Thread: Homebrew beer, who's doing it?

Woops, sorry @P38, been up since early am. Great video and inspiring!
Have you found cheaper sources for the juice, commercial suppliers, or is buying by the bottle at the supermarket when on special about the cheapest you can get?

Originally Posted by huntingkiwi

Woops, sorry @P38, been up since early am. Great video and inspiring!
Have you found cheaper sources for the juice, commercial suppliers, or is buying by the bottle at the supermarket when on special about the cheapest you can get?

Kiwijames has some commercial contacts which would most likely be cheaper jucie than the supermarket but you may have to purchase in bulk.

Me I make 15L batches and buy the juice from the supermarket ... even at full price the Juice is only around $20 and the yeast is around $5 (Ferments 30L)

So around $22:50 per batch or about $1:50 per Litre, which is pretty cheap cider.

Cheers
Pete

Good on you Kimjon, it's a slippery slope once you start just like rifles. I started doing a couple kits a few years ago and have now been brewing all grain for about 18 months. The step up in quality and control is huge, so BIAB will be a good idea if you like your craft beer. If you're happy with standard lagers and ales then the kits will probably suffice.

As other have said cleanliness and sanitation is the biggest threat to good beer.

Good luck

Iv got to put down a batch of cider sometime soon, iv been meaning to for ages.
iv done beer, cider and spirits
its all pretty simple tho, as has been said clean and clean again
Iv yet to loose a batch but an ex's granfather who made it in 200l drum lots got a bug in his that made him quite sick
so be vigilant and it wont be an issue
be ready to drink 3 X what you consider normal......

@kimjon. The advise I was given by P38, Wildman, Raging Bull etc here http://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co.n...ad.php?t=16311 has got me brewing pretty good beer now. It's as easy as you want it to be. Keeping clean as well as patient is about the best advise. One thing that I have found is the best way to ruin a good beer is poor fermentation temperature control. Stable temps inside the recommended yeast temperature is crucial to good, clean tasting beer. Keep it simple for starters with a basic ale would be a good step and grow your skill from there.

Cheers @kiwijames much appreciated. Just spent last half hour reading all those posts and links...think I need a beer now haha. But very cool.

What's your greatest success to date (favorite beer you've made)?

Kj

Originally Posted by kimjon

Cheers @kiwijames much appreciated. Just spent last half hour reading all those posts and links...think I need a beer now haha. But very cool.

What's your greatest success to date (favorite beer you've made)?

Kj

No excuses for not having a beer on hand now mate.
I think the best so far has been a Porter/Black IPA. A few on the forum plus other mates have given it a go and it went down well enough.
I also made a wheat beer which was interesting (and tasty). The influence the yeast has in a beers final finish can really be noticed here. A refreshing drop too. The latest beer to go into the bottle may come out a crowd favourite too but we will have to wait for a few weeks yet.
Brewing is an extremely satisfying hobby, especially once you go all grain.

Cheers mate, I'm still at the kit and kilo stage...but I do have an addictive personally, so that and my ocd will most likely end up going all grain in the near future.

Kj

Originally Posted by kimjon

Cheers mate, I'm still at the kit and kilo stage...but I do have an addictive personally, so that and my ocd will most likely end up going all grain in the near future.

Kj

I only did one kit ( I think we have a similar mindset). One thing with the kits is you can get enhancers to add rather than the bulk sugar as well as dry hops etc. This can improve the beer somewhat I understand.
Sing out if you need anything further (Im still a bit of a novice though) or if you're passing through HB call in for a beer. We can clock it up as QA.

Another one that wasn't explained in the kit I had was, your dry yeast gets away much faster if you re-hydrate it before you pitch it. Basically empty the sachet in some lukewarm sterile water to activate it (just like you would do when baking with yeast). Give it a couple of hours or even overnight in a warmish place to get it up and going. Its dormant when dried so need to stretch its legs so to speak before it gets to work.

Awesome, those are the tips I'm looking for. Often its the little things that make the biggest difference. Many thanks

Way to much time on my hands today, so I joined a coopers beer forum so I could use the label maker. Named my first batch "little red hen" after the children's story where no one would help the little red hen make bread...so she ate it all by herself. This came about when my wife wouldn't help me make the beer and I jokingly said "do you know the story about the little red hen"...she laughed and said that's gotta be the name of your beer.


Kj

Originally Posted by kimjon

Way to much time on my hands today, so I joined a coopers beer forum so I could use the label maker. Named my first batch "little red hen" after the children's story where no one would help the little red hen make bread...so she ate it all by herself. This came about when my wife wouldn't help me make the beer and I jokingly said "do you know the story about the little red hen"...she laughed and said that's gotta be the name of your beer.


Kj

Brilliant. Are you using PET bottles? I have not but I think the consensus is they are not as good as glass for storage or conditioning.

Now you will look at everything in a new light

The PET bottles came with the kit, so I've used them. From what I've read, both have pros and cons... but glass apparently is better for longer storage as it keeps its bubbles longer.

Willie on here has generously offered some bottles to me, so my next batch will be glass bottled.

Kj