Lee from the UK. Advice please on where to start

[Leeroydavid]

Hi, I'm Lee from England, I'm wanting to get into home brewing lager, I did it about 20 years ago, just using the cans of coopers lager and a plastic container, but it was always horrible.
Where do I start please? Where can I start to learn about brewing, I've found plenty of sites that give information about how to brew, buit i don't understand a lot of what they are talking about.I have joined a few facebook groups to try get advice, but get no help really.
what would I need? Where's the best place to buy equipment and ingredients? (From the UK)
Does anyone have any good web sites or YouTube channels I could go to for more advice please? Anything else I need to know?

Can I make a nice lager using something like this?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Welcome to HBT!

Onto lagers.....by lager, I'll assume you're talking about typical 'macro' lager, rather than a hefty German bock or Octoberfest or the like.
Yes, the equipment you showed could be used to brew lager (but you'd need other bits and pieces as well). But so could a large pot with a bag (BIAB). Any setup for brewing will work, but the most important thing for lagers is the ability to control ferment temperatures, so you'll want a fridge/freezer with a temperature controller. Also, lagers need lots of healthy yeast (or it gets very expensive for large quantities of dry yeast) so the equipment to make starters is worthwhile (large conical flask and a stir plate). You'll need to decide if you want to brew from extract, or all grain.

Welcome to How to Brew - How to Brew is a good place to start. It's old with a few outdated parts, but still very worthwhile. There's a newer version but it's not free - if you find you like the free one, it's worth purchasing the updated version. I'd suggest initially skipping the 'Understanding the mash pH' part of the 'Brewing All Grain Beer' section. Although water and pH is important in all grain brewing, it can be daunting to read at first and you can just follow water/pH advice from others on here for a while until you find your feet.

 

[rburrelli]

Welcome. You would likely get more responses if this were posted in the Beginners section of the forum. More views than the introduction. Good luck.

 

[Sammy86]

Hi, I'm Lee from England, I'm wanting to get into home brewing lager, I did it about 20 years ago, just using the cans of coopers lager and a plastic container, but it was always horrible.
Where do I start please? Where can I start to learn about brewing, I've found plenty of sites that give information about how to brew, buit i don't understand a lot of what they are talking about.I have joined a few facebook groups to try get advice, but get no help really.
what would I need? Where's the best place to buy equipment and ingredients? (From the UK)
Does anyone have any good web sites or YouTube channels I could go to for more advice please? Anything else I need to know?

Can I make a nice lager using something like this?

Hi Lee,

Welcome to HBT! You’ve come to the right place! There is plenty of knowledge around the forums and many questions you might have, have probably been answered more than once. Use the search feature and be specific in your terms and you should be find what you need.

1. Where to start? Read some books:

1. The Complete Joy of Homebrewing: Papazian
2. How To Brew: Everything You Need to Know to Brew Great Beer Every Time. Palmer
3. Radical Brewing: Mosher

2. YouTube Channels: 2, 4 and 5 Will definitely help you out as far as being a beginner brewer.

1. Basic Brewing
2. CraigTube
3. Don Osborn
4. Northern Brewer TV
5. The Home Brew Network

3. What else you need to know:

• Brewing lagers is not any different than brewing an ale. You mash your grains, boil the wort and cool and pitch yeast. The difference is the lager yeast will give a very different taste profile than the ale yeasts.

• You don’t need crazy expensive equipment to make good beer. A kettle, mesh bag, 6.5 gallon bucket, sanitizer and cleaner and some temperature control for fermentation and you will create good beer.

Good luck!

 

[madscientist451]

If you are serious about making good lager beers then you need to get a chest freezer and a temperature controller, or brew with the seasons and find a cold basement to ferment/lager in.

 

[Leeroydavid]

Welcome to HBT!

Onto lagers.....by lager, I'll assume you're talking about typical 'macro' lager, rather than a hefty German bock or Octoberfest or the like.
Yes, the equipment you showed could be used to brew lager (but you'd need other bits and pieces as well). But so could a large pot with a bag (BIAB). Any setup for brewing will work, but the most important thing for lagers is the ability to control ferment temperatures, so you'll want a fridge/freezer with a temperature controller. Also, lagers need lots of healthy yeast (or it gets very expensive for large quantities of dry yeast) so the equipment to make starters is worthwhile (large conical flask and a stir plate). You'll need to decide if you want to brew from extract, or all grain.

Welcome to How to Brew - How to Brew is a good place to start. It's old with a few outdated parts, but still very worthwhile. There's a newer version but it's not free - if you find you like the free one, it's worth purchasing the updated version. I'd suggest initially skipping the 'Understanding the mash pH' part of the 'Brewing All Grain Beer' section. Although water and pH is important in all grain brewing, it can be daunting to read at first and you can just follow water/pH advice from others on here for a while until you find your feet.

Welcome to HBT!

Onto lagers.....by lager, I'll assume you're talking about typical 'macro' lager, rather than a hefty German bock or Octoberfest or the like.
Yes, the equipment you showed could be used to brew lager (but you'd need other bits and pieces as well). But so could a large pot with a bag (BIAB). Any setup for brewing will work, but the most important thing for lagers is the ability to control ferment temperatures, so you'll want a fridge/freezer with a temperature controller. Also, lagers need lots of healthy yeast (or it gets very expensive for large quantities of dry yeast) so the equipment to make starters is worthwhile (large conical flask and a stir plate). You'll need to decide if you want to brew from extract, or all grain.

Welcome to How to Brew - How to Brew is a good place to start. It's old with a few outdated parts, but still very worthwhile. There's a newer version but it's not free - if you find you like the free one, it's worth purchasing the updated version. I'd suggest initially skipping the 'Understanding the mash pH' part of the 'Brewing All Grain Beer' section. Although water and pH is important in all grain brewing, it can be daunting to read at first and you can just follow water/pH advice from others on here for a while until you find your feet.

Welcome. You would likely get more responses if this were posted in the Beginners section of the forum. More views than the introduction. Good luck.

Thanks very much for all that.
Lee