Blr243 wrote:I have drunk home made wine that was beautiful and also rather potent ...and I have drunk home brew that was exceptionally good making me think the bloke really knew what he was doing. And once I drank a half a glass of home brew that tasted wrong so I did not finish the glass. It had a strong chemical flavour. I’d did not get me drunk but it gave me a three day headache. Perhaps if I did drink the whole glass I might have died. There was def something terribly wrong with that beer. I think making your own booze carries the same level of responsibilities as reloading. Safety is crucial. Never tried making my own booze myself. Not much of a drinker
on_one_wheel wrote:Perfect head and rich colour
I've nailed my favourite summer brew down to Coopers ale with a generous helping of Cascade hops, it's simple and very delicious.
Oldbloke wrote:on_one_wheel wrote:Perfect head and rich colour
I've nailed my favourite summer brew down to Coopers ale with a generous helping of Cascade hops, it's simple and very delicious.
Good onya. I fail to understand why so many make it complicated and a lot of work. With all the can kits available it should be easy. And Coopers are the kings of Home Brew I reckon.
The last thing we want is Coopers staff coming down with covid. That would be the pits big time.
Lsfan wrote:I did it once using the coopers kit to impress my father in law to be at the time. Haven't done it since. I followed the instructions precisely and found the result to be fairly average. Just seemed the gas was harsh/ coarse to the pallet if that makes any sense. I used carbonation drops. I'd like to try it again some time.
Oldbloke wrote:Lsfan wrote:I did it once using the coopers kit to impress my father in law to be at the time. Haven't done it since. I followed the instructions precisely and found the result to be fairly average. Just seemed the gas was harsh/ coarse to the pallet if that makes any sense. I used carbonation drops. I'd like to try it again some time.
Ive been doing this for yonks. I don't like to go to too much trouble but there a few tricks to KISS and can have pretty significant improvements to your product. Like everyone I started out just following the coopers instructions on the can. You get good beer. However like all things there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Cleanliness is next to godliness. Ensure the FMV is spotless & sanitise it. Boiling water for sanitising does the job.
Clean bottles. I don't bother sanitising them just very clean.
Temperature. Try to maintain 18c to about 24c. 20 to 22 is about ideal.
Instead of sugar add a coopers brew enhancer #3 500g to 1000g or Malt, dried or liquid.
Forget the carbonation drops. Bulk prime.
How, Don't fill fermenter to 23 ltr as the instructions tell you. Instead fill the FV to 21 ltr. Then before bottling mix about 200g of sugar with hot water to dissolve. Once its cooled gently stir it in about 30 minutes before bottling, allow to settle and bottle, Cheaper and easier.
Use a tube on the little bottler to make bottling mush easier. Skip to 4.30 seconds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctvIVdBJ2kE
Lsfan wrote:Yeah I knew there would be some tricks to it. I like trying different beers. I made it a mission to try as much as I could. I've forgotten how many different beers I've tried, but I lean towards strong beers to avoid consuming too much bloating liquid. I like the Belgian stuff and I'm sure a bit more goes into that stuff, being 10% plus.
Some good tips OB. Maybe when my boys get older I'll have more time to experiment with such things and that will be one of my hobbies too.
boingk wrote:Lsfan wrote:Yeah I knew there would be some tricks to it. I like trying different beers. I made it a mission to try as much as I could. I've forgotten how many different beers I've tried, but I lean towards strong beers to avoid consuming too much bloating liquid. I like the Belgian stuff and I'm sure a bit more goes into that stuff, being 10% plus.
Some good tips OB. Maybe when my boys get older I'll have more time to experiment with such things and that will be one of my hobbies too.
Try a Cooper's Sparkling Ale kit made to direction if you can get your hands on the ingredients.
Failing that, get a Pale Ale kit and a Cerveza kit from the supermarket. Add both tins to the fermenter, both yeasts and another 500g dextrose.
She'll end up pretty strong and aromatic and the very light malt in the Cerveza kit should give a good finish. If you can't find the Cerveza kit just use 500g malt and 1kg dextrose for a similar effect on top of the Cooper's Pale Ale kit.
on_one_wheel wrote:How about the hipster crouds, using bizarre ingredients like slices of pizza, and yeasts harvest from places that we'd probably rather not imagine a high yeast count.