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My own beer from scratch


Michael

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If you want to walk before running, you could try an extract brew first, that is use dry or liquid malt extracts and do a boil with your favourite hops to get the correct bitterness and aroma.

All grain brews take a fair bit of equipment and some know-how (ie I don't know how yet!)

 

Dan

 

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Michael, Remember this is a Coopers site and all advice is given around Coopers products.

If you wish to make beer from something other than Coopers then you should be looking elsewhere, there are plenty of sites on the web, just Google "homebrew".

[roll]

Warren

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You can make some fine extract brews using Coopers products Warren [rightful] . You'll have to get your hops elsewhere of course though. A bit early to be giving Micahel his marching orders [lol]

 

Michael, like Dan said, have a go at an extract brew. You can make an amazing beer with a couple of can of Coopers Malt extract (or the dry equivalent) and some hops.

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I remember when homebrewing was still illegal.(in SA anyway), I lived in the bush and we used to go around the farms wiring up houses ready for the power, a lot of the cockies started brewing their own and of course they all thought they had a winner....well some were Ok but man, was there some nasty stuff amongst it! I remember one bloke tipping a bottle down the sink and I am bloody sure I could see smoke rising off the stainless steel! No kits or homebrew shops around then. In short if you are dinkum about making a brew from scratch it is certainly possible, however, you may waste a lot of stuff before you get one that works!

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Do a couple of recipes first before you start developing your own unique beer.

 

Neill's Centenarillo Ale on AHB is a good starting point (and a pretty bloody good beer [love] )

 

or Dr Smurto's Golden Ale (also on AHB) is another good one. The recipe here is for all grain but you'll find extract instructions (or a kit version) down in the notes.

 

Go for it you wont regret it [cool]

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I remember when homebrewing was still illegal.(in SA anyway)' date=' I lived in the bush and we used to go around the farms wiring up houses ready for the power, a lot of the cockies started brewing their own and of course they all thought they had a winner....well some were Ok but man, was there some nasty stuff amongst it! I remember one bloke tipping a bottle down the sink and I am bloody sure I could see smoke rising off the stainless steel! No kits or homebrew shops around then. In short if you are dinkum about making a brew from scratch it is certainly possible, however, you may waste a lot of stuff before you get one that works![/quote']

 

We can thank the great man Gough[love] for making home brew legal[kissing]

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Ah, so Gough did one good thing during his short but very expensive term as our leader, probably though he had better so we could afford to drink legally after he sent the country into a spiraling debt in a record short time...even for a labour prime minister, Ruddy tried to catch him but Julia cut him off at the pass![rightful]

(I actually met Gough at the tent embassy in Canberra in the early 70's didn't like him much then either!)

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Muddy, PB2 commented a few days ago that a line needed to be drawn. I believe he was saying that if the talk is about other products and i dont mean add ons like hops etc, then stop.

Maybe I read him wrong, lets see if he has anything to say?

I was not trying to give him marching orders but just pointing out thee site is about Coopers.

I often go to other sites to find out things not mentioned here. Don't tell anybody though.[rightful]

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Dr Smurto's Golden Ale[/url] (also on AHB) is another good one.

 

Can vouch for the Dr's GA, a very nice drop, only made it once...nice reminder to make it again! relies on the coopers products though, assume the OP means making without cans??

 

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G'day Michael, before jumping into all grain brewing, it's not a bad idea to get cleaning/sanitation, temperature control, yeast management, specialty grains, hop usage, etc. sorted out.

 

You'll need extra equipment and have to commit more time to the process, clear a window of 8hrs for your first attempt.[pinched]

 

Happy to help you through the process on this forum - it's all about the beer[biggrin] [biggrin]

 

There may be brewers on this forum who live close enough to you to show you, first hand, how it's done (you haven't filled in your location in the LH column).

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Hey Jethro! you don't seem to have posted an earlier post in this thread....what do you want to know?...Hey and don't get too excited about the banter on here mate, it is all in good fun...whoever you barrack for![cool]

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G'day Michael, before jumping into all grain brewing, it's not a bad idea to get cleaning/sanitation, temperature control, yeast management, specialty grains, hop usage, etc. sorted out.

 

You'll need extra equipment and have to commit more time to the process, clear a window of 8hrs for your first attempt.[pinched]

 

 

I agree with getting the basics down pat but I'll have to disagree with the second comment of extra equipment & 8 hours (Sorry PB2 [innocent] )

 

Check out BIAB or "Brew in a bag". Look at BIABrewer.info and AHB. This will get you into AG at a very minimal cost. If you have a big pot all you need is a bag.

 

Also check out "No chill".

 

A brew takes me 4hrs from start to finish including clean up. & it only takes that long because of the element Wattage in my kettle. Could prob reduce it to 3hrs if I upped my element size.

 

Maybe start with a partial / mini mash (part AG / part extract)and see if you like it.

 

Cheers, Mat.

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Maybe I misinterpreted the original question posed by Micheal, I gleaned from his first post that he wanted to try his own ingredients, methods etc, not mix 2 cans or use wet packs or pre mixed bags or kits of any kind, that would explain why I posted the story about pre legal home brewing and why Paul advised an 8 hour window. Sure you can trim that down if you used some pre packed, tried and tested methods but that is not what the question related to. As other forum members have suggested, I would recommend aproaching that with caution, at least until he had quite a bit more experience under his belt! I am not sure what ingredients were used or where they came from in those pre legal days, but as I said, there were some pretty rough brews came of it!

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I'll have to disagree with the second comment of extra equipment & 8 hours

 

Extra equipment is required. [rightful]

 

There is no doubt that, with experience, one can become more efficient with process and reduce the time significantly. Yes, my brewing process takes about 4hrs too, assuming I don't have any accidents [biggrin]

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