BARDI77

I am thinking of brewing beer in my home.

I saw some beer brew powders in a shop.

1- What I would like to know if the beers made from these home brew beer powders have good quality/taste in comparison with beers we buy in bottle shops?

2- Do you know a good brand of these powders?

3- Is it difficult to brew beer at home?

THANKS!

spottydog

1) as with many things the better quality you start with the better output you get, we use 15l liquids and have had some excellent brews (to the extent that at parties guests have drunk our homebrew and left behind their bought beer)

2) most brands are similar it depends on the beer you like, find a homebrew shop and speak to the guy who owns it, they will be able to help.

3) it is pretty easy to do, just follow the simple instructions in the brewkit, the main thing to remember is to sterilize everything before use.

Don't expect your first attempt to be excellent but learn from it and have a second go.

DadAgain

I've done a bit of homebrewing...

Results have been always good - some slightly overly fizzy beers (when I've added too much primer) - but some excellent...

Even my worst brews have been better than commercial bought beer and for way less than half the price.

1 tip I would take on board - dont use priming sugar lollies (or sugar from a bag)- they produce a 'large' bubble, a slightly unpleasant flavour and throw more sedement. A *much* better way of priming is to follow the instructions below:

1) Empty contents of can + specified amount of water + dextrose +yeast as per instructions into brewing bin
2) Wait..... (between 4 days and 2 weeks depending on time of year)
3) Assuming fermentation is complete syphon contents into ANOTHER brewing bin with a litre or so of water mixed with required amount of dextrose to prime (ask brew shop for quantity - I cant remember!)
4) Syphon from this bin into bottles
5) Cap them
6) WAIT... between 1-26 weeks it'll keep improving and getting smoother - its a question of patience!!!

The extra drop from one bin to another will remove a LOT of the sedement that homebrew is so infamous for.

Spottydog is right too - dont use a $8 can from Woolies - go to brew shop and spend as much as you can on your ingredients - its worth it!!


oh - and start collecting beer bottles ASAP!!!! Its all very well having 750ml bottles (less hastle to bottle) if you're making an ale - but its MUCH nicer to have 350ml bottles and have them super-cold for a crisp lager.

kporte

Grayling does/did a bit, he seems pretty savvy about it. Sure he will be along to say he had to because Aussie beer is so bad

seang

ahhhh pity the admins brought in the warning about editing quotes

Grayling

Grayling

That's true

JackTheLad

I did home brew for a while back in the UK and in Aus. The problem here is it turns out too strong, and gives you the squits.

No really even adjusting the amount of sugar, and checking the alcohol level, it was always too strong.

And had unfortunate gastronomical consequences

JTL

BadgeIsBack

Concur with the advice - buy a decent kit. I bought an entire kit for about 80 bucks which included a heater for winter brewing, (drops in through the lid), and an alchohol reader.

I don't use the second stage - space is at a premium - and have never had an issue with sediment - not that I can notice anyhow.

Overall, it's great and you are able to make several slabs at a time. My friends take it quite seriously - one has a 'soda-stream' system which carbonates it on delivery. It seems to taste better and you get less side effects. My wife was dubious to start with - she seemed to think there had to be an element of error about the whole thing - but she loves the recent batch.

I'm about to bottle my 4th batch. I've always brewed the Cooper's Green beer in the past - as I've said before, it lends itself to home brewing but now I have a fermenter full of Corona.

You can make some mistakes and not have a disaster. Clean (sterilise) your kit and bottles and watch the temperature. My first attempt was over the Christmas vac about 3 years ago - and my brew rose to well over 30 degrees for almost a week and stewed after initial fermentation. It was fine. I drink mine from about a month after, and it seems to improve with age.

BTW - just because you observe no bubbles in the airlock during fermentation does not mean that no brewing is taking place. This has happened to me the last two brews. My wife found another use for my first fermenter and rendered it useless - that one bubbled away quite contently. Another tip is that once you've mixed the ingredients, using boiling water and topped it up with cold to the level, the temperature of the brew may be very warm - maybe as much as 30 degrees. Don't pitch the yeast until the temperature is in the right range - something like in the 20s. Lagers can be kept colder - my friend puts his fermenter in his climate-controlled wine cooler.

Brew shops sell some great little kits and Brewcraft, for example, even give you a sheet which indicates that you can copy another beer style by using one of their stock kits and adding extra ingredients. So you might buy a Caffrey's say - and turn it into a Guiness.

It's a good little hobby and saves trips to the bottleshop.

Swerv-o

I experimented with home brewing cider several years back - it was pretty successful until it cooked off on Christmas day, spraying cider all up the wall and ceiling.

What was left was really nice though. I would like to do some more - [nice] Cider seems to be an increasingly rare commodity here in Sydney...


S

Deutschmaster

I brew my own beer - i did it to save on costs, and I prefer darker beers compared to that horrible fizzy stuff they have here.

I like the Kiwi Black Rock brand of goo.

If done properly home brew is good. If not it can be horrible - the first batch I did with an old student flatmate was so horrible we called it old man's wee. Still, we got rid of it by having a house party starting off with good home brew then substituting the old man's wee half way through and everybody was so pissed they didn't notice.

Mistakes I can think of: not keeping it cool during fermentation - otherwise the yeasties ferment like crazy and it tastes horrible. A cool room - such as the bathroom is OK.

After bottling allow the beer at least a few weeks to mature.

Burbage

If only I could brew an acceptable version of Guinness. Any suggestions?

Grayling

I wish Guinness could brew an acceptable version of Guinness

kporte

I prefer that Coopers stout you put me onto. Best stuff here by a long chalk.

Grayling

I have my own small brewery. I used to make a lot of beer from the grain and hops.

It is a complicated process but easy enough.

The problem here is that it uses a hell of a lot of water to produce a few gallons.

I have brought all the equipment with me but will wait until the winter before trying it out.

The raw materials are available although good hops are hard to find and many shops only stock hop pellets.

G