inject each bottle with CO2 to keep some fizz in the bottles though.

Way too much effort though. Bring spirits. Buy beer.

making beer/cider is no way too much effort

cansiter carbonation aside

we arent setting up a bar here, just taking enough to get us by a few days in a field, sugar or priming drops at bottling/kegging will be fine for a glasto sized personal supply.

everyone should homebrew, you can sell 7000 litres of cider without paying any duty also, sadly not with beer

[MrZigster]

I'm a bit drunk and just read this thread title as Hebrews at Glastonbury.

Not that far off thinking about it actually. Just need to hit the spacebar in the right place.

[/burble]

[Mark E. Spliff]

making beer/cider is no way too much effort

cansiter carbonation aside

we arent setting up a bar here, just taking enough to get us by a few days in a field, sugar or priming drops at bottling/kegging will be fine for a glasto sized personal supply.

everyone should homebrew, you can sell 7000 litres of cider without paying any duty also, sadly not with beer

Everyone should indeed homebrew. Having made it yourself adds a whole new perspective to getting drunk. The 'too much effort' comment was referring to carrying it in. It's a very long, painful walk to where you're going to camp, and Glasto is a special occasion, so do yourself a favour and either distill it, as Sawdusty Surfer says, or simply blow your money on cooking vodka.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

At least you know what to expect with homebrew. I took a 20 litre container of untried scrumpy one year. Nobody I knew could drink the stuff, and that's saying something.

[guypjfreak]

ive done turbo cider a few times but im working on some red wine this year but have ruined 2 lots already lololol so heres a quick qustion ....

im getting my grapes from a naibour whos got a big vine but the grapes are frozen will this make a diff when brewing or am i going wrong some where else down the line ??

[Bisque]

Can I try some?

(Homebrew at Glastonbury gets near enough 150k replies to this thread)

[carlosj]

I've sat overlooking the Park supping the group's efforts of flavoured vodka (speak to jeffie), but never beer or cider, so will have to remedy that this time. (Avoid mint vodka, too much like mouthwash, ugh). It will probably be from a kit, not grain though.

I've planted some apple trees on the allotment with an eye to cider in years to come, don't know if I'd get up to 7000 litres though....

[Purple aki squat]

ive done turbo cider a few times but im working on some red wine this year but have ruined 2 lots already lololol so heres a quick qustion ....

im getting my grapes from a naibour whos got a big vine but the grapes are frozen will this make a diff when brewing or am i going wrong some where else down the line ??

What's turbo cider?

[psychology]

20 litres fruit juice from concentrate 5 litres water 1 kg sugar 1 packet cider or wine yeast thats it

[Pinhead]

Reading this thread is rekindling my interest....

Used to do a homebrew for Glasto every year, but recently have not bothered since there is only usually me there or one other mate and so I never seemed to get through it all. Mind you I did bring in about 9 x 2L bottles of the stuff - good 'ol Glasto eh - what other festival would let you bring in so much ale without batting an eyelid. Anyway, got fed up with carting it all in as well tbh. Might try it again this year though - always good to have one of the bottles on the go and typically carried one around AM then replaced for PM. Used to get a bit fed up with it after a while though and knock back a few ciders or other ales available on site. Guess the whole thing stemmed from my student days when I was trying to save money and bringing in homebrew helped this obviously.

Would normally do the kits due to time and ferment the whole lot in a 5 gal demi john. Occasionally added own hops and certainly added more sugar over the fermenting process to bring the ABV up by a couple more % over the labelled. Often used used glucose or special malto-dextrose brewing sugar as well over normal sucrose, which gave a cleaner finish. Bottles were of 2L plastic variety - basically saved them up over the year or bought Spa 29p special price lemonade ones and emptied them for re-use. Used 3/4 soft water (not boiled - removes minerals that the yeast likes) and boiled kit wort up again before adding when cooled to the water and aerating as it was added (never add hot wort to cold water - will give a metallic taste to finished beer). Charge bottles with a little sugar for carbonation and leave for 2-3 months. Sterilise everything you use as well, preferably with proper stuff brow brew shops online. Pre-charge the yeast with a little sugar as well a few hours before using.

[psychology]

If you want it to taste like proper West country cider its a good idea to add some tannin and malic acid. Also get it brewing soon as the longer you leave it the better it tastes.

Goes off to buy some apple juice even though I have'nt got a ticket yet.

Edited February 16, 2015 by psychology

[Memory Man]

never home brewed but we bought a 20L bag in box ale from Saltaire Brewery to bring with us and by the time we'd carted it across a few fields it was feisty to say the least. It was in far, far from its best condition sadly!!

Brilliant product for a party at home with minimal movement and the ability to chill it down but not a good product for a festival.

A reasonable alternative is old golden hen in cans as its a good pale hoppy beer that will stay fresh and cold. There are very few pale hoppy ales that are both good value, nice tasting and canned.