Is it too late to brew some ale for crimbo?

[mamos]

I am one of those guys who has great intentions but always seem to be just a little too late for this year. do you know what I mean?

I would love to brew some proper real ale for Christmas day. For the last eight years we have had to visit family for Christmas day festivities because we lived in a van and it was impossible to get them round. This year we are living in a cabin albeit a very small one but just big enough to get the in-laws in for dinner. I would love to have some real ale brewed by myself to offer them. They are not great beer drinkers to be honest but that's not the point. I am a great beer drinker and I love proper real ale.

So, is it possible, if I pull my finger out and bearing in mind I have never brewed any beer in my life to produce a drinkable ale by crimbo

Over to you

mamos

[MKG]

Not being a beer maker, I don't really know - but I've just had a quick look around the homebrew forums and it looks like you should be OK for Christmas if you do it NOW. That should allow time for fermentation, secondary fermentation (if you want fizzy beer), and conditioning.

What the hell - if you miss Christmas, you'll have an excellent new year

Just to give you an idea, my Christmas plonk was only started today. If wine can make it in time, I'm sure beer can.

Mike

[mamos]

Thanks Mike

I need to go out first thing monday and get some stuff

I hope to grow hops for next year but where- in a small town - am I likely to find malt extract by the kilo and hops

I might have to look on line

Does anyone have any favourite brewing websites?

mamos

[dave45]

You should make it by Xmas. A normal beer kit (for me) ferments out in about 8-10 days. Keeping the beer bucket at a constant 22C might accelerate fermentation time by a few days. Mine lives just in the kitchen near the back door! You then bottle it (teaspoon of sugar in each bottle) and leave it for at least 2 or 3 weeks to generate a little fizz and clear.

I recommend Muntons kits if you can find them... never had a bad pint from them. I'd avoid cheap kits or any that require you to add white sugar to the main fermentation - stick to the real thing - malt - for a good pint.

You need to find a local homebrew shop - posting 2kg of beerkit isn't a good idea!

Remember a batch needs 40 pint/half-litre bottles with screwtops or crown-corks

[frozenthunderbolt]

TAkes me about 4 weeks for drinkable beer from a kit(ish), but i am pedantic about fining the beer and letting it clear before conditioning in order to minimise the sediment which i hate!
Stout or laarger need longer to mature, a draught or light ale would probably be ok

[Green Aura]

Thanks for this post mamos.

As a result, we made 3 gallons of the Ish beer recipe and 5 gallons of nettle/heather ale. So if all works out we'll be supping homebrew for christmas. We also started a gallon of herb wine, but that won't be ready til next christmas of course.

I have to admit that although we make quite a lot of wine for regular quaffing, we do like a bottle or two of decent stuff for christmas dinner, so no homebrew (wine or beer) with the meal.

The downside of your post is that yesrday was earmarked for "bottoming" our bedroom, which of course didn't happen!

[Andy Hamilton]

All my beer is ready and drinkable in about 2 weeks. I don't bother with kits anymore as I don't like the taste. The Yarrow ale is really nice or as a variation I am trying a chamomile beer. I have made it with normal picked chamomile and this one I am trying with tea bags that I was given. Just replace the yarrow for tea. For that menthod you might want to half everything as it makes 100 pints!

[Green Aura]

I can definitely concur on the suppable in a couple of weeks.

Both the things we made are now being quaffed - and are absolutely deeeeeeeelicious.

[thefriarandme]

I tend to leave my kit beers about 6 weeks after bottling before drinking. They are then ready for the fridge and supplying a really good pint.

I bottle mine into 2 litre PET bottles recycled from soft drinks. I suggest, though, that you get a large jug - quite a lot of them will take 2 litres easily - and pour the beer, slowly and steadily, into the jug. This avoids any cloudiness that may occur with tipping the bottle upright [after pouring a pint] and the debris at the bottom of the bottle being disturbed; causing your next pint to be cloudy ... but still drinkable

[thefriarandme]

All my beer is ready and drinkable in about 2 weeks. I don't bother with kits anymore as I don't like the taste. The Yarrow ale is really nice or as a variation I am trying a chamomile beer. I have made it with normal picked chamomile and this one I am trying with tea bags that I was given. Just replace the yarrow for tea. For that menthod you might want to half everything as it makes 100 pints!

Two weeks? Made from scratch? Does it even produce a head in such a short time? Two weeks ... EEK