Somewhere in the forum I was recommended these peeps and I got a starter kit (fermenting bin etc) plus a Muntons Old English Ale kit the results of which I am sitting here drinking. It is good.

I've been looking into the whole brewing thing in Switzerland a bit more deeply and some interesting facts emerge.

Just about anyone can sell beer just about anywhere - you just tell the tax people that you intend to sell and then you pay 24.50 CHF per 100L brewed (maybe per 100L sold, wasn't 100% clear). There is a reduction on this tax of up to 40% depending on the annual quantity.

Microbreweries are on the increase in Switzerland. I think I've plugged the bierfactory enough but once more won't hurt. I got my bottel by buying their beer and not taking the bottles back. Cheaper than buying bottles. There are many more, look for them and try out the beers to maintain diversity in the brewing world.

Hurlimann is actually owned by Feldschlossen who must now be viewed as the evil ones - they are the equivilent of the big breweries in the UK who are trying to reduce beer to it's lowest common denominator. They prevent competition by tying bars and restaurants to long term, single supplier contracts, it's just wrong.

But I digress. This homebrew is, on first attempt, the best I have ever made. It is bottle conditioned without finings or any other clearing agent yet it is as clear as abell (suspect this is the yeast Muntons use). It is very hoppy and bitter so may not be immediately attractive to the Swiss pallate. To the expat Brits out there, get one of these kits and have a go - it really is good.

Currently on the go is a Pils kit from Brewfirm which is most popular Swiss homebrew kit.

If anyone else has success stories with home or micro brewing then I'd love to hear them.

Cheers Bob

we were just chatting last week about brewing our own Ale (my Swiss GF loves English real ale) so now no excuse not to get started. We have a pear and an apple tree in the garden that I cut back last year and it looks like I'll have a half decent crop this year, if they're too bitter to eat I'm going to have a go at Perry and Cider too.

At one point, years ago I did a bit of homebrewing in the states. Most of my beers were pretty good. I mostly did malt extract brews, but I would had some specialty grains (usually a bit, or quite a bit of carmel malt). I made a really nice sweet stout, tried a steam beer (which was really nasty at first, but mellowed out to be really good after a few months of lagering in the fridge), and a blueberry wheat beer.

One thing I've noticed is that the online brewing supply shops I've seen here in CH don't have much in the way of selection for hops. Kinda sad. I'd love to have a beer with a nice hop profile...

Hi
I used to help my dad make his home brew and wine. we would spend hours collecting nettles , elderflowers , rosehips etc. The house was lile a brewery at times. I was the most popular girl in the halls of residence at uni, I used to return from home every weekend laiden with redcross parcels. Mums home baking and dads homebrew.It was very potent stuff. Great for hogmanay parties.

jo

JOJO
When you come to live in Blonay you'll be pleased to hear that a mobile distillery visits the next village every year and will be able to have your own produce distilled, thus keeping up the family tradition. And it's legal !

Yep, done a bit of research into that and you can buy stills from the homebrew place and do it yourself. If you want to distill yourself there is one rule from them days - you must grow the fruit or grain yourself. This is a great country!

I saw a documentary about a Swiss guy making Pear Brandy - or pear Schnapps I suppose - from his own pears. Watch this space!

I will be smuggling hops back from the UK (probably pellets as they'll travel better) in early August. Got any varieties in mind?

'smuggling'? Don't worry, you're probably allowed to bring them in, up to 20kg, or 300 chf worth. They're vegetables, like say, lettuce, right? ;-)

I probably won't be doing any homebrewing for awhile. I used to get some really nice local hops in Seattle though. I grew them in my garden for awhile, but that was a mistake as they really will grow all over the place....

Taken all the fun out of it now .

Williamine, one of the most popular fruit spirits in the country. My uncle in canton Jura does his own "Damassine" - a spirit made from a small yellow plum from the area. Look out also for "Abricotine" from Valais. Absinthe from Val-de-Travers in the Jura moutains is worth looking for too.

Being in Switzerland chaps, what about brewing a nice stout with added cocoa in it like Young's Double Chocolate? Otherwise, very hoppy stuff is not really that popular with my fellow Swiss so "golden ales" or scottish type ales like Caledonian XPA or Deuchars IPA would go down well I'd say, nice summer beers, easy to drink. Beers with added honey or fruit/flower extracts should score well too.

I found the Old English Ale kit on the website but I didn't find the starter kit. Could you point me in the right direction?

Cheers

Jekyll

Happily. And slightly drunkenly...

Go to Bierbrauzubehor -> Bierkits (Büchse) and you get the list of kits. In the right hand column, at the bottom, Starter-Paket für Büchsenextrakt there a 69CHF and a 99CHF one. You get a free Brewfirm kit with it (well, by free I guess they mean it's included in the price).

I reckon in 2 years we'll be hosting the Great British Swiss Beer Festival...

I'll make sure to come to check it out and report to CAMRA

hi
congrats on your homebrew. also for the links. i checked it a bit. i am correc to conclude:
_buy a starterkit includes everything except the bottles?
-ask friends to save their bottles instead of throwing them away

if thats it i might go for it.
just the part where the appltree in your own garden comes in, i am not quite following..why you need apples?

and if you di, how about them bitter things we have in our garden which nobody uses (i am told swiss put them in pastry, dont know what they are called)

That's it. Oh, you might want a piece of tube for siphoning into the bottles.


This was the distillers amongst us - making apple brandy mmmmmmmm applebrandy .

[quote=ExoticLatic;74727]"golden ales" or scottish type ales like Caledonian XPA or Deuchars IPA would go down well I'd say, nice summer beers, easy to drink.quote]

unfair posting .....

I've been wanting to homebrew for years now, but have never tried it. How feasible is using one of those 69 Sfr. kits in an apartment? What's the stink level like? I'd like to try it, but would also like to remain married.

No problem at all. When you add the hot water to the malt extract it does pong a bit but it's a lovely, mouth watering, yummy pong . If you like Marmite that is.

Go for it .