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Hi Jamie, you should try the Fresh Wort Kits that some of the site sponsors sell. You pay for the freshness...but for around $50 you can produce 20L of great homebrew (no signs of kit twang). As mentioned multiple times in your thread, temp control is also a major factor.

I use a 50W ceramic reptile heater lamp....works a treat! Cost me around $40 from memory.

I use the same method and have a fridge thermometer hanging from the shelf as a sanity check. Pretty sure your probe would be more accurate than the strip thermometer. If you use a digital stick thermometer for brewing, you could always take a sample from the fermenter tap and check the beer...

Friends of brewers often prefer to drink the fruits of their friend's labour!! Especially when you find yourself installing taps on old fridges....it's only a matter of time :kooi: .

You can definitely simplify your brewing and get better results... As suggested above, try a pale ale kit or something. Ales yeasts ferment quicker and will be a bit more forgiving. I'd forget about the secondary/filtering and focus on giving the yeast a bit more time to clear up the beer for...

Hi mate, You can store your carbed keg out of the fridge in a cool spot. The CO2 will come out of solution when the keg warms up a bit, but as long as your keg is all properly sealed, it will remain in the vessel. Give it a bit of time to re-absorb into the beer when you chill it down again...

Got a dry stout in hand at the moment...brewed with Roast Barley as 10% of the grain bill (~500g). It's got a nice roasty coffee flavour, not too over the top. Not sure how much would work in a kit recipe...i'd consider going 50/50 with the Choc and Roast Barley.

Hey mate, Try a bit of Roast Barley in there...gives a coffee-like taste.

G'day DAC, I went to an electric urn for BIAB mainly due to the following reasons... - Can brew in a confined space or sometimes indoors (I live in a shoebox) - Can use a power point timer to start heating water before I get up on a brew day - Don't have to worry about always having full gas...

I've seen those ones with the welded steel handles...would be a bit worried about damaging them. Prefer the older style with the moulded plastic handles.

Welcome aboard and congrats on your first brew!! It may not taste awesome, but it's hard not to like something you made yourself :D . One thing I wish I realised earlier in my brewing life was temperature control...ferment at the right temp and your beer will start tasting way better way sooner.

+1 with Manticle...often end up on the cans when camping, because it's practical...happy with a draught, Melbourne or Vic in that case. Otherwise I look for Coopers Pale, Guinness or Little Creatures Pale. Been to a couple of weddings lately with Coopers as a beer options. Maybe this is...

Tony...don't know you, but have read a lot of your posts on here in my quest to become better at making beer. It takes a lot of courage to do what you have done and share it with everyone here. Made me realise that AHB is more than just a forum of people interested in beer...it's a community of...

Fruitiness can often come from fermenting at a high temperature. Try keeping the temp constant at around 18 for an ale. If you are willing to spend a bit extra on ingredients, try doing a Fresh Wort kit...no kit twang and excellent results.

I stick with barbs on the gas side and JG on the liquid side. Only ever find I need to disconnect the beer lines anyway.

Congrats on your first BIAB!! I have an exposed element, so use a cake rack to keep the bag off the element. After a 90min mash, I heat the wort to mashout temp stiring the grain continuously until it gets to around 75. I then leave it for around 10mins before pulling the bag. Works for me and...

Hi Gazeboar, To help out with your calcs for the first brew...I have a 40L Birko exposed element urn and lose an average of 3.5L in a 90 minute boil.

Great day... Loved the Red Hill Scotch, Moo Brew Porter and the Two Birds Sunset was going down great all afternoon!! I put some pics up here.... [sharedmedia=gallery:albums:931] Got home to realise I didn't actually take many pics of beer...and they generally got blurrier as the day went on...