HomeBrew Beer

[bryan1]

G'day Guy's
Well on the quest to save money and still have a beer I started brewing my own after close to a decade. I went for a lager and after 5 weeks of low temps I have to say this beer is the best I've ever tasted. The second brew I've got going is brewing at true largering temps so should be even better.

Ok the mix I did

1 Tim of coopers Larger
1 kg extra light malt extract in powder form
a 15 g packet of Sazz hops
S-23 SaFLager yeast

The Sg was 1044 at the start and 1004 at the finish

3 weeks in the fridge and the beer is keeping a good head and has that smooth to the taste nothing I've paid for has come close to the taste of this brew.

The second brew came in at 1054 and after two weeks the reading was 1019 so atleast another week at that low temp.

Anyway after 10 pale ales and a couple of HB's one can say this guy is in one happy state

Cheers Bryan

 

[Ian Rogers]

It also taste's better as you made it yourself...I used to make my own pilsner ( this is why I look like my avatar ), I made a job lot once, it flopped... not giving up I re-fermented the same brew....it flopped... tried once more....damm, I gave up... (Remember adding more yeast and sugar each time)... I forgot it was at the back of the garage for over two years....My god!!! when we discovered it, it was like rocket fuel... My brother was p*****d after half a bottle.... Never brewed a drop since.

 

[alec_t]

1 kg extra light male exract in powder form

Ah, the secret ingredient. Bush tucker?

 

[tvtech]

It also taste's better as you made it yourself...I used to make my own pilsner ( this is why I look like my avatar ), I made a job lot once, it flopped... not giving up I re-fermented the same brew....it flopped... tried once more....damm, I gave up... (Remember adding more yeast and sugar each time)... I forgot it was at the back of the garage for over two years....My god!!! when we discovered it, it was like rocket fuel... My brother was p*****d after half a bottle.... Never brewed a drop since.

LOL

Thats funny

 

[Reloadron]

I view beer as a gift from the Gods. This is especially true of home brew. I also firmly believe beer should never be preceded with the word lite. Enjoy!

Ron

 

[BrownOut]

I got hooked on Michelob Amber Bock a couple years ago. Slug several bottles every day now. Don't make my own, but I'm looking for a place to get a keg, so I don't have to fool around with all the bottles. All the places here only let there kegs go out for a few days. Still looking...

 

[bryan1]

G'day Guy's,
Anyway for those who do want to start their own homebrew https://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/index.php is a great Ozzie forum for EVERYTHING to do with HB. A mate gave me a Coopers Ginger Beer yesterday so thats going to be my next brew then as I have 22 kg's of apple mush here thats enough for doing 4 brews of apple cider. I made an apple cider batch using 10 kg's and man did it taste nice and they only lasted about 2 weeks.

Cheers Bryan

 

[BrownOut]

OK, I have a question. I read some of the threads, and there is way too much jargon. For example, I don't have any idea what "beer concentrate" is, what the hell is 1 tim of coopers lager. So anyway, here's my question: around here, they make "distiller's beer" with only 4 ingredients: water, corn, malt and wheat or rye. So, it is possible to make palatable beer with ingredients found my my local farmer's market? Do I have to use those pre-make "kits"? How do I find more information on making beer from just regular farm products? Thanks!

 

[Reloadron]

OK, I have a question. I read some of the threads, and there is way too much jargon. For example, I don't have any idea what "beer concentrate" is. So anyway, here's my question: around here, they make "distiller's beer" with only 4 ingredients: water, corn, malt and wheat or rye. So, it is possible to make palatable beer with ingredients found my my local farmer's market? Do I have to use those pre-make "kits"? How do I find more information on making beer from just regular farm products? Thanks!

Me thinks part of the problem is the terms used across the pond and here in the US. I figure that beer was being brewed long before anyone was marketing kits. The last brew I made was about 30 years ago and we used off the shelf ingredients from the super market as I recall. Not a great brew but not bad either. As to commercial brew? I like Stella Artois and a few local micro brewery brews.

Ron

 

[bryan1]

Hi brownout,
Over here in Oz one can buy a beer kit which is basically 1.7 kg's of malt extract. all one has to do is warm the tin up so it will pour as it is a thick goo then dissolve a kg of dextrose or sugar then add the required amount of pre boiled water to make up the brew. Now one can do a brew by mashing grains at the required temp and there is plenty of info on that forum about it too.

Cheers Bryan

 

[BrownOut]

Me thinks part of the problem is the terms used across the pond and here in the US. I figure that beer was being brewed long before anyone was marketing kits. The last brew I made was about 30 years ago and we used off the shelf ingredients from the super market as I recall. Not a great brew but not bad either. As to commercial brew? I like Stella Artois and a few local micro brewery brews.

Ron

C'mon man, think! I'd really like to do this without relying on prepackaged kits. Too generic for me

 

[Boncuk]

Brewing beer is an art.

German beer has three ingredians: Water (out of a deep well), malt and hop. That's an unwritten law about brewing beer in Germany.

The more hop you use the more bitter will the beer taste. So use hop sparingly.

To prepare malt the right way is the real art about brewing beer. "Erdinger dunkel" (dark) contains more malt than "blonde" beer and when finished it behaves like champaign.

There is another sort of beer called "Kulminator", derived from the name of the brewery being located in Kulmbach (Upper Frankonia). It contains as much as 12.5% alcohol with no chemistry involved other than natural fermenting.

The US brewery "Coors" once wanted to increase sales and initiated a competion for a slogan to get the goal.

One of the competitors sent in his suggestion: "Drinking Coors is like making love in a canu."

He won the competion for that outstanding idea and got a tour through the brewery having food and Coors beer richly.

When he was interviewed he was asked how he got the brilliant idea for the slogan. He hesitated a moment and replied: "Well drinking Coors beer is f.....g close to water.".

Boncuk

 

[bryan1]

Ok guy's I'll describe in detail how I do my brews. I have a 5 litre pot which I pitch about 3 litres of pre boiled rainwater then preheat it to about 60C. Then the malt extract powder goes in a bit at at a time so it will fully dissolve. I keep it at 60C for about 20 minutes then put the pot in the sink and run cold water to cool it quickly. In another pot with 150ml of water I bring it to a boil then turn it off and put in the hop teabag so it can steep for about 20 minutes. The beer kit is also put in a pot of water and brought to a boil to soften up the concentrate so it will pour easily. The water I use to top up for the required litres is rainwater pre boiled and cooled. I use a pure lager yeast so I can brew at the lower temps and I won't pitch the yeast if the brew temp is above 24C.

This second brew i have got going consisted of

1 Tin of Cooper Lager concentrate
1 kg Cooper Dextrose
1Kg of sugar
1 off teabag of Saaz hops
and the SAFlager S-23 yeast.

The Sg came out at 1050

The brew is in my old fridge in the shed with the fridge turned down real low. The brew was started on the 6th of this month and today the temp of it is 11C and it's still bubbling away. I'll leave it go until friday then I'll take an Sg reading if the bubbling has stopped then I'll turn the fridge up a tad to get the brew down to 5C and leave it for another 2 weeks to lager it fully. Then after that this time I have some carbonation drops so I'll use them when I bottle the brew. Then all the bottles will go back in the fridge for another 2 weeks and be ready for xmas day.

With my first brew I didn't get true lagering temps and it came out being one of the best tasting beers I've ever had. Now with this second brew I do think it will be even better.

Down the track I do intend to make up a 'lauter tun' and have a go at going for a full grain brew without using a beer kit. I will try and find that thread on the other forum where they have a link to a program called 'beersmith' which is a great bit of software for designing one's brew. Hopefully I can get a few beer keg's from the local pub where my mate is the publician so eventually I will move over to keg brewing and i'll setup my old ammonia fridge as a beer fridge on tap.

Anyway for guy's that like the amber ale's and want to have a go themselves if you have any questions I will try my best to answer them as one of the best feelings is making your own brew so to get the right taste it isn't rocket science.

Cheers Bryan

 

[BrownOut]

Thanks for the details. Please explain what "beer concentrate" is. Thanks.

 

[killivolt]

I think it's something like this ............... Beer Concentrate

 

[BrownOut]

Not much help. Still waiting to hear from the brew master.

 

[killivolt]

I don't have room to brew or I would. I'd like to build a still, take a shot at whiskey. I prefer it over Beer maybe if I could brew 12.9% or something it might be worth my time.

Here in Utah we have to go to a Liqour Store to get anything above 3.2% piss water, the best they have at the Liquor Store is 6%

 

[BrownOut]

The world's best whiskey is made just a few miles north of where I live. I've taken the distillery tour many times.

 

[killivolt]

Unfortunately I can't afford JD, sour mash taste is the best to me. I usually will chase it with this 3.2 stuff. I would be toasted shortly if I drank anything stiffer.

I go for an Ezara Brooks sour mash not good not bad. 8$ cheaper.

 

[BrownOut]

NP on getting toasted. I plan on getting all liquer'd up for the game tonight. Had 3 already