G'day From Curly.

[morebeermark]

G'day fellow home brewers.
I'd just like to introduce myself, I live in West Gippsland, Victoria, a little hamlet called Ellinbank.
I'm a Marine Engineer in the Australian merchant navy, I love a cold beer almost anytime.
I've been brewing kits and bits for about 30 years but mainly using the 'KISS' principle.
Recently I've been inspired by fellow brewers on this and other forums to expand my repertoire and I must say I'm reaping the benefits. The flavours I'm achieving with the use of various grains and hops have re-enervated my interest in the hobby which I initially took up to save money during my studies back in 1984.
Thankyou for the tips and recipes and keep on brewing great beer.
Best Regards Curly.

 

[Northside Novice]

Nineteen eighty four reminds me of an arctic monkey song!
Do you even brew ?

 

[Beer Ninja]

Hi morebeermark AKA Curly - Welcome!

I'm fairly new on here.

The amount of brewing knowledge offered on here stuns me.

Same applies to the brewery builds people have going on, I'm pretty handy in practical ways but some of these builds take it to a new level IMO.

Just doing kits, but thanks to this place I've discovered good practices such as binning the kit yeast for bette,r and building a fermenting fridge to maintain a constant temperature and more....

Onward and upward!

 

[manticle]

Nineteen eighty four reminds me of an arctic monkey song!
Do you even brew ?

There's a man lying down in a grave somewhere with the same tattoos as me.

 

[Beer Ninja]

Nineteen eighty four reminds me of an arctic monkey song!
Do you even brew ?

He He, I come from the city of the Arctic Monkeys. I lived a couple of kilometres from three of them. They even used to drink in my local pub.
*feels chuffed in a Yorkshire sort of way

 

[Beer Ninja]

Kick me into touch if you like.

I'll go quiet if you mention cricket.

Promise.

 

[Northside Novice]

Wow .bunch of rash counts that they are . No man is English
No man is true , Cept for the four , Cept for the true ...

 

[morebeermark]

G'day again,
Like you, Beer Ninja, it's the simple ways of improving my brew that have impressed me the most. I don't get too much leeway in the galley at home so long days steeping or mashing grains are out. Also the improved availability of products over recent times has helped. Thank goodness for e-bay and Chinese stc-1000's, there must be scores of discarded fridges and freezers that have found a new purpose.
I just can't bring myself to bin the Coopers yeast though. I usually use Fermentis yeasts in half my brews and double up on the Coopers yeast in the other half (rehydrating both beforehand). The occasional brew I get going with the Fermentis slurry.
Regards, Curly.

 

[Beer Ninja]

G'day again,
Like you, Beer Ninja, it's the simple ways of improving my brew that have impressed me the most. I don't get too much leeway in the galley at home so long days steeping or mashing grains are out. Also the improved availability of products over recent times has helped. Thank goodness for e-bay and Chinese stc-1000's, there must be scores of discarded fridges and freezers that have found a new purpose.
I just can't bring myself to bin the Coopers yeast though. I usually use Fermentis yeasts in half my brews and double up on the Coopers yeast in the other half (rehydrating both beforehand). The occasional brew I get going with the Fermentis slurry.
Regards, Curly.

I gather that doubling up on the yeast found under the lids of the kits is good practice as some only contain about half the required amount of yeast. Also not so good that they've spent life unrefrigerated on the shelf, These points seem to be the issue rather than it being poor quality yeast. but I reckon rehydrating is good practice and gets the best from the yeast, I do that too.

(Having said that, my latest purchase of Nottingham Ale yeast has spend seven days in the post before arriving. I don't think Australia Post sorting offices and warehouses are refrigerated to around 5c are they.....)

I've yet to harvest from the slurry but it's on my list of 'further improvements'

Cheers
Mick

 

[Beer Ninja]

Curly, the other 'improvement' I'm making to my brewing habits is a cheap and easy way to use filtered water rather than chlorinated tap water.

Easy Water Filter

 

[morebeermark]

That's a 'must do' for me because I'm on spring water. Great for making beer but SWMBO goes crook if the washing machine fills up with worms so the filter went on years ago.
If you have any concerns about the age of your kit yeast, I get my kits online from Coopers, 10 % discount if you register and once every 5 or 6 weeks they offer free delivery Australia wide. I stock up when the offer is made and put all the yeast sachets in the fridge.
Another simple trick I've divined from these pages is to add the water to your wort from some height to introduce air into the final mix, it gets the yeast going quickly. I bought a aquarium air pump and stainless aerator to do this but the former works just as well.
Regards, Curly.