Many people making homebrewed lager are disappointed with the results becasue they don't end up with a brew that is overly close to a commercial lager. This isn't because homebrew lager kits are poor quality, just that lager can actually be quite difficult to get absolutely right. Commercial brewers ferment lagers at much lower temperatures than beers and ales and also tend not to bottle condition their products.

The long awaited replacement for the popular, but now withdrawn, Woodfordes Great Eastern Ale kit, has finally been approved by the Woodfordes head brewer and is due to be released in the middle of April. Called Sundew Ale it will be a light golden, lightly hopped, citrusy beer at an expected strength of approximately 4.1% ABV.

It is nearly that time of year again when the Elderflowers start to bloom and people want to make "Elderflower Wine" and "Elderflower Champagne". If you have made wine before, it is relatively straightforward to make both of these varieties, but many online (and TV) guides suggest that it is really easy to do it without any experience, equipment or common sense.

One of the best known recipes/methods is the one advocated in the episode of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "River Cottage", in which he makes "Elderflower Champagne". As Hugh likes everything to be as organic and natural as possible, and is limited by the length of the time slots for each segment within his show, his recipe and method has a habit of producing varying results and exploding bottles...

Vineco, the Canadian winemaking giant responsible for the Kenridge and California Connoisseur wine kit ranges, has released a brand new range of beer and lager kits for the UK homebrew market. Containing 7.5ltrs of concentrated brewers wort, the Brewers Spring range

Muntons have just released a range of Ultra-Premium Quality 15 bottle wine kits that contain 11 litres of top quality 100% unconcentrated Varietal Grape Juice and no additional sugars.

St Patrick's Day this year falls on a Saturday, so no doubt there will be one or two "Irish weekends" on the 17th and 18th March and quite a few hangovers on Monday morning. With just under 9 weeks to go, now is the ideal time to start thinking about choosing a stout to brew so that it is ready for the big day.

If you got a homebrewing starter kit for Christmas, you should by now be about halfway through the minimum two week maturing period provided that you managed to keep the temperature constant and finished your primary fermentation within 5-10 days.

Happy New Year everybody.

One of the beer kits that we sell heaps of in the shop is the All Grain version of Adnams Broadside so I have decided to make one up to see what it comes out like. I've also decided to make up the Exmoor Gold Ale recipe from Graham Wheeler's book,

Over Chistmas and Boxing day, I finished off the barrel of Jennings Cocker Hoop that I made in early November. In style and ingredients, it is quite similar to  Moorhouses Pendle Witches Brew and is a smooth, rich, pale coloured, malty beer, not quite a Golden Ale, but very tasty and recommended for anybody that doesn't like IPAs or darker bitters. As it is now finished, I have now broached the barrel of Abbot Ale

Some months ago, the manufacturers of Danstar Nottingham Yeast decided to more or double the price, which had the effect of causing all of the wholesalers to drop it as a product line and many replaced it with the Mauribrew range of yeasts. Following requests from many of its retailers and customers,