The Homebrew Thread

[GPW1]

So footy and beer go hand in hand so I'd expect there are a few people who are down with brewing their own beers here.

This is the thread to discuss homebrew recipes, techniques, hints and tips and anything else homebrew.

I'll kick things off by saying tonight i cracked open my latest brew, a cider, and it was far better than expected. Normally its beer for me, but did a cider to keep the missus happy.

On the beer front, I brew kit and bits homebrew and bottle (which is a pain in the arse). Trying to convince the missus to layout the cash for a keg setup (that as well as tinnie for fishing) but it is a hard slog.

Post all things homebrew ITT (in this thread).

 

[jonoman89]

I wanted to get into this but then i realised how difficult it would be. As you said, bottling looks like an absolute bitch. I don't really have an area to do it in because my garage would get too hot to ferment a lager. I'd be limited to ales pretty much....and i'm more of a lager and wheat beer person.

Don't mind a good Pale Ale though, or an Indian Pale Ale. ESB is nice as well. I might end up doing it one day....

What kind of beers do you brew? How long does it take you to start drinking it?

 

[CaulfieldBearsTV]

A couple of blokes i know have set up a U-Brew it in Wodonga, i haven't done it myself but another mate said you go in, pick which type of beer you like ie. Corona or VB and they have an equivalent. You then grab the recipe as all the ingredients are there, put it in a vat and 2 weeks later you pick it up. it's about $130 for 6 slabs. It goes all right i hear. Its a good option if you dont have time or space to brew it a home. There's one in Keilor as well i think. I'm heading up in a week or so i'll let you know how i go.

 

[cammo84]

Bottling is far from a bitch. If you have 2 of you doing it, it doesn't take that long at all. What we usually do is have a couple of cold ones while we bottle and it takes maybe 30 minutes to get the whole lot bottled. Invest in a bench capper though, cos those hammer ones can be deadly (glass shards).

My last brew was just a Brewcraft Pale Ale kit. Black Rock East India Pale Ale malt, a bag of their brewing sugars, and I added a bag of fuggles hops for some extra flavour. Came out very nice indeed, and the closest I've ever come to Coopers Pale Ale.

 

[GPW1]

the actual bottling isnt so much a bitch but cleaning and sanitising the bottles is.

 

[xamol]

Been making home brew for about 12 years now. Have tried quite a lot, but mainly stick to Coopers now.
Traditional Draught
Traditional Sparkling Ale
European Lager

Usually put in 750 gms dextrose, 500gms LME and some hops for a bit more spruce. Mainly Saaz and Halatau

Sanatizing is a pain, but is a must. I usually put my bottle brush cleaner in my drill and give the bottles a real good clean. Rack my brew twice too. Comes out crystal clear.
I have a shit load of Grolsch bottles, so bottling is pretty easy.
Oh, and I dont put sugar in the bottles, I bulk prime with about 240 gms of dextrose.

Ah, I could go on, but...

 

[Hot Spenny]

I wouldn't even know where to start from scratch, which is a shame. Would love to learn the process. How does that premix stuff usually end up turning out? Can you modify it by adding extra ingredients to it?

 

[GPW1]

you can get the coopers microbrewery kit for about 70 bucks from kmart and big w. that would be the best place to start. it has everything you need to make beer.

whether the beer ends up any good is another story.

 

[The Dawes]

you can get the coopers microbrewery kit for about 70 bucks from kmart and big w. that would be the best place to start. it has everything you need to make beer.

whether the beer ends up any good is another story.

Yep, the Coopers brew kit is a great place to start - if for no other reason than it supplies everything you need to make your initial beer - 30 longnecks worth for $70.00.

Having brewed back in the early 90's and taking it up again about 4 years ago, I reckon it's a lot harder to stuff up your home brew than it used to be. As long as you clean and sanitise/sterilise well, then you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[Hot Spenny]

Yep, the Coopers brew kit is a great place to start - if for no other reason than it supplies everything you need to make your initial beer - 30 longnecks worth for $70.00.

Having brewed back in the early 90's and taking it up again about 4 years ago, I reckon it's a lot harder to stuff up your home brew than it used to be. As long as you clean and sanitise/sterilise well, then you shouldn't have a problem.

I inquired about a kit down at one of these specialist joints about this time last year...the guy had a kit with the lot costing about $180 which included everything; bottles, heat pad (or whatever it is!), a big ass plastic drum, the various ingredients and a free can (or whatever it is!) of coopers. Would you say this was a good price?

I'd assume this coopers starting kit would only come with the absolute basics...

(Excuse my ignorance on the subject!)

 

[GPW1]

$180 sounds a little steep, but without knowing exactely what it came with it's hard to say. aside from the heatpad, it sounds the same as the coopers kit, but $100 more.

 

[Hot Spenny]

$180 sounds a little steep, but without knowing exactely what it came with it's hard to say. aside from the heatpad, it sounds the same as the coopers kit, but $100 more.

It came with the things that I mentioned, maybe I am missing a couple of things, can't exactly remember. Well I might pick up one of these coopers ones and give it a shot.

 

[cammo84]

I bought a heatpad, and after talking to the guy in the brewshop, I decided I wasted my money. Modern ale yeasts can get to pretty low temperatures before they go dormant, so as long as your house isn't an icebox it's not totally necessary.

 

[StickerMan]

Been making home brew for about 12 years now. Have tried quite a lot, but mainly stick to Coopers now.
Traditional Draught
Traditional Sparkling Ale
European Lager

Usually put in 750 gms dextrose, 500gms LME and some hops for a bit more spruce. Mainly Saaz and Halatau

Sanatizing is a pain, but is a must. I usually put my bottle brush cleaner in my drill and give the bottles a real good clean. Rack my brew twice too. Comes out crystal clear.
I have a shit load of Grolsch bottles, so bottling is pretty easy.
Oh, and I dont put sugar in the bottles, I bulk prime with about 240 gms of dextrose.

Ah, I could go on, but...

I just got my first HB kit for my 30th the other day and am about to put on my first brew. I used to brew a few years ago with a mate but we were a bit slap and dash.

Got given a starter kit from Brewcraft with a Munich lager and also all the bits and pieces with it.

We always used to prime by the bottle, with plain sugar, but have been reading about the bulk priming and am interested in your thoughts on this? Is it better?

 

[The Dawes]

I inquired about a kit down at one of these specialist joints about this time last year...the guy had a kit with the lot costing about $180 which included everything; bottles, heat pad (or whatever it is!), a big ass plastic drum, the various ingredients and a free can (or whatever it is!) of coopers. Would you say this was a good price?

I'd assume this coopers starting kit would only come with the absolute basics...

(Excuse my ignorance on the subject!)

From memory, the Coopers kit comes with; fermenter (that'll be the big ass plastic drum) inc tap, lid, airlock, etc, 30 x 740ml PET bottles with caps, the Coopers Lager tin, 1kg brewing sugar, hand held bottle capper, stick on thermometer, 'how to' video hosted by Paul Mercurio no less!, carbonation drops (I think), spoon.... maybe some other stuff, but that's all I can remember.

$180 for a start up kit is too pricey. The heat pads are about $40, so that inflates the price, but even so, it's more than I'd be happy to pay - you can always pick up extra equipment as you get into it more. Home brews stores will always be more expensive, but the upside is, if you find a good one, you can get a lot of great advice.... plus kits and other goodies you can't get at K-Mart, Big W, etc that will improve your beers no end.....

 

[GPW1]

i got my coopers kit about 18 months ago and it didnt come with the hand held capper.

oh and the paul mercurio video is now a dvd.

 

[jonoman89]

How do you guys keep it cold enough to ferment a lager? Do you buy a fridge to put the fermenter in?

 

[The Dawes]

i got my coopers kit about 18 months ago and it didnt come with the hand held capper.

oh and the paul mercurio video is now a dvd.

You're right of course - my bad.

 

[GPW1]

How do you guys keep it cold enough to ferment a lager? Do you buy a fridge to put the fermenter in?

i dont have a dedicated brewing fridge, but yes a lot of homebrewers will use an old fridge and connect up a fridgemate (which is like a thermostat) to control the temp.

for lagers, i just do them in winter which helps with temp control but there are heaps of other things you can do to keep it cool. wrapping a wet towel around the fermenter, freezing an ice cream container of water then sitting it on top, leaving the fermenter in a sink of cold water (which can kept cool by topping up with ice).

for summer brewing, i check the weeks temps before i brew, if there are days in a row over 28, ill wait. i just use the wet towel method, but with those plastic ice pack things around the edge under the towel. seems to work alright.

 

[bresker]

I've made my own country wines ie blackberry, apple scrumpy etc and I've got a plastic pressure barrel somewhere which makes horrible flat beer.

I made some nettle wine once which was surprisingly good, like dry cider!

Also made a fantastic nectarine wine. It tasted great but the hangover was severe.

I've got some homebrew books which say aterlizing the bottles is a waste of time, you can get away with just rinsing them in soapy water. Which is fair enough I reckon, who cares if you get one or two dodgy bottles in a batch?

I've always wanted to make a beer from basic malt and hops but I'd need more equipment, like some sort of boiler.

 

[StickerMan]

Just put on my first brew last night and have got the temp down to 24 this morning, and the airlock is bubling away nicely. I could have sat and watched all day - almost brought a tear to my eye!!

Is a Munich Lager, which came with my kit so look forward to tasting my own beer!

 

[GPW1]

what yeast are you using? im gonna go ahead and say its not a lager yeast if its bubbling at 24 degrees. good luck!

 

[StickerMan]

Just added the yeast that came with pack. Not sure what yeast it was as it had no label or any info on the packaging.

Will see how it goes tonight when I get home

 

[Hot Spenny]

I bought a heatpad, and after talking to the guy in the brewshop, I decided I wasted my money. Modern ale yeasts can get to pretty low temperatures before they go dormant, so as long as your house isn't an icebox it's not totally necessary.

What if it's a heatbox! What temp range am I looking at for fermenting an ale?

 

[cammo84]

Vulture, I don't use the yeast that comes with the malt, I buy safale yeast from the brew shop. The guy in the shop reckons anywhere from 18-24 is good. If it gets anywhere near 30 degrees you'll kill the yeast. If it goes colder, the yeast goes dormant and you have to try and get the temp of the wort up.