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Thanks, I'll definitely consider that. I was just going for more dextrose in order to keep costs down, but the beers I've had with a large quantity of dex haven't been particularly good so I'm starting to think it may be worth the extra few dollars. Does anyone have experience using Coopers...

Hi all, I've recently gotten into kits and bits brewing and have started using grains and hops which I've found have greatly improved my beer. I've currently got 30 plastic longnecks which have been empty for far too long (a couple of days now) and would like to remedy this situation. My last...

Just from a quick Google, it sounds like Acesulfame potassium is just another artificial sweetener, in practise often used alongside the better known aspartame. I think you'll have to just weigh up how tolerant you are of artificial sweetener. I've grown to become very used to it in most...

If it helps anyone, the factor out of all of these which gave my first beer a soapy taste seemed to be using the kit yeast. I've done everything else on this list without getting a soapy taste, but my first brew did have an unpleasant sweet soapiness which I'm attributing (in a very uneducated...

Thanks mate, that was exactly what I was after. I've also just started using grains and hops so it's about right for my skill level at the moment. Really looking forward to giving it a go!

Would you mind posting your kit recipe for this? I had this beer for the first time last weekend and really want to try and recreate it but I'm still just a lowly kit brewer.

I had exactly the same problem a month back, almost everyone told me to use yeast nutrient, which I'm planning to trial next time. FYI even though mine definitely smelt very bad for about a week, after leaving it in the bottles for around 4 weeks the smell dissipated and the resulting cider was...

I think this is actually an interesting idea as I went into homebrewing mostly due to the ability to make cheap beer that I liked as much as commercial beer, but as you get deeper into it you seem to keep spending and spending... I'm also too lazy to start all-grain for now so the idea of a...

I'm finding some serious issues with my PET tallies. I've opened up about 8 from my last batch and 6 of them were so un-carbed they tasted flat. I used 2 carb drops so it shouldn't be the amount of sugar, and the lids felt screwed on tight enough...

I'm fairly new too so take this with a grain of salt, but it seems that regularly opening the lid of the fermenter to 'check' the beer is a pretty good way to get an infection. I did this with my first beer and noticed some off flavours (especially sourness) that weren't present in my second...

Does anyone have an opinion on what the Old Brown Dog recipe would be like without the hops and grain (i.e. just using the Dried Malt Extract, Amber Ale Extract and Dark Lager can with a decent yeast?) I have all of the above sitting around but I don't have the hops and grain, and have never...

True. I will count my blessings. The gravity dropped from 1.021 to about 1.012 when I checked last night, I'm planning to check again tonight. I can hear audible bubbling which I'm taking as a good sign. I've also tasted it a few times and it has tasted noticeably drier each time, which is...

Cheers for the advice all. Just as an update, I checked on the cider last night and the sulphur smell has pretty much gone, leaving behind a much less obvious but much more pleasant cider-ish smell. I haven't done anything to make this happen, is there any chance this could mean fermentation...

Straight into the fermenter No Thanks for the advice. Some things to remember for next time I guess... Just crossing my fingers that it's not an infection.

Cheers for the replies. I've had a look at the definitive(fish) guide to cider and enjoyed the read immensely. I'll look into yeast nutrients - it's something I'm willing to try if I can get some from my LHBS on short notice (they have weird opening hours). Good to hear some other people...

As the title says. I put down my first cider on Saturday, so it's been in the fermenter for almost 72 hours now. I checked on it yesterday and noticed some very distinct smells. I would describe them as "sulphury", as others seem to have. FYI, my (very simple) recipe was: 12L...

Thanks guys. I got lucky via gumtree a couple of hours after posting this and am buying someone's old-style bench capper for 15 dollars tonight. If it's rubbish I'll probably take a trip to Big W.

Hi all, Looking to start bottling in glass bottles in a few weeks time and I'll need a capper. Hoping to get a bench capper but hoping to not pay brand-new prices. I live close to the Adelaide CBD and am willing to drive a fair distance. Cheers

Right, so about 15-16g of yeast for an average can kit?

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Definitely planning on taking a trip to my LHBS this weekend and picking up some stuff. I wouldn't have thought to buy different yeast but I'll definitely give that a try. Is the pre-packaged stuff that comes with the cans generally of low quality? Hard to...