My Home Brew

[last fairlane]

Hi all
Ive just bought a home brew kit and was wondering if anyone knows about home brewing
Ive seen the Coopers brand at Big W but Coopers beer doesnt do it for me
Does anyone know if you can buy a beer mix that tastes like XXXX bitter
or maybe Carlton draught
thanks John

[Alby1]

Hey John,
I recently started myself aswell, the coopers you buy from supermarkets doesn't really taste like the real thing, not terrible though. If your just making it as a cheap way to get a beer than it's the perfect start. I now got to a brewing shop for advice. You can buy a draught mix, one place said it was kinda like new, it was ok I suppose. The one I'm making now has a coopers base with added hops for aroma and taste, I tried the one in the shop and asked for something similar.
My advice would be to get to a brewing shop and tell them what you like and go from there.
Made a bourbon and coke on tap once, don't do that, way to easy to get another drink.....

[last fairlane]

Thanks Alby
I will check out the home brew shops
I got the brew kit second hand so I have to go and get some beer mix anyway whats your ideas on bottles
plastic versus glass and tallies versus stubbies
Ive seen them both advertised on Ebay
John

[Mont5.0]

Best way if money prevails is to set up a gas/keg system. Loved it, brewed for years. And the equipment holds its value really well. Added bonus is 48hours gassing vs 3-4weeks with sugar drops.

[290GTP]

+ 1 for a keg setup. Heaps less work & a better brew as well. Also, coopers draught home brew tastes similar to Carlton draught imo.

[Alby1]

Sorry John,

I have a Keg system so I don't know anything about bottles.

[last fairlane]

Hi guys thanks for the info
I bought a beer mix called Mexican Ceveza
I started brewing on the 29th of September
I made it according to the instructions
and it is bubbling away at about one bubble per second
Im having a little trouble keeping the whole set up below30 degrees
I checked it this the morning and it was still bubbling away
and the temp was 28 degrees but it gets up to 32 degrees
in the arvo I will wait for the four days and see how it goes
so far so good
John

[Alby1]

Ah the fun begins.. As soon as you bottle it, get another brew on, the waiting when you finish the last bit is painful.

[last fairlane]

Hi all
OK Im bottling my new brew tomorrow the 7th
30 bottles of I hope tasty grog
anyway I'll just have to wait for a couple of weeks to try it
I will report back around the end of the month
and let you all know how it went
I have a few mates hanging out for it and to be the guinea pigs
see you in a few weeks
John

[last fairlane]

Well here we are the first of November
Ive had about 10 bottles of my first batch of Coopers Mexican Ceveza
and given away another ten so it must be OK one word for it Delicious
and Im not sure of the alcohol content but it packs a punch
Ive bottled 30 bottles of draught so that should be ready next week
today I bottled 27 old style XXXX tallies with Queenslander bitter
the brew shop man said its like XXXX bitter I will call in again in the next couple of weeks and let you all know how its going so far so good
see you then
thanks John

[Uncle Niceguy]

hey John if you ever need another guinea pig send me a pm.

[BennyH]

Good advice below. For anyone searching for bottles I contacted a local wedding reception place who went through a heap every month and scored 150 longys. Gave them a good clean and off I went with the bottling.

[CheftonUTD]

Check out http://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum.php and http://www.brewtoad.com/ .

You'll learn heaps from the HBT forum, and BrewToad lets you put in your own recipes to get an idea of how they'll end up.

The two best things I found out about brewing;
1. Don't use the 'kit' tins, just get dry/liquid malts, yeast and hops and you can make way better beer (brewtoad is your friend for this)
2. Get a cheap second-hand fridge/chest freezer and a SCT temp controller and you can make great beer all year in any climate.

Happy brewing


<edit> Also as far as bottles go I've found the Bundaberg ginger beer/sars (if you happen to drink those) bottles work great, they're brown glass, and a full 375ml serve, plus they're short so you can stack the 2 high in milk crates.

[last fairlane]

Hi all
well its November the 8th and Ive had a couple bottles of the Brigalow draught Ibottled on 20th/10/13 it tastes OK but is way to fizzy it gets too much head then dumbs down to flat beer I dont know if it was me or the brew but when I mixed it in the barrel it was very frothy then so maybe that was it
and Ive just had a bottle of Queenslander bitter I bottled on the 1st/11/13
to me it tasted more like Carlton draught than xxxx bitter
anyway I will still drink it
thanks till next time John

[290GTP]

If its too fizzy it generally means it was bottled (or kegged) too soon. An extra day or so in the fermenter works wonders. If its winter i generally let it ferment for 8-10 days, summer 6-7 days.

Hope this helps.

[last fairlane]

Thanks for the info 290
Ive just started a new brew of Coopers Ceveza so I will see how that goes in the next week or so
thanks John