# High Alcohol Homemades



## [email protected] (4/5/11)

hi all! 

this has more than likely been asked before, but how to i make homemades with more grog in them? do i need to use more sugar and let it ferment longer?

iv brewed a corona style beer, usung hops and champagne yeast, with a #10 sugar...... do i wait a week and then add another sugar?

one of my mates brewed an asani? beer, japaneses style, and it had 7.3% grog in it!

any suggestions?


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## pdilley (4/5/11)

Yes, throw a whole load and them some of sugar, water and yeast together and have fun.

A lot on here are more into taste and quality but if having lots of hard hitting grog floats your boat and gets you making beer go for it.

Edit: There is some guy on YouTube that posts videos of making beer this way. You may want to check him out. Others may have a link to him.

This can also be done with more costly ingredients like more malt extract, more grains in your mash if making all grain beers, or a bit of corn sugar, liquid rice malt or other fermentable sugars. Just go easy on the sugar and other non-malt sugar sources. You shouldn't normally use no more than 500 grams or maybe a kilo at the most, for a really big beer. Most of the time, simple sugars are simply reserved for adding at bottling time only to carbonate the beer in the bottle.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete


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## Kranky (4/5/11)

If you want a higher ABV in your beer but no additional flavour just add dextrose. If you're doing extract and want a bit more flavour add in more extract and hops. Yeast will turn the extra sugars into alcohol, so get some decent yeast from your LHBS. If you want to make really high ABV beers you will need special yeast, as normal brewing yeast wont attenuate properly.

There are a lot of great recipes on this and many other internet sites. Track down a recipe of something you think you will like.

I'd suggest you get yourself some brewing software and spend a few hours figuring out how to use it. Input whatever recipe you want to use and then fiddle around with it until you are happy with the expected outcome.


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## [email protected] (4/5/11)

cheers fellas! i have been looking on here and have found a couple of posts on the subject, i should have looked before i posted, so thanks for taking the time to answer!! ill have a yarn to the LHBS (local home brew shop?) and see what they say too!


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## RobH (4/5/11)

G'day Beerbelly84,

What else have you brewed so far? How did you go with those? What style of beer are you looking for? What ABV % are you looking for?

When I was just doing extract brewing, I used mainly Coopers international series kits (Pale Ale, Mex Cerv, English Bitter) & ended up not using anything else other than the Coopers Light Dried Malt.

The ferment process is the same - as in you do not add more suger a week later etc...

I used 1kg of Coopers Light Dried Malt (LDM) with each of these kits & filled the fermenter to anywhere between 18 - 22 litres ... so with an 18 litre brew you will get around 5.3% & about 4.4% with 22 litres.

Adding 500gms to that will up the ABV (Alcohol By Volume) by about 1.2%

Using the LDM is going to give you a fuller bodied beer that just using plain sugars like dextrose.

Other brewing tips (if you haven't picked them up already) are:
* Use a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity before pitching the yeast, and then one or two weeks later when you expect fermentation to be complete - record these values and use an online tool to determine what the ABV is.
* Use the hydrometer to determine that fermentation has finished - a stable reading 2 - 3 days in a row at a final gravity value in the range that you should expect for a finished beer indicates finished fermentation
* Get IanH's spreadsheet & play around with that - http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=736560
* Ferment your ales at 18-20 degrees celcius

Without knowing a bit more about what you are intereseted in achieving & how much experience you have I'll stop at that ... see how you go 

PS: As Brewer Pete said too, most people on here are more interested in the taste and quality of what they brew than the alcohol volume ... and that is not to say that you aren't interested in that too, it's just that it isn't a priority for most & you may expect some "less than positive" responses to a question such as yours. Whatever your tase is, if you persist with it and take the advice of some of the homebrew veterans on this site you will move from brewing average, ok & good beer, to brewing great beer!

Cheers.


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## big78sam (4/5/11)

beerbelly84 said:


> LHBS (local home brew shop?)




Yep

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...;showarticle=17


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## rhy[email protected] (4/5/11)

i have made in the past 1, a coopers premium larger, the one i got with my first home brew kit. this turned out to be a winner, with one guy in particular asking for more!
second was a corona, just with the beer craft recipe, too gassy for me, and at the same time tried an apple beer, with a coopers base. i made the mistake of putting the apple puree in at the start, hence the apple went off..... but its getting better with age!
fourth, you could say, was a passionfruit pure blonde, made by the recipe, but adding 1.3kgs of passionfruit pulp (boiled) with two days to go of a seven day fermentaion. this has been quite a hit with the mates, with only 2 out of the 15 odd people who have tried it saying its rubbish! the owners of my LHBS said it tasted great and wanted to know the recipe so they could offer it to their customers!

i do like the idea of getting the taste of the beer that im trying to make, but i dont want to have to drink 12 to get just tiddly...... i dont really care if people have a go at me for wanting to get a bit more grog in my beer, to each to their own! i mainly started brewing so that i could save cash and have something i could call my own!

so, with the corona im brewing now, iv got the one lot of #10 packet suger from the LHBS, and a second..... im on the third day of fermentaion, should i put the second in tonight when i get home?


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## Bribie G (4/5/11)

How high do you want to go? The problem with adding sugar after sugar to the basic kit to produce more alcohol is that it gets way out of balance. However if you would like something quite headbanger that still tastes quite smooth and drinkable, try:

2 cans of Coopers Lager
1kg Dextrose

It will froth out of the airlock so try to keep below 20 degrees.

This should get you up to about 7.5% ABV which is around the strength of most American "malt liquors", the alcohol of choice of the homeless and unemployed, but with better flavour


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## [email protected] (4/5/11)

thank gosh im not american, homeless or unemployed!


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## Bribie G (4/5/11)

:icon_offtopic: Julia could well sort that out for you in the next few years although the mad monk is waiting in the sidelines to make it happen quicker h34r: 

If you ever get into all grain brewing, you can make really tasty grain brews that strength that actually taste awesome.


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## [email protected] (8/5/11)

annoyed! put the second #10 suger in my corona brew the other day..... just measured it and its only 2.99%! what have i done wrong?


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## Spork (8/5/11)

How would it work if you used the "normal" amounts of ingredients but just less water. ie: If a 21 litre recipe makes 5% abv, would the same recipe made to 14 litres produce 7.5%? I'd imagine that while this might have a "stronger" taste the flavours would still be pretty much in balance.


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## [email protected] (8/5/11)

seeing as iv already got my two fermenters in use at the moment, then i think that thats going to be my next step! trial and error all the way!


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## bignath (8/5/11)

beerbelly84 said:


> annoyed! put the second #10 suger in my corona brew the other day..... just measured it and its only 2.99%! what have i done wrong?



I reckon you've measured it wrong....

More info on your fermentation process is needed here.

What yeast? Kit yeast?
Temperature, Volume, Hydro sample process etc...

Unless your fermentation has stalled, i would be expecting an ABV reading higher than that after nearly a week in primary....

From memory (my K&K days) a can of goo plus a kilo of some sort of fermentable will get you in the ball park of around 4.5% if doing a standard batch size. You've added an extra kilo, and assuming you're using an ale yeast (most kit yeasts are, even if the tin says lager), 5-7 days in primary fermentation and it should be close to finishing...

Give us more info mate, and we can help you further.


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## [email protected] (8/5/11)

ok here goes..... excuse all my newbieness......

30/04/11. BC Mexican cerveza, BC sugar #10, Morgans Cascade hops, Saflager W-34-70 yeast, dry enzime from under the wort lid.

Start Temp, 34 dergrees.
Start SG, 1.031
27 litres... (the wife was being distracting)

5/5/11. Added the secong BC #10
SG, 1.015 (taken after the suger was added)

8/5/11. SG 1.006


after laying the brew down, the bubbling went on for a couple f days and nights, then stopped....... after the second suger went in, the brew bubbled and has only just stopped this morning.....

it did foam up heaps when i put the secong sugar in.......... just a normal hb kit, a huge keg, lid and a airlock....... current temp is 22 degrees


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## Josh (8/5/11)

If you have a spare fridge, you can also try freezing a portion of the fermented beer. The water in your beer will freeze but the "grog" will remain liquid. Then you just rack off the ice and have a higher strength beer.

I use this method to make my Eisbock which is an intensely malty beer. But with your beer it won't be too malty ie. should give you the rocket fuel you are after.


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## Kieren (8/5/11)

My calcs say it should be around 5.2%

The *total* sugar you have added for 27 L should give you around 1.046 OG.

If you had done a 'standard' batch size of around 23L then you could have expected an OG of 1.054 and if you hit the same GF of 1.006 then it would have been 6.3% or so. So yes, if you use less water for the same amount of sugars you will get a higher OG and higher alc %. If you halve your volume you should double your OG but this won't necessarily double your alc %, that will depend on what FG you reach which will depend on how good your yeast management is.


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## Pourmeanother (8/5/11)

Not sure why you would not put all your sugar ( Fermentables ) in at the start ? 

Sounds like it has finished to me at 1.006 check it over the next couple of days see if it gets any lower if not id say shes ready


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## manticle (8/5/11)

Can be easier on the yeast.


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## Pourmeanother (8/5/11)

Ok . You learn something new every day


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## manticle (8/5/11)

Only really worth doing if you are trying to build a high alcohol brew - standard strength or lower is probably not worth the effort.


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## [email protected] (8/5/11)

ok then, what am i doing wrong then? am i just using the app on my phome incorrectly? or is it just shit? or do i really not know what im doing?

it asks for the start grav, the starts grav.... then the end grav and temp........ and it works out to be 2.48%.........


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## felten (8/5/11)

If you measured 1.034 before you added the extra sugar then that isn't the correct OG, you need to factor in the extra sugar into the OG for for alc %.


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## [email protected] (8/5/11)

how do i do that then?


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## manticle (8/5/11)

In the app you are using, add up all the ingredients including the ones added later and see what OG that gives you.


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## [email protected] (8/5/11)

i worked it out the old fashiond way...... found my trusty HANDHELD calculator..... worked it out....... and it should be around 4.25%....... better than than the 2.25 i came up with before! not as good as the 5.4 someone came up with earlier though........


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## jyo (8/5/11)

G'day, Beerbelly.
When designing your recipes try this for an awesome beer recipe program. BREWMATE 
Cheers. :icon_cheers:


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## [email protected] (25/5/11)

fail.........

they taste like wine........

meh........


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## petesbrew (25/5/11)

Instead of just adding a shitload of sugar to a random kit, Have a look into trying stuff like Belgian Tripels, Golden Strong Ales, Dark Strong Ales, Russian Imperial Stouts, etc.

Surely you can develop one out of a kit.
If you look around on the Coopers site, they probably have their recipe for the 3 can Russian Imperial Stout.

Sure it's fun to say you've made a 10% alcohol beer, but remember you've got to be able to enjoy it too.


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## pimpsqueak (25/5/11)

beerbelly84 said:


> fail.........
> 
> they taste like wine........
> 
> meh........


I'm betting that's mostly due to your high ferment temp.


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## [email protected] (25/5/11)

the temp i mentioned (34?) was the temp i pitched the yeast at..... it cooled down to about 24 degrees....... maybe it left it too long in the fermenter....... meh, ill let them condition for a few weeks and see how they go..... or try something else!


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## manticle (25/5/11)

Most bad flavours happen while the yeast is growing (early stages) so 35 is way too high to pitch.

24 is still way too high to ferment and too high to pitch as well.

Lots of sugar at that temp will be all hot alcohol.

Leaving for extra time in the fermenter is a good thing.


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## [email protected] (25/5/11)

i spsoe well see how they go in the next coupleof months....... its all a learning curve! and i still dont care if people diss me for wanting more grog!


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## manticle (25/5/11)

No-one's dissed you yet mate.

Most posts have had suggestions and answers on how to achieve what you want while NOT getting a brew that tastes like arse.


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## petesbrew (25/5/11)

beerbelly84 said:


> i spsoe well see how they go in the next coupleof months....... its all a learning curve! and i still dont care if people diss me for wanting more grog!


I don't think anyone did diss you... There were just mentions of trying to balance out the grog with some flavour. 
There's nothing at all wrong with enjoying a 10% beer (apart from if the missus wants you to duck down to the shops afterwards!)

edit: ha, you beat me to it Manticle


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## chappo1970 (25/5/11)

beerbelly84 said:


> ...its all a learning curve! and i still dont care if people diss me for wanting more grog!


Yep it's one big learning curve and if you are smart you'll never stop learning.

As for "Diss" you for wanting a high alcohol beer? Well I can understand that from the members here. I must admit I was struggling to understand why you wanted such a high alcohol % in such a light beer with no real hop or malt profile to hide behind? Each to their own I guess but I find higher alcohol ABV suits the bigger beers, like a Belgium, not some cat piss Mexican corona clone. Unfortunately I disagree with the others here and really think time won't help that brew because of the reasons already mentioned.

Good beers to ya and good luck with the brew.

Chap Chap


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## petesbrew (25/5/11)

Here's a linky to the strong recipes on the coopers site - funny that most of them are toucan recipes!

http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guil...ght-german-bock


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## kelbygreen (25/5/11)

funny how one the coopers website they say to ferment 15-18c but read the kit instructions and its like 20-27c or something haha


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## [email protected] (25/5/11)

cheers fellas, but stil have to cover me backside for the opeple who like having a go at people for wanting to get tiddly quicker..... some people just read these pages dont forget....... my mate had a go at me for it, but its just part of the experience on brewing as far as im concerned! 

im not one of those blokes (yet) who want to go for the, lack of a better word, "exotic" beers just yet, so im just sticking with the simple brews that i know! for the record, i am thinking of making an asahi beer, so i spose im branching out! i could end up with a pilsner or something by the end of the year!

the corona has got a hopy and malty taste to it, but still tastes like wine on the back end! maybe im still to noob to understand things as well!


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## [email protected] (25/5/11)

i take it that toucan means two cans of extract?


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## bum (25/5/11)

beerbelly84 said:


> the corona has got a hopy and malty taste to it


Looks like you fucked it up then.


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## [email protected] (25/5/11)

lol! saw that you, bum, had commented on my post and cringed! saw your fan thread on the joke page, nice! and yeppers! i think i have messed it up!


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## chappo1970 (25/5/11)

beerbelly84 said:


> cheers fellas, but stil have to cover me backside for the opeple who like having a go at people for wanting to get tiddly quicker..... some people just read these pages dont forget....... my mate had a go at me for it, but its just part of the experience on brewing as far as im concerned!
> 
> im not one of those blokes (yet) who want to go for the, lack of a better word, "exotic" beers just yet, so im just sticking with the simple brews that i know! for the record, i am thinking of making an asahi beer, so i spose im branching out! i could end up with a pilsner or something by the end of the year!
> 
> the corona has got a hopy and malty taste to it, but still tastes like wine on the back end! maybe im still to noob to understand things as well!




That's the way BB84! :icon_cheers: 

You'll downing Red Flanders and Saisons before you know it mate.

Cheers

Chap Chap


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## Pennywise (25/5/11)

All the other beers you've made that you mentioned in this thread are all completely different, but you want to stick to what you know? I say stick with your first recipe in the OP and once you get that down a few times the way you like it ( you said it was a winner), then start adding more fermentables slowly over each brew till it gets you the alc you want or starts tasting like crap. I don't blame you for wanting more bang for your buck, I did when I started, hopefully it'll pass the more you brew and get more interested in the process


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## [email protected] (25/5/11)

you have a point PW, but i know simple! its easy, but easy to mess up as well! your right, i should have changed things slowly, and not gone the whole hog.. its easy to get excited about things! i am getting more interested, but stil a noob big time!


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## manticle (25/5/11)

Two kits made up to the volume of 1 kit. Concentrates the flavour, bitterness and alcohol.


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## [email protected] (25/5/11)

thought so, but had to ask anyways! pi think i might try that one out laters!


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## kelbygreen (25/5/11)

yes use 2 pre hopped extract tins. 

asahi is a japanese beer I think so it will be a bit or rice in there. so on a kit or extract level will be impossible to get anywhere close. but using a very light kit if you can get onto extra light extract use that maybe 500g and 500g dex to thin it out and use the hop used for asahi, not to sure what they would be


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## [email protected] (25/5/11)

was going to make the asahi just as the brewcraft recipe says to! was really just experimenting with the coronas to start off with, seeing as they are my fave beer! things seem a little to much like year tens maths or science class atm, so ill deff stick to the basics!


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## kelbygreen (25/5/11)

yeah its the best. I find with all clones they have a simalar taste but still not the same the big breweries are impossible to replicate as they way they do things and the scale they do things is not possible with home brew plus they always have a secret in there be it the yeast or what ever that we cannot get hold of lol. Give it ago I never got any where close with my vb and new clones I tried out of there recipes. Infact found with kit and extract all recipes from anywhere not close AG on the other hand was alot closer not the same but close and some times better so cant complain with that


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## C-MOR (25/5/11)

beerbelly84 said:


> was going to make the asahi just as the brewcraft recipe says to! was really just experimenting with the coronas to start off with, seeing as they are my fave beer! things seem a little to much like year tens maths or science class atm, so ill deff stick to the basics!



Heres one of the basics. The yeast makes to beer, not us.

The Saflager yeast you mention likes live out its days at 12 degrees making nice clean beer, like the beers you like.
Making it churn out beer @ 35 or 22 degrees really pisses it off. noone does there best work when theyre pissed off.

We need to be really nice to our yeast. They do a great job for us.

If you going to be fermenting warm all the time, find a yeast that is happy to do it for you, theyre out there.

Your right in saying theres so much to learn, i for one think learning about making friends with yeast is a good place to start.


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## petesbrew (25/5/11)

beerbelly84 said:


> the corona has got a hopy and malty taste to it,


You lucky bastard.



bum said:


> Looks like you fucked it up then.


 :lol: :lol: 

Made a corona a few months back with some rice malt extract, and yep, can I just say how lucky I am to have a lime tree. This certain batch REALLY needs the lime to be drinkable.

Beerbelly, there's a massive thread on toucans.


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## bignath (25/5/11)

beerbelly84 said:


> was going to make the asahi just as the brewcraft recipe says to! was really just experimenting with the coronas to start off with, seeing as they are my fave beer! things seem a little to much like year tens maths or science class atm, so ill deff stick to the basics!




Brewcraft.

Shhhhhh! There's the nasty "B" word. I've never heard a good word spoken about that franchise. They are fucken hopelessly expensive and in general, i've found that they've got no idea about making decent beer.
The amount of times i've been to my LHBS (which just happens to be a brewcraft) to ask about a particular product, and every time, they've never heard of it....Way too expensive on everything too - $5 for 15g of hops? **** that....

Seriously, i wouldn't go with any recipe they've "recommended".

Listen to the characters on this forum, or get advice from one of the sponsors at the top of each page - then you'll have all the info on how to make a decent brew.


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## [email protected] (28/5/11)

wow....... i love how honest some of you guys are..... its great! deff reading this has made me think about brewing more....... my stepdad just used to do what im doing and made the clones...... i think he did it to get away from wombdonder (mother parental) too! your advice and wisdom is worth brewing and bottling fellas!


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## Bribie G (28/5/11)

If you like Corona and other US style beers there is another style of US beer that would be right up your alley: 

 - which is made similar to Bud or Corona but far far stronger. The attached Youtube will tell you everything you need to know. 

You really need to do it with a mashed grain brew however, but if you want to give it a go, I reckon two tins of Coopers Lager plus extra fermentables would get you fairly close:

2 tins of Coopers Lager
1.5 kg dextrose
.5 kg Light dried malt extract.

Ferment at *18* for two weeks and consult doctor if dizzy spells persist. 

I make 8% ABV "Midnight Train" malt liquor. 1.25L can get you hammered in around 30 minutes.


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## [email protected] (28/5/11)

ooooooooh, that sounds sooooooo juicy........ and easy to make too! and i dont mind the long fermentation, gives me a chance to get some more corona bottles! cheers bribieg!


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## keifer33 (28/5/11)

If your drinking it really quick and would down a bit in one sitting then a few people use 1.25L to 2L soft drink bottles (As can be seen in the photo Bribie put up). As with the corona bottles its best to keep them in the dark/cardboard boxes to stop the uv light affecting the beer. It will also make bottling day really really quick as you've got to clean/sterilize/prime/fill/cap 6 times more bottles if your using the small stubbies.


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