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Just received an email from John from Grain and Grape saying they're closing down. He's retiring (after 34 years of serving the HB community) and the building's lease finishes up as well. This is a real loss of the Melbourne home-brewing community. Grain and Grape is a store full of...

I used beer smith for years and found it very easy to use and functional. And yes, there is a tool where you can scale the recipe either up or down (I used it many times). You can also customise your gear in there (i.e. put in known deadspace) to better calculate your water/grain volumes...

I'm not sure how robust the MJ swing top bottles are, but I also found that 2 carb drops in a 750mL bottle usually gave higher carbonation than I needed. You also want to avoid bottle bombs. If you want reliable bottles to carb to a higher level then get some champagne bottles and use those. I...

Theres lots of information on here regarding no chill, although it is pretty simple once you get your head around the process. Theres a few methods for getting late hops into no chill, but to summarise they are: - Do a mini boil for your late hop addition - Calculate your cube hops as a 15-20...

Lots of different options, but my approach was the following. Pull keg/tap/disconnects/posts/lines apart as soon as the keg is empty and rinse well, followed by a soak in sodium perc/PBW for an hour or so. Rinse well with cold water and dry. I'd use a spray bottle or a little funnel to get the...

I did say these were my observations and certainly not gospel. I also didn’t intend them to hold water, just highlighting what I see (and have spoken to a number of former members who also see the same thing). We’re all free to agree/disagree as we see fit, however I do agree that the...

The posting on this forum has dropped off for a number of reasons (well, through my observations at least). 1: A lot of the old guard have moved on (either jumped ship, or no longer engage in the online brewing community) 2: Facebook and other sources of information have become more prominent...

I use one of these to make my cold brew at home. It only makes a small amount (about 750mL), but you can get bigger devices to make more. I just keep it in the fridge and then start another batch the following day. I half fill the water bit with ice, the other half with water and fill the...

A gravity of 1.011-12 is about right for an ale, and If the gravity is stable of 24-48 hours then fermentation is likely complete. I don’t pressure ferment, but I’d routinely leave and other 24-48 hours post terminal gravity to let the beer clean itself up a bit (but not sure if this is the done...

If your fermentation is complete (I.e 2 gravity readings the same over 24-48 hours - I use 48h) then no issues with bottling from the keg. I don’t pressure ferment, but the same principles should apply. JD

Yes you can get scratches with plastic, which can be a source for infection, however if you're careful and don't use anything abrasive on your fermenter then it won't be an issue. I used the same plastic fermenter for many years without an issue. I just cleaned as soon as I'd finished with it...

Hey Bucky, Welcome aboard. Lots to be learnt from this forum, and chances are if you've got a question it's been asked before so have a search to see if you can find the answer. Like An Ankou said, you don't need heaps of fancy gear to make great beer, you just need to focus of a few important...

They’ll be fine. Only a month over the “used by date” but it’s not like milk of eggs. The stuff is sterile inside, sealed and kept from light so just brew as normal. I doubt you’ll even be able to tell the difference. Maybe just feed back to the shop that they were out of date when you got...

Hey Chris, S&W pacific ale was my stock house beer for ages. 70% ale malt 30% Wheat Cascade at 60 minutes (some reckon the galaxy gives a harsh bitterness, but this isn't my experience) for about 20 IBUs Galaxy at whirlpool for 10 IBUs worth (aiming for 30 IBUs) 1g/L galaxy dry hop about 4...

Hey Trenta, What’s your overall process? All grain, fresh wort kit or basic kit brew? This will help guide how to best sort your question. A few options are: - Strain you hops. This is a bit of a pain, as they gum up your kitchen strainer pretty quickly, but does work. There is a risk of...

Grain and grape have a Berliner weiss/gose FWK available, although I suspect the shipping from Melbourne to the Sunny Coast might be a bit hefty. I've made it a few times, and it was very good. JD

Maybe it's time to ditch the airlock? I stopped using them years ago, opting for a few layers of glad wrap instead. Just carbonate and chill. You've probs got a few bugs in there, but CO2, acidic beer and a cold temperature should stop any infection from taking over quickly. Might be an issue...

Lets hop there will be some sort of "truce" and some of the old (and very knowledgable) guard will return here to share their knowledge once again? Unlikely I think, but we can always live in hope. JD

Good to see WRG (affectionately known as WallyWorld in my household) finally having a presence on AHB. Has been my go to HB store for a few years now since I've relocated to Geelong. Good selection of grain, the basic equipment you need for most things and a good stock of dry yeast (haven't...

If it’s the only thing you’ve changed then not adding whirlfloc is probs the most likely suspect. I’m presuming your mash temps/pH/boil etc were all your usual practices? There’s a few things you can do. 1: ferment as usual, and some of it will drop out with the yeast. 2: give it a good long...