Western Front Forum
General => General discussion => Topic started by: Ingasm on July 05, 2007, 07:48:01 AM
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Introduction
By not so popular demand, this is the official homebrew thread. Beer, and alcohol in general, is a big part of life. Let's not beat around the fucking bush here. It is the one thing that comes close to a fix all panacea. It disinfects wounds, eases emotional pain, it gets fat people laid, it looks good, smells good, tastes better, is the perfect accompaniment to stellar international dishes such as Chips and Kebabs, makes people gullible and easily swayed, and, in some circles, can even be used as currency.
Also implicated in at least 19000 deaths in 1998. (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 1998.)
Beer, wine and spirits are readily available from just about anywhere in Australia. Even remote aboriginal desert communities. So, why even bother making it at home?
Well, there are a couple of reasons.
1) After a modest investment in some brewing gear, it’s cheap as fuck.
2) Its fun to experiment with different things.
3) It’s easier than getting raped in prison.
4) You get ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES at the end of it.
5) You can make just about anything you want.
I wouldn’t have a fucking clue about distilling spirits, or brewing wine, so I am going to focus on beer. I basically made this thread to share a few things that I've learned about making beer at home, maybe inspire some of you cunts, and maybe learn a few things off you too. Everyone is extremely welcome to pitch in with their experiences.
Beer
I’ll just cut the shit and get to what’s important. This what you will need to brew beer.
1. This address: Units 2 & 3 Stock Road Market Complex, 40 Port Pirie Street, Bibra Lake, Western Australia 6163
This is the store where most of the other homebrew stores in town get their fancy shit. They guy who owns it, Roy, is a really nice bloke and seriously knowledgeable. He is also missing fingers, which means he is a total badass. He knows everything about beer, and his store is pretty much the only place you can get liquid yeast cultures and other things like fresh hops.
2. Cooper’s Microbrewery
This package contains everything you need to brew, and also includes one beer kit in a can, brewing sugar, 30 plastic longnecks, and carbonation drops. It costs just under 80 dollars, and is great value for money compared to anything else. Also contains:
- Hydrometer: This allows you to mesure the specific gravity, or density of the wort.
- Fermenting bucket: What your wort lives in while it matures into beer.
- Sticky thermometer: When over 9000, engages laser.
- Airlock and grommets: Stop greeblies and possibly Jews from getting into the wort and snotting shit up.
- Some shitty sanitiser: Not worth your time.
- Little bottler: Makes it at least 100 times easier to put beer in aforementioned bottles.
3. A keen eye for cleaning and sanitising. If you don't, your beer will suck. It's that simple.
4. A keen eye for cleaning and sanitising. If you don't, your beer will suck. I really mean it.
5. A keen eye for cleaning and sanitising. If you don't, your beer will suck. You are going to fuck up and continuously fuck up if you don't ensure utmost cleanliness.
6. A bottle of Idophor, and a bottle of Pink Neo. Available at any good homebrew store.
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Cleaning and Sanitising
If you didn't understand before, this is important. Sanitisation is required to prevent nasty infections that will make your homebrew taste like a felcher's vomit, or turn the alcohol in your beer into vinegar.
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This is an acetobacter infection. This would be the vinegar turning one. This happened because I missed a crack in one of my fermenting buckets during sanitising. Cracks = bacteria = ruined beer. This was supposed to be a Hoegaarden.
Idophor is my steriliser of choice, and a good one to start with. It's a mix of phosphoric acid and iodine, and is more quick and effective than anything else I have used, with the added perk of not needing rinsing afterwards. The product Pink Neo is really good for cleaning the yeast cake off the bottom of a finished fermenter and other bits and bobs. I boil my taps and fittings in water after cleaning. I also use a dilute solution of hydrogen peroxide for general sanitisation.
You can never be too clean. My cleaning regimen, as an example: Gentle soak and scrub with pink neo, rinse with hot water, second scrub with pink neo, second rinse with hot water, fill fermenting bucket to the brim and add 25mL of Idophor, soak for at least 30 minutes. Drain through the tap, and then boil the tap for a few minutes. Voila, ready for wort. When doing any cleaning, it is really important that you use a soft cloth. Scratching the inside of a fermenter will guarantee infections time and time again, as these tiny scratches can inadvertently harbour millions of bacteria.
Ale or Lager?
There are two main types of beer, lager and ale (there is also a third variety, called lambic, which is unique to Belgium, but lets forget about it for a while). Lagers and ales may share many characteristics; they can also be completely different depending on how they are made. The only thing that definitively distinguishes ales from lagers is the type of yeast used during fermentation.
Ales
An ale is made with a top fermenting ale yeast, that means that the yeast floats fairly evenly throughout the wort, and fermentation occurs throughout the wort. Ales are generally known to have stronger, fruitier (estery) flavours than lagers, with many types of ale getting a lot of their flavour from the yeast. They ferment at higher temperatures than lagers, ideally you want to ferment ales at 18 degrees, for about one to two weeks. Most of the kits you get for homebrewing are supplied with ale yeasts, the notable exception being Cooper's premium Bavarian lager.
Some examples are Cooper's sparkling and pale ales, any stouts such as Guinness or Cooper's extra stout, James Squire's amber and golden ales, Little Creatures bright and pale ales, Weihenstephaner Hefeweißbier, Leffe blond and brune, Redback, Hoegaarden, the list goes on.
Lagers
A lager is made with a bottom fermenting lager yeast. This means that the majority of the yeast settles to the bottom, , and most of the fermentation occurs on the yeast cake that forms. Lagers often have a cleaner, crisper taste, most of the flavour comes from hops and malt, with very little flavour coming from the yeast. A lager is more complicated to make for a home brewer. Firstly, they require better temperature control than ales, needing to be fermented at around 13 degrees for as long as three weeks. Furthermore, they require a short period of higher temperatures (around 16 degrees) for the diacetyl rest which is the process where the yeast breaks down nasty buttery flavours. Finally, as lager yeasts are prone to producing horrible fart-like smells, the beer needs to be tapped off from the fermenter and stored in a separate container to condition for well over a month.
A few examples of lagers are any Australian mass produced beer except for Cooper's i.e. Victoria Bitter, Tooheys, Swan, Emu, XXXX. Better examples include Becks, Stella Artois, Pilsener Urquell, Bohemian Pilsner, Bock, Fürstenberg, Memminger, James Squire pilsener and Amstel.
Conclusion
Okay, you get the general idea. This is the absolute minimum to brew beer. The beer made straight from the kits won't be terrific, but it will be good to drink. If I can add one more thing, I really, really must stress that sanitation is the key to homebrewing. To make better beer, you will need to get a few more ingredients, but I'll get into that a bit later.
Hopefully, that's food for thought. I'll prepare ingredients tonight for an American Pale Ale, but as the flash on my camera is shit, I'd rather take photos during the day. We'll see.
Index
Techniques
Using a hydrometer (http://www.westernfront.com.au/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,43/topic,2879.msg62738#msg62738)
Cultivating your own yeast (http://www.westernfront.com.au/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,43/topic,2879.msg62436#msg62436)
Recipes
Recipe 1: American Pale Ale part 1, (http://www.westernfront.com.au/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,43/topic,2879.msg62261#msg62261)part 2 (http://www.westernfront.com.au/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,43/topic,2879.msg62629#msg62629)
Recipe 2: Belgian Brune
Recipe 3: English Bitter
(http://www.westernfront.com.au/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,43/topic,2879.msg62806#msg62806)
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Excellent work chap. :clap:
Also, while I was never able to get a distilling project off the ground, I am looking forward to discussing it here. I'd also recommend anyone interested check out this site: http://homedistiller.org
Does anyone here do, or have done it? By distilling of course, I mean the mass production of cheap and effective spirits.
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Good stuff.
I will cultivate some Coopers yeast tonight for a brew Ill make later and explain how/why/when to do it.
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Yeah, Im very interested in this yeast cultivation idea. Ive only EVER used the packet yeast you get with the Coopers/Tooheys etc brew cans. Havent even considered using anything other than that. What are the advantages, does it effect taste/clarity/quality/mago-factor much at all?
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Style: American Pale Ale part 1
Okay guys, let's get started. American Pale Ale is one of my favourite types of beer. This style of beer is all about the hops; malty or yeasty flavours generally take a back seat (or are pretty much indistinguishible), allowing the floral / citrus tastes and smells jump out and fuck you in the mouth. The two prime examples of this style that you will come across in Perth are Little Creatures Pale ale and James Squire's Golden Ale.
Only American hops (the breed of hop, they don't have to be grown there) should be used in this brew, as they possess the qualities you need for this style. This means that if you want to make this style of beer, you are going to need to buy hops. They should be available in little golden bags in 100g or 500g amounts. They aren't terribly expensive, as a little goes a long way. 500g is enough for about 10 brews, or 230 litres of APA. I paid just under 25 dollars for a 500 gram package, works out to be about 2.50 per brew. Pretty good value, considering how much they add to the overall quality of the beer.
Understanding Hops
I'll break this down and make it really simple. Hops are what make beer bitter and fragrant, and usually impart some kind of flavour to the brew. They balance maltiness in a beer, but have to be used appropriately; too little, and the malt flavours will dominate, too much, and the sharpness and bitterness will be overpowering. However, it's not quite as simple as chucking the whole lot in and hoping for the best. In order to make an APA, or any beer with hops, you will need to boil your wort. You add the hops at different points during this boil in order to get different effects from the hop. Don't worry, it's much easier than it sounds!
Bittering
In order to bitter the beer, you will need to boil hops in the wort for about 60 minutes or so, which allows time for the the alpha acids in the hops to become bitter. This stage is not needed if you are using a beer extract kit, like Cooper's, because the malt extract in it has already been bittered. When doing liquid extract brews (i.e. the malt has not been bittered), this step will be necessary. Just how bitter a hop is shown on the package as a percentage of alpha acids (my cascade hops are 5.8 percent). Right now, the bittering stage is not important, so I'll go over this part in my next brew (which will be a hefeweißbier bittered with Saaz hops, which is a Czech hop).
Flavouring
To flavour and add some aroma to the beer, the hops should be boiled for about 15-25 minutes. I usually boil mine for the full 25. So, if you are going to do a half hour boil (as I do), chuck in the hops about 5 minutes after you've gotten a rolling boil. I will elaborate on the boil when I write up the method a little bit later.
Aroma
To impart extra aroma to the beer, chuck the hops into the boil for only a short time, around 1-3 minutes before you turn off the stove. You can even toss the hops in after you have finished the boil, and just let it stand for a while. It's all good.
Hop Varieties for APA
The four major types of hop you want to look at are:
Cascade: This is the most common American hop used in APAs, it's cheap and imparts a great citrusy taste and smell. Is grapefruity and has a nice bite. I will be making an all Cascade APA for simplicity's sake. This is the main hop in Little Creatures Pale Ale.
Chinook: Gives a kind of herbal woody aroma, and is usually used for flavouring and bittering. There is a touch of Chinook in the finish of Little Creatures Pale Ale
Amarillo: Floral and citrusy, lacks a bit of the bite that cascade has. Pretty smooth; it's prominent in James Squire Golden Ale, if you want an idea of how it tastes and smells. I think it's also in Little Creatures Bright Ale, but I can't remember exactly. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Centennial: I've never used it or tasted a beer with it in it. I wouldn't have a clue.
Ingredients
Before you do ANYTHING, get your instructions.
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And put them in the correct place.
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Honestly, most instructions, especially the Cooper's, are utterly useless and will net you very ordinary beer. I shit you not, destroy those things and don't even give it a second thought. Toss them with glee. Ok, now that's out of the way... Excuse the dodgy photos. Hope they are clear enough.
One can of beer kit extract, Cooper's pale ale or something similar will be fine. I'm using Deliverance here.
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One kilogram bag of dried malt extract. I use a little extra for more malt taste and alcohol. You can use brewing sugar or a brew enhancer if you want, just don't use table sugar for the love of god. Unless you want malt cider. Brewing sugar will give you a thinner beer overall, so I like to use malt, even though it's more expensive (about 7 dollars per kilo)
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One bag of Cascade hops. I have the 500g bag here, probably best to get a 100 gram bag unless you are planning on making bulk batches.
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A quality dry yeast, US-56. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Store the yeast that came with the can for yeast starter solutions (I'll get to that later). this yeast will cost you about $1.50 from a homebrew store. Buy it in bulk, because it's a great yeast.
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250 grams of light crystal malted grain. It should already be cracked, so if it isn't, put it in a bag and bash it with a rolling pin until it is. I have 500 grams here. Grain isn't necessary, but I like to use it in my brew to add freshness, body and extra flavour. Feel free to leave this part out.
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If you choose to use the grains in your brew, you'll need a lady's stocking. Preferably brand new, with no holes or ladders.
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Conclusion of Part 1
I will get onto the method after work. This is taking longer than I thought!
Necron, that would be great if you could go over yeast cultivation, be sure to take photos! Also Haydz, the difference a good yeast will make is pretty remarkable. Can yeasts are usually old, of a lesser quality and make all sorts of weird flavours if they are fermented above 22 degrees C. Also, canned yeasts often take a long time to start up after you've pitched them into the wort, which leaves it open for bacteria and Jews to get in and start fucking up your brew. It's well worth the $1.50 for a good quality dry yeast. There are exceptions - the Cooper's yeast is pretty darn good I reckon, but only if you don't follow the instructions in the can.
Brew on. :headbang:
Till next time!
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This is sounding good. Little Creatures Pale Ale and (Weihenstephan) Hefeweissbier are two of my fave beers. Especially the hefe (there's at least 10 empty bottles around the floor somewhere I haven't bothered to take out yet).
I think I will need to sample some of yours, in the name of great science. Thank science for beer. 8)
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I fucken love Tooheys black ale how would you brew that?
my second choice would be something like Carlton Cold Ted's or Hahn Light (yes it's light beer but I fucken love the shit, except It would be better as a full strength)
a bloke I know Pitbull, he has a home brew set up nicely, he puts it in a 30 ltr keg in his fridge and has a tap through the door so he can pour himself cold beer.(also has a co2 bottle)
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Alright then.
Cultivating your own Yeast
1. What you will need
To cultivate your own yeast, you will require
- Good beer to cultivate from. I recommend any Coopers beer as their yeast adds so many delicious characteristics to your brew, and you can usually get it quite fresh. Make sure the beer has been standing upright for at least a day to allow all of the sediment to fall to the bottom of the bottle.
- A Grommet
- A longneck to use as a vessel to cultivate the yeast
- About 300ml of water
- About a teaspoon of sugar. The sugar is very important, as this is what will activate the yeast. The yeast will begin to eat away at the sugar and grow, releasing carbon dioxide. This is what the grommet is used for.
- Last but certainly not least. SANITIZER. I cannot stress enough how important this is.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi72.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi180%2FNekron_666%2Fmisc%2FImage026.jpg&hash=c23b710ae487010ecb19f7066620671e95148d25)
2. Methodology
1. Boil the 300 ml water in a kettle. While this water is boiling, sanitize your grommet and longneck.
2. Once the water has boiled, pour it into a small saucepan and place on the stove. Add the sugar and bring to the boil while stirring. You should notice the suger starting to pop. This is good and normal, do not be afraid.
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3. After making sure the longneck is clean (remove the sanitizer as well !!), pour the boiled water/sugar solution into the longneck and insert the grommet.
4. Cool the bottle down. It is imperative that the water/sugar solution be cooled before you add the yeast. Too hot and it kills the yeast, but too cold and the yeast will not be activated. Depending on what beer you intend to brew, different temperatures will yield different results (this is the beauty of brewing, experimentation!), but if you get it to between 18 and 24 degrees, you should be ok. Here's a trick if you cant fit it in the fridge (make sure it stays upright for fuck's sake); block up the sink and fill it with water and place the longneck in the sink. While this is cooling down, why not have a drink ?
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5. Once the longneck has cooled down, remove the grommet. Take your beer (which has been standing upright this whole time !) and carefully pour out the contents into a glass, making sure you keep the sediment in the bottle. This remaining sediment you will then pour very very very carefully into the longneck.
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6. Replace the grommet and that's it. You're done Leave it for around 3 days in a relatively cool place and watch how the yeast grows. While you're waiting, why not have a drink ?
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That's it for now people. Once this yeast has grown, Ill use it in a new brew ;D
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Sensational stuff right here!
I'm going to give this a shot with a fancy pants Belgian. Will pick up a bottle of Leffe on the way home, hopefully there will be some viable yeast left after the long journey. THE SECRETS OF LEFFE ABBEY WILL BE MINE.
As for a TED, It will have to be a lager, which is a bit more difficult to do at home, because lower temperatures need to be maintained (around 13 degrees celcius). Pale malt extract, dextrose for the thin body, thinking Pride of Ringwood or Cluster hops and a clean Saflager lager yeast should get pretty close. I've never made a true lager before, so maybe I could give this a shot.
TED isn't exactly a high target, so you could probably make something a heap better. Tooheys old, or Toohey's black ale I've never tasted, but it would probably just be a standard stout style. I'll read up a bit tonight and maybe get a few bottles on the way home.
Cheers again necron!
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Ok... you got your way cunts... I give in. I am incredibly tempted to get into home brewing now. When the parentals get back, I shall try and sweet talk my way into permission to setup one. :P
I think some bribing with some of the by-product will come in handy.
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Why get your parents permission? A fermenter doesn't take up all that much space...
Fuck guys (and by guys, I mean the five people inhabiting this thread), I'm really sorry I haven't written up / put on this brew yet. Work has been breaking my balls, I just got back then after starting at 8am this morning. Three dead kids and a nasty flu outbreak will do that, but don't fret, because I have time tomorrow so I promise you it will be right to go then.
I've been thinking about it Mick, if you are after a generic lager style, you can make something similar to (but probably better than) the examples you gave entirely out of a kit can with no added hops or grain, but with a lager yeast (Saflager, about $1.50) instead of the supplied yeast / another ale yeast. The problem is, if you are brewing lagers, you really do need a dedicated fridge and a socket timer ($5 from Bunnings) to maintain the temperature you need which is 13 degrees C, as I said above.
Necron, have you tried using malt extract instead of table sugar in your yeast starters? If so, are there any benefits or is it just as good with sucrose? I've read in a few books that brewing yeasts prefer maltose over sucrose, but I'd be interested in real world experiences.
Also, Cooper's ES is a damn good drop.
Idophor, on the other hand, is not.
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Why get your parents permission? A fermenter doesn't take up all that much space...
Yeah, but there aren't too many ideal places at my house, and there's my little brother running around drinking poisons to deal with. Is iodophor a good drop? :P
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FUCK! Murphy's law, isn't it?
Did the Pale Ale today, was fumbling around with the camera and rehydrating the yeast, when the wort boiled over the second I looked away. I lost about 700 mLs of wort, I added extra malt to compensate, but I lost a fair bit of the bitterness. What's more, I overfilled the fermenter. I tasted it and it's not nearly bitter enough, but the maltiness is good and the specific gravity is at about 1044, so that's standard, rather than the extra malt + strength I was after.
Shit happens... but it doesn't matter too much, I think I can fix it. What we want to do is bump the bitterness up about 5-10 IBUs (bitterness unit) or so. That should get us back in the ball park, I think.
I will add 25g of cascade hops to about 500mLs of water and malt extract and boil it for an hour, cool it, and toss it into the wort after the yeast has taken (i.e. airlock starts bubbling). I've never done this before, and I won't really recommend it either as there's definitely a higher chance of infecting the brew doing this. I'll see how it goes.
Anyway, I'll write up the method tonight.
Edit:
All fixed. I did what I outlined above, except I used 70g of cascade instead of a pathetic 25g. Nice and bitter! But thick and horrendously sludgy. Going to toss the sludge into the fermenter. Now there is going to be bits of hop floating about in the beer as a result of this, but I don't mind, as losing a bit of quality in visual departments is much better than losing a whole brew.
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Jesus Christ it's revolting.
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Did anyone else ever have that moonshine and cola about 6 or 7 years ago? I'd love to know what happened to that shit. It was the best thing ever. 500mL cans, 2.8 standard drinks per can, and only 99 cents each. Thats even better value than goon. I remember back in the old days I could get pissed off 3 cans of that shit. $3 night!! I wish that stuff was still around.
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Did anyone else ever have that moonshine and cola about 6 or 7 years ago? I'd love to know what happened to that shit. It was the best thing ever. 500mL cans, 2.8 standard drinks per can, and only 99 cents each. Thats even better value than goon. I remember back in the old days I could get pissed off 3 cans of that shit. $3 night!! I wish that stuff was still around.
Sounds like a recipe for a good time. I have some time tonight, so I'm going to fix up the photos a bit and then write up the method for the APA. Finally.
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Style: American Pale Ale part 2
Finally, we are ready to go.
Before we get started, make sure you have two saucepans, one as big as possible (6-10 litres, this will be your boil pot), and one not so big (for steeping your grain, if you choose to do so). Before staring, ensure everything is clean and sanitised (don't worry about the pots, they are going to be boiled anyway, just wash them and be done with it). Keep the kettle nice and close. A thermometer and a set of scales are recommended, but not really necessary.
First thing to do is get some water ready for the yeast. It's entirely possible to just sprinkle the dried yeast onto the wort after you have finished making it, but you get faster and better results if you rehydrate the yeast first. It takes no effort, so just do it. Boil the kettle, and pour about 300-400 mLs of boiling water into a clean and sanitised bottle, ensuring that the bottle lid is also sanitised. Plastic bottles will work just fine, but they will deform from the heat; as long as the lid can stay on firmly it doesn't matter. After you do this pop it in the freezer too cool down, you want it to be at about 20-30 degrees before you pitch the yeast into it.
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Step 1: Preparing the Grain (Optional)
Caramel malt grain needs to be steeped on hot water for about half an hour in order to release the malt sugars. Ideally, you want the temperature to be maintained at between 60 and 70 degrees C during the steep, but lower temperatures are fine if you have time to steep for longer. Too hot, and the grains will leech tannins, which are really astringent (i.e. feel like they suck the moisture out of your mouth, chew on a grape seed to see what it's like.)
How much grain you use is a personal choice, but 300 grams or so works well to start. Weigh out about 300 grams or if you don't have scales, just eyeball it (they come in 500g or 1kg bags generally).
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Now that is done, get the stocking, and fill it with the grains, to make a grain bag. Get someone to help you as this is fucking hard to do without spilling shit everywhere. Be sure to rinse the stocking in hot water before you use it, it doesn't need to be sterilised as the water from the grain will be going into the boil anyway.
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Once the water in the small saucepan is at about 70 degrees, put the grain bag into it. Adding the grains will drop the temperature down to about 65, which is ideal. Thoroughly wet the bag, and poke it with a spoon to make sure the water soaks all the way through, just make sure you are gentle enough not to split the stocking. Leave it to steep for about a half hour. Give it a squeeze with the spoon every so often to make sure everything stays nice and wet. After a little while, the water should become dark brown and opaque.
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Step 2: The Boil
Do NOT add the beer kit yet.
Method updated. Read this first! (http://www.westernfront.com.au/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,43/topic,2879.msg62764#msg62764)
Get the big saucepan and pour about two litres of boiling water into it.
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Begin to add 1-1.2kg of light dried malt extract. Add it slowly, if possible, because if you are impatient like me and dump too much in it'll form big clumps of shit. Don't worry, these will dissolve with stirring and dunking.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff348%2Fteaguepaton%2Fmoremalt.jpg&hash=ed1f26ea3cddc3c6ffe229e2829d913b9b2af65c)
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Turn the stove to its lowest setting. Do it, or you will make an absolute mess.
Once the dried malt extract starts to dissolve, you will notice a frothy scum forming at the top.
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This is apparently made of proteins and other shit, so scoop most of this off. This helps prevents boil-overs (which is what happened to me yesterday :o)
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If the grains have been steeped for long enough, add the juice from that saucepan. Wash your hands well, and squeeze the remaining water from the grain bag into the small saucepan. Get the kettle and rinse the bag, getting as much of the malt out as you can.
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Add this juice to the big saucepan.
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If all has gone to plan, the wort will look a little something like this. Let it simmer at low heat for about 5 minutes or so.
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Step 3: Adding Hops
Add the hops to the boiling solution of dried malt extract. For this brew time, I did a 30 minute total boil; I boiled the first batch (flavour) hops for 25 minutes, and the second batch (aroma) hops for 2 minutes. So, for example, if I started the boil at 7:00, I would throw in the first lot of hops at 7:05, the second lot of hops at 7:28, and turn the stove off at 7:30, maybe even throwing in a couple of extra hops at this point for good measure. Keep in mind that you should place the hops into a grain bag or stocking if you don't want to gunk up the wort.
Measure out a decent amount of hops, I like about 50-60 grams or so to flavour, and 40 grams for aroma, and another 20 grams on top of that after I turn the stove off.
This is personal taste, as I like strong hop flavour. Keep in mind, I used 20% more malt in this brew than usual, and adjusted hops accordingly. Might be better to drop this down to 30-40g flavour, 15-20g aroma and 15-20g after turning the stove off, if you are using only 1kg of dried malt, but find something that works for you.
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Place them into your grain bag or stocking.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff348%2Fteaguepaton%2Fhopbag.jpg&hash=7713678d1199dc91eca9ae07cee91fd1589827e5)
Once a nice rolling boil has been established, toss the first batch into the wort.
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Let it boil, pressing the bag or stocking often well to break up the hops, and make sure the wort circulates. When the time comes, toss the second batch of hops into the bag. Boil this for a few minutes, and then turn the stove off. At the end of the boil, throw the remaining hops straight into the wort (don't worry about the bag this time).
Step 4: Adding the Beer Kit
Open the can of extract, and pour it in, making sure you keep stirring.
Need Picture
Make sure to scoop out all the extract from the can. Spoon some of the boiling water from the saucepan into the can to help melt it all down for easy pouring.
Need Picture
Stir it so it is all completely dissolved.
Step 5: Preparing the Yeast
Remember the bottle of boiled water we put into the freezer? Go take it out, it should be nice and lukewarm now. Sterilise the outside of the yeast packet and a pair of scissors (I only do this because I am anal. Feel free to just toss it straight in). Open the sachet, and pour the yeast into the bottle, put the lid on, and shake the shit out of it for about 3 minutes. This does two things, it wets all the yeast and brings it into suspension, and it gives the yeast oxygen. It should look like this afterwards, completely homogeneous and opaque, a little bit like soy milk.
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Step 6: Finishing the Wort
After the boil has finished, pour the wort into the fermenter, and top it up to 22-23 litres of cold water. Make sure it mixes well.
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If the temperature is between 20 and 30 degrees, pour the yeast solution straight into it. If its too hot, put the lid on the fermenter and wait a short while before pitching the yeast. Don't leave it too long, because wort without yeast is at very high risk of infection.
All Done!
Once the yeast is pitched, put the lid on and fit the airlock. Fill the airlock with either a few mLs of boiled water, or ideally, cheap vodka (this prevents any nasties from living in the airlock and potentially getting into the beer). Put the fermenter in a cool, dark place to ferment. You want to ferment it at 18-20 degrees, not 24-26 like most instructions will tell you. Wrap the fermenter in a towel, and forget about it for about 10 days. Bottle it, and age it for only a few weeks. Because there are so many hops, APAs are best fairly fresh.
Drink up.
;)
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Ok... you got your way cunts... I give in. I am incredibly tempted to get into home brewing now. When the parentals get back, I shall try and sweet talk my way into permission to setup one. :P
I think some bribing with some of the by-product will come in handy.
maybe if you make your bed and clean your room they might let you...
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That looks like a great brew. Im pretty sure Ill use that yeast tonight and do a double brew tonight, one Muntons International Bitter and one Belgian dark ale.
Necron, have you tried using malt extract instead of table sugar in your yeast starters? If so, are there any benefits or is it just as good with sucrose? I've read in a few books that brewing yeasts prefer maltose over sucrose, but I'd be interested in real world experiences.
Also, Cooper's ES is a damn good drop.
Yes you can, and it will probably taste better to, but remember, its only a teaspoon. When was the last time you opened a pack of malt extract to use just one teaspoon ? Id rather just use sugar and not risk the malt getting contaminated.
Yes, it sure is.
Also, here's a neat trick to help with pouring out the extract from the tin. Fill a small saucepan with some water, place the tin inside the water, and simmer away for a bit before you open it. The extract should be easier to pour.
I will take some photos and also show you this lovely looking Belgian candy I intend to use.
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That looks like a great brew. Im pretty sure Ill use that yeast tonight and do a double brew tonight, one Muntons International Bitter and one Belgian dark ale.
Yes you can, and it will probably taste better to, but remember, its only a teaspoon. When was the last time you opened a pack of malt extract to use just one teaspoon ? Id rather just use sugar and not risk the malt getting contaminated.
Yes, it sure is.
Also, here's a neat trick to help with pouring out the extract from the tin. Fill a small saucepan with some water, place the tin inside the water, and simmer away for a bit before you open it. The extract should be easier to pour.
I will take some photos and also show you this lovely looking Belgian candy I intend to use.
I generally buy bulk packets of malt anyway, and it always goes into the boil so contamination isn't really an issue for me but if sugar is just as good then why bother :D. I would always use malt for a yeast starter but, simply because of the larger volumes of wort you are dumping into your beer. Speaking of which, I should make one for the next brew.
Heating up the extract tin is a great idea, didn't even think about that. It would make it dissolve into the water faster and easier too, I think.
Anyway, looking forward to seeing how your Belgian turns out with the candy sugar. Where did you buy it from, and how much did it cost?
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Oh, I thought that was standard practise....I usually sit my tin in the sink full of boiled water from the kettle for a couple of minutes before opening it. Makes it fucking heaps easier.
By the way, when it comes to priming bottles have you guys had any luck with carbonation drops?
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Anyway, looking forward to seeing how your Belgian turns out with the candy sugar. Where did you buy it from, and how much did it cost?
The company that makes it is called Brewferm and its style is Oud Vlaams Bruin. I got it from Malthouse Homebrew Supplies in Welshpool for about $27 (a bit more expensive and will only make 12 ltrs, but probably worth it). They have the entire range.
(https://secure.cartkeeper.com/~malthos/item_images/brewferm.jpg)
Fuck, next time (if they have it, I would have got it if I saw it) Im going to get the Diabolo. If its anything like Duvel, it should be great, Belgian Golden Ales are amongst my favourite styles of all :)
Another tip : Instead of using stockings, or if you cant find any, I make a small bag out of muslim cloth, and that does the trick.
By the way, when it comes to priming bottles have you guys had any luck with carbonation drops?
Again, I just use a small amount of sugar, but I will see what I can do.
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Another tip : Instead of using stockings, or if you cant find any, I make a small bag out of muslim cloth, and that does the trick.
In order to procure this "Muslim" cloth simply go to your nearest mosque with a pair of sharp scissors and cut the back out of one of their robes while they are praying! Or alternatively you could use some Muslin, which is cheap, easy to find at most haberdashers and doesnt nearly get you killed :rofl:
lol j/k
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Oh, I thought that was standard practise....I usually sit my tin in the sink full of boiled water from the kettle for a couple of minutes before opening it. Makes it fucking heaps easier.
By the way, when it comes to priming bottles have you guys had any luck with carbonation drops?
I swear by carbonation drops. I use 740mL Cooper's PET bottles, and two drops per bottle, and I get perfect carbonation every time. I just make sure I wash my hands really well, and sterilise my fingertips with isopropanol before I put them in the bottles.
As for the Belgian, Duvel is a good one. I've seen those brew kits around, but never tried one. What yeast do they come with? Just checked it out on google, malt is pale pilsener malt, the hops are Styrian Goldings for bittering and Saaz for flavouring.
I might have a shot at a Duvel from scratch, if I can find liquid pilsener malt extract somewhere.
Edit: Haha, I assumed you were talking about Muslin :P
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As for the Belgian, Duvel is a good one. I've seen those brew kits around, but never tried one. What yeast do they come with?
Haha ^^ I assumed you were talking about Muslin :P
I cant quite remember, Ill check it out tonight, from memory it looked like a generic packet.
Haha yeah thats the one ;D
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In regards to Inge's comment previously about never having brewed a Lager, Im not sure its entirely possible in standard home brew kits. Going back to my TAFE course in alcohol (of which I excelled in naturally - even before I turned 18) there are 2 main categories of beer. Ale and Lager. The main difference is that Lager is bottom fermented, whereas Ale is top fermented (as is your standard homebrew set up). Basically anything we brew is technically an ale. Or at least anything I have ever brewed/seen brewed. From my undertsanding, Lager is brewed at a much lower temperature as well, and takes a fair bit longer than the 5-10 days of an Ale. Im only going on what I remember from my TAFE course which was 9 years ago, so memory is a bit fuzzy.
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Its not impossible, you can store the brew while it ferments in a crappy bar fridge or something with the temperature just right, or during winter in a cellar, etc.
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In regards to Inge's comment previously about never having brewed a Lager, Im not sure its entirely possible in standard home brew kits. Going back to my TAFE course in alcohol (of which I excelled in naturally - even before I turned 18) there are 2 main categories of beer. Ale and Lager. The main difference is that Lager is bottom fermented, whereas Ale is top fermented (as is your standard homebrew set up). Basically anything we brew is technically an ale. Or at least anything I have ever brewed/seen brewed. From my undertsanding, Lager is brewed at a much lower temperature as well, and takes a fair bit longer than the 5-10 days of an Ale. Im only going on what I remember from my TAFE course which was 9 years ago, so memory is a bit fuzzy.
Yeah, it's entirely possible, but you need a fridge and a socket timer at the very least; temperature control is crucial. You need to keep temperatures at about 13 degrees during fermentation, bringing it up to about 16 briefly for the diacetyl rest, to get rid of the nasty buttery flavours that lager yeasts produce.
Then you need to rack it off to a secondary container, leaving the yeast cake behind, and store the beer for 4 weeks or so at low temperatures, for the beer to condition and more importantly, the terrible smells to dissipate. Lagern is German for 'store' :D. I am hoping to get a lagering setup going soon, I have an old kelvinator in the shed that is just begging to be used, and I like a good challenge. I reckon something like a Pilsener Urquell would be brilliant.
:drool:
Top and bottom fermenting just refers to the type of yeast used, top being an ale yeast like the US-56, bottom being a lager yeast like Saflager. If I'm remembering right, ale yeasts float all about in the wort, fermenting throughout the entire fermenter, whereas lager yeasts tend to flocculate and sit at the bottom of the fermenter, and all fermentation occurs around the bottom.
Hey, I just saw the Kriek and the Framboise kits from Brewferm. Are they meant to be lambics? Because making lambic would be pretty damn cool.
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While you guys get stuck into the fancy end of the brewing process, Im gunna stick to the simple shit, but start to alter stuff at my own accord. Im putting a brew on this Thursday (just bottled my current one last night, a Tooheys Special Ale) and I decided I'll use 1kg of Dextrose as well as half a kilo of licorice in a fairly regular Ale brew mix of some sort (be it a Coopers or something along those lines). After that if its any good, I'll try the same but in a dark ale. Then onto honey, maple syrup and anything else like that I can find. I also had another thought, though not sure if it will work very well. Make a dark ale and use some sort of chocolate syrup, or perhaps just cocoa or something to make a chocolatey dark ale. Maybe even coffee instead. Im gunna play around with the bottom end of the scale using standard household stuff rather than proper hops, malt and all that shit. Will let you know how they all go over the course of the next few months.
Other things I have heard of people putting into their brews.....
egg shells
jelly beans
and the best one....a whole roast chicken carcass. I cant imagine that would be any advantage :spew:
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Fuck I cant take this anymore, you guys are too inspiring, now i'm going to have to go and buy a set up.
I want a nice tasting beer, something clear and smooth.
keep in mind this will be my first attempt and dont want to spend shitloads...what would I need?
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If you're going to bre w a dark ale, its a good idea to use grain enhancer or even burnt malt to get that nice coffee/toffee malt flavour dark ale's are known for.
The yeast wasnt quite ready, tonight should be a goer. ;D
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Fuck I cant take this anymore, you guys are too inspiring, now i'm going to have to go and buy a set up.
I want a nice tasting beer, something clear and smooth.
keep in mind this will be my first attempt and dont want to spend shitloads...what would I need?
first things first Mick, you need a Brew Kit. Coopers brew kits usually cost around the $60-70 mark. Dont worry, you'll make that money back in 2 brews. In my kit I got the vat (vessel that the brew is brewed in), the airlock, grommet, "little bottler", a bag of dextrose, a can of brew mix, carbonation drops, 30 plastic 740ml bottles and caps, an instructional video and booklet, a hydrometer and a thermometer that sticks on the side of your vat (temperature is fairly important)....the only thing you'll need to buy seperately is some sterilizer, which you will find at your supermarket in the brew section. I know these guys are talking fancy pants brews using malts and crazy hops and shit and making their own yeast, but seeing as though you have never brewed before, start with the basics and work up from there.
Go and buy....
1 x Coopers brewing kit (as mentioned above)
1 x sterilizer powder bottle
I suggest watching the video just to give you a quick guide as to what to expect. Its all pretty easy. As Inge said about 36,876 times previously, sanitation is the key. You dont want any nasty bugs or anything.
Oh by the way fellas, when youre making your brews, to keep your hands clean, go buy yourselves some of this shit....its fucking brilliant.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.industrysearch.com.au%2Fproducts%2Fimages%2Fp14927_8.jpg&hash=fbd8822fbedf30e582d97a9b4a10b3e360dcc541)
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Yeah that stuff is awesome... evaporating ethanol-based soap, sure to kill any shit on your hands.
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A chicken carcass? What? I can understand drinking beer through a chicken carcass, but putting it in the fermenter... :P
Fuck I cant take this anymore, you guys are too inspiring, now i'm going to have to go and buy a set up.
I want a nice tasting beer, something clear and smooth.
keep in mind this will be my first attempt and dont want to spend shitloads...what would I need?
Like Haydz said, get the Cooper's homebrewery, should cost you $70. It should come with some kind of beer kit (from the Cooper's classic series, it will either be a lager [not a real lager], draught, bitter or real ale), a bag of dextrose (brewing sugar) and enough bottles to put the entire brew in when it is finished. This is perfect for starting out.
If you want a clean brew that won't break the bank:
First step is to throw the instructions in the bin. Then, read my first post. Go down to your local homebrew store (there should be one relatively close to you... where do you live?), and pick up a bottle of Idophor, and if you want a packet of US-56 yeast, which makes a cleaner tasting beer than Cooper's yeast. All up it should cost under ten dollars.
Get your fermenter, place your little bottler and mixing spoon inside, add about 25 mL of Idophor and then fill it to the the absolute brim. Put on the lid and fit the airlock. Fill the airlock with a dilute solution of Idophor and leave for at least 20 minutes. Dump the idophor solution just before you are going to add the wort, because you don't need to rinse it when you use it in this concentration (big advantage!).
Get your biggest saucepan, dissolve the brewing sugar into a couple of litres of boiling water, then add the beer extract kit. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for a while. Make sure everything is dissolved before you put it in the fermenter. When this is done, dump it all into the freshly sterilised fermenter and top it up with cold water to 23 litres, mixing the whole time with the sterile spoon. Make sure you splash it about a fair to get some oxygen into the wort. When the temperature is between 18-30, pitch the yeast (throw it in the fermenter).
Pretty easy! But there are some things to keep in mind:
1) Make sure you ferment at 18-20 degrees, rather than 21-26 degrees. You will get a much cleaner tasting beer. Keep in mind it will take a few days more to ferment, but it's worth it. In this weather, simply wrap the fermenter with a towel and keep it inside away from heat and it'll stay at 18. Actually, I'll add this to my first post, as it's important.
2) You really should rehydrate your yeast before you pitch it. It's easy and makes a pretty big difference. Read part two of the American pale ale recipe, I went over yeast preparation :D.
3) Don't use water from a rainwater tank. Lightly chlorinate scheme water is much, much better. I learned this the hard way!
4) Age your beer for at least 4 weeks before you crack into it. Have a bottle every week to see how it changes.
5) DO NOT use sodium metabisulphate as a steriliser. It's hopeless. Just use idophor, it's well worth it.
This brew will cost you under 20 dollars per 23 litres. Cheap and relatively cheerful.
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cheers fellas, i'll grab one next week and follow your instructions
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While you guys get stuck into the fancy end of the brewing process, Im gunna stick to the simple shit, but start to alter stuff at my own accord. Im putting a brew on this Thursday (just bottled my current one last night, a Tooheys Special Ale) and I decided I'll use 1kg of Dextrose as well as half a kilo of licorice in a fairly regular Ale brew mix of some sort (be it a Coopers or something along those lines). After that if its any good, I'll try the same but in a dark ale. Then onto honey, maple syrup and anything else like that I can find. I also had another thought, though not sure if it will work very well. Make a dark ale and use some sort of chocolate syrup, or perhaps just cocoa or something to make a chocolatey dark ale. Maybe even coffee instead. Im gunna play around with the bottom end of the scale using standard household stuff rather than proper hops, malt and all that shit. Will let you know how they all go over the course of the next few months.
Other things I have heard of people putting into their brews.....
egg shells
jelly beans
and the best one....a whole roast chicken carcass. I cant imagine that would be any advantage :spew:
Half a kilo of licorice is a fuckload, you probably won't need quite so much, it'd be best in a stout. A little bit of honey is good in wheat beers apparently, make sure you boil it in some water before you add it because honey has usually got some bacteria in it IIRC. I talked to a bloke at Rick's home brew store, and he reckons a small amount of Cadbury drinking chocolate boiled in water is a winner in a heavy stout. I heard about some people using egg shells as finings... I like cloudy beer myself 8)
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Its interesting that you boil your sugar and brew can in a saucepan first. I have never done it that way. I always just dump 2 litres of boiling water into the vat, then pour in the sugar all the while stirring....this dissolves quite easily....then still stirring add in the can that has been in the sink full of hot water (as mentioned previously so it is easier to get out of the tin). Stir it all up, fill the empty can with a bit more hot water to get the rest of the mixture out of the can, then fill it to the 24/25L mark with clean cold water.
I guess it really doesnt make alot of difference....but my way is easier, thats all.
Oh, I'd like to add a couple of things to the brewing process guidelines too......taking a reading (this is mostly for Mick's benefit as Im sure you other guys know about this, being avid brewers and all).
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wienand.org%2Fhomebrew%2Fimages%2Fcoopers_bav_hydro.jpg&hash=628b018ef00e5bb19a52d2ac76eb9059b865b20c)
Just prior to pitching your yeast, take a reading with your hydrometer. Basically, fill your little tube that the hydrometer comes in with beer, drop in your hydrometer, wait for the froth and shit to go and the beer to settle down. Spin the hydrometer around and push it in and let it bob up and down a bit (this is to get any bubbles that have attached themselves to the glass of the hyrdometer to remove themselves). Leave it for 5 minutes then take a reading. It should be somewhere around the 1.038 mark. This is the 'specific gravity' reading. What that means is beyond me. Something to do with boyancy I believe. Pure clean water should take a reading of exactly 1.000. Then follow the yeast pitching instructions as mentioned by Inge in a previous post (American Pale Ale I believe).
Let it brew....
Just before you begin to bottle your brew (which no doubt will be covered in a later issue of the WF Home Brew Mega Thread) take another hydrometer reading doing exactly as you did above. In fact, take a reading at about the 6 day mark of brewing. Then take a reading every day after that until you get 2-3 days of the same reading. This means your brew is ready to bottle. You'll notice it should finish somewhere in the vacinity of 1.005-1.008. This not only tells you when it is ready to bottle, it will also help determine alcohol percentage (very important). Heres the formula....
(OR) original reading - 1.038 (taken just before pitching yeast)
(FR) final gravity - 1.007 (taken just before or during bottling)
((OR-FR)*1000)/746+0.5%
example
1.038-1.007=0.031
0.031*1000=31
31/7.46=4.155
add 0.5% - 4.655% alc/vol - a nice full strength brew.
the 0.5% I added at the end of that formula is to allow for the fact that the priming sugar in the bottle will actually increase the finished alcohol percentage.
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Just prior to pitching your yeast, take a reading with your hydrometer. Basically, fill your little tube that the hydrometer comes in with beer, drop in your hydrometer, wait for the froth and shit to go and the beer to settle down. Spin the hydrometer around and push it in and let it bob up and down a bit (this is to get any bubbles that have attached themselves to the glass of the hyrdometer to remove themselves). Leave it for 5 minutes then take a reading. It should be somewhere around the 1.038 mark. This is the 'specific gravity' reading. What that means is beyond me. Something to do with boyancy I believe. Pure clean water should take a reading of exactly 1.000. Then follow the yeast pitching instructions as mentioned by Inge in a previous post (American Pale Ale I believe).
Yes, forgot about this as well, and it's really important!
The hydrometer measures the density (specific gravity, or SG) of the wort, or basically, how much sugar is dissolved in it. As the sugar turns into alcohol, the density will drop. When all the fermentable sugar is turned into alcohol, the specific gravity will remain the same - this is the time to bottle.
Keep in mind that if you use malt or brew enhancer that you will usually end up with an original gravity (OG) higher that 1.038, usually up around 1.045 or so. This will bring the final gravity (FG, the gravity after the fermentation is complete) to about 1.010 or so. This is because malt extract and brew enhancer contains maltodextrin, which is a type of sugar that yeast cannot ferment. A higher final gravity means a thicker body and fuller mouth-feel, but it won't be as refreshing as a beer with a low final gravity. My first APA, for instance, had an OG of 1.045 and a FG of 1.012. My second, made with more malt, had an OG of 1.049but will finish only slightly higher than 1.012.
As for boiling the extract, I guess it's just what I do :P. It's by no means necessary, unless you want to add hops and grain to the wort.
Update
First post has been updated with an index and information about ales and lagers.
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Me and my mates used to make what we liked to call "Death Beer". That is instead of using 1 kg of dextrose, we would double the dosage and dump in a second bag of dextrose. We were getting original gravity readings of something like 1.070, which was making brews at about 9-10% alc/vol on average. Lets just say 4 long necks of that, you were well and truly FUCKED! 1 long neck (750ml bottle) is the equivalent of 4 standard full strength stubbies. At a whopping cost of less than 60c per long neck, a $3/head night was very realistic.
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Me and my mates used to make what we liked to call "Death Beer". That is instead of using 1 kg of dextrose, we would double the dosage and dump in a second bag of dextrose. We were getting original gravity readings of something like 1.070, which was making brews at about 9-10% alc/vol on average. Lets just say 4 long necks of that, you were well and truly FUCKED! 1 long neck (750ml bottle) is the equivalent of 4 standard full strength stubbies. At a whopping cost of less than 60c per long neck, a $3/head night was very realistic.
OH
MY
GOD!
haydesy....did it TASTE any good???
if this incredibly strong beer tastes even tolerable im making it!! i made the leap into returning to study and start a new apprenticeship this year (1st yr apprentice at 21 yrs of age makes me incredibly broke)....this could return me to my alcoholic ways :D
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Anyone ever made Marijuana beer ? :eyebrows:
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Actually, I've been thinking about it a bit Haydz... You might be right regarding the boil; boiling a kit extract for the whole time may not just be a bit pointless, it may be detrimental, as the longer it boils the more likely that the bitterness in the extract is going to be driven off.
Changes to the Recipe
Do this in future, if you are using beer kits (i.e. Cooper's, Muntons). Instead of boiling the extract first like in the recipe, get the boil going, dissolve the kilogram of dried malt into it, and add he hops to this for flavouring and aroma. Wait until after the boil to add the can of extract, stir it into the hot malt solution, and then toss the whole lot into the fermenter.
DRY MALT FIRST, ADD THE CAN AT THE VERY END OF THE BOIL, AFTER ADDING THE AROMA HOPS.
Recipe has updated, with some new photos, although I need a few more...
This will cause minimal loss of bitterness, whilst retaining all the benefits of the boil (sterility and homogeneity). This sounds much better to me; I will make another pale ale, take new photos and edit the recipe accordingly.
Anyone ever made Marijuana beer ? :eyebrows:
Can't say I have... Can it be done?
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Anyone ever made Marijuana beer ? :eyebrows:
Wouldn't work... once the yeast gets THC'd, it will non-conform (thus not producing any ethanol, also because it realises THC is better than alcohol :P ) and will apply for dole payments. Stoned yeast are dangerous. :P
Still, wouldn't it be preferential to smoke and drink separately? :P
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Me and my mates used to make what we liked to call "Death Beer". That is instead of using 1 kg of dextrose, we would double the dosage and dump in a second bag of dextrose. We were getting original gravity readings of something like 1.070, which was making brews at about 9-10% alc/vol on average. Lets just say 4 long necks of that, you were well and truly FUCKED! 1 long neck (750ml bottle) is the equivalent of 4 standard full strength stubbies. At a whopping cost of less than 60c per long neck, a $3/head night was very realistic.
OH
MY
GOD!
haydesy....did it TASTE any good???
if this incredibly strong beer tastes even tolerable im making it!! i made the leap into returning to study and start a new apprenticeship this year (1st yr apprentice at 21 yrs of age makes me incredibly broke)....this could return me to my alcoholic ways :D
You know, it actually didnt taste all that bad. Sure, its not the greatest tasting beer you could make, but we didnt really make this particular one for flavour - we made it to get smashed. Just bare in mind it takes longer to ferment, but if you use your hydrometer correctly and take regular readings, thats not a problem anyway. Give it a go man.....its defiitely worth the whole $16 it will cost you. What you'll end up with for your $16 is the equivalent of 2.5 cartons of beer liquid wise, but in reality that equates to 5 cartons. $3.20 a carton? Now THATS value!
Anyone ever made Marijuana beer ? :eyebrows:
No, but I have made 'Green Dragon'. Get a cheap bottle of Vodka and throw a few buds in it. You know, we're talking 1-2 grams or so here. Doesnt matter if they're fresh off the plant either, in fact I would say that fresh would be better. Anyway, put the bottle in a cupboard and forget about it for a couple of weeks. I cant remember how long it takes (I havent done it for about 10 years) but it was about 2 or 3 weeks by memory. Anyway, eventually the Vodka will turn this horrible slimey green colour. Strain the buds out and throw them away. They are pretty much useless now, as Ethanol absorbs THC, so the weed will now be nothing but a funky garnish for your steak. Anyway, drink with caution. The last time I tried this shit I was about 15/16 and one bottle of vodka got 4 of us smashed. If memory serves me correctly, this shit FUCKS YOU UP!
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No, but I have made 'Green Dragon'. Get a cheap bottle of Vodka and throw a few buds in it. You know, we're talking 1-2 grams or so here. Doesnt matter if they're fresh off the plant either, in fact I would say that fresh would be better. Anyway, put the bottle in a cupboard and forget about it for a couple of weeks. I cant remember how long it takes (I havent done it for about 10 years) but it was about 2 or 3 weeks by memory. Anyway, eventually the Vodka will turn this horrible slimey green colour. Strain the buds out and throw them away. They are pretty much useless now, as Ethanol absorbs THC, so the weed will now be nothing but a funky garnish for your steak. Anyway, drink with caution. The last time I tried this shit I was about 15/16 and one bottle of vodka got 4 of us smashed. If memory serves me correctly, this shit FUCKS YOU UP!
Yes thats what we did first, except we didnt use vodka, but scotch.
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Alright, last night was the double brew.
1. The Belgian Brune
This one was very very easy. All you needed to start was :
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi72.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi180%2FNekron_666%2Fmisc%2FImage045.jpg&hash=41786360a2a9cc2c563399e6d8ce6f680b9bf1ea)
The beer kit with the yeast. And also. not forgetting the Belgian candy :
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi72.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi180%2FNekron_666%2Fmisc%2FImage042.jpg&hash=335359908ac7dbd61d52f940cd697494f23691fc)
They just looked like little stones and tasted sweet, like a small rock of suger
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi72.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi180%2FNekron_666%2Fmisc%2FImage043.jpg&hash=129e6412ee735d240ae46c779510059205b924b9)
The first step was to boil 850 grams of the Begian candy in 2 ltrs (from memory, this is a very rare instance in which the instructions actually come in handy) of water, stirring constantly to make sure the candy doesnt stick to the bottom.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi72.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi180%2FNekron_666%2Fmisc%2FImage044.jpg&hash=82a2b3cac8b2dacff0a42baceb9d613f2078e268)
Once all the candy has been dissolved, allow to cool. Then all you need is your fermenter (pour some cold water into it first before hand) and add the candy water and the Belgian beer kit. This shit was fucking thick
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi72.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi180%2FNekron_666%2Fmisc%2FImage047_a.jpg&hash=08aa3b40c90476e12d927c4b84a18fbc3f28f29a)
Then fill the fermentor with water up to 12ltrs, pour in the yeast, and stir. Simple as that.
2. The Traditional Bitter
Now, for the Muntons International Bitter. You need the kit, malt extract (we used 1kg of the Beer Ultra malt extract), hops (we used Fuggles hops instead of Cascade, as it is a lower percentage (5%) and will give the brew a nice floral aroma), grain enhancer, and of course, the cultivated yeast.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi72.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi180%2FNekron_666%2Fmisc%2FImage046.jpg&hash=536d1d8bfed61368c7ade89eb2c36122afc36b5a)
Take a couple of sheets of muslim cloth and make two bags, one for the hops and one for the grain enhancer.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi72.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi180%2FNekron_666%2Fmisc%2FImage049_a.jpg&hash=ef21ee573b4ee99bffb50f2d76d71344b61e3b74)
Throw the hops into about 2 ltrs of boiled water.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi72.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi180%2FNekron_666%2Fmisc%2FImage050.jpg&hash=f25e105159b1a80a192e93904b1520abf03af8b0)
Afterwards, the malt extract gets poured in. Make sure you stir as you pour to avoid clumps
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi72.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi180%2FNekron_666%2Fmisc%2FImage051.jpg&hash=cd6373f573a1309fdc60f3d63f94bd23b27b8872)
Allow to cool to around 66 degress before adding the grain enhancer (this is the correct temperature to avoid burning the grain enhancer and allow it to release its flavours).
After adding cold water to your fermenter and allowing it cool, pour this into your fermenter, followed by the beer kit. Stir, and fill the fermenter with water up to around 33 litres, and add the yeast.
Look at them, arent they beautiful ?
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi72.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi180%2FNekron_666%2Fmisc%2FImage052_a.jpg&hash=ca77a688d6e38a6006b2b6cd347ddb197759f755)
Now you play the waiting game.
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Let me just commend all the contributors to this thread, and I'm sure there are plenty of other readers that appreciate it as well. Good on you as well Inge for the index. I was trying to think of a way to make it so that it wouldn't be hard to find important things through out the thread, or for a section for it but I think that should work nicely.
I'm annoyed because I was wanting to bid on a keg coupler on ebay the other day and I got home like 5 minutes AFTER it ended so missed it. They can be up to $200 or so new but go for around $60-70 second hand on there. The one I was interested in ended up finishing at $15 >:(
I've also got my eye out for a cheap fridge that can fit a standard (50 Lt) keg in it, so if anyone sees one about... ;)
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I just got myself some supplies to get me through the next month.....
1 x Coopers Dark Ale + 1kg Dextrose + 300g soft licorice to make my killer licorice beer.
1 x Coopers Canadian Blonde + 1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer #1
1 x Coopers Ginger Beer + 1kg Dextrose
2 bags of carbo drops, some "beer clear" packets (which I believe are finings basically) and I got some of that pink sterilizer shit that you use Inge. Looks more hardcore than the stupid "brewers bottle cleaner" or whatever. Oh, and as for PET bottles.....do you think I could find any? I spent my whole lunch break searching 4 supermarkets (accumulating more things along the way) and couldnt find a single box of them.
I'll make the licorice brew tonight and let you know how it goes.
P.S. do any of you guys use any sort of record book and/or programs or anything? Back when we had a thread that somehow turned into a brew thread about 12 months ago I created a spreadsheet in excel as a record keeping tool. It works quite well. Anyone wants a copy, let me know.
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You cunts have talked me into it! I believe we will be chatting over the weekend about this in alot more depth Teague :clap: So glad i got double payed yesterday ;D
Haydesy i remember seeing that spreadsheet on the last thread about homebrews. Any chance i can get ya to email it through to me? My email is on my profile, cheers big ears.
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I just got myself some supplies to get me through the next month.....
1 x Coopers Dark Ale + 1kg Dextrose + 300g soft licorice to make my killer licorice beer.
1 x Coopers Canadian Blonde + 1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer #1
1 x Coopers Ginger Beer + 1kg Dextrose
2 bags of carbo drops, some "beer clear" packets (which I believe are finings basically) and I got some of that pink sterilizer shit that you use Inge. Looks more hardcore than the stupid "brewers bottle cleaner" or whatever. Oh, and as for PET bottles.....do you think I could find any? I spent my whole lunch break searching 4 supermarkets (accumulating more things along the way) and couldnt find a single box of them.
I'll make the licorice brew tonight and let you know how it goes.
P.S. do any of you guys use any sort of record book and/or programs or anything? Back when we had a thread that somehow turned into a brew thread about 12 months ago I created a spreadsheet in excel as a record keeping tool. It works quite well. Anyone wants a copy, let me know.
PET bottles are usually available at Coles, but failing that they are definately available at K-Mart and Big W. They cost about 14 dollars for a carton of 15 or so, expensive, but I would pay it as they aren't going to break, and can be used again and again, and it sure as hell beats collecting hundreds of empty longnecks (mind you, you shouldn't have too much trouble in Gero...). My local homebrew store (Rick's on Albany Hwy) sells the Cooper's pet bottles for about 12 dollars per carton of 15, so maybe if you look around you can get them cheaper. I'm looking forawrd to seeing how your licorice brew turns out, but I reckon use the brew rnhancer, instead of dextrose, you'll end up with a thicker, stoutier dark ale (FG about 1012-1014).
Funny you mentioned that thread, I just went looking for it. I think I still have that spreadsheet somewhere... For my last 6 brews I have been jotting down all the details of the beer (i.e. types of hop / grain / extracts, other additions, dates and times etc.) on a similar kind of spreadsheet, so after experimenting a bit I can find out a few perfect recipes, and mass produce them. I'm going to settle for the American pale ale, and hefeweißbier as my swill beers. They are fairly easy to make, reasonably inexpensive and taste great. What's more, both of those can be ready from ingredients to finished beer in five weeks tops.
By the way, This Saturday I've decided to spend my overtime money on a keg system. which means that there will be a fridge mod coming up soon, althought human resources fucked up our pays so it might be delayed
Right now I have a can of pale malt liquid extract, a can of wheat malt liquid extract, and some Saaz hops, and a culture of Wyeast 3638. Going to put on the hefeweißbier this weekend, and it's going to turn out about a million times better than the last one (which was... 'inoffensive' a.k.a. 'gutless').
Also, as I can't use my rainwater, I'm going to have to steal chlorinated scheme water form somewhere (or buy a big boil pot...).
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Bailey dude, its on its way tomorrow. Its fairly simple, but very handy.
I put by licorice brew on this very hour. I decided to call it 'Magouzo Ale' (all my beers are named, and always contain the word Mago in the title somewhere). I used the Dextrose, because thats what I had, but I think it should turn out fucking wicked regardless. If the smell of the wort is anything to go by, its gunna be VERY tasty! 300g seems to have been plenty...I can smell the licorice, thats for sure, but I can still smell the beer too, so it seemingly hasnt drowned out the flavour of the ale too much, which is exactly what I was aiming for. Anyway, time will tell. I'll let you guys know in 2 weeks when I have the first taste test.
I scoured every supermarket in search of PET bottles today - I used to get them at Coles for $15 per box.....knew I should have bought more while they were still available, because it seems to be completely deleted from their shelves. by the way, this is Gero..we dont have a K-Mart or Big W, and Target is fucking useless, so my options are pretty much gone. Guess I have to use the half dozen milk crates of Long Necks I've had stashed away for the last couple of years. Anyway, such is life. Next time Im in Perth I'll stock up on PET bottles.
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If you like glass bottles, the international beer shop has plenty out the back.
Something like 10-12 dollars a crate including the crate. The crate sizes do vary though, and I'm not sure if the price is still the same.
If your lucky they might have old Weihenstephan in the bargain bin. Thats how I increased my bottle collection.
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:o
Yep, definitely can't use rain water. That last APA was pretty rapidly infected with acetobacter. Definitely not my sanitisation technique, I am over-zealous if anything, so I've narrowed down the source of infection to two things; the water (and the extra gunk that has washed into the tank over the last two weeks), or the addition of the extra malt and hops (which isn't likely seeing as the whole pot had a total boil time of over an hour).
Losing money pisses me off. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
Learn from this if you aren't on scheme water. Rainwater = the devil.
This weekend I am going to Bunnings, and I am going to buy lots and lots of water cubes / jerry cans.
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Got keg system today. Will post pics later.
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Actually, I've been thinking about it a bit Haydz... You might be right regarding the boil; boiling a kit extract for the whole time may not just be a bit pointless, it may be detrimental, as the longer it boils the more likely that the bitterness in the extract is going to be driven off.
Changes to the Recipe
Do this in future, if you are using beer kits (i.e. Cooper's, Muntons). Instead of boiling the extract first like in the recipe, get the boil going, dissolve the kilogram of dried malt into it, and add he hops to this for flavouring and aroma. Wait until after the boil to add the can of extract, stir it into the hot malt solution, and then toss the whole lot into the fermenter.
DRY MALT FIRST, ADD THE CAN AT THE VERY END OF THE BOIL, AFTER ADDING THE AROMA HOPS.
This will cause minimal loss of bitterness, whilst retaining all the benefits of the boil (sterility and homogeneity). This sounds much better to me; I will make another pale ale, take new photos and edit the recipe accordingly.
Anyone ever made Marijuana beer ? :eyebrows:
Can't say I have... Can it be done?
Depends on how much starch and sugar is in the marijuana. I can't imagine very much as it is a herb and/or a weed.
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I don't think Marijuana is fermentable, but you could dry hop with it.
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I don't think Marijuana is fermentable, but you could dry hop with it.
hmmm now im gettin ideas
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Update on my licorice brew....
Its smelling fucking awesome, and is bubbling away very nicely at a healthy 18-19°. I've been taking daily gravity readings and its dropping by an average of about .004 each day, which is fairly rapid. It started at a nice 1.040, so it shouldnt be far from bottling. Its a bit chunky though...the licorice seems to have made some funky bronw sediment. Im wondering if I should leave it, or somehow try and filter it out, maybe putting a stocking between the tap and the "little bottler" or something to that effect? Any suggestions?
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You can always rack it, ie, siphon it out into a secondary fermentor to separate the beer from the sediment.
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ah, yeah I only have one fermenter at this stage. I'll just make a chunky beer...cant be that bad!
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Yeah, just be sure not to disturb it to let as much sediment as possible drop to the bottom, and be just as careful when you start bottling.
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oh yeah, definitely....but thats no different to what I normally do anyway.
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A few chunks never hurt anybody, but chances are they will eventually dissolve.
Anyway, I went to see Roy to get set my draught system up. It's simple, but pretty expensive, mainly due to the cost of the regulator. I had a big bottle of gas I inherited from a mate's dad when a tree fell on his brewing shed / home pub, so I didn't have to pay for that.
All up, for the 18 litre keg, lines, Pluto gun and regulator with fittings cost me 355 dollars.
Here's pics:
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff348%2Fteaguepaton%2Fregulator.jpg&hash=720e57c793982939551188d7f5cbbceae7b5224d)
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff348%2Fteaguepaton%2Fkeg.jpg&hash=ea7a66fede86a758bec17ea50dff4ce971ba44cc)
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff348%2Fteaguepaton%2Fgun.jpg&hash=7b569c4b59ea4d7c569b5fcaba44c147b8219a7e)
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff348%2Fteaguepaton%2Fdraught.jpg&hash=6aaf4a8e797064771f618f4cc071f1ae0eca600a)
Woo!
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FUck yeah :thumbup:
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What's that?
New venue - this guy's place? :D
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What's that?
New venue - this guy's place? :D
It could be done. Although, with the amount that you cunts drink, I'd have my work cut out for me...
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looks pretty fucking sweet, bINGE-drinker.
There's a new shop opened up in Gero called U-Brewit. I rang them up hoping they would sell supplies, but no go - he said "thats selling my direct competition to people". Turns out this guy can make a brew and put it into 500ml ali cans for you for a fee. 50L for $135 plus $25 extra for canning. Fucking RIP OFF! I'd rather make my own thanks, spend a few hours fucking around with it, and only spend about $30-40 for the same amount.
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looks pretty fucking sweet, bINGE-drinker.
There's a new shop opened up in Gero called U-Brewit. I rang them up hoping they would sell supplies, but no go - he said "thats selling my direct competition to people". Turns out this guy can make a brew and put it into 500ml ali cans for you for a fee. 50L for $135 plus $25 extra for canning. Fucking RIP OFF! I'd rather make my own thanks, spend a few hours fucking around with it, and only spend about $30-40 for the same amount.
Yeah there are a few u-brewit's around the metro area too. May be pricey but mate their brews are fan-fucking-tastic.
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Absolutely no reason why you couldn't make something equal or exceeding it at home for a fraction of the price.
Moar liek URNT-BREWIT, amirite?
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yeah, and no where near as fun/interesting. As a guy at work noted, how fucking stupid would you look if you had a few mates around for a barbie and you said "hey do you want to try one of my homebrews". Only to admit that you didnt actually have anything to do with it, and it wasnt brewed at anyones house - might as well have bought normal beer.
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Exactly right, half of the appeal for me is playing the mad doctor and learning (and putting into practice) the science behind it all. The more books I read about homebrewing, the more interested I become. (By the way, here's a top link to the online version of John Palmer's book, How to Brew.)
http://www.howtobrew.com/
Even fucking up, making shit beer or getting infections is well worth it, because they are valuable lessons learned and these little lessons help gear you towards making better beer.
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Wow, I just cracked a 7 day old (since bottled) APA. Was hoping to take this batch this down south this weekend... Some thoughts.
Tastes pretty good, but it definitely needs time to condition. Pretty strong green apple taste (acetaldehyde), with a little bit of sourness which is a strong indicator that it's too young to drink. Hope it'll clear in time. It is a good idea is to drink a bottle of your beer every week or two after bottling and noticing how the tastes change
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My bog stock Tooheys Special Ale is one week old tonight, so I was planning on cracking one for a taste test tonight. I'll give it a bash and report on how it goes tomorrow.
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Wow, I just cracked a 7 day old (since bottled) APA. Was hoping to take this batch this down south this weekend... Some thoughts.
Tastes pretty good, but it definitely needs time to condition. Pretty strong green apple taste (acetaldehyde), with a little bit of sourness which is a strong indicator that it's too young to drink. Hope it'll clear in time. It is a good idea is to drink a bottle of your beer every week or two after bottling and noticing how the tastes change
its alright i plan to purchase the finest bottle of tequilla for this weekend
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What's that?
New venue - this guy's place? :D
stay tuned TEAGUESTOCK 2008
:rofl:
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Moar liek URNT-BREWIT, amirite?
urrite!!!11
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A few chunks never hurt anybody, but chances are they will eventually dissolve.
Anyway, I went to see Roy to get set my draught system up. It's simple, but pretty expensive, mainly due to the cost of the regulator. I had a big bottle of gas I inherited from a mate's dad when a tree fell on his brewing shed / home pub, so I didn't have to pay for that.
All up, for the 18 litre keg, lines, Pluto gun and regulator with fittings cost me 355 dollars.
Woo!
Nice work. Where did you get the gun and regulator / fittings from? And how much just for those?
I have 50lt kegs so it's gonna be interesting finding a fridge to fit them. :P
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I got the gun, regulator and fittings from Roy at T.W.O.C. / Deliverance in Bibra Lake, the address is in the first post.
Regulator is what will set you back the most, it costs over 200 dollars. The lines, fittings and gun were around 70 dollars or so. Also, I have 3 50L kegs at home, but the fittings are different to the setup I have now (old fashioned style), I'll take a picture of the 50L keg fittings and the 18L keg fittings them tonight, and see if yours will work. Failing that, they might have the fittings for the old style kegs at the store.
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I was just gonna get the keg coupler off ebay, was just curious where you sourced the stuff and the costs. I saw some regulators cheap on some site too, or was it ebay as well... :hmm:
Was just gonna hire the gas bottle from BOC.. $10 a month apparently.
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I was just gonna get the keg coupler off ebay, was just curious where you sourced the stuff and the costs. I saw some regulators cheap on some site too, or was it ebay as well... :hmm:
Was just gonna hire the gas bottle from BOC.. $10 a month apparently.
thats sounds like a good deal
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Just bottled my licorice beer, which I have dubbed 'Magouzo Ale'. Should be good. Man, the sediment in the bottom of the fermenter was fucking PUTRID though! Worst Ive ever seen....I blame it solely on the licorice of course.
Next Im trying something a little different - a Coopers Ginger Beer (requested by my mother-in-law). Cant be too hard, except it only makes 17L at 3.5% alc. We'll see about THAT! I aint makin no pussy mid strength shit. Will let you know how it goes.
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Went to the brew store at Stock Road markets on Saturday and picked up a couple of kits that look really good.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomcaxton.com%2Fedme%2Flabels%2Fsb_strong%2520ale.jpg&hash=a4c6163b76a0113641b33af68de3f3911cfcfb91)
Edme is supposed to be among the best home brew companys in England (along with Muntons of course). This looked good, and the dude there recommend we use combine the yeast in the kit along with a packet of Y Yeast. Now Ive always heard that mixing different strains of yeast is bad, but the guy there said it really didnt make much difference, and you want a lot of yeast for this brew. Anyone ever done this before?
Also got a Brewcraft Bavarian Wheat Beer (cant find an image, its just a bit tin with a simple label). As far as simplicity goes, this one is great, all you need is the tin. All malt, hops and yeast are already in it. Ive already had this Wheat Beer before, and its bloody terrific for the summer time.
Tasted the Traditional Bitter and the Belgian Brune last night. The Bitter is coming along nicely, Ill probably bottle it tomorrow. The Belgian is still bubbling away, so its good for another week or so before that gets bottled, and I can tell already that this is going to be among the best Ive ever brewed. ;D
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Just bottled my licorice beer, which I have dubbed 'Magouzo Ale'. Should be good. Man, the sediment in the bottom of the fermenter was fucking PUTRID though! Worst Ive ever seen....I blame it solely on the licorice of course.
Next Im trying something a little different - a Coopers Ginger Beer (requested by my mother-in-law). Cant be too hard, except it only makes 17L at 3.5% alc. We'll see about THAT! I aint makin no pussy mid strength shit. Will let you know how it goes.
my mate I mentioned earlier gave me some cherry cola and ginger beer he brewed, fucken nice it was, the cola caught up with me though mixing it with beam :drunk:
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Me and Sim (Chaos) made a batch of cola a few years ago when home brew was the norm and decided to make it an alcoholic cola, it tasted foul from the first week, to a year later.. it was no better when it was stored under my bed in 1 litre bottles and I used to come home from work at night to big black puddles emerging from under there, smelling of the abomination that was our alcoholic cola.
Needless to say we stuck to beer from that point on.
The home brew ciders are also awesome, I forget which one it was we did but it tasted fuckin' incredible.
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I just put on a hefeweißbier today, couldn't be fucked taking pictures but here is the recipe. I'll make one again soon, so I'll do it then.
1.7 kilograms pale malt liquid extract
1.7 kilograms wheat malt liquid extract
50g Saaz hops (2.8% AA)
A pre-started culture of Wyeast 3638 (Schneider strain). I bought a packet of Wyeast 3068 a week ago, this is the Weihenstephaner yeast, might make another soon with it; it'd be interesting to compare the two.
Both cans of malt were added to two litres of hot water and simmered until a rolling boil. When boil was achieved, I scooped off the hot break until no more foam was visible, then I added 50g of Saaz into my hop bag and boiled it in the malt for 60 minutes. When the boil was finished, I rinsed the bag with boiling water to get the rest of the juice out. Made up to 23 litres, pitched yeast at 28 degrees.
I'm going to go about this one a little differently to the last hefe I did, which was pretty ordinary. Kind of clovey and pissweak really, hardly any nice banana aromas or flavours. I fermented it at 16 degrees (which is perfect for most ales. Not hefe, apparently).
Reading up, I found out that most of the German hefeweißbier yeasts won't produce the esters that give those flavours at such a low temperature; ideally they should be fermented above 20 degrees for the richest flavour. So, I am going to whip the electric blanket out and ferment this one at 22 degrees and see how it goes.
Hopefully this will get me close to the mark.
An all cascade APA I made about a month ago is coming into age now, cracked a bottle of it yesterday; still needs another week, and could've done with some more hops, but overall pretty damn awesome. Pours perfectly, holds a head for ages, and is a nice cloudy light orange. I've just finished an amarillo golden ale, which is going into the new keg tomorrow! I'm going to dry hop it with 20g of amarillo. If the taste of the wort is anything to go by, this one is going to be a winner.
:drunk:
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I just put on a hefeweißbier today...
I love you... in the gayest way possible. :-*
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Went to the brew store at Stock Road markets on Saturday and picked up a couple of kits that look really good.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomcaxton.com%2Fedme%2Flabels%2Fsb_strong%2520ale.jpg&hash=a4c6163b76a0113641b33af68de3f3911cfcfb91)
Edme is supposed to be among the best home brew companys in England (along with Muntons of course). This looked good, and the dude there recommend we use combine the yeast in the kit along with a packet of Y Yeast. Now Ive always heard that mixing different strains of yeast is bad, but the guy there said it really didnt make much difference, and you want a lot of yeast for this brew. Anyone ever done this before?
Also got a Brewcraft Bavarian Wheat Beer (cant find an image, its just a bit tin with a simple label). As far as simplicity goes, this one is great, all you need is the tin. All malt, hops and yeast are already in it. Ive already had this Wheat Beer before, and its bloody terrific for the summer time.
Tasted the Traditional Bitter and the Belgian Brune last night. The Bitter is coming along nicely, Ill probably bottle it tomorrow. The Belgian is still bubbling away, so its good for another week or so before that gets bottled, and I can tell already that this is going to be among the best Ive ever brewed. ;D
I have seen these kits and didn't give them a moment's thought, but yeah apparently they are pretty shit hot. Let us know how it goes.
And yeah, that Bavarian Wheat kit is really good, but I'm always a bit iffy about kit yeasts. I'd use K-97 dried yeast for just a couple of bucks extra; this is a brilliant yeast for wheat beers apart from hefeweißen and witbier, which really need liquid or recultured yeast. I fucking love wheat beers, might give an American Wheat Beer a shot some time soon. Wheat goes well with honey, apparently...
Just for the record, I'm sure that Brewcraft source their extracts from Muntons, so it's bound to be good :)
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Cheers for the suggestions, Im a little iffy about yeasts that come with the kits as well.
Just bottled the Traditional Bitter last night, only made about 18 litres, a little less than I thought, looks like this going to be a bit stronger than usual. Its progressing quite nicely, hoppy bitter flavours are quite evident and I expect them to develop as time goes on.
The Belgian Brune is still bubbling a little bit, but I think I will bottle it tomorow or so.
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This coming Saturday I will be doing a partial mash for an English Special Bitter. I will also be purchasing two more kegs, because I have officially decided that bottling fucking blows for three reasons:
a) Effort.
b) You have to wait for fucking ever for the sugar drops to be fermented and the nasty flavours to be cleaned up. Maturation in a keg is quicker and easier.
c) Can't dry hop with bottles unless you ferment in secondary.
So, for the ESB, I bought:
500g of dried light malt extract
1 can of Cooper's liquid light malt extract
100g of East Kent Goldings (I will be using this for bittering and flavouring)
1.1kg of 2 row pale barley malt
200g crystal malt
Will get into it on Saturday, and will probably do a partial mash hefeweizen and take photos this time. I'm thinking afterwards I might try a partial mash Belgian golden ale ala Leffe for Christmas or something.
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500g of dried light malt extract
1 can of Cooper's liquid light malt extract
100g of East Kent Goldings (I will be using this for bittering and flavouring)
1.1kg of 2 row pale barley malt
200g crystal METH
You could call it Ben's ale. :P
Anyway, it seems as though our dear brewing freind Inge has out grown us all and left us behind cleaning our crusty bottles out. Im still more than happy to use the bottles for now. In fact, I cracked my Tooheys Special BItter last night. Not too bad, considering its just a standard normal old $10 can with normal dextrose (not brew enhancer or malt or anything). On a scale of 0 (Emu Export) to 10 (Grolsch/Heineken) I give it about a 6. Thats only 3 weeks in the bottles too, so it should only improve.
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Crystal methamphetamine in a German lager sounds like it'd be a hit in the club scene. I will call it 'Geschwindigkeit'.
As for the beer, leave it for two months or so and it will probably claw its way up to a seven.
I don't miss your crusty bottles!
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Time to revive this little puppy.
Style: English Special Bitter (ESB)
This time we are going to do a partial mash. The mash is the process in which the sugars are extracted from the cracked, malted grains. Without going into too much detail, the grains are soaked in the appropriate amount of water (around 2.5-3 litres per kilogram of grain), and the resulting porridge is held at a certain temperature (60-68 degrees, depending on how full bodied you want the beer. A pretty good best-of-both-worlds temperature is 66, which is what I'm going to shoot for). Keeping the mash at this temperature activates enzymes in the grain which convert the starches into fermentable malt sugars. After the mash is finished, usually after an hour or so, the grain is rinsed with 75-80 degree water to wash out residual sugars into your boil pot. This is known as sparging.
The best beers are made entirely from grains using this process, but as I am lacking the equipment to do this, I am going to use a smaller amount of grain in conjunction with liquid and dried extract. All up, the grain will contribute around 1/3rd of the total fermentable sugars and (most importantly) impart a fresher, less sweet flavour to the finished brew.
The English Special Bitter is a stronger, hoppier version of a ordinary bitter. They are generally quite malty, with a bit of fruit from the yeast and a strong bitter finish. The only example I can think of at the moment is Fullers's ESB which is fairly hard to find around here. Or, imagine a slightly stronger version of Boddington's.
Ingredients
1.15kg of pale malt, 200g crystal malt, cracked. The guy at the homebrew store will do this for you.
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1.5kg can of Cooper's light liquid extract.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff348%2Fteaguepaton%2FESB%2Fextract.jpg&hash=80890bd3bec8999a176ed67c59389c94b3d00a1a)
About 500-700 grams of light dried extract.
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1 packet of S-04 English ale yeast.
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100g East Kent Goldings hops.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff348%2Fteaguepaton%2FESB%2FEKG.jpg&hash=99ab0a4e97e24a419341e4c36d5f604c385b8abf)
Packet of Calcium Sulphate to harden the water a bit (I'm using rainwater for the mash and boil; it's too soft for mashing. Tap water should be fine.)
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The Mash: Brewing in a Bag
You will need: An accurate thermometer, a large esky, two large muslin grain bags.
Before you start, pour about 5 litres of boiling water into the esky and the pot that you will be mashing in to warm it up, thus minimising heat loss to convection, and keep the mash temperature fairly steady. Splash it around a bit to make sure it warms evenly.
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Put the pot in the esky and seal it for the time being.
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Now, get 3.5 litres of water (or alternatively, use 2.5-3 litres of water per kilogram of grain) in a saucepan, and put it on the stove at medium heat. You want to heat this up to just under 75 degrees (strike temperature). When mixed with the grains in the mash, the temperature should drop to around 66-67 degrees C, which is perfect.
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Now is the time to add about 3/4 of a tablespoon of gypsum salts to harden the mash water. This will drop the pH a little, and make the mash slightly more efficient.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff348%2Fteaguepaton%2FESB%2Fgypsum.jpg&hash=faf858406b8650d0e23920bfa44a132b106e467c)
While this is happening, get your pot, stretch the bag over it and dump your grains in. Boil the kettle.
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Dump the mash water into the pot, stirring to make sure all the grains are thoroughly wetted.
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Check the temperature after stirring. If it is sitting at 66-67, you are laughing. If the temperature is below 66, add boiling water SLOWLY while stirring until the temperature is right. Cover the pot and put it in the esky, seal the lid.
All you need to do is wait for at least 40 minutes. Check the temperature at the halfway point. If it has dropped to 60 or so, add a cup of boiling water slowly to bring it back up to the mid 60s.
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While you are waiting, put about 5 litres water on the stove. This is going to be the water with which you wash the sugars out of the grains, i.e. the sparge water. This needs to be hotter than the mash water so heat this up to about 80 degrees.
Once the mash is finished, you have to lift the bag out of the pot and put it in a colander sitting over the top. Slowly trickle the sparge water over the grains to wash out the residual sugars sugars. Use as much sparge water as your pot will fit. This is pretty tricky to do alone without burning yourself so get your wife / grandma to do it.
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All done! You should have a pale soup of sweet malt. If it doesn't taste sweet, you failed.
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff348%2Fteaguepaton%2FESB%2Fdone.jpg&hash=5d753db911a727b27e9620e3c24e4e28023f496a)
Boil this for 15 minutes before adding the first batch of hops. A scum should form on the top- spoon it off as it develops. You can see some of the scum in the bowl on the left hand side of that picture. This scum is the hot break, and removing it will help prevent your boil from foaming up and making a mess. Once this is done, dissolve your can of extract, and half a kilo of the dried extract into the wort.
Hop Additions
Protip: Put a second grain bag or stocking into the wort, and add your hops into this to stop the hop bits from glugging up the boil.
40g East Kent Goldings @ 60 minutes
30g East Kent Goldings @ 30 minutes
20g East Kent Goldings @ 3 minutes
Topped up to 22 litres and fermented using the S-04 English Ale dried yeast at 16-18 degrees for a week.
Racked into a secondary vessel for conditioning for a week, dry hopped with about 15g Goldings (dry hop means just chuck them straight into the fermenter).
Will be kegged and carbonated TOMORROW. Tastes and smells magnificent, going to be a beauty.
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MY FIRST BREW IS ON! You cunts inspired me. Its only the generic Coopers Lager that came in the kit but hopefully it will work out all good.
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MY FIRST BREW IS ON! You cunts inspired me. Its only the generic Coopers Lager that came in the kit but hopefully it will work out all good.
and dont be dissapointed if it doesnt man. Its kinda like cooking pancakes - the first one is never very good. Trust me, it only gets better! Welcome to the club - may you have many successful brews in years to come!
On other news, my licorice beer has been in bottles for about 3 weeks now, and is fucking TAAAAAAASTY! When I say tasty, Im going as far to say a 9/10 on the homebrew taste scale. After-taste is a bit much but. Remembering, this was made with a Coopers Dark Ale, 1kg dextrose and 300g soft black licorice - its a fucking DARK ale alright!
Oh, and my Tooheys Special Ale has come up a treat. When I last "reviewed" it I gave it a 6. 2 weeks later and it easily acheives at least a 7.5.
My Ginger beer is THE tastiest ginger beer I have ever tasted as well. Fuck the Bundaberg stubbies - mine is the shiznit, and its about 3.1% alcohol too! Should go nicely with some Rum to make a super potent Dark & Stormy. By the way, this was after only a week in the bottle. I can only imagine what benefits another month or so worth of conditioning will bring. Maybe using pure springwater IS worth it after all!
Bottling my Coopers Canadian Blonde sometime over the weekend as well. Smells great, nice and clean and crisp.
as you can see, I have a VERY healthy stockpile of piss to keep me amused. It seems I cant keep up drinking it, so I have to start slowing down the brewing.....or better yet, acquire more bottles.
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MY FIRST BREW IS ON! You cunts inspired me. Its only the generic Coopers Lager that came in the kit but hopefully it will work out all good.
and dont be dissapointed if it doesnt man. Its kinda like cooking pancakes - the first one is never very good. Trust me, it only gets better! Welcome to the club - may you have many successful brews in years to come!
On other news, my licorice beer has been in bottles for about 3 weeks now, and is fucking TAAAAAAASTY! When I say tasty, Im going as far to say a 9/10 on the homebrew taste scale. After-taste is a bit much but. Remembering, this was made with a Coopers Dark Ale, 1kg dextrose and 300g soft black licorice - its a fucking DARK ale alright!
Oh, and my Tooheys Special Ale has come up a treat. When I last "reviewed" it I gave it a 6. 2 weeks later and it easily acheives at least a 7.5.
My Ginger beer is THE tastiest ginger beer I have ever tasted as well. Fuck the Bundaberg stubbies - mine is the shiznit, and its about 3.1% alcohol too! Should go nicely with some Rum to make a super potent Dark & Stormy. By the way, this was after only a week in the bottle. I can only imagine what benefits another month or so worth of conditioning will bring. Maybe using pure springwater IS worth it after all!
Bottling my Coopers Canadian Blonde sometime over the weekend as well. Smells great, nice and clean and crisp.
as you can see, I have a VERY healthy stockpile of piss to keep me amused. It seems I cant keep up drinking it, so I have to start slowing down the brewing.....or better yet, acquire more bottles.
Well done man!
Its always good to get a good stockpile of homebrew right before summer, as summer isnt a very good time to brew.
Handy Hint :
If you're running low on longnecks, you can use any size plastic coke bottle. Beer carbonates just as well in these, the only thing is, once you open it, it means you should drink all of it as it won't keep well. 8)
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Next up after I bottle my Canadian Blonde, I've decided to step my way up the rungs a bit and go for something slightly more adventurous. Got myself a Brewcraft Mexican Cerveza, a bag of West Brew Brew Booster #15 (which has light malt in it as well) and decided I'd buy a different yeast, just to see how it goes. I got a Saflager W-34/70 - whatever the fuck that is. The brew can told me to get it for a "crisper, drier flavour". So I did.
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Here's something you can do if you really want to know how yeasts can affect a brew :
Get three or four fermenters and divide your brew up equally between them.
The use a different yeast for each fermenter.
Everything else is exactly the same, except for the yeast. So when it comes time to tasting, you'll know which flavours and characteristics each yeast can bring to your brew.
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yeah, I'd love to put it to the test, however I neither have the means (I only have one fermenter) nor the desire to ever bother getting a second fermenter. I will experiement with yeasts from now on though - I know using the same brew extract, sugars and malts you still get varying brews dependant on temperature, how the water is on any one day etc etc, but its gotta be close enough. Anyway, I have no desire to ever make the same beer twice until I find something that truly blows my tastebuds away.
By the way, I managed to source more bottles. SWEET!
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Best bottles = Grolsch various size swingtop bottles, capping not required. ;D
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When I was in Adelaide they had Coopers lager. I've never seen it here so I had a try and it was possibly the worst beer I've ever had. I'd have Topvar over Coopers lager any day of the week.
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Ive seen it in a couple of stores. It is by far their weakest beer.
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It didn't even taste like beer. Tasted more like steaming shit.
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Ive seen it in a couple of stores. It is by far their weakest beer.
Their ales aren't too bad...
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Coopers Pale Ale is one of the greatest beers this country produces.
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Sparkling is very good.
Extra Stout is tremendous
Vintage is unbelievable.
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Coopers Pale Ale is one of the greatest beers this country produces.
I concur. I've been ripping through that stuff recently. It's also very nicely priced, at $4ish a longneck. ;D
I also tend to prefer the Pale over the Sparkling. Each to his/her own.
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Coopers Pale Ale is one of the greatest beers this country produces.
I concur. I've been ripping through that stuff recently. It's also very nicely priced, at $4ish a longneck. ;D
I also tend to prefer the Pale over the Sparkling. Each to his/her own.
yeah i prefer the pale over the sparkling for sure. The only reason im doing the lager atm is because i only just bought my kit and thats what came in it.
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Next up after I bottle my Canadian Blonde, I've decided to step my way up the rungs a bit and go for something slightly more adventurous. Got myself a Brewcraft Mexican Cerveza, a bag of West Brew Brew Booster #15 (which has light malt in it as well) and decided I'd buy a different yeast, just to see how it goes. I got a Saflager W-34/70 - whatever the fuck that is. The brew can told me to get it for a "crisper, drier flavour". So I did.
Be warned, Saflager W-34/70 is a lager yeast, and you'll need to keep this one cold (about 13 degrees) while fermenting. You'll also need to condition the beer after bottling by leaving it in the fridge for about a month, otherwise you'll just be drinking fart.
Fucking got sidetracked again, I will post the rest of the recipe soon.
Also, I made a mashtun yesterday, so I will be able to do mostly grain beers (or small all grain batches). Going to give a Bohemian Pilsener a shot, picked up half a kilo of Saaz hops and a nice liquid lager yeast, should be tasty.
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Also, I reckon coopers sparkling is pretty average. Too much Pride of Ringwood hops, has that shitty macrobrewery after taste. The stout is pretty good, but the vintage is real nice.
ESB RECIPE FINISHED
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So Inge, by saying I'll need to condition in a fridge for a month, is that straight after I bottle, or do the normal 3 week conditioning at normal room temp, then into the fridge for a further month? And 13°? I better unwrap the blankets from around it (which just keeps it at a nice 18° on average). I put the vat on Saturday, and it was 26° when I pitched the yeast, then after about 6 hours I put it in the shed where it should drop to 18° fairly quickly (with blankets).
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For something different.
Anyone ever tried Black and Tan ?
Mix a Cooper's Pale Ale with a Stout in a glass. Very nice.
Bottled the Edme Strong Ale the other day, very very dark and strong-looking (as well it should).
Going to brew that Wheat Beer soon. I dont really go for the pre-packaged yeast, but this pack actually comes with Safale k-87 yeast, which is pretty good.
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Yeah man, Black n Tan is great! Portergaffs arent too bad either, if you dont feel like being bloated.
Oh, my Ginger Beers passed the test. My mate came up for the weekend and he had a bottle of Bundy....so we were making Dark & Stormys with my 3.5% alc/vol Ginger beer. Fucking madness - but damn tasty!
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So Inge, by saying I'll need to condition in a fridge for a month, is that straight after I bottle, or do the normal 3 week conditioning at normal room temp, then into the fridge for a further month? And 13°? I better unwrap the blankets from around it (which just keeps it at a nice 18° on average). I put the vat on Saturday, and it was 26° when I pitched the yeast, then after about 6 hours I put it in the shed where it should drop to 18° fairly quickly (with blankets).
You should be fine. First things first, get the temperature down to at least 15. Are you fermenting outside in the shed or something? If so, just wrap wet towels around the fermenter and leave it to chill in the night air. Your in Gero, so you shouldn't have any problems with the temperature at this time of year, especially once you factor in wind chill. Just be sure to keep these towels wet :P
Once fermentation is almost finished, let the temperature rise to 18. This is called a diacetyl rest, and lets the yeast chew up buttery flavours which are bad in a lager. Overall, leave it in the fermenter for about two weeks. The night before you bottle, chill the fermenter down to fridge temperatures using bags of ice overnight, or by leaving it in the fridge. This will cause the yeast to all drop out of suspension and settle at the bottom, and hopefully clear up the beer. This isn't necessary, but it will really help avoid mass amounts of yeast in the bottles and off flavours they may give off.
The beer may smell like sulphur at this point, this is normal.
Bottle them and stash the bottles somewhere cold for 4-6 weeks. Because the yeast works at low temperatures, they should still carb up fine, albeit slowly. You want to store the beer in the cold until all traces of the sulphur smell is gone. Crack one at 4 weeks, and sample it. If there is even a slight hint of sulphur, leave it for another fortnight, and try again.
Congrats on the ginger! I fucking love dark and stormy; ginger beer + Bundy = awesome.
Alcoholic homebrew ginger + Bundaberg OP = fucking carnage.
Anyway, schedule to follow is:
Fermentation: 11-12 days fermenting at 13-15 degrees.
Diacetyl rest: 24-48 hours 18 degrees.
Crash chill to 4-5 degrees overnight.
Bottle with normal amount of sugar / drops.
Leave at 4 degrees for 4-6 weeks.
Lagers are a bit more complicated than ales. I haven't really even bothered with them until now haha.
.
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hang on, let me get this straight. So because I used this Saflager yeast, that automatically makes this beer Im brewing a Lager, regardless of the brew can I used? Am I correct? Is it accurate to say the difference between Ale and Lager is all in the yeast? I know its the brewing process that determines which one it is, but is the brewing process determined by the yeast? And yes, it does smell a bit like arse so far.
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hang on, let me get this straight. So because I used this Saflager yeast, that automatically makes this beer Im brewing a Lager, regardless of the brew can I used? Am I correct? Is it accurate to say the difference between Ale and Lager is all in the yeast? I know its the brewing process that determines which one it is, but is the brewing process determined by the yeast? And yes, it does smell a bit like arse so far.
I believe the yeast does technically decide, as the difference is in the way the yeast ferments (top-fermenting vs. bottom fermenting).
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hang on, let me get this straight. So because I used this Saflager yeast, that automatically makes this beer Im brewing a Lager, regardless of the brew can I used? Am I correct? Is it accurate to say the difference between Ale and Lager is all in the yeast? I know its the brewing process that determines which one it is, but is the brewing process determined by the yeast? And yes, it does smell a bit like arse so far.
I believe the yeast does technically decide, as the difference is in the way the yeast ferments (top-fermenting vs. bottom fermenting).
Yeah, I understand the top vs bottom thing, I just didnt realize it was so purely based on the yeast. So if I used the yeast they gave me in the actual brew kit, I would have ended up with an Ale then? weird.
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Yep, that's exactly it. Whether you are brewing a lager or an ale comes specifically down to the type of yeast you use. The brewing process is completely based on the type of yeast, as ale yeasts and lager yeasts have different requirements for fermentation, particularly temperature.
How's the brew going anyway? I probably should have been a bit more clear about the types of dried yeast to get, sorry about that... Hopefully it turns out good either way. Just make sure you keep the temperature down, and you'll be right.
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well, I had never used any yeast other than what was provided with the brew kit until now, and the only reason I used this one is because on the can it recommended to use this specific yeast for a better flavour - they neglected to mention the difficulties involved, or the fact that it now makes it a completely different beer. An amateur, or someone who hadnt done their homework (ie. asked the WF brew crew) would be fucked with this one.
As for temp, being the almost sub-tropical climate Im in Im finding it hard to get any lower than 16°. I'll just see how it goes - worts case scenario I waste $18, 1/2 hour work and 2 weeks precious brewing time. Surely it wont come to that though.
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well, I had never used any yeast other than what was provided with the brew kit until now, and the only reason I used this one is because on the can it recommended to use this specific yeast for a better flavour - they neglected to mention the difficulties involved, or the fact that it now makes it a completely different beer. An amateur, or someone who hadnt done their homework (ie. asked the WF brew crew) would be fucked with this one.
As for temp, being the almost sub-tropical climate Im in Im finding it hard to get any lower than 16°. I'll just see how it goes - worts case scenario I waste $18, 1/2 hour work and 2 weeks precious brewing time. Surely it wont come to that though.
Should be ok. 16 is a little high, so you might get a few ale like fruity tastes, but it doesn't really matter.
Next time, pick up Safale US-05 or US-56 (same yeast, different names), which is a clean tasting American ale yeast, or S-04, which is a slightly yeastier tasting and smelling English ale yeast, or even use the yeast from a bottle of Coopers as per the tutorial earlier :D
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Just bottled my lager - hopefully it resembles Corona to some degree, being a Cerveza and all. the more exciting news is that my Canadian Blonde (which I named "the Royal Canadian Kilted Magsmen ale" - in homage to Ren & Stimpy) tastes fucking awesome after just 2 weeks in the bottle. It has that fruity flavour that any young brew has, but undertneath that, it tastes awesome - another week or 2 and it should be killer....
in other news, I just put on my "Buzz Lightbeer" (named for my sons obsession with Toy Story - and a play on the main ingredient). It consists of Coopers Master Brewers Wheat beer (the premium range), 1kg of CSR Brewing sugar and 500g of honey. It smells wicked. Should be a blast. Oh, the whole "lightbeer" part of the name is fully false advertizing, as the OG was 1.047 (excessively high, and should give me something around the 6% mark).
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I finished brewing the Bavarian Wheat Beer the other day. This is buy far the simplest brew Ive made, as it is all contained in one kit. All you need to do is boil some water, put it in the fermenter, add the kit, then top up the fermenter with cold water and add the yeast. Very simple.
Although, a day after the brew was made, it wasnt bubbling in the fermenter (which implies that it wasnt fermenting, ie, the yeast was past its date :ranting:), so a quick run down to the brew store for some more yeast and pouring it in luckily fixed it. So if you use yeast from a kit, make sure its still good and continually check your brew while its fermenting !
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is there such thing as over-yeasting?
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Nah not really, using a lot of yeast will cause excessive foaming, but the only danger there is that it could start to leak out of the top of the fermenter.
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Good to hear your shit is all coming together!
I'm having a few of the boys around for the grand final and have a bit of a piss up. I've got that ESB sitting at 10 degrees mellowing out a bit which will be just beautiful, but I wanted a little more variety so I threw on my attempt at a Little Creatures pale ale clone, using Chinook and cascade hops. Decided to do this one as a big fuck off partial mash, with the wort from the grains contributing about a little over half of the total fermentable sugars. Used about 3 kilograms of grain all up.
Do do this, I built myself a mash tun out of an old 15L esky and plumbing bits from Bunnings, which is just big enough to mash 3 kilos. The copper manifold initially had holes drilled in it to let the wort flow through, but the flow rate was dismal so I took to the thing with a hacksaw and cut about 80 1mm slits in the copper. Worked much better!
Fucking made one hell of a mess in the kitchen when trying to fix that little problem. By the time the day was over I was covered in sticky malt and second degree burns.
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It's got a little spigot that the wort drains through after the mash is finished.
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This thing is now full of slits.
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Size comparison.
I picked up a few different packets of Wyeast the other day, one of which being the Belgian Wit yeast. So I will be throwing on a Hoegaarden clone for summer sometime soon. Also, once i get afridge I will be putting on the Czech Pilsener... looking forward to that one.
That honey wheat sounds pretty good haydz, I've been tempted to do one of them too.
Too much to do, not enough time / fermenters...
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Fuck yeah, ingenuity at its finest :)
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yeah man, thats some crazy assed shit there! Looks impressive. I have no idea what the fuck it does, but it looks cool. Me, I'll just stick to the standard old conventional method for now.
speaking of which....
Took a SG reading last night, and when I get home tonight Im taking another one and the way its been going tonight is bottling night. Had a taste of the wort last night too - just a sip. This honey beer is going to be one VERY impressive brew, mark my words. Oh, and as predicted, the fruity taste of the Candian Blonde has pretty much diminished to nothing, and its now a superb beer - very clear, very sparkly and holds a decent 1/2" head for almost the whole glass. Looks like it was poured from a keg. PERFECT!
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This thread needs a resurrection.
I'm getting stuck into my galaxy pale ale now. Mellowing quite nicely. All extract (3 kg liquid light malt, 1 kg dry light malt), cascade for bittering at 60 min (couldn't use galaxy with an alpha acid around 15%) and 30g galaxy additions at 15min, 5min and flame out.
The result - Galaxy is a fucking awesome hop for taste and aroma, and anyone who likes fruity American style ales should give it a crack. I just bottled another using Pearle for bittering instead.
Now onto a coopers sparkling.....
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good move man.
For the record, that honey beer was fucking awesome!
Oh, and the Mexican Cerveza that I mentioned earlier in the thread was a HUGE hit. I bottled it in Pure Blonde stubbies, chuck a slice of lime down the neck and every single person that tried it said it was better than Corona (thats not difficult, I know, but these were Corona drinkers, so its gotta count for something). I havent done a brew since.....been lazy I guess.
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Haha fuck yeah!
THIS THREAD!
I've been using the NZ hops a lot more, made an IPA using Super Alpha and Moteuka, turned out pretty good. Could have done with a few more weeks to mellow but fuck it I drank it anyway.
I wanna get my hands on some galaxy. Could it be... A decent hop from Australia?
I'm moving house on the fifth, might put a brew on :D Gotta get some steel next month and weld up a three tiered brewstand for sparging... Either that or get a march pump and hack up an old desk and make a level brew stand. See what's cheaper.
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Could have done with a few more weeks to mellow but fuck it I drank it anyway.
This is my biggest problem with brewing.
Galaxy is tops. I did probably over do it at the end but to be honest with those time additions it was an awesome flavor with massive amounts of aroma. I might stick to that regime in the future if I can get in on another bulk galaxy order.
Anyone tried Thomas coopers premium selection tins?
I'm gonna try the sparkling ale can with 1.5 kg light liquid malt and brew enhancer 2. No boil, no extra hops. See how it matches up.
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Ick, BE2 is rubbish. Maltodextrin gives a really strange thick mouthfeel. You have access to dry malt so use that with a bit of dextrose. That's what Cooper's does, or I even think they might use cane sugar. No maltodextrin, that's for sure :)
In my experience the premium tins aren't worth it... I reckon even the international range is no better than the standard tins. At the end of the day it's just malt extract with varying amounts of isohop extract - you get minimal, if any hop flavour and no aroma from a tin. Give it a shot though, it'd more than likely lend well to the sparkling style, as most of the character comes from the yeast anyway.
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Be sure to culture some Coopers yeast (steps are on the first page I think), its a lot better than most of the shitty yeasts you get in some kits.
We did a shitload of brews over the winter (at least 5 or 6), and they'll all be ready for summer, just in time :D
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Go the resurrection!
I've done a fair few brews since but mainly just the standard kits and experimenting with different yeasts and dextrose / brew boosters etc. I've been pretty happy with how they've all turned out. Some I started and the weather got really hot so it was tricky keeping the temperatures down, but most of the time managed to keep them from going too much over 20 degrees. Probably had an effect on the taste but I've liked them all.
Currently got a mexican cerveza (corona style) in one keg and I thought for something different I'd do an alcoholic ginger beer (coopers) for Xmas etc, so I've got everything ready to go, just have to get time to get it going.
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For anybody who gives a shit...
This is my current rig. It's ghetto as fuck but its served me pretty well thus far. Need to weld up a decent stand out of square tube, because the inverted bike trailer really isn't doing it for me.
Dial-up can suck a cock.
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That's my kettle, with a 3 ring camper burner attached to a high pressure adjustable regulator. The holes in the burner have sooted a bit and it's due for a re-drilling. In the background is my mash tun, which is in essence a bright blue 50L cylindrical esky I stole from my dad. I hacked the tap out and replaced it with a sassy little brass number I cobbled together from bunnings plumbing parts for the princely sum of 12 dollars. On the inside is a stainless steel braid attached to the tap, which is weighed down with a chunk of stainless steel fitting.
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Intimate shot, right after dough-in. Looks like vomit, but it's good gear.
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Shitty photo, but this is sparging. What you see my incredibly manly hands doing here is rinsing the grains with 75 degree water in order to wash the sugars off them. I get first degree burns every time I do this.
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Can't see it through the boiling wort and steam, but this is a copper coil heat exchanger. After boiling for an hour I run cold water through it which rapidly chills down the wort to about 25 degrees in half an hour. I put the return hose in the gutter leading to the water tank, so there's no wastage.
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See.
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Once it's cold enough, the valve on the kettle is opened.
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AND OUT COMES SWEET PROTO-BEER. I've attached a spray nozzle to the hose here to get as much oxygen into the wort as possible, for a healthy fermentation. Saves my scrawny arse from having to shake a full fermenter for 10 minutes.
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And this is what's left afterward. Hop debris, proteins from the grains and other assorted goop. You'll notice the copper pipe - what you don't see is the ultra ghetto hop screen, which is made from brass fittings and a large tea infuser ball. I can only use plugs or whole flowers for the time being, unfortunately, because pellets block it up, but that doesn't bother me much.
If anyone's interested I can run down the whole process with pictures next time I fire it up?
Sorry, had to split the posts. MySQL crapped out if I lumped it all together.
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Good shit man. Too cool for school.
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Ick, BE2 is rubbish. Maltodextrin gives a really strange thick mouthfeel.
I went the BE2 anyhow. Thought I way as well get rid of it, but thanks for the heads up. That's a cool as fuck set up by the way. I wouldn't call it ghetto, more like a pioneer.
Be sure to culture some Coopers yeast (steps are on the first page I think), its a lot better than most of the shitty yeasts you get in some kits.
Yeah that's what I had originally planned, get the yeast from a sparkling bottle. I did hear that the temps need to be right to avoid a banana flavor so I just went for the dry ale yeast for a quick and easy brew. I need to work out a way keep brew temps constant during summer. Maybe the spa outside :P
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Be sure to culture some Coopers yeast (steps are on the first page I think), its a lot better than most of the shitty yeasts you get in some kits.
Yeah that's what I had originally planned, get the yeast from a sparkling bottle. I did hear that the temps need to be right to avoid a banana flavor so I just went for the dry ale yeast for a quick and easy brew. I need to work out a way keep brew temps constant during summer. Maybe the spa outside :P
Once you get it down to the ideal temperature, try putting the brew in a cool dark corner of the house, and cover it up with some thick coats. The insulation is usually enough to keep it to within 1 or 2 degrees of the original temperature.
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Ive also gone for the wet towel wrap and place a pedestal fan in its general direction. Cools it down nicely.
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Yeah I rig up a "coolgardie safe" arrangement with a sheet wrapped around the fermenter with a drip line and put frozen water bottles to gradually melt over the course of the day and feed the lines. Of course, I had to get a tub to put it in to collect the excess water, in which I drilled out a hole for the fermenter tap. Works damn well.
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I bought a second hand bar fridge in good nick for 80 bucks, and whacked a 40 dollar temperature controller on it.
It's the best :D
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Yeah, considered that but we already have 2 fridges and no more room for another, not to mention didn't really want one that would just be used occasionally.
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I think I will go with the wet towel and frozen bottle method, depending how hot it is. I like Ales in particular so its not too much of a concern unless its fucking hot. Either that or put the fermenter into a tub filled with water, and add ice occasionally since I have access to an ice machine. I don't think the larger volume of water would fluctuate too much anyhow.
Fucking pissed off today. I got some dry American ale yeast from beer tech since I was in the area. It wasn't the usual Safale red pack from TWOC or Westbrew but I thought I'd risk it. Turns out it was a dud, but I guess I should have made a starter anyhow. Never had any problems with the safale.
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I've recently re-started homebrewing. I used to buy expensive kits with extra hops, malt extract, the lot. Now I'm just using plain ol' supermarket kits (sometimes even the Coles Farmland brews) and it's producing the best homebrew I've ever had.
My secret - no steriliser.
Not once has anything been contaminated and I no longer get weird chemical or arsey/farty flavours which were obviously a result of the sterilisers I used to use. Just hot water rinsing for both the fermenter and the bottles.
I'm even liking my beers more than cheap Aussie beers, and suffering a considerable drop in hangovers due to the lack of preservatives and god knows what other shit they put in mass-produced beers.
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I've recently re-started homebrewing. I used to buy expensive kits with extra hops, malt extract, the lot. Now I'm just using plain ol' supermarket kits (sometimes even the Coles Farmland brews) and it's producing the best homebrew I've ever had.
My secret - no steriliser.
Not once has anything been contaminated and I no longer get weird chemical or arsey/farty flavours which were obviously a result of the sterilisers I used to use. Just hot water rinsing for both the fermenter and the bottles.
I'm even liking my beers more than cheap Aussie beers, and suffering a considerable drop in hangovers due to the lack of preservatives and god knows what other shit they put in mass-produced beers.
its only a matter of time before you make a contaminated batch.....but good luck. Keep us up to date on how its going.
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Nah I don't reckon. I've done probably 15 to 20 batches over a 6 or 8 month period and every batch has been fine.
If you rinse the bucket out straight away, then let it soak in hot water for 15 minutes, then brew the next batch immediately, the bugs don't have time to land in there are start sexing.
It also seasons the bucket real well. No flavour is lost!
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Nah I don't reckon. I've done probably 15 to 20 batches over a 6 or 8 month period and every batch has been fine.
If you rinse the bucket out straight away, then let it soak in hot water for 15 minutes, then brew the next batch immediately, the bugs don't have time to land in there are start sexing.
It also seasons the bucket real well. No flavour is lost!
cool man, so long as you keep doing it the way you are doing, it should be fine then. Much more natural too.
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Heck yes! Also slightly cheaper, not having to buy steriliser ;D
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ahahaha...yeah, that shit is hell expensive! :P
You've got me in the brewing mood now - I'm gunna put one on tonight.
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And remember - no steriliser!
;D
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I got lazy and have accidentally left a Ginger Beer in my brew vat for about 10 months.....pretty sure Im going to need to sterilize this one :P
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Gross. I've heard ginger beer is very difficult to make successful.
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Gross. I've heard ginger beer is very difficult to make successful.
not including this one, I have made 2 previous. One totally sucked, one was totally awesome. Both were the same brand, using the same method. So yeah, Im 50% successful at ginger beer. Mixing it with Bundy makes for one hell of a potent Dark & Stormy. I've also done a Cider....but that pretty much just tasted like rotten apple flavoured cordial, since it didnt carbonate at all for reasons unknown to man. So in BOTB* Im 1/3.
*Brews Other Than Beer
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hey, you cant go changing your pic on me after I alter it!! I demand a change-back Mr. DV (no, Im not drawing a cock on a baby.....thats just wrong)
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Get back to work >:(
regards,
Mago's Boss
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Get back to work >:(
regards,
Mago's Boss
as we say in the classics..... "FUCK WORK"
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yes, "we" "do"
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NICE FOTOSHOP WORK THERE DFAT MATE!
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JUST FOR EVERYONE'S REFERENCE, HERE IS THE ORIGINAL PIC BEFORE DFAT EDITTED TO HELL FOR USE ON THIS BOARD.....
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;D
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Hahah
Jase was born with a full head of mullet
:D
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I'm no expert on this whole home brew thing, but how much are you saving on making your own beer instead of buying a $35 carton of cheap fart Aussie beer?
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1 batch of cheap homebrew like I make sets me back around 15 - 17 bucks a pop and makes 40 pints which is around 2 and a half cartons worth. Therefore a carton works out to be 6 or 7 dollars, so yes, it saves a SHITLOAD of money ;D
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I'm no expert on this whole home brew thing, but how much are you saving on making your own beer instead of buying a $35 carton of cheap fart Aussie beer?
I do a double brew for a 50 lt keg, so for about $40- $60 (depending what kind I do) I get about 125 worth (5.2 cartons) of 375mL beers.
For example though, at the moment I have a corona style one on and say it cost $60 for ingredients, but stubbies of those are only 330mL so you'd get about 142 of those (almost 6 cartons worth). ;)
Only takes less than 2 weeks to be ready from go to whoa so plenty of ice cold beer on tap 24/7
:thumbup:
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I'm fortunate enough to have parents with a filtered water tap. Having good water makes all the difference in my opinion. Makes sense considering about 90% of the volume is water.
I wouldn't mind splurging and doing an expensive brew sometime. Last time I splurged I did an amber ale which cost around $50 and it was unreal. Shame I was impatient and drank most of it before it had a chance to properly mature and get super awesome.
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Wow :o
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Wow....thats amazing :o
Thanks for the info dudes. :)
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I'll buy you all some fucking Iodophor :P
it can't make bad flavours in your brew because it doesn't taste like anything at all
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You can take your fucking Iodophor and fucking stick it in my fucking arse, I mean your fucking arse fucking.
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It's just the right size and shape
or would you prefer me funnel it
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While you're there Simon, since you're always complaining about being broke...
"Enemas have also been used for ritual rectal drug administration such as balch?, alcohol, tobacco, peyote, and other hallucinogenic drugs and entheogens, most notably by the Mayans and also some other American Indian tribes. Some tribes continue the practice in the present day.
People who wish to become intoxicated faster have also been known to use enemas as a method to instill alcohol into the bloodstream, absorbed through the membranes of the colon. However, great care must be taken as to the amount of alcohol used. Only a small amount is needed as the intestine absorbs the alcohol more quickly than the stomach. Deaths have resulted due to alcohol poisoning via enema."
Bottoms up!
;D
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How else did you think I was drinking my beer?
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Wow....thats amazing :o
Thanks for the info dudes. :)
yeah man, wow alright. Back in my young, bachelor days living with mates, we made brew for drunkeness; not for flavour. The cheapest tin of brew mix you could get and 2kg of dextrose. About $15. Make 25L of that and it comes out at about 10% alc. Thats 33 long necks (750ml bottles) at a cost of 45c each, which realistically is the equivalent of 4 stubbies. 3 long necks, 4 on a good night and you were plastered. Thats right, we got totally obliterated on $2 a night. Yes, homebrew is cheap, if you want it to be.
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I'll buy you all some fucking Iodophor :P
it can't make bad flavours in your brew because it doesn't taste like anything at all
Easy to use and reuse also. I've never had a bad taste from no rinse (sodium percabonate) either.
I'm cranking some ginger beer now using a deliverance/TWOC kit and a shit load of dextrose. Looks like its just ginger essence to be honest. I don't think it has artificial sweetener in it, which is good since that usually makes shit tasting ginger beer in my opinion. I'll add 250g of lactose just so it isn't too dry. Might also chuck on this black rock cider tin soon along with some no preservative apple juice.
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You win this round cunts.
Have just discovered for the first time ever, a fucked, infected brew. I'm assuming a milky spider web looking film on the surface, mouldy shit on the inside of the bucket, and a not so nice smell is fairly indicative of a rooted brew?
Thought so :(
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Taste it and find out :sick:
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It actually tastes fine so the infection might just be on the surface. I don't really want to risk it though. It was pretty fucking gross when I opened the lid.
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yeah man, tip that shit out, wash out your vat and STERILIZE the fuck out of it.
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Yeah I'm glad I got rid of it. As I emptied the bucket I saw that the infection had run all down the bucket. Washed and sterilised. Although I forgot to rinse the tap with clean water after I had run steriliser solution through it. Hopefully that doesn't cause any problems.
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Yeah I'm glad I got rid of it. As I emptied the bucket I saw that the infection had run all down the bucket. Washed and sterilised. Although I forgot to rinse the tap with clean water after I had run steriliser solution through it. Hopefully that doesn't cause any problems.
nah man, it'll be fine. Some of the sterilizers I have used recommend not even rinsing out the vat after sterilization. It cant be that bad for you.
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Just had a glass of my first homebrew ginger beer.....GREAT SUCCESS!!!
I just used a canned mix this time around as i had never made ginger beer before and the results are awesome, quite peppery
I am currently growing a ginger plant and have an old school recipe off my grandfather for traditional all natural ginger beer which i am putting on now that this one is ready. Will keep updated as to how that goes.
The only thing i have against this one is the slightly artificial aftertaste (almost a bit too sweet) which i am blaming on the fact it was made from a canned mix (which obviously contains preservatives) so I will see if by using a similar procedure with an old school recipe i can get rid of that.
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I am currently growing a ginger plant and have an old school recipe off my grandfather for traditional all natural ginger beer which i am putting on now that this one is ready. Will keep updated as to how that goes.
I did a ginger beer with roots before, was quite good but quite dry. I didn't mind it but maybe I'd add some lactose next time for sweetness. It also had cloves, cinnamon sticks and lemon in it from memory.
[/quote]The only thing i have against this one is the slightly artificial aftertaste (almost a bit too sweet) which i am blaming on the fact it was made from a canned mix (which obviously contains preservatives) so I will see if by using a similar procedure with an old school recipe i can get rid of that.
If you don't want an artificial sweetener use lactose. It doesn't ferment. I used 250g in 20L for my last extract ginger beer and its taken some of the dryness away. From memory the old school ginger beers have a lot of sugar in them, which is why the bottles pop if you leave them too long.
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put my first brew on in fucking AGES last night. Coopers Premium India Pale Ale with light malt and dextrose. Naturally I doubled the recommended quantities of sugars/malt. With an OG reading of 1.053 on the hydrometer, I'm expecting something in the vacinity of 6.5-7.0% alc/vol. Should be interesting. Just a nice simple one to break the vat back into commission. Then Im going to start experimenting with some crazy shit.... stay tuned.
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Mint.
I had a brewday with a clueless broad a few weeks ago.
5.5% K?lsch, turning out pretty well. Needs to be cold conditioned for 3-4 weeks bu after that should be delicious
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I have finally ditched the 20-something year old bucket and have temporarily aquired a nice new bucket before I buy my own. Will put my first brew on in that bucket tomorrow I think.
I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the Cascade Spicy Ghost I did a couple of weeks ago. Tasted quite spicy when I bottled it (go figure!).
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I have finally ditched the 20-something year old bucket and have temporarily aquired a nice new bucket before I buy my own. Will put my first brew on in that bucket tomorrow I think.
I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the Cascade Spicy Ghost I did a couple of weeks ago. Tasted quite spicy when I bottled it (go figure!).
I did a spicy ghost a while ago. One of the tastiest brews I made.
My current brew has gone volcanic. In all my years of brewing I have never seen this before. I put the brew on at about 6pm on wednesday night, and all was going good. Took an OG reading and as previously mentioned it came in at 1.053, which is reasonably high. Imagine my surprise when I came home last night to find this...
(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi6.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy239%2Fmagohaydz%2Fvolcanobrew.jpg%3Ft%3D1236898050&hash=eed87a9a7bbd019c2dfcc32c4f85dee9b08372af)
I took another hydrometer reading, pretty much exactly 24 hours since the initial one and its dropped to 1.022 already. Thats about 4 days worth of brewing in 24 hours. Took another reading this morning at 6am (so 36 hours since yeasting) and its down to 1.008. I've had brews stop at that level before and been bottled. This is one crazy brew. It must be super eager for me to drink it.
I decided to call it either "Volcanic Ale" or "Mount Krakatinny"
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My brews were going at a similar rate over this last summer. Must've been perfect temperature in the house so they'd just go nuts and froth would start bursting out of the air lock, sometimes even through the seal of the lid.
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How hot are they getting?
I've had this once with a weissbier yeast, Wyeast 3068. Damn thing fucking crawled out of my fermenter and produced a fair bit of heat while doing so. My fridge could hardly keep it down to 20 degrees. I ended up fitting a blowoff tube.
Tasted good but :)
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it hasnt got any hotter than 26deg the whole time, which is usually what I brew at considering Geraldton's climate - thats about as cold as I can maintain it, but still always makes a nice brew. Not sure whats going on here, but its pretty much finished. I'll probably bottle tomorrow.
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well, I bottled the Volcanic Ale without any hassles, so time will tell I guess. Also put on a Coopers Premium Wheat beer with 1kg of Dextrose, 300g of light dried malt and 500g of Greenough Wildflower honey. Should be killer!
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Wow, you guys know your shit. Took a look through this thread in the hope that the title "Piss, plonk & moonshine" might infer that there'd be some information about creating your own whiskey. Alas no. So, I'm wondering if anyone has any info on it? I'm not sure that making you're own whiskey is legal, ..but like I'd let that stop me. :drool:
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The equipment is expensive. I think it's a few hundred bucks to get started whereas a homebrew kit costs about 80.
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Wow, you guys know your shit. Took a look through this thread in the hope that the title "Piss, plonk & moonshine" might infer that there'd be some information about creating your own whiskey. Alas no. So, I'm wondering if anyone has any info on it? I'm not sure that making you're own whiskey is legal, ..but like I'd let that stop me. :drool:
yeah man, I have been toying with the idea of getting started on it, but its a scary process. From what I understand its very easy to fuck it up and make methanol or butane - 2 things you really dont want to drink. However I have a couple of different mates that do it. One goes to the whole trouble making pretty much every sort of spirit of liqueur you could ever imagine, and they are very nice drinks. This guy has been doing it for a few years now and has got it down to a fine art, but I remember tasting some of his early concoctions and they tasted like shit, plus gave you the worst hangover in the existence of drinking (aside from goon).
The other mates makes this shit that they call "Toe Cutters Bat Piss" from some unknown reason, and that shit is just wrong. He doesnt fuck around with fancy essences and flavouring chips and shit.... his is just straight out alcoholic water solution. Mix it with your favourite soft drink, and you can drink the shit all night... but it knocks your fucking head off. He actually ran out of fuel once (lives 20kms out of town) so he poured a few litres of Bat Piss into the Landcruiser and it got him to town no problems at all. Mad shit. Cops shut him down though, because his custom made still, named Hilary (Hilary the distillery - sounds like a kids show) was over the legal limit. I think 4L is the limit (dont quote me on that).... if your still can hold more than that its classified as bootlegging. These are the same guys that sold 28g ounces, because thats the legal threshold for a bag of weed that you can claim as personal use. Anything more than 28g and its intent to sell and supply in the eyes of the law.
Anyhoo, if and when I start making my own moonshine I'll go through the step by step process here...stay tuned. Its only a matter of time.
Back to the brewing.... once my honey wheat beer is finished, I'm putting on a Coopers Cerveza and brewing it up as normal. once it gets to the end of its cycle Im going to put the juice of 25 limes into it, and half a cup or so of sea salt (havent worked out the exact quantities yet). Im basically making a Chelada. I've also almost figured out how to make mull beer. The amount of THC you can extract from an ounce of leaf should be enough to at least give you a bit of a buzz.... therefore I'll use 2 ounces. Some dudes back in the 80's made some mull beer and aptly named it 'Brain Death'. I cant wait. The process for extracting THC is using alcohol (190+ proof) and vapourizing it. I figure I can just soak the chopped up greenery in alcohol for a day or 2, strain it then just pour that into the vat prior to bottling. Also a good way to supercharge the brew with extra alcohol. My liver is going to fucking hate me....
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Using a turbo yeast and a decent sugar source at a sensible temperature should yield little to no methanol
I know of a few guys who make spirits and it seems perfectly safe
Not exactly appetising though :S
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I just got 1/4 bottle of Bacardi and enough chopped up dried leaf and stem to make Green Dragon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Dragon_(drink)). Should be ready by this weekend. I cant wait to test it out. If this works (which Im pretty sure it will) I'll use a full bottle and as much weed as I can find so expect an update on my next brew... T.H.Cider.
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I just got 1/4 bottle of Bacardi and enough chopped up dried leaf and stem to make Green Dragon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Dragon_(drink)). Should be ready by this weekend. I cant wait to test it out. If this works (which Im pretty sure it will) I'll use a full bottle and as much weed as I can find so expect an update on my next brew... T.H.Cider.
If you haven't got your cider tin yet try the Black Rock tin. Its a little extra at 25 bucks but well worth it. I think I also added 2-2.5kg of Castor sugar and 250g lactose for a little sweetness. Next time I might add some apples and non preservative apple juice, which ferments to roughly 6% by itself.
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shit, I will next time man. I already got the Coopers Cider tin at home. Oh well, since Im adding Green Dragon, its probably going to taste like shit no matter what.... but it'll fuck ya up!
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Fuck. I didn't get the name T.H.Cider. I thought they were both separate. Clearly my brain has suffered.
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too much Green Dragon for you, my man!
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(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.idmen.cn%2Fbbs%2Fimages%2Fsmilies%2Fdefault%2Flol.gif&hash=1815fa4b623f8a55954fdedebe5cac2188ac84de)
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News Flash : If your brew erupts into a volcanic mountain of amber froth [see picture on previous page], fear not my friends - it tastes fucking awesome, and holds a nice clean head all the way down the glass. Strange colour for a "Pale Ale" - more of a nutty brown, but colour shmolour, I always say.
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just had a couple of shots of 'green dragon' as a tester... man it tastes BAD... REAL BAD, but I have a feeling within the hour I'll be pretty fucked up. Time will tell. I'll keep you posted on the outcome.
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turns out it wporks pretty hgoood
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Looks like you're smashed.
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just testing out the T.H.Cider. Its only been in the bottle for 6 days, so it tastes like shit, has hardly any fizz, but this brew was never designed to taste good. It's all about the after effect. Actually it tastes like Im licking a mull bowl out, with an apple twist, so its not that bad really ;D
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OK, it works. 1 middy glass and Im pretty fucked. Im really fucked actually. Totally different feeling. I can only imagine what a whole bottle will do... I'll let you know tomorrow :D
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OK, it works. 1 middy glass and Im pretty fucked. Im really fucked actually. Totally different feeling. I can only imagine what a whole bottle will do... I'll let you know tomorrow :D
hahah you mad bastard ... i love it ! :headbang:
I imagine this is how it really went down
OK, it works. 1 middy glass and Im pretty fucked ... *thinks about it... looks around the room... hold hand up to face...* Im really fucked actually
:laugh:
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OK, it works. 1 middy glass and Im pretty fucked. Im really fucked actually. Totally different feeling. I can only imagine what a whole bottle will do... I'll let you know tomorrow :D
hahah you mad bastard ... i love it ! :headbang:
I imagine this is how it really went down
OK, it works. 1 middy glass and Im pretty fucked ... *thinks about it... looks around the room... hold hand up to face...* Im really fucked actually
:laugh:
hahaha, yeah thats about it.
Now, I smoke my fair share of weed, and have done for 15 years or so. I've also made alot of cakes and cookies in my time too, so Im definitely quite accustomed to the effects of THC, but this was totally different. I was in a weird sort of daze. It actually reminded me of the first few times I got properly bent as a wee little teenager. Very intense stuff. I'd hate to see what this shit would do to an amateur smoker.
Oh, for the record, I never ended up finishing the bottle. 1 glass is well and truly adequate. The good news is I still have about 18 bottles to go through.... 2 glasses in each bottle.
It's official - T.H.Cider kicks arse!
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Haha Weapons Grade Lager. "One sip and you get completely pissed. There IS no morning after. In fact there is no Day after."
Thats from Bottom weapons Grade Y fronts. Your drink sounds very close to that.
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OK, it works. 1 middy glass and Im pretty fucked. Im really fucked actually. Totally different feeling. I can only imagine what a whole bottle will do... I'll let you know tomorrow :D
hahah you mad bastard ... i love it ! :headbang:
I imagine this is how it really went down
OK, it works. 1 middy glass and Im pretty fucked ... *thinks about it... looks around the room... hold hand up to face...* Im really fucked actually
:laugh:
hahaha, yeah thats about it.
Now, I smoke my fair share of weed, and have done for 15 years or so. I've also made alot of cakes and cookies in my time too, so Im definitely quite accustomed to the effects of THC, but this was totally different. I was in a weird sort of daze. It actually reminded me of the first few times I got properly bent as a wee little teenager. Very intense stuff. I'd hate to see what this shit would do to an amateur smoker.
Oh, for the record, I never ended up finishing the bottle. 1 glass is well and truly adequate. The good news is I still have about 18 bottles to go through.... 2 glasses in each bottle.
It's official - T.H.Cider kicks arse!
Fuck man you are my hero hey - gotta try and make this shit!
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*Hitcher voice* I just been drinkin me Glen fiddich with Mineral water and Baileys. And I'm completely pissed.
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I think it was great if you used recommend not even rinsing out the vat after sterilization.
_________________
Refrigerator Water Filter (http://www.filter-outlet.com/)
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Eh?
You shouldn't leave important out sentences
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Looks like my beer / keg fridge has died :(
So I'll be looking for a cheap one if anyone knows of one going.
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I have a washing machine that is fucked. Perhaps you could make that into a keg fridge?
$50 and it's yours.
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You like trying to sell things that are fucked to people don't ya.
Let us know when your freezer stops working properly and I'll buy it off you to keep my clothes cold.
;D
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(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yammeringmagpie.com%2Fcatalog%2Fimages%2FMoonshine-War.jpg&hash=57b92461b8143cfacf674d638c74592c9b92b09c)
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I have a washing machine that is fucked.
You really don't have much luck with things do you. ;D
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THREAD REVIVAL!!
Just bottled another brew after an 18 month hiatus. Coopers Draught (very standard) but with 1 kg of Coopers Brew Enhancer 2, 0.5kg of dextrose and a bag of Fuggles hops. Smells awesome already. Will let you know how it goes. I decided to take up the hobby again, more for fun than anything. I go through phases with brewing as you can probably see.
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If there is a brew shop up in Gero you should try to make a Knappstein. Have a look on the brewcraft/westbrew website and it might give you the ingredients. I did one just recently and it was the best brew I think I've ever done. Had that strong little creatures pale ale kind of taste but a little darker and more bitter. It was fucking good.
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Knappstein uses nelsin sauvin hops specifically - this is what will give it the flavour you want.
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(https://www.wf.com.au/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fuploads.libertylounge.net%2Ffiles%2Fresurrection.jpg&hash=73f74dce6b810f77ee7167bc14942e4290d3cd36)
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Best thread.
Haven't brewed in such a long time... Seems like forever.
No time!
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Do it. Brewing rules. I've turned into a full on cider enthusiast so my next brew will be of the apple variety. Expensive but hopefully good.
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I've still been brewing all the way through. Most of the time I do up a keg or two for a party, then I get to have whatever hasn't been drank on tap to bide me over for a while.
I've made up some alcoholic ginger beer for the past couple christmases and they have gone down a treat.
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Funnily enough Daz, Im listening to a Ginger Beer bubbling away right now. The reason my brewing kicked off again was because my wife came home from a swap meet of some variety with a brand new Brew Craft kit for $10. Its never been used. That means I have 2 full kits so I can go into pretty major production.
Im thinking about doing a wine next. I saw a doco on wine making and this dude made a homebrew supermarket packet style wine. He also made a proper wine with help from a winery using proper wine grapes and a press and doing it the traditional way. Was very interesting, especially when he took it to the London Wine Academy (been around for a couple of hundred years, full of toffy nosed wine loving cunts). He got them all to taste both wines without telling them what was what. Out of the 20 or so people only 2 said they prefered the grape wine. A few of them even went so far as to score the packet shit a 7/10. Not bad since it cost him something like 2 pounds per bottle to make, and these cunts are used to tasting super expensive shit.
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haven't read this entire thread, but anyone have any results distilling? How much to get involved in whiskayyyy?
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^ You'll probly have to wait at least 2 years before You can try it. Most whiskys are aged in a barrel for a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 20 years.
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^ You'll probly have to wait at least 2 years before You can try it. Most whiskys are aged in a barrel for a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 20 years.
3 years for a bourbon to be classified a bourbon. However you arent quite right. Moonshine can be ready to drink within 2 weeks or so. Aging whisk(e)y in a barrel is for nothing more than flavour. The distillation process only takes a few days. Here is a basic run down from someone who has never done it but has a good understanding of alcohol and I also have a few mates that do this....
1. Make a "wash" - basically a beer brewing vat of water, sugar and yeast (a homebrew beer minus the beer can).
2. let that ferment for a week or so, as per standard beer brewing.
3. run the wash through a still (hence the word distilling). A still essentially evaporates the alcohol by mildly boiling the wash at 76-78deg (I think) and there is a catchment for the alcohol vapours to be collected, trickle into a container and what you collect will be somewhere in the vicinity of 70-85% alc.vol. (140-170 proof).
4. some people I have heard of run this through the still again to purify it even further and try to achieve closer to 90-95% alc.vol
5. you have to skim the top 10% of the liquid out of the vat apparently as this is poisonous (hence moonshining is dangerous).
6. mix with whatever flavoured essence you like.
Theres obviously more to it than that, but thats a basic run down to the best of my understanding. I know you can also get liqueur additives to make the drink thicker and more syrupy (think Sambucca, Midori etc). you can also get bourbon chips and stuff like that but Im not sure at what stage you are supposed to add these (pressumably after the wash, but Im not sure).
Purely out of interest, this process is very similar to making hash oil, but we'll save that for another time :)
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Never brewed it myself, but have a mate who brews a lot of bourbon (or in reality, moonshine). Usually 150 proof and upwards. It makes you want to fight your friends. Good shit.
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oh yeah, I forgot to mention, most sane people cut the finished product down with water to take it from "fight your friends juice" to something a bit more normal, say around the 40% mark.
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Where's the fun in that!
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One of my mates has a housemate with a still and their whole bar is covered with bottles of different types of spirits. The ones I tasted were pretty nice. He said it works out to be about $10 a bottle, with the initial set up costing about a grand or so.
If I didn't already do the homebrew beer I might be tempted.
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THREAD REVIVAL!!
Just bottled another brew after an 18 month hiatus. Coopers Draught (very standard) but with 1 kg of Coopers Brew Enhancer 2, 0.5kg of dextrose and a bag of Fuggles hops. Smells awesome already. Will let you know how it goes. I decided to take up the hobby again, more for fun than anything. I go through phases with brewing as you can probably see.
just cracked the first one to have a taste. Slightly fruity, but its only young, so thats to be expected. The good news is the head is awesome from the pour and lasts as long as a normal tap beer. Bubbles are smashing the surface at a fantastic rate. Its crisp, clean and has that lovely fuggles hops taste to it. Very very nice brew, especially since I havent done one for 18 months or so. Once this fruity taste wears off, its going to be a pretty special brew, I can feel it in my waters.
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The young ones are always a bit fruity, with excellent head skills.