Home Brew Kits

[clinster73]

Thinking of getting a Coopers Micro Home Brew kit for xmas.
Has anyone had any luck with home brew?
Any thing i should look for in a kit??
Cheers!!

[calais_304]

first thing about home brew is make sure everything is as clean as it can get, the littlest bit of crap will throw out your whole brew, be patient with it, it's growing, use plenty of sugar , things to look for in a kit, 1. instructions, 2.plastic keg, little bubbler thingy that goes on top of plastic keg, and if you in cold climate get them to chuck in a heater pad.

other then that go down to the dump and get as many tallies as you can and spend a good day cleaning all of them, also get a bottle stand it's the best way to dry them out.

[craigvk]

Buy your stuff from a home brew shop. The shop will tell you a whole heap of things about brewing more than just buying a kit at Kmart or whatever. The problem is most people who buy the kits give up after a couple of times. Buying stuff from a brew shops gives you more confidence and you have backup and advise if things don't go right.

Don't use just dextrose as a brewing sugar. Use liquid or powder malts instead. Buy in bulk and get a set of 5KG scales to weigh your 1 Kg brewing sugar. Like buy say 10 kilos of malt at a time instead of buying individual packs. It's cheaper. Make sure everything is sterilised and clean. Don't add boiling water into the fermenter with powedered malt. It will go clumpy. Add corn syrup to give better, fuller head
Get a bench capper. Hand cappers are shit. Keep bottles in a dark, cool place for minimum 3 months and up to 1-2 years. Experiment when making stouts. Add some extra hops, maybe some chocolate grain or black barley to give it more 'kick'.

As I said above, go to a brew shop and buy your kit! You don't need a pretty cardboard box with Coopers name on the box.

The brew shops have many different beer kits (meaning the cans). Buy from the supermarket as the Coopers kits because it might be 2-3 dollars cheaper. Experiment and don't give up. Keep going and it can only get better.

[craigvk]

Remove the labels off the bottles. Soak them in big buckets of water for 2-3 days and the labels peel off. The best way to clean used stubbies is in the dishwasher! Put it on normal wash and don't use rinse aid or powder. Be careful as the bottles will be hot but I guarantee they will be 100% sterilised!

[sparky]

All of the above, but also get ready for good cheap beers. Plus after the first couple of brews you make it just tastes better and better.

[clinster73]

Thanx for your advice craigvk.
What about using the plastic bottles that are provided?
This sounds easy this way....?????
and can i use normal stubbies instead of the long necks?

[calais_304]

Thanx for your advice craigvk.
What about using the plastic bottles that are provided?
This sounds easy this way....?????
and can i use normal stubbies instead of the long necks?

yu can use any bottle you want mate, a mate of mine once used grolsh bottles.

the best way to do it, is by keg (proper metal keg) the plastic one is fine (my old an won the radio comp in t'ville for home brew, at the time he was usin only the plastic keg.)

[craigvk]

I will be honest, I haven't brewed in a while due to lack of space haha. Yes I don't think there is a problem with using plastic bottles. I wouldn't be a fan of it personally. It's sort of like having screw top wines
There is nothing wrong with using normal stubbies but avoid hand cappers as I break 1 in 5 or so bottles Bench cappers don't break bottles and give a much better seal too. Normal stubbies you just add half a tea spoon of any sugar and long necks just add one tea spoon. Many kit brewers don't add sugar to individual bottles these days, they prime the whole kit by transferring the right amount of sugar in one fermenter and transferring via a plastic hoses. Saves you having to prime each bottle one by one.

[Stupa]

plastic bottles work fine, I've used 2ltr coke bottles before without any problems

[crazyspoon05]

Some of the glass stubbies around nowadays can crack if reused as well as the glass is a lot thinner than it used to be

We've been homebrewing for a while but it does pay to spent the little bit extra and go to a brew shop to get your malts, etc as it does make a lot of difference from just using a can of stuff and the dextrose, etc you can get at the supermarkets

[clinster73]

the best way to do it, is by keg (proper metal keg) the plastic one is fine (my old an won the radio comp in t'ville for home brew, at the time he was usin only the plastic keg.)

Ive asked about the keg deal and it works out to be about $400 to start.
Compared to $70 ill start this way...

[craigvk]

If money isn't a problem, go the keg way.

[coolvxss]

Just made my 1st homebrew with a mate last week. Hope it turns out alright.

[vlv8vic]

Ive made quite a few nice brews. Steer clear of sugar-drops to give them fizz, do a whole batch with a sugar mix so you wont get explosions.
a friend did one with ordinary white sugar once....DON'T.... unless you like a bloody heavy/dark beer and waking up feeling like you've had a sledgehammer to the back of the head i wouldn't recommend it.

[maginoodle]

try a teaspoon of honey instead of sugar. makes them taste real smooth.

[craigvk]

Yeah. Making your own is good. You can have a lot of fun experimenting. Maybe try brown or raw sugar for secondary fermentation or honey like the previous poster said.

And when you want to really experiment, put some mashed bananas into a mesh bag and make some banana lagers Or add a chilli into each stubbie to give it a kick or even add some raasberry cordial concerntrate to the brew and make a wicked fruit flavoured lager.

[vlv8vic]

craig at what stage and in what proportion would i add the cordial to a 23 odd litre brew? ive been fairly conservative but the mrs likes the sound of that one....

[craigvk]

Well it's a concentrate. Chuck a litre of it in with the rest and brew as normal. Because the cordial is full of sugar it will also ferment and might take a little bit longer until the fermenting stage stops.
I tried one before that I think was strawberry or rasberry flavoured and it was an awesome beer! It wasn't really sweet or anything but if you closed your eyes it was hard to pick it was a fruit beer. It did have a unusal, but good taste to it.

As for the bananas, just brew as normal with the bananas in the bag. You can chuck orange peel and stuff in a bag too. These are only best for lighter coloured beers. Experiment. It won't do any harm will it?

Make sure you let me know how things go

After all, it won't turn out worse. It could only be better or the same.

[vlv8vic]

dug this up for anyone who wants to read more detail about my setup...

http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/...eer#post306979

[craigvk]

And of course the more cordial you add, the more the colour of the beer will change.