Brownsworthy Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 So with any luck the doors of The Brownsworthy Inn should be open in Newcastle a couple of weeks from now with Sparkling and Extra Strong Vintage Ale on tap.Cheers Nathan. Welcome to the wonderful world of lost souls' date=' from a fellow Novocastrian (well, actually a Charlestonian). It's a downhill slide from here, but there are many support groups available. I've put down a few brews myself and have had a ball. I'm also interested in what you're kegging system is and what it comprises - I'm looking into this at the moment. The most important things to get right from the start are: 1. Good sanitation and hygeine must be built into your technique; and 2. Good quality ingredients; and 3. Excellent cleaning hygeine, cleaning and sanitation techniques; and 4. Making brews that keeps your better half happy so you can buy more equipment; and 5. Good sanitising methods; and 6. Ignoring my advice; and 7. Good temperature control when pitching and fermenting; and I almost forgot 8. Keeping things clean and sanitised. If you need a hand, drop me a note. Cheers Phil the Hopeless[/quote'] Thanks phil, I ordered the twin tap keg king on ebay for $460, will use the standard lines, splitter and reg to start with. I purchased two new 19 liter ball lock kegs with 2 pair of disconnects from Newcastle Brew Shop for $330 will probably get a third to aid in rotation. I was going to make my own kegerator though the misses didn't want me to waste time building one (I'm renovating the house) or money by destroying a fridge she said the dedicated unit would be better and easier which was extremely surprising see sometimes they are alright to keep around. She hasn't caught on that she wont be able to count my empties a great reason to keg in itself. I will probably go the BOC route for gas to start though if I purchased a bottle it would save me around $650 over the course of 5 yrs. I will certainly be focusing on sanitation after hearing about some bad results from a mate after ruining a couple full mash brews. Thanks again for your advice Phil I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions in the near future and I'll let you know how successful the first brew is. Thanks Nathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiphile Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Well done, Nathan. It certainly seems you've got things well in hand. Just one final tip, when you get to renovating the kitchen, it really would be such a shame if the fridge you buy is, say, 50 to 100 mm wider than the space allocated. Then you might have to move that fridge to the man cave (oh, maybe you could use it for fermenting over summer), and buy the better half a new fridge. Oh dear gosh, it would be such a shame if that happened!!!!!! But I'm told, accidents do occur from time to time. Cheers Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 G'day all -- newbie brewer checking in. Always been a bit of an all-round DIYer, and while I don't drink enough beer (yet) to really justify the hobby as a money-saver, I find things are generally more enjoyable if you can appreciate the invested effort and/or it's something you've made with your own two hands. Starting out with a Craft kit my wife bought me for Father's Day -- I initially thought this may have restricted me to the Mr Beer cans (expensive!), but after some some web trawling and some deductive reasoning, I've decided that the combination of my (current) drinking habits and thirst for brew experimentation (pun intended) are probably better suited to doing small batches anyway. With the kit 8.5L batch already under my belt, I'm now experimenting with a wort-cubing kind of setup using 1.7kg HMEs + fermentables and brewing each half of the wort on its own. Though I think I've come up with a pretty good system, it's still early days and realistically I'm a good couple of weeks away from any meaningful testing. Still, a few days into the experiment and half-batch #1 is bubbling away merrily while half-batch #2's seals are still... well, sealed. Time will tell, I suppose. Bit of an electronics tinkerer as well, will eventually be looking at some microcontroller-based temperature logging/control/graphing in the future, but have decided to wait until I'm a bit more solid on basic brewing before I start experimenting with different temps. Since my current Brewhaus a.k.a. "The Laundry" has pretty stable temperatures around the 20-24° mark, controlling temperature is not a massive priority at this stage. Oh, and my brewery name before I forget: Rocketbrau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiphile Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Welcome to the darkside, Gibbo. ...and while I don't drink enough beer (yet) to really justify the hobby as a money-saver...Oh' date=' and my brewery name [b']before I forget[/b]: Rocketbrau Unless you're over 70 years old, I think you have just qualified as doing this as a cost-saver. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 6. Ignoring my advice Just not the bit about sanitizing ... or did you forget to mention that Phil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Welcome Gibbo, I really like the Craft DIY fermenter. I reckon the size is just about perfect and have been having lots of fun doing smaller batches. I started off using the full size fermenter and with the amount of bottles that produced (what with all the wine, commercial beer and spirits floating around the house) I was having a hard time drinking enough to brew often enough! Not to mention that I am very much in the learning phase so sometimes it's nice to have a smaller batch when not quite so perfect beer comes along. Have fun experimenting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Thanks for the welcome, lads! Unless you're over 70 years old' date=' I think you have just qualified as doing this as a cost-saver.[/quote']Thankfully not over 70 yet. Although... Maybe... Sorry, what was the question again? I really like the Craft DIY fermenter. I reckon the size is just about perfect and have been having lots of fun doing smaller batches ... I am very much in the learning phase so sometimes it's nice to have a smaller batch when not quite so perfect beer comes along.My thoughts exactly! There's a pretty good chance I'll scale up later, but while I'm getting my head around the whole thing, the small batches are pretty much the perfect size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brownsworthy Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 I like the way you think phil unfortunately the new kitchen and fridge are already in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burnell's Brew House Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Hi there, I've just joined and only recently started brewing. My Brewery is called Burnell's Brew House (BBH) and the house beer is BBH Pale Ale. The Pale Ale is currently on tap and have just started fermenting a draught beer today ( BBH Drought Breaker ). I have used some dry hops in my pale ale, but was wondering if it is possible to dry hop a draught without it tasting too wrong??Anyway, loving my new hobby and the great response from my mates after tasting for the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Welcome to the Forum, BBH. You can definitely dry hop a draught. What hops did you have in mind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpaca Brew Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Hello to everyone, My brewery name is Alpaca Brew. I live up in the French Alps and have 9 alpacas. Temp is not a problem here. It never really gets too warm. My first brew, Coopers IPA is bottled as of Nov 15th. I just put together a Mexican Cerveza kit with added saaz hops that I boiled for 10min. It has been in the FV since Nov 21st at a constant 18°c. I already have a St Peters Ruby Red Ale and a Coopers Canadian Blond lined up for my next brews. Learning a lot just by reading posts, Cheers, Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Hey Peggy Welcome to the forum, it sounds like you are well on your way to good beer. Cheers Scottie Valley Brew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Hi everyone, virgin brewer here but that is all about to change very soon. I'm a craft beer lover and just recently thought "why the hell aren't I having a crack at this myself"? so here we are now ... I've spent the last couple of weeks reading everything I can about HB on here and several other unnamed websites and have just about got all my gear together. Got the standard Coopers DIY beer kit but also ordered the extra ingredients I need to do the "Chubby Cherub" Ale as it looks like the perfect hoppy type of beer that I love. Also ordered a temperature controller from Ebay and am currently just waiting for the right (read:cheap) type of fermenting fridge to pop up on Gumtree to kick this baby off. Had my first visit to my local HBS today to get some more parts (Hops,yeast,bottle drying rack,bottle brush and some rinse free sanitiser) and I was like a kid in a candy store. Its a pity all the hops are vacuum sealed because I REALLY want to just rip it open and smell them but I shall have to wait for brew day for that. I really just wanted to thank all the posters on this site as I have learnt so much already from browsing the forum and have a plan of attack and itemised schedule ready to go on the day. Will post again with a report on how the big day went soon, and will have to 'suffer' while I wait for the conditioning process to finish by knocking back some of the fantastic suds that my sympathetic SWMBO bought me for XMAS (a 25 stubbie xmas beer advent carton from an online beer retailer - cant wait really, of the 25 beers, 21 of them I haven't tried before, including what will be my first taste of Saison) See you in the brewshed! Ken Waterloo Brewing Co. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiphile Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Welcome to the forum, my noble gas. From your avatar I suspect you might go to the same school as mine; I'll keep an eye out for you at the next beer and cheese night (cheese optional). You approach suggests (that apart from the silly introductory boo-boos we all make) an interest in reading, research and patience will lead you to fantastically good and consistent results, and you will have very little need for commercial drinks again (apart from the aforementioned research requirements). Well done, and since Porschemad911 didn't take advantage of my kind offer a few months back, I'll happily trade wives with you. Brunhilda is such a gentle soul! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Brunhilda is such a gentle soul! Mine is "a soul" too. Pronounce that how you like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MM Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Brunhilda is such a gentle soul! Mine is "a soul" too. Pronounce that how you like OOhh I hope she doesn't read these threads, or you'll be in big strife !!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pondy's Brewhouse Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 Hello hello! First post and virgin brewer here. Based in Strathalbyn, SA, I have named my brewery Pondy's Brewhouse. I kindly received the glorious gift that is the Coopers Craft Brew Kit for the recent annual religious celebration and as such have been thrust into a new hobby which I have always planned on starting but never quite gotten there. I have managed to make some quite successful Ginger Beer in the past but now it is time to up the ante! Tonight I have set up my first brew, the kit included Bewitched Amber Ale. It all seems easy enough so far but I am certainly keen to challenge myself into the future with different varieties. Over the past year I have found myself growing bored with "the usual" beers, so instead I tend to buy a 6 pack of anything I haven't yet tried. I hope that homebrewing will be an opportunity for me to experiment and learn new varieties and tweak them to suit my taste. I intend on reading these forums extensively to learn what I can. I have taken to roasting my own coffee recently too so I figure once I can make Whisky I will be self sufficient for all my fluid requirements. Bottoms up! Matt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnaman Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 G'day Matt, welcome to the forum, let the obsession, lunacy, compulsion, addiction, oh yeah that's it joy begin! Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MM Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Hi Matt, welcome to the forum. This is the second welcome from me, as my first got deleted from the powers that be. I included in my initial welcome some details regarding the other Beveridge you sought info for, clearly that didn't go down well with the moderators, it would have been nice if they just removed that info from my post and left the welcome. Thanks coopers ............ Anyway I have learned something new, only talk about beer on this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack1525229261 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Hi all! My name's Jack (obviously). Just got a Coopers DIY kit. Trying the first brew that came with the kit, intending on doing a Mexican Cerveza or Brigalow Apple Cider next. Very basic setup in fact thats all I have, however, hopefully expanding soon! Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Welcome to the forum Jack! Don't worry, you will become obsessed and end up with a room full of equipment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 G'day Jack! Welcome! Don't worry' date=' you will become obsessed and end up with a room full of equipment[/quote']How the hell did you manage to limit your equipment to a single room? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattler Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Hi All Name's Rob And I'm just a newbie to the brewing side of beer + forum and look forward to trying some of the recipes available, my wife gave me a craft brew kit for chrisy( i don't think she realises what she started) and the first batch(Amber Ale) should be to taste oz day weekend, I've got second batch in (Pale Ale) fermenter already and thinking might give a wheat beer a go next I brew from the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. Surfing, fishing(or golfing) and more wineries that you can poke a stick at, Looking for to tasting the different styles of beer cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnaman Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 G'day Rob (Rattler), Welcome to the forum, enjoy beer, enjoy the ride and ask questions. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wobbely Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Good day all you beer loving froth heads. I just joined the guild and it looks like there are lots of knowledgeable beer people out there. I own Midlands Home Brewers in Kwazulu Natal RSA. I am the chief brewer, apprentice bottle washer, chief taster, and proud to say I am the only customer lol. I started my little business in September 2014 supplying people with Coopers kits and refills etc. I only brew the kits at this stage but would like to try grain one day....... great to be here and I'm sure I will learn a lot from all the brewers online. Kind regards, Wobbely (Steve) If you cant take the heat in the kitchen - go brew some beer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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