Help! First Brew

[Katherine]

ah what a beautiful place to live... not so close tho!

 

[cdbrown]

Sorry, that last highlighted passage, I don't have a clue what you are saying :wacko: but I am sure I will learn.

No worries - I had no idea either until I had spent a while reading through posts, understanding what was being said and what they were trying to achieve. I have no idea about going AG or BIAB but it's only a matter of time (space and money). Although I'm trying to read up on BIAB at the moment.

Those kits you get are just liquid malt extract with some hops added to get the right colour, flavour and bitterness the company wants. They always say add a kilo of sugar or dextrose. Dextrose is fully fermentable and adds nothing but alcohol to the beer. Malt extract (liquid or dry) isn't fully fermentable so you end up with some sweet malt flavour along with the alcohol.

It won't be long before you decide you want to have a bit of control over the brew and drop using the kit all together and use unhopped malt extract. I generally use the LDME as the base malt to my brews - usually around 3kg of it for a 23L brew. So by buying it in 1kg batches the cost adds up. Go for bulk bags to save money. It's about $6/kg in bulk or nearly twice that when buying it in smaller amounts. For wheat beers like the hoegaarden the base malt is the wheat dried malt (or could use wheat liquid malt). I like to keep one on tap at all time and alot of people like it so doesn't really take too long before I'm brewing the style again. I've got a good recipe for a clone of Erdinger if you are interested.

Keep on brewing, reading and keeping the temps right and the beer coming out of the tap will be fantastic.

 

[fancy]

No worries - I had no idea either until I had spent a while reading through posts, understanding what was being said and what they were trying to achieve. I have no idea about going AG or BIAB but it's only a matter of time (space and money). Although I'm trying to read up on BIAB at the moment.

Those kits you get are just liquid malt extract with some hops added to get the right colour, flavour and bitterness the company wants. They always say add a kilo of sugar or dextrose. Dextrose is fully fermentable and adds nothing but alcohol to the beer. Malt extract (liquid or dry) isn't fully fermentable so you end up with some sweet malt flavour along with the alcohol.

It won't be long before you decide you want to have a bit of control over the brew and drop using the kit all together and use unhopped malt extract. I generally use the LDME as the base malt to my brews - usually around 3kg of it for a 23L brew. So by buying it in 1kg batches the cost adds up. Go for bulk bags to save money. It's about $6/kg in bulk or nearly twice that when buying it in smaller amounts. For wheat beers like the hoegaarden the base malt is the wheat dried malt (or could use wheat liquid malt). I like to keep one on tap at all time and alot of people like it so doesn't really take too long before I'm brewing the style again. I've got a good recipe for a clone of Erdinger if you are interested.

Keep on brewing, reading and keeping the temps right and the beer coming out of the tap will be fantastic.

Here Here :beer:
Thanks for the EXCELLENT info

Katie
ah what a beautiful place to live... not so close tho!

Yeah Katie its actually not that far. We used to live SOR and we bought up here for "lifestyle".
He reckons he goes to work and comes home to a holiday.
Hubby works in Perth and it takes no longer to get to work than it did when we lived in Perth because he skips the peak hour.
I drive down about 3 times a week. To me it is not much different than where I lived SOR because now I get a straight run with no traffic. So yes it is further but with 99.9% reduction in traffic, the time difference evens things out IFKWIM

It is boring though...
Small town and all but now I have more time to learn how to brew
Your in Freo? I love love love freo!

 

[Katherine]

Ill try to organise a brew day.. just very busy at the moment but ill keep you posted...

cheers welcome to the world of brewing! you are commited now you have kegs to fill!

 

[cdbrown]

wow - I just realised that beertech sell coopers LDME 500g bag for $7.95. Big savings for going bulk.

Perhaps try Brewcraft in Joondalup or Osborne Park, Malthouse in Welshpool, Brewmart in Bayswater or if you head down south a little at the Stock Road markets TWOC Brewing.

 

[fancy]

Katie
Ill try to organise a brew day.. just very busy at the moment but ill keep you posted...

cheers welcome to the world of brewing! you are commited now you have kegs to fill!

Look forward to it and thanks

wow - I just realised that beertech sell coopers LDME 500g bag for $7.95. Big savings for going bulk.

Perhaps try Brewcraft in Joondalup or Osborne Park, Malthouse in Welshpool, Brewmart in Bayswater or if you head down south a little at the Stock Road markets TWOC Brewing.

I refuse to shop at Brewcraft as I find them VERY expensive on everything I have needed from there. Even though they (Westbrew) supply a lot of goods to the smaller brew shops, the small brew shops are way cheaper. I am yet to come across a product at Brewcraft that is even the same price as some of the smaller retailers. I wouldnt mind going to Stock Road markets and having a look at TWOC
Thanks for the info :icon_cheers: