Home Brew

parallax

Likes Dirt
BBC and other large chain hardware stores sometimes stock them. For what reason - I suppose builders would like the idea of finishing off a job with a schooner of beer they made themselves.

Last time I looked they were selling for about $40-60.

Now if only they would sell distillers!!! Goodbyr Mr Liver!
 

scblack

Leucocholic
there is a home brew store at Harbord shops (in Sydney's northern beaches). it is half home brew and half health foods. Isn't that a great mix?

At least it was there a couple of years ago, but I just google searched and could not find it
 

oleitch

Likes Dirt
make sure u use an airlock!!! i forgot and lost about 10 L of alchoholic gingerbeer into my carpet when the keg exploded. search in yellow pages for home brew shops. u can buy distillers for bout 200 hundred at some home brew shops. yeah and steralize everything. mtc
 
K-mart even sell most the gear these days,
Its about $40-60 for everything you need bar a good bench capper, (found mine at a brew shop) search google, you will find all the details 2 start your own little home brew kit.
my bench capper was $55, but is fantasic, makes it so easy to bottle your brew.

Start brewing now and you will have some really nice beer ready for summer!! :)
 

Toxic

Likes Dirt
Ell said:
i have been thinking about starting the home brew factory for a while now...but the only question im still stupmed on is where the hell do you buy a homebrew kit in sydney?
My local Coles stocks both Coopers and Tooheys kits for about $70-80.
 

wingy

Likes Dirt
I've been brewing for about 4 years now. The best discovery I have made is a product called Brewshield. There are a few different types of this product but basically it is a peroxide and colloidal silver (I think) mix that allows you to sterilise bottles and other equipment and not have to wash it out after. This means you can sterilise and bottle straight away and limit the chance of a bug getting in and screwing up your mix. You can put it into a spray bottle and use it to sterilise the area around your brew, your hands and any other gear that comes into contact with the brew. Spray the top of the keg with it and use some in your airlock too.
Cleanliness is next to or immediately preceeding goodliness.
When you get into it a bit, try the more boutique brews. Also some of the cheap ones can be vastly improved by using pre mixed sugar and malt blends instead of the sugars provided in the kits.
Safale is a great yeast. Talk to your home brew shop and they will usually put you onto a good thing in terms of that though.
Good luck :D
 

cheese

Likes Dirt
We got ours from coles for $50 I think? Theres a whole homebrew isle. Good thing is you dont have to be 18 to buy the stuff :)
The coopers kit comes with 30 plastic bottles, 25 L plastic keg, instructional video, beer mix and yeast, instructions and a few other little things.
 

Ell

Likes Dirt
*counts money* *thinks of nearest coles* *calls friend* *goes 50/50*
SCHWEEEET..
but when you say clean, do you mean unnatural clean?
 

wingy

Likes Dirt
Clean as in no bacterial or fungicidal (or any other microbe) contamination. The yeasts used are very specific and even a wild yeast culture can mess up your brew. Some of the chemicals used for cleaning are mighty nasty too so watch that. If you follow the instructions, keep everything clean and take your time with the first few brewing is easy and fun, not to mention rewarding.
 

oleitch

Likes Dirt
vodka recipe from HOWEZELL,
(this was sent by PM as HOWEZELL decided not to post it due to it being illegal> in fact it is only illegal to distill vodka not to construct a distillery so these are his plans, a simplified version of a fractional still, should still work (im gonna try it) and be a dam lot cheaper than a proper one. Also this is for eduactional purposes only any harm or death that happens to u is not my problem or responsibility!)

well we just went down to the store and bought 2m of copper piping 2 tins, one with a metal removable lid and one with an open top. then get a soldering iron or something hot enough to melt solder and then get some LEAD FREE solder. put a hole in the removable lid of the tin and then put the pipe through the hole and solder it in. once it is soldered in then follow the pipe up about 10 centimetres and bend it at a right angle then follow the pipe another foot or so from the first bend and make another one so that the pipe is now facing downwards.

Now the tricky bit, bend the remainder of the pipe into a spiral and leave about 15 centimetres of straight pipe at the end the spiral. IT MUST FIT INTO THE OTHER TIN because this will be the tin that cools down the alcohol vapors.
Now at the bottom of the tin that doesnt have a lid drill a hole that the pipe can fit through, u can use plasticine or solder or whatever to cover it up once the pipe is through.

Now for the "broth," Just get a big ass container, im talking like 40 litres or something, now put in about 30 litres or however much u want and put in about roughly 1 part of sugar in per 10 litres. ie if u have 30L put in 3kg of sugar. then just add some yeast, honestly it doesn't matter how much, from 1 pinch to a litre it makes no difference.

then just put a lid on it and leave it in a nice warm place inside and wait. it might be 1 week, or 2 or three, but when it stops bubbling fill up the tin about halfway with broth and heat it up to about 80 degrees roughly, (it doesn't really matter just keep it on the boil.) and make sure there is water in the coolant tank. have a bucket out the end of the pipe and collect the shit.toss out the first bit of stuff u get because sposedly its metho not alc and then just get the rest of it. u can run it through some charcoal if it makes u feel better but i have my doubts that it does anything.

if i missed anything just give me a yell (regards, jack) u can post this if u want

(also you should discard the first and last 5% of the brew if u want and exact number if you don't do this it is not metho, but phenols (even worse) that you will get in your brew and these althought not deadly give u a very baaaad hangover, so wast 10% of ur booze and save ur head!)


enjoy
 

hozewell

Likes Bikes
when i made mine i used a couple of milo tins (not recommended as they rust easily, but they do the job none the less, and i went to the hardware store and bought some thin walled copper piping about 2m but if i had my tim again id get a bit more, still, it will suffice and i used solder so seal the air tight holes and used plasticine to seal the hole at the bottom of the coolant tank.

the real important thing is to keep the coolant tin cold, like almost ice cold.
 

LEX

Likes Dirt
This is my brew :D Its got a electronic themomiter stuck to the side of it

Only problem is, its too cold to ferment :x
 

CHEWY

Eats Squid
Looks like its starting to ferment judging by the level of the water in the air lock. Whats the temp like up there? heaters are only about $40
 

LEX

Likes Dirt
Yeh but it wouLd cost way to much in power to run it all night. so says my dad anyway. Its on average 12 deg where it is and its lowest it got was 10 deg
 

dickyknee

Likes Dirt
as others have said , wash your bottles as you finish them or if your to pissed the next day will be cool :D , when you have bottled keep them some where like a laundry or bathroom ie: no carpet .
i used to wrap my buckets in a thick blanket to keep them warm in winter , and as for the heater i don't think you'll notice any difference on your power bill running one .
 

rowie

Squid
There is a home brew kit at woolworths for $79. What else do I need to buy to have a good working home brew setup? Like bottlers and other little stuff? Only comment if you know what your doing.

Its probably answered in some other posts, but I havent read every post yet.

Just make a Short list like this:

1. Home Brew Kit - $79
2.




Cheers,

-rowie
 
temp

LEX ; on average 12 deg where it is and its lowest it got was 10 deg

I dont think thats going to cut it mate,

you'll need to spend the couple of bucks on the heater,
there cheap and use fark all power.

well worth it!!
 
Top