# Fresh Wort Kits



## daveHQ (2/8/10)

i'm seriously considering buying a fresh wort kit (or 2) from 1 of the site sponsors above^^^^^


i'm keen on the porter kit, and the amber ale

are they any good?, worth the $$$?

how do they work, how long do they last (do they have to used straight away?)

before you say ask to seller, i'd like to hear from someone who's used 1 

thanks dave


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## mkstalen (2/8/10)

I've done a couple, they both turned out pretty good. Worth the $ if all you've done is K&K, but if you've progressed to full extract then you may not see much benefit.

The ones I've used are just tip the lot into the fermenter, top up with another 5L of cold water, pitch your favourite yeast and you're done.

I don't know about used by dates, I've only used them straight away.

Check your LHBS for them, shipping on 15L can't be cheap.


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## Acasta (2/8/10)

Seems to me like fast food. Its always better when you make it yourself! Sure it takes longer, but thats why this is a hobby.


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## Fourstar (2/8/10)

Acasta said:


> Seems to me like fast food. Its always better when you make it yourself! Sure it takes longer, but thats why this is a hobby.



More like the perfect gateway drug to all grain IMO. Its no more work than filling a fermenter from the tap with a can of goo (which 99% of kit brewers do anyway). why not cut that part out and replace it with the best wort available to you?!!?! A FWK is miles ahead of any kit or extract.

In other news, rumours around are that Dave @ Greensy homebrewing is beginning to produce his own FWK. Tailored to his and his customers palates! :beerbang: Im sure if im in a pinch i'd be happy to take a cube of his delicious wort knowing what his beers are typically like. :icon_drool2: 

Yep, associated as im a loyal customer! :icon_cheers:


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## manticle (2/8/10)

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...=29845&st=0


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## Acasta (2/8/10)

Fourstar, i ment more like its more fun! More fun then pouring and adding water! haha
Btw, I'm pretty close to Dave's too and just getting into AG so ill be heading in and getting my first few batches of ingredients!


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## Fourstar (2/8/10)

Acasta said:


> Fourstar, i ment more like its more fun! More fun then pouring and adding water! haha
> Btw, I'm pretty close to Dave's too and just getting into AG so ill be heading in and getting my first few batches of ingredients!




Niiiice. With FWK you can do abit of 'tricking up' with them. e.g. if you buy something like a blonde kit you can do a small mash/boil of crystal malts and specialties like munich etc. lauter and do a little hop boil of US hops and you have youself a decent APA or AAA.


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## kegpig (2/8/10)

The fresh wort kits are great option if ya need abrew quickly and a good step up to all grain worth about the same as doing a extract but wiyhout that kit taste. I have tried one of daves red ale wort kits a very tasty drop!


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## WarmBeer (2/8/10)

manticle said:


> http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...=29845&st=0


Scary part with that link, Manticle, is who originally posted it, and how (relatively) recently it was posted


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## Acasta (2/8/10)

Hey Kegpig, did you keep the cube it was in? Im also in eltham and need a cube to no-chill in for a brew im doing soon.
If your not using it lemme know. Just PM me ill be on here a fair bit haha.


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## Fourstar (2/8/10)

WarmBeer said:


> Scary part with that link, Manticle, is who originally posted it, and how (relatively) recently it was posted



remember, he *was *the fastest posting member until bum showed up. oh chappo, he's disappeared into the abyss. (que a Bum appearance in this thread).



Acasta said:


> Hey Kegpig, did you keep the cube it was in? Im also in eltham and need a cube to no-chill in for a brew im doing soon.
> If your not using it lemme know. Just PM me ill be on here a fair bit haha.




I think dave was contemplating a swap and go system with the cubes, although that was somthing that was being thrown around as an idea several months ago. it sounds like a viable option for him if you can excuse the pain of cleaning the cubes!  i know, i just spent 2 1/2 hours kegging a beer, cleaning a filter, cubes and sanitising kegs + fermenters for another two cubed beers to get the slurry of my kegged beer. :icon_cheers: 

btw, the beer is tasting great!

55% BB Ale
20% wheat
10% Aldi honey
10% Munich
5% Cararye 

30 IBU Magnum @ 60 min
1272 american ale II

FWK that suckers!

:beerbang:


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## Acasta (2/8/10)

haha, fourstar, where do u BB Ale? i though dave didn't get this one  Loyal customer?!


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## Hatchy (2/8/10)

Acasta said:


> Hey Kegpig, did you keep the cube it was in? Im also in eltham and need a cube to no-chill in for a brew im doing soon.
> If your not using it lemme know. Just PM me ill be on here a fair bit haha.



Cubes can be had for $15 from the shed. Don't forget to grab a tap or several while yr there as well at $2 each.


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## Fourstar (2/8/10)

Acasta said:


> haha, fourstar, where do u BB Ale? i though dave didn't get this one  Loyal customer?!




took advantage of a 32$ sack as it seemed like a good thing to try.  When you are in a pinch, broke and can get grain on the cheap, you take what you can. The more i use it the less i like it actually. i prefer JW ale to be honest and regulary buy my specialties(5-6KG at a time) and hops in bulk from him (which is where he would make more of his money anyway). 

To be honest, with BB Ale i get more of a grain husk/mild melanoiden flavour than the 'doughy' maltiness that you get with JW. JW seems to be more of my kind of malt at this stage after knocing over close to a sack of BB Ale.

For somone just getting into AG brewing, you sure know what dave stocks!


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## bum (2/8/10)

Fourstar said:


> remember, he *was *the fastest posting member until bum showed up. oh chappo, he's disappeared into the abyss. (que a Bum appearance in this thread).


 
I'll have you check your figures. He's been registered longer, AWOL for ages and _still_ has 20%ish lead on me in posts per day. 

He truly is a beacon to us all.


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## Hatchy (2/8/10)

bum said:


> I'll have you check your figures. He's been registered longer, AWOL for ages and _still_ has 20%ish lead on me in posts per day.
> 
> He truly is a beacon to us all.



He was right about the imminent bum post in this thread though.


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## bum (2/8/10)

Bloody Nostradamus, he is.


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## Fourstar (2/8/10)

bum said:


> Bloody Nostradamus, he is.



Next thing you know Bum will be posting a moronail MEME in another thread


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## flano (3/8/10)

Just on this fresh wort stuff.

That is all I have done since getting back into brewing.
I used to do the can stuff in bottles with miserable results.
Now it's all kegs.

I am very keen to give the all grain stuff a go ...but am just building up to it.
As it is I am already blurring the boundries between pub/brewery and garage.
The missus is fairly unstoked about me cruising around with only one empty schooner glass as proof of how many I have had.

Anyway , the Fresh Worts come out pretty good I reckon.Real good, actually.
The brewers selection seem to be a bit ballsier in terms of flavour and alc% compared to ezy brew.
I haven't tried the quick brew ones...they are the cheapest I can find at about $25.
The ezy and quick brews are 4.5 Ltr worts and you add 18 ltrs water. The BS is the 15 ltr wort with the 5ltr of water added.

I did the BS Amarillo Ale and it is very good . Pretty strong flavour but I like that...and after one you seem to lose that first beer hit a bit.

I am doing a BS czech Pilsner at the moment. I took a hydro reading and had a little taste and it seems very good .

I don't have heaps of spare time with two little kids so the worts are great for me.


I would be very keen to try ways of tweaking them with differnt hops or whatever though.
I did a low carb one which was a bit mellow...any tips?


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## beerbog (3/8/10)

Fourstar said:


> More like the perfect gateway drug to all grain IMO. Its no more work than filling a fermenter from the tap with a can of goo (which 99% of kit brewers do anyway). why not cut that part out and replace it with the best wort available to you?!!?! A FWK is miles ahead of any kit or extract.
> 
> :icon_cheers:



Oh so true!!!!! The gateway part that is. Didn't take long to go from FWK's to extract to AG. (Even though I said I would never do it!) :beerbang:


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## Bribie G (3/8/10)

I've done one FWK from the St Peter's guys and it was ok but a little lacking in hops. It was a 15L cube and I still have the cube full of water as a 'counterbalance' on the bottom of my tool trolley where the BIAB urns sit, so it's still earning its keep. 
Now, as Ross has telegraphed on his site, Craftbrewer / Bacchus brewing intend to put out FWKs of not 15 but *20* litres. Well worth buying to ramp up your supply of no chill and lagering cubes as well as enjoying the beer itself. This would be handy for SEQ brewers who can pickup to avoid the freight I guess.


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## doon (3/8/10)

not sure how long G&G have been selling the new stout FWK but just bought one after having a taste of it the other day. Was very nice indeed and am trying to get the keg stocks up now i have a keg fridge.


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## mckenry (3/8/10)

Go for it. I did heaps b4 going AG. They were all good. Havent done one for a long time, but just after I went AG, I'd buy one to test a new yeast and because you can : 
keep the containers as they are the perfect NC cubes for when you do go AG.


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## vic45 (3/8/10)

davehq, the ballarat h.b.s has f.w.k. ready to taste. I had an Ammarillo ale last week . Tasty.


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## felon (3/8/10)

The Amarillo Ale FWK from St Peters was one of my Fav's before i started AG. I also liked the summer ale. Found that you really need to ferment coolish to retain the flavour (below 20deg). They do lack a little in the hop department though.


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## Bribie G (3/8/10)

FWKs are basically just nochill cubes full of wort and the hop deficiencies are a useful indication of how your nochill turns out. That's what got me experimenting with cube hopping and hop tea etc. If I do another FWK I'd certainly late hop it either dry hopping, or heat some of it to boiling and do a 'hopback' emulation with a coffee plunger and some hop flowers such as NZ Hallertau aroma or Styrians.


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## Beer Magician (3/8/10)

I've done a heap of the St Peters FWK's. They are all excellent but some do need dry hopping as Bribie mentioned. They are well worth trying.


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## daveHQ (3/8/10)

vic45, i didn't know they sold them there, that'd be quite handy! i'm only around the corner from the ballart HBS, how much are they there?

i was concerened about the postage cost of the fwk's, so getting them locally would help

i don't have time to do AG so the fresh wort kits appeal to me

iv'e been brewing kits now for a while, iv'e made some quite good ones (as good as kits get) and now i'd like the do something better, i'd like to try AG one day but for now i'll try something inbetween (FWK)

thanks for your replies


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## daveHQ (3/8/10)

Fourstar said:


> More like the perfect gateway drug to all grain IMO. Its no more work than filling a fermenter from the tap with a can of goo (which 99% of kit brewers do anyway). why not cut that part out and replace it with the best wort available to you?!!?! A FWK is miles ahead of any kit or extract.



nicely said! iv'e only done kits so far, and i'd like to make the move to AG in the future, but time and set-up costs are a problem ATM 

the FWK's seem like a good alternative in the mean time, better beer but still quick, simple and affordable


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## properbeer (23/8/10)

Just Racked to 2nd after 8 days in primary my 1st JD fresh wort Amarillo Ale and dry hopped with about 25g of Amarillo pellets in a bag also added finings as per my LHBS dude suggested - As this is my first rack and fresh wortie.... Is finning a mistake or nothing to worry about? ?? Cheers in advance


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## Acasta (23/8/10)

If your fermentation is complete then finning is good. If it was still fermenting you kinda make it harder for the yeast to do its job.


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## properbeer (23/8/10)

Acasta said:


> If your fermentation is complete then finning is good. If it was still fermenting you kinda make it harder for the yeast to do its job.



Oh nice! Yeah fermentation all done mate just the dry hop goodness and 2nd rack cheers you put my newb homebrewer mind at ease! :lol: ...he also suggested putting the whole 2nd fermentor in the fridge too...for an ale??? currently sitting in the fermenter in garage at about 12~15 C plan to bottle on the weekend 28th of aug perhaps ?


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## Rodolphe01 (23/8/10)

I've done 2 FWKs and been disapointed with both. I found them both very thin, I'd recomend doing them, but try it without adding the extra 5 litres of water.

I found no real benefit in using them other than that they are quick, I was doing partials so had already improved on kit and bit etc. At least when you do extract brewing (or k&b) you are learning about ingredients etc.

I think the relative high cost is a waste and would be better spent on getting a 20 litre stock pot and doing partials and extract brews.


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## flano (24/8/10)

the 20 ltr pot is what I will do next.

On FWK's I have an el cheapo one that is a lager...havent kegged it yet but wouldn't mind adding something to it to make it ballsier.
When I tasted it after the hydro reading it was pretty lame...had that cheap home brew taste.
But just not as bad.

any idea's....
I have never dry hoppped or done anything other than standard Fwk's ..so treat me accordingly.

cheers.


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