Home Brew

[geoffm]

Most of the stuff has been said. Cleanliness is the main thing - sterilise everything.
I use the 750ml plastic bottles mainly – they are lighter and stronger than glass and more convenient. Brew it as cold as you can – i.e. room temperature. I don’t bother with the heating pad any more, even in winter. To hot makes a really off taste.
I usually use the all-malt kits from Hauraki Homebrew (www.haurakihombrew.co.nz).
Another thing to make for summer is cider – very nice on a hot day. Leave for 6 weeks or so after bottling. It takes a while for secondary fermentation in the bottle. You may need to add somee yeast nutrient when fermenting – the John Bull kits come with it. Kegging works well with cider too.
I don't have much on the shelf at present, as I am trying to cut down the waistline. I found I didn't save much money - baucause I drank more. Nice ot have a range to coose from too.

Geoff

[The Pastor]

just to update the thread, the cider mag and I did back in 2007 did not turn out well.

but we have came a long way from then now

got 1 batch of something in my cupboard bottling,
got 1 batch of some sort of larger in the cupboard bottling,
got 1 batch of gluten free in the fermenter
got 1 batch of irish stout in the fermeter.

the irish stout is the 1st time we have made one without a kit.

well i did a ginger beer once, but that didn't turn out too well (still drinkable, just no flavour)

[Indiana_Jones]

BEEEEEEEEEEER!



-Indy

[Brian d marge]

good thread , I am just buying a starter kit myself , Why ? well I like drinking but I'm drinking too much, with resultant problems. Soo Home brew I can keep the alcohol content low 3 % would be good and its all part of my cunning plan to stick it to the " man " when I retire

I did make it once back in the day , never had a bad batch ... but I could never wait until it was tasty ....this time I'm determined !

Stephen

ps I might start a self sufficiency thread ! and link all together , vege garden , beer etc together

[george formby]

Oh the irony, I've been told by the Chancellor to get rid of my home brew stuff & the squillions of bottles to make room for bike stuff.... Lo, the home brew thread re-appears... Anybody want the gear to get started, PM me.

[Indiana_Jones]

Oh the irony, I've been told by the Chancellor to get rid of my home brew stuff & the squillions of bottles to make room for bike stuff.... Lo, the home brew thread re-appears... Anybody want the gear to get started, PM me.

Relocate your base of operations elsewhee

-Indy

[george formby]

Relocate your base of operations elsewhee

-Indy

Garage extension... Gone from one bike to three in less than a fortnight... I am willing to sacrifice beer in the short term, though.

[BuzzardNZ]

For me it was pretty hit and miss trying to get a decent consistent brew, even though I used the same flavoured stuff each time and followed the same process, sometimes it came out good other times horrible.

I was very careful about cleaning my bottles too, but eventually gave up as one night I had 2 stubbies and was chundering for two days straight. I found some kinda black stuff was growing in the bottles which didn't agree with me

[The Pastor]

For me it was pretty hit and miss trying to get a decent consistent brew, even though I used the same flavoured stuff each time and followed the same process, sometimes it came out good other times horrible.

I was very careful about cleaning my bottles too, but eventually gave up as one night I had 2 stubbies and was chundering for two days straight. I found some kinda black stuff was growing in the bottles which didn't agree with me

sounds 100% like a cleaning problem to me.

what bottles are you using? I prefer glass, i find its easy to clean and tastes better.

How do you do your hydrometer readings?

How often do you lift the lid of the fermenter?

To clean the bottles this is what I do, I wash them in brew wash detergent (from a brew shop). Do this in hot water. Wash like a mofo and check to see there is no mold on the bottoms. Rinse well

then i do one of two sterlizing methods.

I use the sterlizing powder - mix up as per the packet, chuck into bottles, swish it all around so that the entire bottle is covered, stand them for 10mins+ and then tip out solution (dont rinse out)

OR

put the bottles into a hot oven for 10mins. 220 degrees. Gotta be careful not to place hot bottles onto a cold bench when they come out tho! Also takes time for bottles to cool down to use them.

Then again it could be getting infected during the ferment process as well, things to check is the cleanliness, (esp if you do hydrometers directly in the barrel) but also the temperature - if there is big fluxuations it can cause off tastes.

[The Pastor]

Oh the irony, I've been told by the Chancellor to get rid of my home brew stuff & the squillions of bottles to make room for bike stuff.... Lo, the home brew thread re-appears... Anybody want the gear to get started, PM me.

mate if you're going to chuck it out, im sure i can put it to very good use. What have you got?

[BuzzardNZ]

another reason not to home brew! who can be arsed doing all that?!?!

I was using brown glass bottles ( Tui from memory ), they were pretty dark and only saw that black stuff when I looked
into one of the coke plastic bottles after I spent 2 days in agony and wondered what had gone wrong.

sounds 100% like a cleaning problem to me.

what bottles are you using? I prefer glass, i find its easy to clean and tastes better.

How do you do your hydrometer readings?

How often do you lift the lid of the fermenter?

To clean the bottles this is what I do, I wash them in brew wash detergent (from a brew shop). Do this in hot water. Wash like a mofo and check to see there is no mold on the bottoms. Rinse well

then i do one of two sterlizing methods.

I use the sterlizing powder - mix up as per the packet, chuck into bottles, swish it all around so that the entire bottle is covered, stand them for 10mins+ and then tip out solution (dont rinse out)

OR

put the bottles into a hot oven for 10mins. 220 degrees. Gotta be careful not to place hot bottles onto a cold bench when they come out tho! Also takes time for bottles to cool down to use them.

Then again it could be getting infected during the ferment process as well, things to check is the cleanliness, (esp if you do hydrometers directly in the barrel) but also the temperature - if there is big fluxuations it can cause off tastes.

[Haggis2]

gave up as one night I had 2 stubbies and was chundering for two days straight. I found some kinda black stuff was growing in the bottles which didn't agree with me

An excellent weight loss idea though

[The Pastor]

another reason not to home brew! who can be arsed doing all that?!?!

I was using brown glass bottles ( Tui from memory ), they were pretty dark and only saw that black stuff when I looked
into one of the coke plastic bottles after I spent 2 days in agony and wondered what had gone wrong.

people who dont want to pay $30 for a dozen 330 ml......

i like my $30 for 21L of beer

[Indiana_Jones]

We just do it for kicks/fun. Not a cost thing.

As for bottles, we prefer glass. Use the 500ml ones, but don't but from the home brewing shops, cost a heap. We normally buy English beer that comes in them so just use them.

-Indy

[The Pastor]

We just do it for kicks/fun. Not a cost thing.

As for bottles, we prefer glass. Use the 500ml ones, but don't but from the home brewing shops, cost a heap. We normally buy English beer that comes in them so just use them.

-Indy

what rate of sugar do you use for carbonation?