# Home Brand Lager



## jivesucka (6/2/10)

about ready to bottle a whole bunch of home brand lager.

any experiences with this stuff?


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## ajdougall (6/2/10)

jivesucka said:


> about ready to bottle a whole bunch of home brand lager.
> 
> any experiences with this stuff?



In 1995 I brewed a Black and Gold Lager, it was the most disgusting thing I had ever tasted :icon_drool2: .

However, the 2010 Home Brand could be OK, how much was it?


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## rendo (6/2/10)

any more details about how you brewed it? Sugar? Dextrose? How many grams? add any hops? 
Also, 23L?

Anyhow, let us know. I reckon the kit on its own with say 1kg of dex or sugar wont be the best thing ever, but should be kinda drinkable.

What sort of temp was it fermenting at and how long have you had it in the fermenter? Could even be a good idea to leave it a few more days to "mellow" the brew out a little. Aslong as it isnt stinking hot where u r

I did a toucan of Framland Draught once...I loved it. Still have some bottles left, its 1 year old now. (and yes, I celebrate the birthdays of my beer).




jivesucka said:


> about ready to bottle a whole bunch of home brand lager.
> 
> any experiences with this stuff?


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## Nick JD (6/2/10)

Most of the time the Home Brand stuff is exactly the same product as the one next to it, just with a different label. 

My favourtie example is the Coles Pink Salmon. It's like $2.40 for a can, and on the top of the can it says something like, "ALASKA, USA, SALMON" and a code number. On the shelf below are cans for over $4.00 that have _exactly the same thing stamped into their lids._ 

I look at other shoppers trolleys and see they have given Coles an extra $20 for some labels. Feel like clipping them over the ears. 

That no name kit beer is probably Coopers.


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## pokolbinguy (6/2/10)

Yeh I remember going to the light globe factory in newcastle, the conveyor went through the wall in one big long line of the same globe but out the other side the globes were packaged in about 4-6 different brand boxes ranging from home brand so say under $1 to the expensive brands that charges about $3.50 at the time. 

It will be made by one of the big companies...but still doesnt mean it has any flavour  might be a tooheys one


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## poppa joe (6/2/10)

I do Coles ones regularly..For a cheap drink.. With additions..
I cannot fault them..They are O.K. as as i am concerned and 
will keep on using them..Have fun with them....
Cheers
PJ :icon_drunk:


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## rendo (6/2/10)

i think the woolies homebrand kits are brigalow, but am not 100% sure.


Not sure about the coles farmland? tooheys? maybe coopers, doubt coopers..who knows


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## jivesucka (7/2/10)

an aqauintance who worked for woolies swear on his life the home brand is basically cooper surplus. bottled it. all done, will get back to you guys in 2 weeks with a review. might try the brigalow cider next with a bottle of vodka.


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## loftboy (7/2/10)

Nick JD said:


> Most of the time the Home Brand stuff is exactly the same product as the one next to it, just with a different label.
> 
> My favourtie example is the Coles Pink Salmon. It's like $2.40 for a can, and on the top of the can it says something like, "ALASKA, USA, SALMON" and a code number. On the shelf below are cans for over $4.00 that have _exactly the same thing stamped into their lids._
> 
> ...



:icon_offtopic: I know, but that's also what I do when shopping.

Where possible I look at the house-brand use-by date style (font, coding etc.) & then compare it against a name-brand version of the same product. You can quickly tell who makes which house-brand & the bulk of the time there is no difference in the product, apart from price.


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## QldKev (7/2/10)

I know sugar is 100% the same product per refinery, when it is processed it does not know what bag/truck it will end up in. 

QldKev


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## Nick JD (7/2/10)

So Woolies brand = Coopers?
And Coles = Tooheys?


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## QldKev (7/2/10)

I don't know facts of what brand is from what factory. It was posted on here a year or two ago, about the home brew kits and who makes them. The poster mentioned that although they come from the same factory, they are made to different specifications; often with less hops. Can't find the post at the moment.

QldKev


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## Barley Belly (7/2/10)

QldKev said:


> often with less hops.



Less iso-hops???


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## Coach_R (8/2/10)

I recently did a toucan of the woolies homebrand lager, just threw the 2 cans in it with 30g of hersbrucker steeped and dry hopped no sugar and filled to 23 litres and bottled with dex. its been sittin for one and a half months now. the taste is ok, bit sweet (malty perhaps) on the first sip but after that you don't notice it. bittered nicely, head isnt to bad either nice and relaticely thick on the first pur and hangs around till about half way through a pint! nicely hopped. definately not the best beer i have made, guess you get what you pay for really..

On that note, $12 bucks for 23 litres the price is right.. especially when you live in adelaide and its 38 again and sticky as all....


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## jivesucka (12/2/10)

tasted awful! vile undrinkable rubbish! really nasty maltly flavor that tastes like it's been siphoned out of a septic tank. what a waste of time!! i feel like giving all of the bottles away to the homeless. i strongly agree with the brigalow comment. any bums want some free beer?
the dickhead mate of me who egged me on to buy it should get them all.


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## Coach_R (12/2/10)

How did you make it? and how long has it been bottled for?

becuase if you bottled on 6th and are drinking now that would be a mssive reason it taste like ass!


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## JestersDarts (1/4/10)

I would say that this is how the generic brands operate. They dont have a Malt extract factory. The same as they dont have a pasta factory, a dried soup factory, a tinned fruit cannery etc. They get other manufacturers to make this stuff for em, and bang on their brand labels.

With simple products, (eg pasta, water etc) you're more than likely to be getting a big brand product with a generic supermarket label. thats why, when it is an Australian made product generic brand - i will always buy.

No generic corn canned in thailand, or dried apricots from egypt THANKYOU....

now onto malt extracts - 

these cans are no doubt from a major producer of the product - BUT they may be end-of runs, flavour variations etc that the Big Brand wouldn't bother putting their name to.

i.e the big brand takes the cream of the crop, and the generic brand is a good way to offload excess, not-quite-up-to-scratch product.

Also - it may change supplier - they would just go to another manufacturer with their labels and get them to make the tins for em. Then a year later, they might go back to the old one. keeps the prices for em honest.

just me ol 2c


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## boingk (3/4/10)

I posted a similar thread up about 6 months or so ago on doctoring Home Brand kits. Since then I've done a few of them, all with at the very minimum 500g of LDME, 300g white sugar, 10g of dry hopping and a Coopers kit yeast or something from the Fermentis 'Saf-' range.

All came out brilliantly.

I'd say don't hesitate to use the Home Brand kits - for $8 (or even less on special) you get a pretty good base stock to work with. Nowdays I treat kits merely as a pre-bittered base that I can add to, and all of my flavouring and extra bittering comes from a combo of specialty grains, 20/15/10min hop additions and dry-hopping, plus the yeast I decide on. I reckon its a good way to go if you're not doing AG.

So, man up and doctor a Home Brand kit. You might find it turns out really well, like I did.

Cheers - boingk


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## thesunsettree (3/4/10)

boingk said:


> I posted a similar thread up about 6 months or so ago on doctoring Home Brand kits. Since then I've done a few of them, all with at the very minimum 500g of LDME, 300g white sugar, 10g of dry hopping and a Coopers kit yeast or something from the Fermentis 'Saf-' range.
> 
> All came out brilliantly.
> 
> ...



+1 bigtime. In the past i did several home brand draught cans simply tarted up with 1kg ldme and some steeped fuggles. They turned more than drinkable and often had a visiting home brew sceptic readily pouring or asking for another. Once a new aquaintance was shocked that what i'd served hime was home brew then even more shocked it was home brand. I actually had to take him to the laundry and show him the fermenters and home brand cans not yet used. He happily had several more


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