Calling The Jovial Monk

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Holy wockamoly, Big D,
they sure are touchy up in the top end, no offence intended, just thought I'd add a bit of jocularity to the debate,knock the top off another one ,sit back and have a bit of a giggle, I am.

cheers, Fingers.
 
Are they biting today !
:D :lol: :D
 
You guys :) It's a sign that we are so emotional when it comes to a hobby. A sign that it means something to us! Brewing is by far the most satisfying hobby I've ever had and the output of the hobby is something enjoy having in the house... unlike computers pieces and car parts and the detritus of all my other passtimes... and when I produce a beer that I'm proud to pass around with my mates all the kit beers I've ever made are forgiven :)

Seriously, tho, kit beers have a place in this hobby. Using them well and making great beers is also worth the trouble. For little extra money and not much more time, the Supermarket kit can be made into a decent drink. Hands up who has never made a nice beer with a kit? I don't make many kit brews these days, just the odd one now and again and the odd fresh wort bottle filler. I'm a part masher moving into AG once I get my hands on a keg for boiling in.

A nice kit to try:
Batch size 20 litres
1.7Kg Morgans Old Kit
500g dark DME
500g Light DME
15g Fuggles dry hopped.

Makes a really nice Aussie Porter. Easy to drink, cheap and quick.

Anyway, the beauty of this hobby is that you can pick your level and be happy. I started brewing to get into cheap beers :) and was happy with the K+K brew above. From there I decided I liked the taste better than commercial brews and after reading the rec.crafts.brewing newsgroup for a while, decided to take the hobby a bit further - extending the range I could brew beyond what is available in a kit. Being able to "craft" a beer rather than just "brew" one is a great feeling. Starting with random bags of powdered malts and grains and hops pellets and ending up with cases of sweet sweet beer that taste exactly like what I was aiming for is such a good feeling!

Each to his own and all welcome at AHB.
 
Well, I am a k&k man.
I am still tring to find a beer I can make well. Seems to me that I got far too caught up in trying to run before I learnt to walk.

I grabbed nice kits, added malts, dextrose, honey and hops without really understanding the flavours and overtones these were going to put into the beer.

The truth be told the nicest beer I have made (although it was cloudy - due to impatience!) was a Morgans Pilsner with 1kg dextrose and some cascade hops. It tasted very nice, but needed to mature (was drinking it 1 week after brewing it)

Personally, I would love to spend a few hours with someone who can show me what a great homebrew beer tastes like. I've tasted nice ones, and I've heard you guys saying on here that they can be snesational, but personally I am yet to aste one that has rocked my world (let alone make one).

My last brew was with a TCB wet pak (Australian Lager) which is an extract kit (whats the difference between extract and partial anyway?) and it is looking alright. Hopefully this will curl my toes
:)
 
volcano,
the best advice i could give is to look for a home brew club in your area. or ask around at your homebrew shop if they know anyone that makes a good all-grain beer. as i have found, homebrewers are pretty social people and always willing to help some looking for advice.
i was luck enough to find a group recently, justin being one of them, and i cant tell you how much i learned just watching them for an hour. also, i was so inspired that im moving on to using grains as soon as my set-up is put together. hope that helps, good luck
joe
 
Time is the killer. I would like to look into AG brewing one day but I just couldn't fit it in right now.

So don't knock kits. There is a big difference between k+k (supermarket kit and kilo of sucrose) and k+k (carefully selected kit brewed with a blend of liquid and dried extracts, other fermentables, steeped grain and using hops added at different stages of the process).

I have been home-brewing just over a year and most of my brews still use kits. I have made three partial mashes. (One of those got mixed with a kit, anyway.) I have made about four all-extract brews. Every other one of my 31 brews has had a kit in it. Why?

Time. I have other things in my life than home brewing. I can make good beer by steeping grains then adding a kit or some extract. And I can do it all in not much more than an hour. Then I can get on with the other things I like to do on the weekend.

I'm about to knock off brewing for the summer after my last two brews for the season - a stout with a kit and a small bag of roast barley and a 3kg ESB Nut Brown kit with a small steep of crystal malt. Mmmm.
 
Basically I'm a kits and bits brewer. Started again this year after an 18 year hiatus. Back then I was strictly K&K, though I did have a primitive British keg system. Warm beer, no refrigeration, on tap, student digs, heaven!

Then I started over again. Straight K&Ks were fizzy, wet, alcoholic and better than water. And like Deebee said somewhere else, "they got cold when you put them in the fridge".

Then I discovered Grumpys and the internet. Not sure which was first. But, Grumpy's master and extrabrews improved my humble efforts out of sight. As did simple changes like racking, secondary conditioning and bulk priming. Phorums like this are invaluable too.

Now I use kits and bits packs from Grumpys and Jovial Monk (I am that rare breed, an ecumenical Adelaide brewer). I get kits and bugger them about with serial hop additions and steeped speciality grains.

When I started again, friends and family would politely accept a glass of homebrew to begin with. Then, they would ask if I still had any Coopers in the fridge. Now the same friends and family ask what I've brewed recently, and take that even when I do offer them a Coopers.

Of the last six brews I've done I reckon my favourite was one I did to clear out the store cupboard. Coopers real ale kit, almost past use by date, brewiser brew improver (50%dme), 2 coopers kit rehydrated yeasts, 14g EKG boiled for 10 mins and added to primary, 14g cascade steeped and added to secondary. Kit, and what ever bits I had to hand. Bootiful!

In the new year I'll try all extract recipes and maybe partial mash. I'ts a long life, no need to rush.
 

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