Author Topic: Homebrew (Read 30550 times)

pacs · « **Reply #25 on:** March 08, 2011, 08:27:25 PM »

Quote from: outback jack on March 08, 2011, 08:07:14 PM

hey redback, how far from melbourne do you live

hell yeah! you can pick me up on the way Jack

very nice setup redback

cancan · « **Reply #26 on:** March 08, 2011, 10:35:05 PM »

I have been using tooheys brew . Being lazy. Also have keg set up although I need to get my gas bottle retested which is proving hard

dazzawhipple · « **Reply #27 on:** March 09, 2011, 12:55:08 PM »

You should try making your own sprits.....that saves some money

Redback · « **Reply #28 on:** March 09, 2011, 01:49:20 PM »

Quote from: dazzawhipple on March 09, 2011, 12:55:08 PM

You should try making your own sprits.....that saves some money

I do and the misses does Liqueurs

Baz.

cancan · « **Reply #29 on:** March 09, 2011, 02:36:57 PM »

Mine is a similar set up. Went kegs in 96 and haven't been back to bottles since.

His and her white goods, and they shall never meet in the middle

Inside fridge. One day will get another tap, next fridge maybe.

tonyw · « **Reply #30 on:** March 09, 2011, 03:04:27 PM »

Made my own stouts and bocks for 10years but these days dont have time, used too make some rippers

Redback · « **Reply #31 on:** March 09, 2011, 05:53:58 PM »

Quote from: cancan on March 09, 2011, 02:36:57 PM

Mine is a similar set up. Went kegs in 96 and haven't been back to bottles since.

His and her white goods, and they shall never meet in the middle

Inside fridge. One day will get another tap, next fridge maybe.

Hahahaha, they don't understand

Nice setup,

Baz.

kiwipete · « **Reply #32 on:** March 09, 2011, 06:44:48 PM »

Quote from: dazzawhipple on March 09, 2011, 12:55:08 PM

You should try making your own sprits.....that saves some money

That is my next project.. My wife loves a drink and is funny as until the next day... she just cannot get outta bed, Migrane hits her hard... we heard that home brew sprits can help in that department...

Maîneÿ . . . · « **Reply #33 on:** March 09, 2011, 08:45:35 PM »

Has anyone done Bourbon home brew ?
any advice and clues would be welcome

I did some average beer back in 2005, but the best tasting drink I've done was Ginger Beer

Yoda42 · « **Reply #34 on:** March 09, 2011, 08:55:10 PM »

We've done a bit of brewing, but have found we couldn't get the temp down enough to make a truly decent brew. We've got the fridge, taps, lines and a few kegs, but haven't done anything for a few years now. We stuck with the Coopers stuff too, really reliable. And whacking a big chunk of ginger in a ginger beer really gives it a good kick along!

We have even put an a/c in the space under the stairs, but need to line the stairs to seal the space up. No excuse, really

Diksta · « **Reply #35 on:** March 10, 2011, 05:08:41 AM »

I stayed away from coopers I found their yeast was too aggressive on the few occasions I did use it I got another yeast to use in it

Redback · « **Reply #36 on:** March 10, 2011, 07:10:39 AM »

Quote from: Maîneÿ . . . on March 09, 2011, 08:45:35 PM

Has anyone done Bourbon home brew ?
any advice and clues would be welcome

I did some average beer back in 2005, but the best tasting drink I've done was Ginger Beer

Yes I have one oaking(soaking in American oak chips) at the moment, I have a whiskey kit with add in ingredients and will finish the brew off when I get back from my weekend away.

It taste OK at the moment, so should improve with the adding of caramels and and so on.

Barnray makes a good whiskey, I tasted it at the Knorrit Flat gathering

Quote

I stayed away from coopers I found their yeast was too aggressive on the few occasions I did use it I got another yeast to use in it

Diksta, when brewing with the beer kits, it's a good idea not to use the yeast they supply, use a good Safel 04 or 05 yeast and always store your yeast in the fridge and when it's time to use it, take it out of the fridge and let it get back to room temp before you put it in the brew.

Baz.

pjpatrol · « **Reply #37 on:** March 10, 2011, 08:06:41 AM »

Quote from: Yoda42 on March 09, 2011, 08:55:10 PM

We've done a bit of brewing, but have found we couldn't get the temp down enough to make a truly decent brew.

I now have an all fridge big enough to put in 2 fermenters, I also have a heat pad inside and wired up a temp controler. So the controller will either turn on heat pad or fridge, with a degree variance. I can set it to what ever temp I want to brew at, so good beer all year round.

DannyG · « **Reply #38 on:** March 10, 2011, 10:16:03 AM »

We make our own spirits. Home made still works really well. In fact id say we have distilled in excess of 100 washes.

The missus makes all sorts of fancy plonk with the alcohol for our bar. We have never got into the 'real' bourbons though, we just use the flavourings. The key is to only use good quality alcohol and filter it very well imho.

Alloy C/T · « **Reply #39 on:** March 10, 2011, 10:37:31 AM »

Gave up home brewing about 9/10 years ago ,after 10 ysr brewing ,allways had 1000 stubbies on rotation , worked out that beer was bottle aged for 8/9 mths , Coopers Draught with only 250grm sugar , same alc content as 4xGold and same taste without the chem preservatives , gave up when bought into a pub.

graham · « **Reply #40 on:** March 10, 2011, 06:26:18 PM »

brought a kegarator locally, consists of a bar fridge, a post with a tap ,and a keg brought from the brothers carlton @draught, it is FANTASTIC. 1 pot per man/per day/yeh right. oh i must mention that it is good for the environment cause on the thurs when the bins are emptied its pretty quiet

Tommo66 · « **Reply #41 on:** April 02, 2012, 11:14:40 AM »

Quote from: Redback on July 23, 2010, 06:05:13 PM

Anyone do homebrew, I do quite a lot and keg mine, just putting feelers out for some interesting recipes

Baz.

G'day Baz,

I've been brewing on and off for about 20 years, got into all grain brewing about 6 years ago and have all my beer on tap now via a kegerator with 4 kegs and a 3 tap font, I can help out with some recipes on all levels from the Kits (cans) through to all grain recipes with hop additions etc.

a few of my beers, left to right, Schwarzbier, Pale Ale and an Altbier

cheers

Tommo

pacs · « **Reply #42 on:** April 02, 2012, 11:56:42 AM »

I went to an open day on the weekend for a comunity based farm here in bendigo and some guys were up from Melb with a solar boosted brew I think the name was Buckley's and they had the most beautiful lemon grass pale ale if you see it I recomend trying it very nice

I must give the home brew a try one day!

Redback · « **Reply #43 on:** April 02, 2012, 12:06:55 PM »

Quote from: Tommo66 on April 02, 2012, 11:14:40 AM

G'day Baz,

I've been brewing on and off for about 20 years, got into all grain brewing about 6 years ago and have all my beer on tap now via a kegerator with 4 kegs and a 3 tap font, I can help out with some recipes on all levels from the Kits (cans) through to all grain recipes with hop additions etc.

a few of my beers, left to right, Schwarzbier, Pale Ale and an Altbier

cheers

Tommo

Nice beers, I've been experimenting with mini mashes for a while now, this has improved some of the beers I've been doing, just don't have the room to do full grain brewing.

Baz.

Moggs · « **Reply #44 on:** April 02, 2012, 12:37:19 PM »

I am into home brewing. It becomes a labour of love at times but kegging makes the whole process enjoyable compared to bottling.

I have converted a shed on our property into a bar and run a 3 tap font off a kegarator. I run Perlick flow control forward seat taps which are magnificent. Fonts also runs custom tap handles from TheBeerTapGuy out of the USA. Also have two kegs on gas conditioning in a separate fridge to give a 5 keg rotating system. Also brew sparkling cider for the wife and run that on tap. I can't drink commercial beer anymore. Nothing beats a good homebrew. Just need to get a countertop filler so I can bottle some to take camping straight from the kegs (or alternatively modify the camper for some refrigerated corny kegs and a font.....hmmmmm.....

I tend to like the Matilda Bay style beers, mainly Fat Yak and Beez Neez. I have some pretty good clone recipes for the Fat Yak and Beez Neez. Both are excellent drinking. Mainly brew from kits. Favourite clones and method are:

Fat Yak Clone

Ingredients:

1.7kg Coopers Pale Ale
1kg Light Dry Malt
450 g Dextrose (extra 200g from original recipe due to kegging)
15g Cascade hops @10min
15g Nelson Sauvin hops – @10min
15g Nelson Sauvin hops – @0min
15g Cascade hops dry hop
US-05 Yeast

Method:

1.   Sit Coopers Pale Ale tin in hot water
2.   Boil 2.5ltrs of water
3.   When water ‘breaks’ add 15grms Cascade Hops and 15g Nelson Sauvin Hops
4.   Boil for 10 minutes
5.   Take off heat and add 15g Nelson Sauvin Hops
6.   Add mixture to wort
7.   Mix in 1kg Light Dry Malt slowly to boiled water/hops mix
8.   Mix in 450g Dextrose
9.   Add Coopers Pale Ale tin
10.   Add water to wort to 22 ltrs and test temperature to
   between 18-22 degrees
11.   Pitch US-05 yeast
12.   At day 4 of ferment add 15g Cascade Hops

Beez Neez Clone – Country Brewer Recipe

Ingredients:

1.7kg Country Brewer Wal’s Wheat
514 Ale Yeast from Wal’s Wheat Tin
1.5kg Country Brewer Wheat Liquid Malt
200g Dextrose (extra 200g from original recipe due to kegging)
500g Capillano Australian Honey
150g Wheat Grain
12g Pride of Ringwood Finishing Hops

Method:

1.   Sit Wal’s Wheat Tin, Honey Bottle and Wheat Liquid Malt
Container in Hot water to soften
2.   Boil 1.5ltr of water in kettle
3.   Place Wheat Grain in 1ltr of boiled water and stand for 15 minutes
4.   Steep 12g Pride of Ringwood Finishing Hops in a mug of boiling water for 10 minutes
5.   Boil 2.0ltrs of water in kettle and add to wort – re-boil kettle
6.   Add 1.5kg Wheat Liquid Malt and 200g Dextrose and stir
7.   Strain Grain steep water into wort. Rinse grain into wort with 1ltr boiled water, discard grain
8.   Add Wal’s Wheat tin and stir
9.   Add 500g Honey and stir
10.   Top up wort to 22.5ltrs with cold filtered water
11.   Add mug of water and Pride of Ringwood Finishing Hops
12.   Check temperature is between 18-24 degrees and pitch Yeast

Hairs · « **Reply #45 on:** April 02, 2012, 12:39:29 PM »

Hi Baz,
Gave up brewing about 5 years ago, It was just too convenient

Had 300 odd tallies on the go.
Had 60 bottles blow up one high humidity morning in February when a storm came through and the temp dropped to about 15 degrees from well over 30, Bloody glass everywhere, I still find glass at times when I move something in the shed.

The couple of bottles that didn't explode, I had to get the Drizabone on backwards, welders mask and gloves, each one of them went off like a gun shot when the lid was unscrewed

In the end I was using the plastic brown PET bottles. Still have all the gear.
I was using Beer Makers, and a bloke told me to put into the wort 1 Teaspoon of salt just as you put the lid on after stirring in the yest.

It took away that home brew taste.

Redback · « **Reply #46 on:** April 02, 2012, 01:10:18 PM »

Thanks Moggs, they will go in the recipe book

Hairs, had the same happen to us, only with ginger beer, what a mess, now use plastic bottles for ginger beer

The beauty of kegging is that homebrew taste doesn't happen and also I've found if you lager or rack the beer before you bottle it, it doesn't happen either, doing mini mashes with hops and grains helps as well.

Baz.

Moggs · « **Reply #47 on:** April 02, 2012, 01:39:29 PM »

Agree that kegging does away with that homebrew 'yeasty' taste as there is no secondary ferment (assuming you force carbonate and don't prime your kegs with sugar). I also recommend lagering or racking to a secondary to get the brew off the yeast cake as soon as the primary ferment is finished. I also regularly filter my brews (especially those that are dry hopped) with a 1 micron brew filter prior to kegging. It is a bit of a hassle as you need to force transfer between two corny's under gas but certainly removes all yeast and makes for a very clear beer.

sdollery · « **Reply #48 on:** April 02, 2012, 03:42:13 PM »

Hi all, I brew as well. Glad to see there's a few here that do.

I have a converted bar fridge takes 2 kegs with 2 taps on the top. Works a treat. I currently have 23L of Dark Ale down, 23L of Pilsner, 23L of Cervesa and 46L of Pale Ale brewing. Normally brew up to 120L a month.

I have 8 kegs and 400 or so bottles. I find the Dark Ale and the Pale Ale are best in Kegs or Longies. I use swing tops (Grosch style) bottles for the Pils and use stubbies for the Cervesa. I also brew a 5.6% Lager, and an American Pale (like James Squire Golden Ale) these go in swing tops too! I naturally condition the kegs. I used to filter, then force carbonate but I found the beers tasted harsh. I find naturally conditioning the beers in the kegs smoothes them out and gives a finer head bubble that lasts longer. I also rack the beer, 24 hours before kegging/bottling to remove as much sediment as possible.

For camping I either use plastic longnecks ( I know it's plastic but they are cheap and last OK) or take a keg or 2! I have 2x30L water coolers (the round esky's types I purchased from BCF) with a hole cut in the top to fit a keg. I put a keg in each, then fill the cavity with ice the pop on the lid. I use a soda stream bottle and a mini regulator to push out the beer. I fit a pair of taps connected to keg post fittings and you have 36L of great beer on tap when camping!

Cheers,

SD (Shane)

UR-50-LO · « **Reply #49 on:** April 02, 2012, 05:49:24 PM »

I brew & distill having a full brewery in the garage.
Well I did, I am actually selling all my gear atm to fund the new trailer & boat. Just going to keep the basics and bottle in future...

Heres my current kegerator. 4 kegs, bottle filler, crownie cap opener & whiteboard to write whats on tap!!!

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Author Topic: Homebrew (Read 30550 times)

pacs

pacs