All right, this one goes out to Damo who is presently venturing into his first foray for brewing.
This is how you make a beer from a kit. Its relatively simple while at the same time being deceptively hard.
First things first, which i have just done with him, buy the things you need to make the beer in.
what you'll need:
1 x vat
1 x biiiig spoon
1 x water trap
1 x bung
1 x filter (in bung)
1 x sanatizer!
1 x temperature guage
Alright, now that you have everything to make the beer in, you need the beer.
Buy a kit, any kit, and some form of sugar/malt/sugar&malt mix. You need both because the kit provides the flavour and the sugar/malt provides the alchohol. The kit will also come with yeast so for starters you can just use this although, as previously blogged we recommend the buying of premium yeast.
Ok.
Next: Making the beer.
Sanatise the crap outa everythign that will touch this brew. That means the spoon and the inside of the tub (including the inside of the lid). One teaspoon of sanatiser (pink stuff as we call it) to a litre of hot water should do it. Ensure that there are no dark spots or particles left. Rinse the vat out with cold, tap water and make sure the smell is all gone (if you leave some sanatiser in it won't kill you but it will make the beer taste like Tin... not that great - take it from us).
Once sanatised it is ready to brew.
Plop the can of kit mix into sink of hot water after removing the lid and the yeast (make sure you take out hte yeast or the hot water will kill it) and soak it for about 5 minutes. This will allow it to flow out a lot easier.
Pour it in, with the sugar/malt, into the vat. Now pour in about 3 litres of hot water (not a science). Use the now empty can/s to transfer the water into the vat. A hose may not be sanatised and could have spiders and shit growing in it. After doing this, with your nice clean spoon, start stirring and keep on stirring till it is all disolved. Once disolved fill it up the rest of the way with nice clean cold water.
On the side of your tub you should have a temp guage which is a sticker. Ensure that the temperature is not above 30 degrees centigrade (for ales) or 16 degrees (for lagers). If it is then you will have to cool it down with ice or at least leave it to cool in a cool place before 'pitching' the yeast.
Once it is at the correct temperature give it a good stir to airate the mixture then pitch in the yeast (a fancy way of saying tear the top off the packet and sprinkle it fairly evenly over the top).
Then screw/put on the top, put in the water trap and you are done.
Put into a cool place for 2 weeks, try to ensure that the temperature is correct (read the blog about the banana beer) and then its time to bottle.
Bottling will have to wait for another time.
Enjoy Damo you rascal* (read - devo).
Cheers,
Tom
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Sammich Ideas inspired by beery good times
Hi guys, these are just some sammiches that we all want to try. I would also suggest that we add to these some BEERS so that the times are even better.
Basically what we, being me and the boys wanna do is make a couple of each of these sammiches, and then cut em up and have a feast. We will then also be drinking beer.
Stay tuned to see how awesomely this panned out.
Basically what we, being me and the boys wanna do is make a couple of each of these sammiches, and then cut em up and have a feast. We will then also be drinking beer.
Stay tuned to see how awesomely this panned out.
SAMMICH IDEAS
Pastrami or spicy salami, tzatziki, tomato, lettuce, olives/olive tapenade on either thick toasted slice or a thick, hardcrust brown slice
Egg & mayo, tomato, cucumber, salt and pepper. Goes best on thick white crusty…bread
How about roast chicken, baby spinach, red onion, sundried tomato, mustard and mayo. (evolution – olives instead of tomatoe, avo instead of mustard: pickle instead of avo: horseradish instead of pickle: parallel evo: artichoke in place of sundried)
you’d want something like grilled veggies with goats cheese and sundried tomatoes on ciabatta
German Sourdough, thick sliced; bacon, thinly sliced; Chicked, shredded; tomato; letuce; avocado; swiss cheese; salt 'n' pepper; pickle.
Rye or brown bread; capsicum; pastrami; cheese; cucumber pickle; mustard; some sort of greens.
Tandoori chicken, tzatziki, swiss cheese, brown onion on Turkish bread (lettuce if you want it)
fried borwn onions, green capsicum and mushroom, with thin cut steak, swiss cheese mayo and HP on a hard crust bun.
It started with a hard crust bun, it was rectangular in shape and had flour dustings on top. I started with a healthy serving of avocado on one aide and mayo on the other, then I added Swiss cheese to both sides. Next came marinated bbq chicken in chunks. On top of this was thinly sliced red onions, tomatoes and bay spinach. S+P topped it off and it was lightly toasted.
Garlic imbued eggplant (softened and then fried in garlic and herb butter until coated and flavoured), egg mayo, sliced spicy sausage (or chicken for those that don’t eat sausage) or Rissole with brown onion lettuce and a tiny bit of chilly on over and under toasted roll to give it a bit of crunch.
Chorizo sausage, mint yoghurt, baby spinach, cucumber tomato on a baguette
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Celebrating An Arrangement By Adding Leffe To A Tub
Tom purchased the Leffe in advance. I paid for my share in cash and he made change by purchasing a bottle of port, as is traditional in these situations. Plus I got to drink the port. Sucker.
Marc 1 Tom 0
We entered the house, after a brisk walk sharing port and discussing the trade situation in South Korea. It's just awkward for them. Alex A was there, reclining and observing a talkie: Buffy Season 40. I can't believe this show has made it this far without resorting to constant nudity or midget guest stars. While this is an achievement, I suppose, it's a rather depressing one.
As Guest Brewer, I was assigned to Phase One of our complex brewing procedure: tub cleaning. This involved rinsing the tub to remove the dregs of a previous batch of beer. This set the tone for a stylish evening. This operation was conducted in the bath, once various wet clothing and towels were removed from said bath. I set about the tub with a vigorous scrubbing action (fear not, Gentle Reader; I keep my pants on in this version) and soon had the majority of brown goo transposed from beertub to bathtub. Post goo transposal, Tom provided me with a squirty dealie filled with what he assured me was sanitiser. Enough cleanliness to disinfect Uruguay. As it smelt and looked exactly like water, I may or may not have been had.
Marc 1 Tom 1
Enough grunt work! With Phase One successfully completed and the tub sparkling with all the sterilising water I'd sprayed into it, I wanted to brew! I wanted to perform complex recipe type actions, to meld instinct and instructions in a dizzying panoply of daring brew. I thought we would touch the very gods of inventiveness.
Turns out that brewing is mostly adding ingredients to a tub and stirring. Lots of stirring.
We cracked open the first tin. I had actually been expecting a powder. Instead I was greeted with a substance resembling taffy. It was then we had an inspiration. It struck us with the force of a sledgehammer gracefully mowing down a baby chicken. (Chooken? Chick?) Check it. Tom and I would open a toffee store. RedGove's Insatiable Beery Toffee.
Eleven sticky minutes later, Tom and I resumed making the Leffe.
Marc 0 Tom 0
There's not much more to tell. Um. Phase Three! We put the lid on. Tom put a water dealie in the top after turning it over a few times. This was the first thing we'd done that looked vaguely scientific, so I enjoyed it. Buffy fought some underground tree monsters with her sister.They won
We named it Tom & Marc's Haughty Naughty. Mostly because it's fun to say and in a moment of weakness the rhyme...she swayed me.
After the naming ceremony, the Bros. Hebrew gave me another brew to taste. I forget which one, but it tasted like nothing. Like, it was so flavourless, so barely there, that you could use it to drown an enemy, as they would be unable to tell the difference between drinking this beer and breathing. Still, upon making this observation, I was assured that there was alcohol in it, so a beer that's as easy to drink as breathing and still full strength is a result.
That's our courageous story.
Marc 1 Tom 0
We entered the house, after a brisk walk sharing port and discussing the trade situation in South Korea. It's just awkward for them. Alex A was there, reclining and observing a talkie: Buffy Season 40. I can't believe this show has made it this far without resorting to constant nudity or midget guest stars. While this is an achievement, I suppose, it's a rather depressing one.
As Guest Brewer, I was assigned to Phase One of our complex brewing procedure: tub cleaning. This involved rinsing the tub to remove the dregs of a previous batch of beer. This set the tone for a stylish evening. This operation was conducted in the bath, once various wet clothing and towels were removed from said bath. I set about the tub with a vigorous scrubbing action (fear not, Gentle Reader; I keep my pants on in this version) and soon had the majority of brown goo transposed from beertub to bathtub. Post goo transposal, Tom provided me with a squirty dealie filled with what he assured me was sanitiser. Enough cleanliness to disinfect Uruguay. As it smelt and looked exactly like water, I may or may not have been had.
Marc 1 Tom 1
Enough grunt work! With Phase One successfully completed and the tub sparkling with all the sterilising water I'd sprayed into it, I wanted to brew! I wanted to perform complex recipe type actions, to meld instinct and instructions in a dizzying panoply of daring brew. I thought we would touch the very gods of inventiveness.
Turns out that brewing is mostly adding ingredients to a tub and stirring. Lots of stirring.
We cracked open the first tin. I had actually been expecting a powder. Instead I was greeted with a substance resembling taffy. It was then we had an inspiration. It struck us with the force of a sledgehammer gracefully mowing down a baby chicken. (Chooken? Chick?) Check it. Tom and I would open a toffee store. RedGove's Insatiable Beery Toffee.
Eleven sticky minutes later, Tom and I resumed making the Leffe.
Marc 0 Tom 0
There's not much more to tell. Um. Phase Three! We put the lid on. Tom put a water dealie in the top after turning it over a few times. This was the first thing we'd done that looked vaguely scientific, so I enjoyed it. Buffy fought some underground tree monsters with her sister.
We named it Tom & Marc's Haughty Naughty. Mostly because it's fun to say and in a moment of weakness the rhyme...she swayed me.
After the naming ceremony, the Bros. Hebrew gave me another brew to taste. I forget which one, but it tasted like nothing. Like, it was so flavourless, so barely there, that you could use it to drown an enemy, as they would be unable to tell the difference between drinking this beer and breathing. Still, upon making this observation, I was assured that there was alcohol in it, so a beer that's as easy to drink as breathing and still full strength is a result.
That's our courageous story.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Ginger Binger: The Same, But Less
We've been pretty disorganised recently and as a result I'm not entirely sure if we've already written about this one. But I'm too lazy to bother checking so fuck it, here's the dl on the Ginger Binger.
Ginger Binger is the name we gave our very first batch of GB. We used a Coopers GB kit, same as the G-Bomb, and only one kilo of sugar. The result was almost exactly the same as the G-Bomb, (a decent tasting ginger beer that is, perhaps, a bit on the sweet side) only it was 3.5% instead of the regular gentleman's 5.
We served it up at my party (in the bathtub) seeing as we knew it was impressive and we wouldn't lament the loss of alcohol. Suffice to say everyone loved it.
Anyway it's doubtful we'll make it again seeing as for about $1 more we can make it regular strength with almost exactly the same taste... and we like being drunk.
Ginger Binger is the name we gave our very first batch of GB. We used a Coopers GB kit, same as the G-Bomb, and only one kilo of sugar. The result was almost exactly the same as the G-Bomb, (a decent tasting ginger beer that is, perhaps, a bit on the sweet side) only it was 3.5% instead of the regular gentleman's 5.
We served it up at my party (in the bathtub) seeing as we knew it was impressive and we wouldn't lament the loss of alcohol. Suffice to say everyone loved it.
Anyway it's doubtful we'll make it again seeing as for about $1 more we can make it regular strength with almost exactly the same taste... and we like being drunk.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Look at all our beer!
Pictures of our BEER!
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Thursday, July 2, 2009
Wild Beery, why embracing your creative side is not necessarily a good thing
Hey guys
As you may guess from the name the recipe for Wild Beery included, yep you guessed it, berries. We used a Wander Draught kit and, in order to zest it up a little Boden and I decided to add something a little extra as a surprise for the other guys.
Now I want to make it clear from the outset that we took every precaution. We used frozen packet berries (which as far as we have researched is just as steril as canned food) which we boiled in water before pouring through a strainer to avoid both bacteria and bits. We then added some yeast nutrient (which was just the Wander kit yeast boiled down for eight minutes) and 1.3kg of sugar.
The result, much to our distress and bemusement, was a beer that tasted even more like battery acid than Corona (yes Corona fans, I hate you all). Seriously, we had trouble giving this beer away. We finally had to wait until everyone at my party was so pissed from decent brews that they couldn't taste the difference. We still have a few bottles of it left but it's safe to say that they'll either be poured down the drain or given to our mate Tim, who is essentially a dumpster of filth anyway.
As you may guess from the name the recipe for Wild Beery included, yep you guessed it, berries. We used a Wander Draught kit and, in order to zest it up a little Boden and I decided to add something a little extra as a surprise for the other guys.
Now I want to make it clear from the outset that we took every precaution. We used frozen packet berries (which as far as we have researched is just as steril as canned food) which we boiled in water before pouring through a strainer to avoid both bacteria and bits. We then added some yeast nutrient (which was just the Wander kit yeast boiled down for eight minutes) and 1.3kg of sugar.
The result, much to our distress and bemusement, was a beer that tasted even more like battery acid than Corona (yes Corona fans, I hate you all). Seriously, we had trouble giving this beer away. We finally had to wait until everyone at my party was so pissed from decent brews that they couldn't taste the difference. We still have a few bottles of it left but it's safe to say that they'll either be poured down the drain or given to our mate Tim, who is essentially a dumpster of filth anyway.
Apple Pieder - the beer that's also pie.
Hi everyone,
Here is one of our early experiments (read also Failures).
Basically it was a fantastic idea that just didn't pan out as we hoped. Like most of our other ideas for new brews we will probably try it again because, while the execution was wrong the idea is still sound.
Boden and Alex were making a cider and had the fantastic idea of putting cinnamon in the brew to make it taste like apple pie. What they didn't research first was whether or not you should put cinnamon in a beer. Turns out that you shouldn't, at least, not as much as they did.
Cinnamon is an anti-yeast agent which either kills or slows down yeast. What this meant for our brew was that it tasted great, if a little too cinnamony, but was barely alcoholic. It also didn't have any bubbles. It wasn't horrible to drink, a little weird but not horrible... until the yeast found its feet again.
What happened was that the cinnamon was in sufficient quantities in the vat to kill the yeast until there was only a very small amount of yeast left. The bi-product was a viscous brown sludge that sat on top of the cider in the vat (it was horrible by all accounts, but I will leave actual descriptions to Alex and Bobo). When we removed the cider from the vat (and the sludge) the yeast was freed from the cinnamon. It took a while but, once in the bottle with the sugar drops it began to multiply...
We almost got our first explosive bottles. Had we left them much longer they totally would have covered our living room in living cider. As it was we had already drank most of them by the weekend so that the ten that were left weren't too hard to deal with. Alex noticed a trend while he was opening them, being that they all almost took his head off when he popped the top. He quickly deduced why and opened them all, allowing them to do their thing in the sink and then he drank what was left.
What we will probably do next time (a while down the track) is put a very small amount of cinnamon in and see what happens. Hopefully a lesser amount of cinnamon will have lesser effects and therefore allow the yeast more maturation in the vat.
I will leave off here because I don't actually know exactly how many sticks of cinnamon were used, but I am sure that Bobo can add the actual ingredients list in an edit later.
Word to the wise: don't overuse spices in your beers. It can kill the yeast.. which can then come back like some sort of alcohol zombie and blow up your house.
Tastes like: pie. truthfully. A little too much cinnamon but... pie.
Better than: not much. Off apple juice? (I am sure Alex will disagree with me)
Not as good as: plain ole cider of the bought variety, the first one we made: Colonel Jesus' Fruity Temptation
edit: Fixed Tom's spelling -Boden
Here is one of our early experiments (read also Failures).
Basically it was a fantastic idea that just didn't pan out as we hoped. Like most of our other ideas for new brews we will probably try it again because, while the execution was wrong the idea is still sound.
Boden and Alex were making a cider and had the fantastic idea of putting cinnamon in the brew to make it taste like apple pie. What they didn't research first was whether or not you should put cinnamon in a beer. Turns out that you shouldn't, at least, not as much as they did.
Cinnamon is an anti-yeast agent which either kills or slows down yeast. What this meant for our brew was that it tasted great, if a little too cinnamony, but was barely alcoholic. It also didn't have any bubbles. It wasn't horrible to drink, a little weird but not horrible... until the yeast found its feet again.
What happened was that the cinnamon was in sufficient quantities in the vat to kill the yeast until there was only a very small amount of yeast left. The bi-product was a viscous brown sludge that sat on top of the cider in the vat (it was horrible by all accounts, but I will leave actual descriptions to Alex and Bobo). When we removed the cider from the vat (and the sludge) the yeast was freed from the cinnamon. It took a while but, once in the bottle with the sugar drops it began to multiply...
We almost got our first explosive bottles. Had we left them much longer they totally would have covered our living room in living cider. As it was we had already drank most of them by the weekend so that the ten that were left weren't too hard to deal with. Alex noticed a trend while he was opening them, being that they all almost took his head off when he popped the top. He quickly deduced why and opened them all, allowing them to do their thing in the sink and then he drank what was left.
What we will probably do next time (a while down the track) is put a very small amount of cinnamon in and see what happens. Hopefully a lesser amount of cinnamon will have lesser effects and therefore allow the yeast more maturation in the vat.
I will leave off here because I don't actually know exactly how many sticks of cinnamon were used, but I am sure that Bobo can add the actual ingredients list in an edit later.
Word to the wise: don't overuse spices in your beers. It can kill the yeast.. which can then come back like some sort of alcohol zombie and blow up your house.
Tastes like: pie. truthfully. A little too much cinnamon but... pie.
Better than: not much. Off apple juice? (I am sure Alex will disagree with me)
Not as good as: plain ole cider of the bought variety, the first one we made: Colonel Jesus' Fruity Temptation
edit: Fixed Tom's spelling -Boden
Alex's PARTY!
We totally stocked an entire party with homebrew the other night. Alex's 23rd was a smashing success. Lots of drunken louts, lots of great conversations, stories tall and short, music and all round good times. Not a single bad time was had by all.
We drank: Centrelink, Wild Beery, Ginger Binger, G-Bomb, Apple Pieder, Wanderbrau and Rock your Bock Off. Of these brews none are now left which means we can rate them.
As Alex said, shout out to all those who were at the party, please comment on A the party and B the brews. If you have any great photo's of the night we would love to put them up as well.
Stay tuned and thanks for turning up!
Tom
We drank: Centrelink, Wild Beery, Ginger Binger, G-Bomb, Apple Pieder, Wanderbrau and Rock your Bock Off. Of these brews none are now left which means we can rate them.
As Alex said, shout out to all those who were at the party, please comment on A the party and B the brews. If you have any great photo's of the night we would love to put them up as well.
Stay tuned and thanks for turning up!
Tom
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tell us how bad our beer is
If you were at Alex's party the other night you were probably drinking some of our homebrew. I think we had the following in the tub:
- Ginger Binger. Had 'GB' on the cap. Tasted like ginger
- Powered by Centrelink. Had a dollar sign on the cap
- Wild Beery. You will know what this one was if you have a functional tongue
Leave a comment and tell us what you thought of the beer. We didn't put our best brews into the tub because we don't like any of you that would have cost too much money. So feel free to say they were awful.
Personally I loved the ginger beer. Very gingery and very sweet, much more flavour than Bluetoungue's version. Powered by Centrelink was okay but nothing to be very proud of. Wild beery was a bit of a disaster and I hope we can all forget about it soon.
edit: Either we have no readers (likely) or no one can work out how to comment (less likely). Anonymous comments have been turned on!
edit: Either we have no readers (likely) or no one can work out how to comment (less likely). Anonymous comments have been turned on!
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009
To the Extreme! - Tom's extremely brown
Hi Everyone,
Tom's extremely brown was actually an amber ale wort bought from out local brew shop. We bought the wort for $40 and the yeast for $5. I gotta say, totally awesome.
Basically a wort is a pre-made solution of everything you need that comes in a giant 15 litre jug. All you need to add is yeast and 5-7l of water and you are done.
It was actually our very first brew, but, being that it was a wort we didn't need to do anything to it and it turned out awesome. Totally worth the extra moolah. This beer was elementally drinkable and had everything you want from a malty darker ale: the nutty/chocolate after taste, the raw yet smooth bitterness, low carbonation without being flat and that kind of heady palate that goes right through your nose to your brain without saying goodbye.
While it is a little more pricey than a lot of hte brews we make the extra money does show in the quality. As with most things you get what you pay for. Kits make really good beer, but you can spend up to $55 on a kit if you want to or as little as $8. The better the kit, the yeast and the malt solutions you use the better the beer will turn out. In this case it was excellent.
It had a very dark brown colour, with a good head (however head retention was surprisingly low; meaning that the head disapeared quite quickly with drinking) and a great aroma.
Better than: James Squire and practically everything else we have made apart from Bodens Belgium
Worse than: Chimay blue. I was racking my brain for any dark beer that wasn't a bloody tripaste or whatever they are called that was better than this. Chimay blue still has that extra alcohol but isn't as pretentious.. however it costs 160 a case so Tom's Extremely Brown is one eighth the price.
The same as: maybe something from another micro-brewery. There is a place in Sydney called the Lord Nelson, in the Rocks. They make their own beers and a few of theirs would match up to TEB, however again the price is prohibitive being that those are around 7 dollars a pint. The Australian, also in the Rocks, has a lot of Australian dark ales from all over the country, a couple of those would also match but again would be expensive.
Tom's extremely brown was actually an amber ale wort bought from out local brew shop. We bought the wort for $40 and the yeast for $5. I gotta say, totally awesome.
Basically a wort is a pre-made solution of everything you need that comes in a giant 15 litre jug. All you need to add is yeast and 5-7l of water and you are done.
It was actually our very first brew, but, being that it was a wort we didn't need to do anything to it and it turned out awesome. Totally worth the extra moolah. This beer was elementally drinkable and had everything you want from a malty darker ale: the nutty/chocolate after taste, the raw yet smooth bitterness, low carbonation without being flat and that kind of heady palate that goes right through your nose to your brain without saying goodbye.
While it is a little more pricey than a lot of hte brews we make the extra money does show in the quality. As with most things you get what you pay for. Kits make really good beer, but you can spend up to $55 on a kit if you want to or as little as $8. The better the kit, the yeast and the malt solutions you use the better the beer will turn out. In this case it was excellent.
It had a very dark brown colour, with a good head (however head retention was surprisingly low; meaning that the head disapeared quite quickly with drinking) and a great aroma.
Better than: James Squire and practically everything else we have made apart from Bodens Belgium
Worse than: Chimay blue. I was racking my brain for any dark beer that wasn't a bloody tripaste or whatever they are called that was better than this. Chimay blue still has that extra alcohol but isn't as pretentious.. however it costs 160 a case so Tom's Extremely Brown is one eighth the price.
The same as: maybe something from another micro-brewery. There is a place in Sydney called the Lord Nelson, in the Rocks. They make their own beers and a few of theirs would match up to TEB, however again the price is prohibitive being that those are around 7 dollars a pint. The Australian, also in the Rocks, has a lot of Australian dark ales from all over the country, a couple of those would also match but again would be expensive.
[Boden note: We just put a second batch of this on. Can't wait! 26/06]
Monday, June 15, 2009
Colonel Jesus' Fruity Temptation: Straight kit, straight brew, straight up.
Hey guys, just a short one today.
This brew is just yet another example of how brewing kits can be fantastic without any alteration or creative assistance.
For CJFT we used a Brigalow cider kit, 1kg of table sugar and kit yeast. The result was a surprisingly authentic-tasting English-style cider; a very dry fore-taste accompanied by a sweet after-taste that made for good drinking.
The result of this uninventive endeavour was a beverage that was good for sipping, binging and excellent for refreshing, even if you aren't in the mood for something alcoholic. We definitely recommend this for any fans of cider, or even fans of refreshing drinks filled with good, old fashioned alcohol.
This brew is just yet another example of how brewing kits can be fantastic without any alteration or creative assistance.
For CJFT we used a Brigalow cider kit, 1kg of table sugar and kit yeast. The result was a surprisingly authentic-tasting English-style cider; a very dry fore-taste accompanied by a sweet after-taste that made for good drinking.
The result of this uninventive endeavour was a beverage that was good for sipping, binging and excellent for refreshing, even if you aren't in the mood for something alcoholic. We definitely recommend this for any fans of cider, or even fans of refreshing drinks filled with good, old fashioned alcohol.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Are Kits worth buying?
You may have read on the net, like we have, that Kits are not even worth the effort. Part of the reason that we started this blog is that that is utter crap.
So far we have only used Kit beers. While we wouldn't mind trying the other way, which is to say using grain, we don't have the room in our house to store it nor the kitchen space to make it. But we were disheartened to find out that the internet is jam packed with nay-sayers and snobby kit haters. We couldn't find a decent recipe using Kits anywhere on the net, appart from on actual selling sites. We began to think that we were somehow worse, that we weren't getting the full experience, that our beer was crap and that we only thought it was good because we were making it.
But then we realised, no, our beer is bloody good. All our friends, who are fairly harsh but fair critics, like our beer, we love our beer so SCREW YOU INTERNET! So we started this blog to let you all know that 'Yes. you can make very drinkable beers with Kits'.
Using kits is not as hard as grain but it is still not as easy as making cordial. There is still all the sterilisation and proper temps needed to make a really good brew. We have made our fair share of mistakes, but we have also made some cracker brews so it can be done.
What you have to understand is that the Kits will taste good if you treat them with care. We view it more like an art than a science, but it definitely has scientitian aspects that make a big difference. Some kits are better than others, yeasts are definitely different. It all comes down to personal taste. If you like lager's make lagers.
Some things to watch out for:
So far we have only used Kit beers. While we wouldn't mind trying the other way, which is to say using grain, we don't have the room in our house to store it nor the kitchen space to make it. But we were disheartened to find out that the internet is jam packed with nay-sayers and snobby kit haters. We couldn't find a decent recipe using Kits anywhere on the net, appart from on actual selling sites. We began to think that we were somehow worse, that we weren't getting the full experience, that our beer was crap and that we only thought it was good because we were making it.
But then we realised, no, our beer is bloody good. All our friends, who are fairly harsh but fair critics, like our beer, we love our beer so SCREW YOU INTERNET! So we started this blog to let you all know that 'Yes. you can make very drinkable beers with Kits'.
Using kits is not as hard as grain but it is still not as easy as making cordial. There is still all the sterilisation and proper temps needed to make a really good brew. We have made our fair share of mistakes, but we have also made some cracker brews so it can be done.
What you have to understand is that the Kits will taste good if you treat them with care. We view it more like an art than a science, but it definitely has scientitian aspects that make a big difference. Some kits are better than others, yeasts are definitely different. It all comes down to personal taste. If you like lager's make lagers.
Some things to watch out for:
- All kits come with Ale yeast. That is ALL. Kit makers don't trust your average joe bloe to regulate the temperature to the degree that you need in order not to screw up a lager.
- Kit yeast is fairly crap, it can be used but when you can buy good yeast for 3 bux do it.
- Kits vary mainly in flavour. If you want a subtle range of flavours then you need to spend a little bit more, but the main range is between 8 and 22 dollars so none of them will break the bank.
- Listen to your local brew shop guy for recipes - he knows what he is doing.
- Follow the instructions and it should turn out ok.
- Clean and clean and clean. But that stands for all brewing.
Basically these are good. Kits work. Use them
Tom
Kit Yeast v Bought Yeast: Wanderful = Wonderful! Centrelink = Pretty Good
G'day boyo's and girlo's,
So here's the thing. Coles, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to stop stocking Wander beer kits and have been marking down their remaining stock to rediculously low prices in order to get rid of them. By rediculous I mean that the other two bought 4 kits for 2 dollars each.
With this beer we thought we wanted to test whether Kit yeast as opposed to the more expensive 'special' yeast made a difference. So we tested the principle. We did two identical beer kits Wander Ale with Cooper's Brew Enhancer 1, one with kit yeast and one with 'special' yeast.
The results:
Pre lim testing showed that the kit yeast was still very active (smelly) where as the special yeast was far more smooth. The tasting was that the beer we dubbed Centrelink (as funded by student monies and costing a whopping 7 dollars to make) tasted something like VB as opposed to Wanderful which tasted like a crisp James Squires.
After bottling we left them for a week and a half. We then cracked them last night and they were ready!
Post bottling results were fairly astounding. Centrelink tasted sweet, as though the yeast hadn't eaten all the sugar, but in no way yeasty. It wasn't bad, very drinkable, bitter, though like VB but with a sweeter fore taste. However, it was completely outclassed by Wanderful.
Wanderful is a great beer. It's crisp, far more clear and goes down like a nice draght. Basically drinking this beer, which cost us $12 (including caps and sugar drops) for 2 cases, is a down right pleasure. When we opened it there was talk of bathing in it, but we didn't want to waste the beer.
The colour of both is a lightish brown, but where Centrelink looks as murky as Reches Wanderful is much clearer, more like a darker Boags.
The conclusion: It is worth the extra 3 dollars for special yeast as opposed to kit yeast. It is far more effecting and provides a much more rounded finish. However, if you can't find it (or can't afford it - that goes out to Uni students) using Kit yeast isn't the end of the world.
Centrelink -
Tastes like - nothing on the market, but with elements of VBness. Kinda like VB mixed with white sugar. Not as bad as it sounds.
Better than - taste wise I would say, and my compatriots may shout me down, but nothing on the market. However, when you weigh the cost vs taste, since it tastes like the lowest commercial beers but costs around 15 times less per carton, its definitely better.
Worse than - Wanderful.
Wanderful
Tastes like - A bit like James Squires but with out the malt. Definitely an Aussie brew. Actually, a lot like a beer called 'Waju' which just came out on the market for $50 a case. Quite nice.
Better than - low shelf commercial beers. I would pay 40 + for a case of this. (professional pride not withstanding)
Worse than - Boden's Belgium, Tom's Brown and Brew Mow. Commerical I would say it is worse, but only just, than James Squires. Probably almost on par with Uberbrau without the hint of banana that adds that mistique we miss from Uber.
So here's the thing. Coles, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to stop stocking Wander beer kits and have been marking down their remaining stock to rediculously low prices in order to get rid of them. By rediculous I mean that the other two bought 4 kits for 2 dollars each.
With this beer we thought we wanted to test whether Kit yeast as opposed to the more expensive 'special' yeast made a difference. So we tested the principle. We did two identical beer kits Wander Ale with Cooper's Brew Enhancer 1, one with kit yeast and one with 'special' yeast.
The results:
Pre lim testing showed that the kit yeast was still very active (smelly) where as the special yeast was far more smooth. The tasting was that the beer we dubbed Centrelink (as funded by student monies and costing a whopping 7 dollars to make) tasted something like VB as opposed to Wanderful which tasted like a crisp James Squires.
After bottling we left them for a week and a half. We then cracked them last night and they were ready!
Post bottling results were fairly astounding. Centrelink tasted sweet, as though the yeast hadn't eaten all the sugar, but in no way yeasty. It wasn't bad, very drinkable, bitter, though like VB but with a sweeter fore taste. However, it was completely outclassed by Wanderful.
Wanderful is a great beer. It's crisp, far more clear and goes down like a nice draght. Basically drinking this beer, which cost us $12 (including caps and sugar drops) for 2 cases, is a down right pleasure. When we opened it there was talk of bathing in it, but we didn't want to waste the beer.
The colour of both is a lightish brown, but where Centrelink looks as murky as Reches Wanderful is much clearer, more like a darker Boags.
The conclusion: It is worth the extra 3 dollars for special yeast as opposed to kit yeast. It is far more effecting and provides a much more rounded finish. However, if you can't find it (or can't afford it - that goes out to Uni students) using Kit yeast isn't the end of the world.
Centrelink -
Tastes like - nothing on the market, but with elements of VBness. Kinda like VB mixed with white sugar. Not as bad as it sounds.
Better than - taste wise I would say, and my compatriots may shout me down, but nothing on the market. However, when you weigh the cost vs taste, since it tastes like the lowest commercial beers but costs around 15 times less per carton, its definitely better.
Worse than - Wanderful.
Wanderful
Tastes like - A bit like James Squires but with out the malt. Definitely an Aussie brew. Actually, a lot like a beer called 'Waju' which just came out on the market for $50 a case. Quite nice.
Better than - low shelf commercial beers. I would pay 40 + for a case of this. (professional pride not withstanding)
Worse than - Boden's Belgium, Tom's Brown and Brew Mow. Commerical I would say it is worse, but only just, than James Squires. Probably almost on par with Uberbrau without the hint of banana that adds that mistique we miss from Uber.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Brew-ski - A tale of dismal failure and ignorant mistakes
G'day guys
So, let me say from the beginning that we really screwed the hooch with this one (and by we I mean Quester...). The devilishly clever name stemmed from the fact that this was was a straight kit made from Cooper's Canadian Lager.
Our (Quester's) inventive approach for testing the gravity for this batch was to open the lid of the vat and insert the gravity tester directly into the brew. An unfortunate side-effect of allowing this much oxygen into your brew is that all your delicious alcohol into less-than-delicious vinegar. Thus we ended up with a brew that tasted like an overly-dressed salad, minus the salad, that delivered immediate heart-burn for any poor fool who was brave enough to try it.
We are, understandably, reluctant to try this kit again, even when armed with the full knowledge of our complete and utter blame in the matter. We offer no opinions or advice based on this brew other than this very important lesson: always read the instructions before leaping wildly in the general direction of ignorance and failure.
So, let me say from the beginning that we really screwed the hooch with this one (and by we I mean Quester...). The devilishly clever name stemmed from the fact that this was was a straight kit made from Cooper's Canadian Lager.
Our (Quester's) inventive approach for testing the gravity for this batch was to open the lid of the vat and insert the gravity tester directly into the brew. An unfortunate side-effect of allowing this much oxygen into your brew is that all your delicious alcohol into less-than-delicious vinegar. Thus we ended up with a brew that tasted like an overly-dressed salad, minus the salad, that delivered immediate heart-burn for any poor fool who was brave enough to try it.
We are, understandably, reluctant to try this kit again, even when armed with the full knowledge of our complete and utter blame in the matter. We offer no opinions or advice based on this brew other than this very important lesson: always read the instructions before leaping wildly in the general direction of ignorance and failure.
Boden's Belgium
Surprisingly simple. A few of the bottles tasted a bit bitter and weird but we thought this brew was bloody fantastic. Definitely going to try this again.
1x Brewcraft Belgium Wort
1x Coopers Light Malt Extract
1x Belgium yeast. No idea what type but it was purple! Hope this helps.
The friendly chap at the homebrew store tried to get us to add finishing hops but we couldn't afford it. Turned out really well anyway. Very malty flavour with that distinctive Belgium aftertaste. Good mouth feel and very Belgium head!
1x Brewcraft Belgium Wort
1x Coopers Light Malt Extract
1x Belgium yeast. No idea what type but it was purple! Hope this helps.
The friendly chap at the homebrew store tried to get us to add finishing hops but we couldn't afford it. Turned out really well anyway. Very malty flavour with that distinctive Belgium aftertaste. Good mouth feel and very Belgium head!
Brew mow m mow mow, brew mow m mow mow - It is the real ale.
Hey guys,
This was a surprisingly good beer. It was simply a kit beer, bought from Coles (the supermarket) and using the recommended cooper's dextrose mixture. All up this beer cost about $15.
We used the kit yeast, nothing fancy was done.
The beer had a good colour, was extremely drinkable with good head. It tasted something like Resches with a little more crispness. It had a rather nice, sweetness to the after taste that really mellowed it out and melted the first taste bitterness of the brew.
Being 'real ale', as one may think it rounded out like a 'real' australian ale. It had all the earmarks of the ausie brew; no real subtlety, relatively shallow pallet but otherwise drinkable. In fact, it was very drinkable.
Conclusions: I would definitely do this one again and would have paid around 40 dollars a case for it commercially.
Tastes like: A mixture of James Boags and James Squires - crisp but definitely aley
Better than: lower shelf
Worse than: Anything foreign... well that's not true, anything imported that i have tried from mainland Europe.
Thoughts?
Tom
This was a surprisingly good beer. It was simply a kit beer, bought from Coles (the supermarket) and using the recommended cooper's dextrose mixture. All up this beer cost about $15.
We used the kit yeast, nothing fancy was done.
The beer had a good colour, was extremely drinkable with good head. It tasted something like Resches with a little more crispness. It had a rather nice, sweetness to the after taste that really mellowed it out and melted the first taste bitterness of the brew.
Being 'real ale', as one may think it rounded out like a 'real' australian ale. It had all the earmarks of the ausie brew; no real subtlety, relatively shallow pallet but otherwise drinkable. In fact, it was very drinkable.
Conclusions: I would definitely do this one again and would have paid around 40 dollars a case for it commercially.
Tastes like: A mixture of James Boags and James Squires - crisp but definitely aley
Better than: lower shelf
Worse than: Anything foreign... well that's not true, anything imported that i have tried from mainland Europe.
Thoughts?
Tom
We have the technology, we can make him stronger, faster - The tale of Uberbrau
G'day boys and girls.
For those of you who don't know me I am one of the founders of HeBrew, the name's Tom.
For a few months now we have been brewing beer. It started with one vat. Then expanded to three, then to four. We now have seven Vat's going at the one time.
While you probably already knew that I wanted to set the scene.
Now I will tell you about our first real forray into experimentation - Uberbrau.
Uberbrau was about our 7th or so Batch. We had been reading online that you could make your beer stronger by adding extra sugar. Apparently each Kilo of sugar extra equals about another 2-2.5% alcohol. This sounded pretty damn awesome to us seeing as we would get extra bang for our buck.
Our first (and not last attempt) is Uberbrau which has just come to fruition in the last week or so.
We used the cheapest kit (Wander Munich Lager for $4) we could find and table sugar (2kg) for this and some Brewers Choice European Lager yeast.
While brewing we kept the vat at a stable 16-23 degrees centigrade (which turned out to be a mistake - see [future post on mistakes and successes]).
Drinking - This beer turned out OK. Drinkable (which isn't to say especially good), but with a slight banana flavour which detracts somewhat. Fairly bitter but full bodied with a good ale colour and with good head retention. This beer wasn't polished but...
It is strong! After just 2 I could definitely feel it, after 8 I was singing on the bus home (sorry commuters).
The plus side - It works and doesn't seem to detract from the taste.
- We learned something about Lager yeast - keep it below 14 degrees (10 for preference) to stop it tasting like bananas. Other beers we have had which we have kept under 10 degrees are now in bottle but prelim testing shows that they do not have this defect.
- Table sugar works but malt and dextrose/malt mixes don't have the same raw/bitter after taste that sugar does. We will soon be testing beers with Malt and extra table sugar, figuring that the malt will round out the tast while the sugar can provide the oomph we are looking for. Stay tuned for results.
Conclusions - A satisfying result. Drinkable but not sip worthy so we can just piss it up against the wall and give it to friends. A good forray into the realm of stronger beers.
The Same As - Probably rates about the same level as Carlton Draught in pure drinkability, maybe a little higher given that there is no chemical after taste.
Not As Good As - I think I would prefer to drink Reches or, definitely something like James Squires.
Better Than - VB, New, Toohey's extra dry; while it is a little raw it certainly doesn't have the sewage taste that is found in these garden variety commercial beers, and for 1/5 the price and +2% alchohol it is a much better buy.
Tom
For those of you who don't know me I am one of the founders of HeBrew, the name's Tom.
For a few months now we have been brewing beer. It started with one vat. Then expanded to three, then to four. We now have seven Vat's going at the one time.
While you probably already knew that I wanted to set the scene.
Now I will tell you about our first real forray into experimentation - Uberbrau.
Uberbrau was about our 7th or so Batch. We had been reading online that you could make your beer stronger by adding extra sugar. Apparently each Kilo of sugar extra equals about another 2-2.5% alcohol. This sounded pretty damn awesome to us seeing as we would get extra bang for our buck.
Our first (and not last attempt) is Uberbrau which has just come to fruition in the last week or so.
We used the cheapest kit (Wander Munich Lager for $4) we could find and table sugar (2kg) for this and some Brewers Choice European Lager yeast.
While brewing we kept the vat at a stable 16-23 degrees centigrade (which turned out to be a mistake - see [future post on mistakes and successes]).
Drinking - This beer turned out OK. Drinkable (which isn't to say especially good), but with a slight banana flavour which detracts somewhat. Fairly bitter but full bodied with a good ale colour and with good head retention. This beer wasn't polished but...
It is strong! After just 2 I could definitely feel it, after 8 I was singing on the bus home (sorry commuters).
The plus side - It works and doesn't seem to detract from the taste.
- We learned something about Lager yeast - keep it below 14 degrees (10 for preference) to stop it tasting like bananas. Other beers we have had which we have kept under 10 degrees are now in bottle but prelim testing shows that they do not have this defect.
- Table sugar works but malt and dextrose/malt mixes don't have the same raw/bitter after taste that sugar does. We will soon be testing beers with Malt and extra table sugar, figuring that the malt will round out the tast while the sugar can provide the oomph we are looking for. Stay tuned for results.
Conclusions - A satisfying result. Drinkable but not sip worthy so we can just piss it up against the wall and give it to friends. A good forray into the realm of stronger beers.
The Same As - Probably rates about the same level as Carlton Draught in pure drinkability, maybe a little higher given that there is no chemical after taste.
Not As Good As - I think I would prefer to drink Reches or, definitely something like James Squires.
Better Than - VB, New, Toohey's extra dry; while it is a little raw it certainly doesn't have the sewage taste that is found in these garden variety commercial beers, and for 1/5 the price and +2% alchohol it is a much better buy.
Tom
Labels:
extra sugar,
strong,
uberbrau
Monday, June 8, 2009
Welcome
Here's a blog about my housemates and I brewing huge amounts of beer. We're terrible and don't really know what we're doing but we're making a lot of great beer so we've decided to share what we're up to.
Here's what we've got brewing at the moment:
Here's what we've got brewing at the moment:
- 3x Wander Munich Lager + Coopers Brew Enhancer #1 + European lager yeast
- Wander Draught + Coopers Brew Enhancer #1 + Ale yeast
- Brewcraft Blonde Pilsner + Bag of sugers the homebrew-shop-guy gave us + European lager yeast
- Irish Stout + 1kg Dark Malt Extract + Ale yeast
- Irish Cream + 1kg Light Malt Extract + Ale yeast
Labels:
alchoholics,
beer,
cheap bastards,
homebrew,
procrastination
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