Home brew kits

[Troy711]

I've been thinking about getting myself a Coopers home brew kit.

Does anyone have one, or similar? How hard is it? How good is the beer? Anything else to add?

[vlv8vic]

i use the coopers brew but wasn't prepared to fork out for the overpriced kit.

Capper - ebay - apprx $10
stuff to make 25 ltrs (ish) $20
Bottles - $0 (really old ones i dug up from parents farm - nice thick CUB ones)
caps $2-4
two big tubs 30ltrs each - $8 each from camping store
various hoses for mixing and airlock - $4

I didn't buy an airlock. tight fit a hose through the lid on one barrel and put the other end in a bottle of water. works the same way.

Best beer i made was a Mexican Ceversa (or something liek that - was coopers).
Had a couple of overflows over summer and the odd bottle explode. I've stored beer for over 2 years and still had it taste great if not better (in the cellar though, just ground temp - under the house works ok too).

after it has brewed use a sugar mix and the second barrel. don't use the sugar drops, they are BS and you'll get a better brew mixing it the other way. Also saves explosions should the brew not match the sugar drop exactly.

Do a search and see if the info i posted last time comes up. I think i went into more detail.
sanitiser - $5
time and effort - lots!

[Troy711]

Is the pay off worth the time and effort though?

[vlv8vic]

yeah if you like beer!!! i'm not a hardcore beer drinker but will do another brew when the shed is finished, and the house, and the Merc, and the Mrs' shop lol.

You use a heap of water doing it, but 25 or so litres is 35 or something longnecks so you set aside a couple of hours to sanitise them properly.
Probably doesn't take more than an hour to make the brew and barrel it.
From memory i waited 2-3 weeks for it to pretty much stop bubbling the airlock then did the sugar mix and bottled. Takes about an hour to do that.

If you set aside half a day to do it all you're laughing. 35 longnecks for $20 worth of stuff isn't bad. Two batches and you have covered your initial outlay easily.

[vlv8vic]

side note, my mates would put in $5 when they came around and that was pretty much an "all you can drink" session. there was usually enough cash left over for some nibbles and stuff so it became a pretty good setup.

[CSP]

Is the pay off worth the time and effort though?

Hell yes!!! Best beer you can drink is Home Brew. No preservatives = no hang over!!!

My setup...




Have since added 3 extra taps (1 on the left, 2 on the right) to the front and a drip tray. Can now have 4 different beers on tap from 4 different kegs that all fit in the fridge at once! Beer glasses on the top shelf... Love it!

[quick308]

definatly alot cheaper than buying beer from the bottlo. patience is the key they recon after about 3 months you can start drinking it but i dont recomend it. i agree with vlv8vic they taste alot better with age. mine never tasted that great cause i would finish them off soon as they were ready to drink. a mate of mine was brewing stout and Draught beer both coopers i think anyway he forgot all about it and found it 12 months later bought it round to my house one night and honestly it was prob one of the best beers i have ever had

[TUF UTE]

that fridge setup is farkin awesome :O share details and plans

[Grennan]

CSP... i bow to thee. I want one.

[vlv8vic]

Hell yes!!! Best beer you can drink is Home Brew. No preservatives = no hang over!!!

You're going to have to tell me your ingrediants then... i still get the hangover even using the non-coopers (ah-la naturale) hops etc. (headache but not sick).

I find the sugar mix is still what gives the nasty headache. A mate used normal white sugar in his mix rather than the brew-sugar.... THAT was the headache to rival all headaches.

I used to use an old non-operational fridge to incubate my brew in cooler months. It was great because it contained it all in one little area out of the way.

[CSP]

Old working fridge was $100 and in damn good condition.

The kegging gear and taps can all be bought online or from a local home brew shop. Modifying the fridge was simple... Hole saw for the front, drill for the back.

That's pretty much it. High a CO2 bottle, buy a regulator and you're done.

As for no hang over... Don't use finings or brew enhancer. I just use caster sugar. 3 of us have finished a whole keg in one night (20 litres) and played golf at 8am the next morning. lol

[CSP]

Of if you like, you can just buy something like this...

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/BEER-FRIDGE-R...3A1|240%3A1318

[Darren]

I've been into home brew for a number of years, started off small but soon got sick of bottling and moved into a keg setup.

I'll give anything a try once ranging from ciders, ginger beer, pales right through to porters and stouts, some aren't soo flash but the best thing about a keg setup is out of the fermenter, into the keg for a couple of days and it's nicely carbed, it does still get better and will be a little cloudy for a while.

I've currently got 4 kegs on the go at the moment, actually make that 3, one needs refilling, the only problem is what to do next.

If you want to get into it you can generally pickup fairly cheap setups off ebay, so long as everything is spotless you'll be laughing and there's nothing better than brewing your own.

I almost had a heart attack paying $40 for a carton a few weeks back when you consider you can do something you like for ~$30 depending on what you use.

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

adds home brew kit, and keg fridge to end of year wish list

[ProphetVX]

definatly alot cheaper than buying beer from the bottlo. patience is the key they recon after about 3 months you can start drinking it but i dont recomend it. i agree with vlv8vic they taste alot better with age. mine never tasted that great cause i would finish them off soon as they were ready to drink. a mate of mine was brewing stout and Draught beer both coopers i think anyway he forgot all about it and found it 12 months later bought it round to my house one night and honestly it was prob one of the best beers i have ever had

I have three brewing kits, started out mainly on coopers stuff, and I was drinking it after 2 weeks of brewing it, and it definitely was no worse than VB.

Gets better with age, but certainly drinkable within a short timeframe.

As for the best beers, Morgans make some good drops... But honestly there is nothing better than using a liquid wort kit (come as 5L kits), but cost like $40 instead of the $15 canned stuff. So it isn't as cheap but if you love your beer its worth the extra coin.

Only annoying thing about homebrewing is the cleaning of bottles, everything else is pretty easy.

I live with 3 other blokes, and we haven't bought a case of beer for at least a year. Given how much beer we drink, we've saved a fortune. It works out costing $20 (if you use the cans) for the equivalent of 2.5 cases of beer, and we usually mix it so there is around 8-10% alcohol.

[calaiscruzer]

I love my home brew. Started using 'coopers golden draught' which was pretty good tasting(got a a bit greedy on one brew and added too much sugar, which stufd it up).
But once you get used to it you can get the alcohol up to around 6-6.5% max

Now im onto the coopers 'mexican cerveza' which is very nice. My last brew was actually one of the best beers Ive tasted even compared to anywhere on tap, and many other people agree with me. Im staying with the cerveza for a while and just experimenting with different types of sugar substitutes.
gets a bit annoying cleaning and preparation, but good to know that I can make 2slabs for around $20 and a couple of hours work.

If youre guna start, just get the 25l plastic keg from bunnings or somewhere that doesnt charge $40+ for them.
I wouldnt gom the full built in fridge-tap style as I take my beer to mates places and probably only drink half of it at home..

[quick308]

I have three brewing kits, started out mainly on coopers stuff, and I was drinking it after 2 weeks of brewing it, and it definitely was no worse than VB.

Gets better with age, but certainly drinkable within a short timeframe.

As for the best beers, Morgans make some good drops... But honestly there is nothing better than using a liquid wort kit (come as 5L kits), but cost like $40 instead of the $15 canned stuff. So it isn't as cheap but if you love your beer its worth the extra coin.

Only annoying thing about homebrewing is the cleaning of bottles, everything else is pretty easy.

I live with 3 other blokes, and we haven't bought a case of beer for at least a year. Given how much beer we drink, we've saved a fortune. It works out costing $20 (if you use the cans) for the equivalent of 2.5 cases of beer, and we usually mix it so there is around 8-10% alcohol.

interesting? how much sugar did you use. if i can avoid waiting a whole year before its any good i wanna know your secret

[ProphetVX]

interesting? how much sugar did you use. if i can avoid waiting a whole year before its any good i wanna know your secret

Just use pure dextrose or 50/50 malt mixes depending on the beer. I never use household sugar, the coopers stuff is pretty good for the dextrose. Otherwise I go down the local homebrew shop and get some liquid malt extract, for priming the bottles I just use the coopers sugar drops.

[ProphetVX]

I love my home brew. Started using 'coopers golden draught' which was pretty good tasting(got a a bit greedy on one brew and added too much sugar, which stufd it up).
But once you get used to it you can get the alcohol up to around 6-6.5% max

Now im onto the coopers 'mexican cerveza' which is very nice. My last brew was actually one of the best beers Ive tasted even compared to anywhere on tap, and many other people agree with me. Im staying with the cerveza for a while and just experimenting with different types of sugar substitutes.
gets a bit annoying cleaning and preparation, but good to know that I can make 2slabs for around $20 and a couple of hours work.

If youre guna start, just get the 25l plastic keg from bunnings or somewhere that doesnt charge $40+ for them.
I wouldnt gom the full built in fridge-tap style as I take my beer to mates places and probably only drink half of it at home..

Try the coopers mexican cerveza with 500g of honey, 1 kilo of coopers brew enhancer 2. And boil about 1 liter of water in a pan, add rind from 2 limes and 2 lemons (orange goes ok as well), add half of it first... let it simmer for 5 minutes, add the rest, let it simmer for another 5 minutes, then drain the rind and add the water to the batch.

Mix the rest as usual, it goes down an absolute treat, one of the smoothest beers I've ever drunk, good to go after 3-4 weeks.

[vlv8vic]

^^^ not much of a beer drinker but i'm frothing at the mouth thinking about that one. the mexican cerveza is the last one i did and was trying describe a few posts ago. It's a ripper.

[CSP]

I want to give a chilli beer a go...

[vlv8vic]

as in make one or drink one? I don't mind hot foods etc so i had one of these beers with a chili in the bottom. **** ME i nearly died. good for a taste but a whole bottle let alone drinking it for the whole evening had me sweating like a porker at a fatfest.

[quick308]

as in make one or drink one? I don't mind hot foods etc so i had one of these beers with a chili in the bottom. **** ME i nearly died. good for a taste but a whole bottle let alone drinking it for the whole evening had me sweating like a porker at a fatfest.

LOL not one of those beers that you would drink when you get home from work on a hot day . im game tho ill try anything

[calaiscruzer]

That sounds wicked phophetvx, ill try that one!!

[quick308]

Try the coopers mexican cerveza with 500g of honey, 1 kilo of coopers brew enhancer 2. And boil about 1 liter of water in a pan, add rind from 2 limes and 2 lemons (orange goes ok as well), add half of it first... let it simmer for 5 minutes, add the rest, let it simmer for another 5 minutes, then drain the rind and add the water to the batch.

Mix the rest as usual, it goes down an absolute treat, one of the smoothest beers I've ever drunk, good to go after 3-4 weeks.

although im not really into the smooth beers such cownies, tootheys new etc im keen to give it a go. i like a beer that has a real strong flavour e.g Melbourne bitter, Fosters