20% Off Coopers Home Brew Products
Good value, but pretty bland unless you pimp it out with hops and some steeped grain.
Depends how long you leave it bottled before drinking. After 2 months it's very good.
Oh for sure. It was the first beer I brewed a couple of years back. It was good enough to get me hooked and venturing down the rabbit hole. I have a keg of all grain "Stone & Wood" thats gonna go down a treat over Christmas. Cost around $24 to make, but a lot of time compared to kit and kilo :)
yeah I like 3mths,.except stouts, 6-12mths (but I add grinded up choc malt into the brew which needs to mellow).
Good price.
Up until last week Dan Murphy's were selling the Pale Ale for $15 "members price". Bought a tin to brew instead a tin of European lager that I had (which needs to be brewed at 14-17c but it's too warm atm).
yeah lager yeasts like the low temps.
if you're near a homebrew shop (or The Yeast Platform), grab some kveik (farmhouse) yeast, it likes mid 20's to high 30's.
Thanks, I'll probably do that
nice, might get back into it, finally got through the hundreds of bottles i had brewed over the past few years (some were….a little past their best)
Been tempted to pick up brewing. Should I start with this Brew kit or DIY options?
My reply would be the same as I said here. The link to the bench capper is dead now but I was referring to this style.
Also check Gumtree in your area for 2nd hand home brew equipment. You might find someone getting rid of their crown seal bottles for free.
yep the $99 coopers kit is the way to go.
https://www.bigw.com.au/product/coopers-diy-beer-brew-kit/p/…
them buy the tins & some brew enhancer to start with (don't expect commercial quality beer, but drinkable beer). over time you can read up, experiment adding additional stuff like hops & malt. eventually you spend more money & time making great beer.
but to start with like I said above, I can of Coopers Pale Ale, 1 box of Brew Enhancer 2 and only fill to 20l (not 23l, it's too watery). after bottling wait at least 6wks (i prefer 12) before drinking.
What about 250g Carbonation Drops ?
i just use white sugar, drops are a scam!
@M00Cow: Thanks!
One more question.
I guess it's not easy to keep it at 21 degrees at home. How do you manage to keep it at 21 degrees?
@Suricate: on the goldie I only brew April-Sept.
but some people rap wet towels around the fermentator. Or freeze bottles of water (making sure you sterilise the outside of the bottle) and drop them into the brew.
Here's some tips
https://aussiebrewer.com.au/brewing-in-summer-how-to-beat-th…
@M00Cow: That's a lot of work
Not for lazy person like me.
I guess I will think about it in April. haha
@Suricate: Serious brewers use a second hand fridge from marketplace with a temp controller.
Starting out you can use your laundry tub. Place the fermenter in it, fill it with water and frozen PET bottles.
Coopers brew kits are a great starting point. I also recommend one of these for bottle cleaning as they just make life easier https://aussiebrewmakers.com.au/bottle-tree-complete-63-cap/
Just a heads up the hobby you're looking at isn't really a brewing hobby, it's a cleaning and sanitizing hobby where you occasionally get to brew beer.
Check your second hand sources. Plenty of people trying to offload unused kits and full blown brewing rigs. Try and avoid used plastic fermenters, microbes can hide in scratches and othes surface imperfections and unless they're boilable plastic you can inherit an uphill battle with infections. It doesn't take many batches going wrong to cost you more than a new fermenter would. Also wouldn't reccomend glass carboys because moving them around in a wet and slippery work environment is hazardous.
Also just echoing here: for consistency and flavor, fermentation temp control is your biggest equipment upgrade, and hygeine is probably your biggest process upgrade. Yeast strains also make a massive difference on flavor, the coopers cans are passable if you replace their yeast with a cheap packet of US-05. When I use cans, I boil the included yeast and use them as nutrients for my own yeast
I brewed a batch of Dark Ale and Pale Ale recently, both using LDM, and was very underwhelmed by both. The pale ale maintained a good head and looks good in the glass and is drinkable, but the dark ale does not hold a head at all and it has a vegemite like aftertaste/smell. There were lots of temperature fluctuations so I guess that doesn't help. I find the batches really only turn out half decent in the winter time. But they always have a bit of a homebrew twang to them and smell different..
That twang is partly process, and partly these kits. If you explore grain brewing, for only a few more hours on brew day, you will have better outcomes than nearly all products available that are brewed at a price.
The upfront costs seem high, but the outcome / satisfaction etc is worlds apart. I'd consider it similar to home cooked vs pre-made meals.
In reality, second hand gear from marketplace and: i. an OCD approach to hygiene, ii. Quality products, esp yeast, and iii. Temperatute control will result in fantastic brews. See "i" again, at every step of the cold side.
Is a great hobby
I brought the cheap heat belt and temp monitor from amazon. Helped alot with final flavour. I tend not to brew over summer cause I don't have a dedicated fridge to keep the temp down.
Semi-related…I've gone down a youtube homebrew rabbit hole since seeing this and keen to try some of these wort-in-a-box options.
Super easy option. Costs more than the tins but it's cheaper than buying a slab from the shop.
If you're into English beers, you can't beat Muntons, especially their Smugglers Gold. Best HB beer I've ever done. Well worth seeking out.
My grandad used to brew with this. I have fond memories watching him in his shed at the various stages from brewing to bottling, and every evening him sitting on the back porch emptying a couple of tallies looking out across the paddocks.
cheers!
Pale Ale
Coopers Brew Enhancer 2
fill to 20l
$24 for 2 slabs of beer.