Brewing Depression

[beernography]

Hi.

I have brewed different brews for the last 3 brews - one Cascade Choc Mahogany Porter, one Cooper's Heritage Lager, alky ginger beer and I have a Cooper's normal lager w/ dry enzyme in the fermenter.

I had successfully brewed 3 lots of the Coopers normal and decided to go out on a limb but these beers are shithouse. Port aka black ******* is drinkable but tastes like ashtray, Heritage lager aka old ******* is thin, pissweak metho and megaswill dregs, the ginger beer is all I have thats drinkable and the stuff in the fermenter is still bubbling after 2 weeks, I didn't add anything but a box of BE2 so I think the yeast is going to destroy everything in that beer and it will also come out as white widow.

I'm sick to death of Cooper's, hate VB and Carlton (old favourites) and hate everything else on tap at the local...so ginger beer it is. I have the shits with the beers I spend hours brewing and bottling which taste like arse. I am pre empting being on suicide watch if I did an AG that turned out so disappointing.

I'm going to put down a couple of kit pilsners etc and see if they are OK and after that I will stick to the one kind of enjoyable beer I've made so far.

Anyway thats all folks, just wanted to have a whinge and don't want to get laughed at by my mates who have said home brew's shit all this time...cause so far I've only taken them the good bottles ;P

 

[Duff]

Buy yourself a Fresh Wort Kit.

I heard recently that Morgans are planning on introducing Fresh Wort range. Between them, Brewers Selection and NNL you'll be on your way to great tasting beers.

Cheers.

 

[tangent]

I'm going to put down a couple of kit pilsners

uh oh! Did you say you want something drinkable?

 

[Murcluf]

Know where you at had the same issue when I did kits so I started to try a kit can and a kit of extract and had a vast improvement. from there I went on to just extract then to partials and then AG. My fav was a can of Coopers Wheat and a Can of Coopers Wheat extract. you could also try adding one of those Morgans finishing hops bags for a little extra hop flavor. Good Luck with the pils

 

[beernography]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! Between that and another AGB, I'm feeling better about the whole thing

What's the RRP of a fresh wort kit? (ballpark) I've come into heaps of work recently so I might treat myself

 

[SJW]

Thats why I only did 2 kits before going all grain.

Steve

 

[beernography]

I have a 3 x 3 cell at mummy's house so AG is out for me, until I get my own place...the walls are about to explode from the amount of shit crammed into this house

 

[Stuster]

Should be somewhere around the $35 mark for a wort kit, beernography. Could be more depending on the yeast. Definitely worth it if you can't do AG IMO.

 

[clarkey7]

I'm sick to death of Cooper's, hate VB and Carlton (old favourites) and hate everything else on tap at the local...so ginger beer it is. I have the shits with the beers I spend hours brewing and bottling which taste like arse. I am pre empting being on suicide watch if I did an AG that turned out so disappointing.

Beernography, are you interested in drinking darker beer ie. Amber, Browns , Blacks and Stouts at all ???

I have made > 80 different kit beers and have found some gems in there along the way... Mostly darker stuff as that's my preference.

PB :beer:

 

[braufrau]

I have a 3 x 3 cell at mummy's house so AG is out for me, until I get my own place...the walls are about to explode from the amount of shit crammed into this house

Does mummy have a big pot? You could do some extract beers without adding any extra equipment.

 

[sponge]

I have been hearing a lot about these fresh wort kits but still don't know what they are?

Could someone please explain? and also, does the normal HBS stock them because I don't think I've ever seen one at mine, or do you have to purchase them online?


Cheers, Sponge

 

[Stuster]

Here are some clicks with all the info. NNL should have some round your way and so should ND Brewing. Not sure about GnG.

G&G work kits There's an explanation of what they are there too. Basically AG beer in a cube.
ND Brewing
NNL

 

[geoffi]

Get a wort kit.

Get a good yeast.

Control the fermentation temp...

You'll feel much, much better. :chug:

 

[beernography]

Mummy has a good sized cauldron which I intend to take with me when I go The only problem is the other use for it is dying clothes... kinda mutually exclusive in principle but its clean so as long as it doesn't stink I will have no problems using it.

Pocket beers I have tried a few stouts and stuff, no fan of guiness nor kilkenny, can drink sheaf stout but not Cooper's, tried random ones here and there not worth remembering but I don't like the ash or molasses flavours. I always drink with an open mind though

Fresh wort sounds like the way to go, especially with space constraints... I'll hit up the MALES for a good local supplier and hopefully you will see a post titled Brewing Nirvana, or possibly just Joy or Ecstasy but positive nonetheless!

Thanks everyone, I will not be sobbing myself to sleep tonight :icon_cheers:

 

[sponge]

Thanks for that. I've just been reading up on a few of them, and they do seem to supply my HBS so I'll have to give them a go soon. Is it worth steeping any grain or adding hops to these, or are they quite good as is?

Also, are the empty cubes good enough to be used for racking? The reason I havent done it so far is because I haven't had a second fermenter or a cube...

 

[Tyred]

Wort kits are good as is. They normally have all the hops & malt required for the type of brew. All you have to do is get some good yeast for that style of brew.

I suppose you could use the empty cubes for racking. It would depend on the size of the cube.

 

[beernography]

I have 2 fermenters. Do I need a cube?

 

[Stuster]

Cubes are great for secondary. Not much head space. Good for no chill if you decide to do that in the future.

No need to add any hops/grains the first time. Some styles can benefit from dry hopping (at least for hop heads like me ) but try it vanilla first. B)

 

[Duff]

Step 1. Sterilise both fermenters.
Step 2. Dump a fresh wort kit into each fermenter.
Step 3. Pitch specific yeast for each beer.
Step 4. Fill with 5L of water.
Step 5. Ferment.
Step 6. Keg, bottle, gas, enjoy.

Hope this helps.

 

[kabooby]

I was at Macarthur home brew today getting my gas refilled and he had heaps of ND freshwort kits there. I have not done any fresh wort kits before but I think these are one of the better ones.

Fresh wort kits are your best bet.

I would stay clear of a kit pilsener. This is typically a clean beer and doing a kit version will show all the flaws of the kit.

I dont think I ever brewed a good kit beer. They were OK and drinkable, but you wouldnt go raving about it. If you like tooheys old you can add a kit of old plus a 1kg of dark liquid malt a good yeast like S05 and off you go.

Another thing is to be extra carefull with your sanitation.

Make sure you come along to the next MALE meet and ask heaps of questions.

Kabooby