I agree that all grain brewing is the business, but for a beginner brewer it’s like giving someone a fully decked out Teschner for their first roll around the track. I kit brewed for about 3 years before making the switch to all grain, mostly because of size constraints. The one thing you can do before going all grain is to steep a little bit of specialty malt and boil up some of your own fresh hops. I just did one of these extract/grain recipes and it came out delicious: Hopville . “Single Hop APA” American IPA Recipe Admittedly it would have a lot more malt complexity and flavour if I was to use grain rather than extract but I still find it plenty drinkable.
the kit yeast from the coopers is a mix of lager and ale from memory, so its more forgiving, but wont be a lager really. and tbh i would give up on trying to make it anything like a lager.
1 on dextrose is evil, if the kit says to throw a kg in(not sure on the kit), dont do it, go get 1 and a bit of light malt or some of the mixes available.
make a 5 min “hop tea” with a nice late addition hop, cascade, amarillo, centenial… heaps of nice citrusy notes to choose from that will improve a basic kit.
Aussie home brewer, get on that site. As long as you don’t expect it to be like a commercial beer you will be fine. Extracts have cloying mothfeel and never attenuate to the low final gravities of an ag,or commercial brew. I had success with rousing up coopers pale/sparkling yeast sediment and using that. After a diacetyll rest it made lovely beer. Oh and as for the coffee analogy,its like attempting to make your own ice coffee and comparing it to fuic.
A few years ago I was in to it and was putting down a batch every 2 or so weeks. I eventually stopped because I couldn’t drink it as quick as I was making it… and also noticed the extra kgs on my belly. By the end I was experimenting with different yeast and hops. My last batch was a christmas style beer. I boiled up some water then added cloves, cinnamon, orange peel, nutmeg. Once all the flavours had infused in the water I strained it and chucked it into the wort. One of the yummiest dark beers I have made.
I used to brew in glass bottles until one day when moving my milk crate around, one exploded. I used a sleeve to wipe the beer from my face and when I looked at my sleeve it was all red from blood. I now have a little scar under my lip where a bit of glass went all the way through to the gums from the explosion. Very lucky it didn’t get in my eye.
My third batch is brewing at the moment. The biggest problem I have is keeping it at the correct temperature - in winter it gets too cold and even now it’s too hot. This is partly due to the small room I have available that dramatically fluctuates in temperature.
The first two batches were okay, but left plenty of room for improvement!
This is certainly the best reward for effort change you can make before going the full hog.
I got this far with my brewing then had a shoulder op & couldn’t lift the fermenter for about 9 months.
Haven’t done much brewing since.
fridge and heat belt that i run down the inside of fridge, the above model is a little dif from mine but im assuming same principal, power > tempmate > fridge and heatbelt
Wow, Ross has come a long way. He was just another hardcore brewer/serial poster from back in the day.
Jaycar sell similar stuff, that allow you to thermostatically control a fridge to an optimum ale temp of 18 or so degrees.
I used to be a hardcore beer geek and brewer for about 10 years. Entered comps, got some medals along the way, stewarded at a comp for the beer tasting experience, hung out with local micro owners/brewers and picked their brains, as well as subjecting them to my efforts for constructive criticism. Brewed a myriad of styles, but always was obsessed with the perfect weizen(mit hefe), and read Warners book as if it were a bible. Stepped mash, decoctions and all the other weird shit.Farmed about 3 different varieties of wheat beer yeast(liquids) In the end it consumed too much time, and I lost my mojo. I’ve still got some of my gear, but can’t be F’d doing an extract brew for chaep beer cos i know ultimately I’ll be dissapointed and wish I’d done an AG. IMHO that kit you’ve got Jolan, needs a booster bag instead of the sugar, about 25 grams of finishing hops to steep, a real size sachet of safale us05 yeast( cos the miniscule amount that is under the lid is not enough to adequately ferment that goop), and don’t let the temp get past 20 degrees max, 18 is optimum, despite what the can instruction say.Bottle and leave for 6 weeks and drink.
^ Go to a home brew shop so you can ask a million inane questions. You also may need a few extras that a standard starter kit won’t include. Antmandan can recommend a good home brew shop in Brisbane.
I know nothing about alcoholic ginger beer, but user oTai is into it - good product, too.
