Back into brewing!

[coloneldom]

G'day guys,

I used to have a crack at brewing around 5 or 6 years ago in my uni days, but never stuck with it, mainly because of a lack of a good, cool place to brew and secondly because I made some absolute shockers! I did use to force them down though, cheap arse student and all.

Anyway, I'm looking to get back into it, I was always a kit brewer so I was hoping to start off with something simple but that will produce a tasty brew, are the fresh wort kits worth the cost just to keep me keen? Or is it worth having a crack at partial mashes etc? Any help would be hugely appreciated!

Cheers,

Dom

 

[soundawake]

I'd go a fresh wort kit. Easy as piss and gets you back into the swing of things. And the fresh wort kits are a proper AG kit so the beer is gunna be good, much better than a kit and kilo.

 

[coloneldom]

Ahh cheers for the advice soundawake, any specific recommendations? I'd probably favour a good IPA at this stage, may even try add some of my own hops?

P.S: Kit and kilo - the old terms are all starting to come back to me.

 

[gsouth82]

when I got back into it, I used an ESBrewing 3kg beer kit. I did a few of them first up to get my sanitation and temp control methods sorted before I started getting adventurous. They're inbetween a fresh wort kit and a regular tin. Ie. just add water. Only difference is its concentrated down to fit in a big tin. From memory I did the US pale, Belgian golden and hoegaarden. They were surprisingly tasty for a 'just add water' style of kit.

 

[Cronessa]

My advice is to just read up as much as you can. So much good info around.

Check out a thread called 'pimping a coopers kit with a partial mash' in the partial mash section of this forum if you want to get a bit more adventurous.

Coopers also do a good IPA kit (harder to find as it's in their Thomas Coopers selection series or whatever it's called). I've brewed this a couple of times made up to 20 litres which has made a nice beer.

Main thing is just to get back into it and enjoy!

 

[abe max]

Hi Dom, I've only got 6 or so batches under my belt but one of the best so far was a (Hop slam IPA off the Coopers site).
Thomas Coopers IPA kit, 1kg of Light Dry malt, steeped 200gm Crystal malt in a ltr of hot water for 30 mins, to this I added 30grms of Motueka hops.

Topped to 21 lts and 05 yeast added at around 22c, after 9 days I dry hopped another 20grms of Motueka.

It maybe a bit bitter for some but I certainly enjoyed it.

Another good one along similar lines was done using a Coopers Real Ale tin instead of the IPA and 25grm of Amarillo hops (light boil for 5 mins), 25grm added in with the rest of the mix, same grains and Light Liquid Malt instead of dry, 05 yeast.

It turned out really well and I find the Amarillo to be a bit more subtle but still full of hoppy goodness.

I'm not sure if I'll use the Coopers IPA again soon, I reckon the Real Ale makes just as good a beer plus it's cheaper and can be found easily, eg, Big W

Having said that though, Im still new to it so my opinion might change with time.

 

[bonk1972]

Isnt a fresh wort kit and a kit and kilo the samething

 

[burrster]

Isnt a fresh wort kit and a kit and kilo the samething

No. A fresh wort kit is an all grain wort in a large container(20L), ready for you to just add yeast(and sometimes a little extra water) 'Kit and Kilo' refers to a Branded kit ( ie coopers lager kit) which comes with the yeast in the lid, and a kilo of dextrose or dried/liquid malt extract. you then add enough water to make it up to the desired volume. (often 23L) You can add other ingredients and differing amounts of extract obviously, but 1 'kit' + 1 'kilo' is the most basic form.

 

[marksy]

Plus on the fresh wort kits. I make them all the time when I need lots of beer and can't be assed. They are great for parties.

 

[bonk1972]

So marksy can you get more from fresh wort kit

 

[marksy]

Depends on what "more" your wanting. They are just kits after all, and all you it add a few liters and water and yeast. I pay around $46 for mine so that's $23 a case and you can't complain about that. But like I said, if you want lots of beer and can't be passed making it they are great. Its all the hard work of all grain done for you.