Hunter Valley amateur signing on

[Fraser's BRB]

Hi all,

My name's Scott, I've been brewing enthusiastically most weekends for 18 months now from my back patio in Singleton NSW.

I started with extract but quickly moved to BIAB and now a 3 pot system all grain as I wanted more control over ingredients and flavours.

My gear is largely done on the cheap with much of it being modified/built by myself (with help from a few handy mates) as I have advanced my brewing knowledge and techniques. My biggest bugbear at the moment is low efficiency and I'm probably going to purchase a malt mill in the near future as the next step in gaining more control over that side of things in the hunt for better efficiency.

I got sick of washing bottles, so I built myself a 3 tap keezer from an old chest freezer that we were getting rid of and I'm pretty happy with the result (I've tried to link a photo, but we'll see how that works out). It has capacity for 4 corny kegs, but I'm now itching to get hold of another chest freezer so I can expand capacity. I tend to brew more than I can consume, however it's not too hard to rope in mates and neighbours whenever I need to free up a keg in a hurry.

Right now I have a Pale Ale, Amber Ale and an ESB on tap with a Celtic Red and an Oatmeal Stout fermenting.

I'm still very much a newbie, but I'm hungry for knowledge and improvement in every brew.

So g'day, and if you're ever in the Hunter region, look me up, we can share a beer and hopefully you can teach me a thing or two!

Cheers,
Scott

 

[SBOB]

nice keezer..

 

[Fraser's BRB]

nice keezer..

Thanks, it took about 2 months to build as we have a toddler and I could only get to it in 1 to 2 hour blocks on weekends, so I'm pretty proud of it.

It also put a serious dent in my brewing schedule while I was building it.

 

[Beamer]

Awesome looking keezer!!!!!

Welcome aboard, I have only been brewing for about the same amount of time as yourself, I have only been doing BIAB for 5 months or so, and love it.

Hope to share some stories and experiences with you.

Cheers

 

[Moad]

Hi Scott, nice keezer there mate.

There is a brew club that meet up in Newcastle once a month called Hunter United Brewers. Every third Friday...

Cheers

 

[Weizguy]

http://www.hunterbrewers.com/forum/
On AHB - http://aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/60-hunter-united-brewers-hub/.
There are a few brewers I know around Singleton, including the National award-winning Goatherder.
Look forward to judging your beer in our next local competition or maybe at the State Championships.

 

[Andyburgs]

Hey Scott, I'm a Singleton local too. I've been back brewing after a spell for about 2.5 years now. Started back with kits and bits, but have moved onto grain brewing in a Robobrew setup. I've only knocked out 2 brews on it, and only bottled one of those so far so can't really pass on any brewing knowledge that you wouldn't already know.
But how much better is all grain beer, I wish I'd gotten into it much earlier.
Good to hear there are others in our neck of the woods into the brewing.
I tried to attach photo of my brewery but photo was too big?
Cheers
Andrew

 

[Fraser's BRB]

Hi Scott, nice keezer there mate.

There is a brew club that meet up in Newcastle once a month called Hunter United Brewers. Every third Friday...
Cheers

http://www.hunterbrewers.com/forum/
On AHB - http://aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/60-hunter-united-brewers-hub/.
There are a few brewers I know around Singleton, including the National award-winning Goatherder.
Look forward to judging your beer in our next local competition or maybe at the State Championships.

Thanks guys, yes I found the HUB area and shot off an email last night. I'll see you at a meeting soon.

 

[Fraser's BRB]

Hey Scott, I'm a Singleton local too. I've been back brewing after a spell for about 2.5 years now. Started back with kits and bits, but have moved onto grain brewing in a Robobrew setup. I've only knocked out 2 brews on it, and only bottled one of those so far so can't really pass on any brewing knowledge that you wouldn't already know.
But how much better is all grain beer, I wish I'd gotten into it much earlier.
Good to hear there are others in our neck of the woods into the brewing.
I tried to attach photo of my brewery but photo was too big?
Cheers
Andrew

Nice one Andrew, all grain is the way forward. I'm interested to see how you go on the Robobrew.
We'll have to swap a beer or two some time.

 

[sp0rk]

Hi mate,
Another Hunter brewer here, but I'm out at Muswellbrook
There seem to be plenty of us out this way, I'm meeting more and more AG brewers here all the time (I've only been here a year)
Might have to organise a Hunter grain bulk buy once I get a trailer...

 

[Andyburgs]

Yeah definitely still learning but the Robobrew seems pretty good so far. The first brew I did was a recipe kit from ESB and I had them crack the grain. Efficiency was way lower than expected on that brew. The next one I did, I cracked the grain myself, I have a malt muncher 2 roller mill. Efficiency was much better, but sparging took longer and recirculating through the malt pipe was slower so I don't know if I went too fine or whether that is normal?
Anyway I'm sure the more I do the more I'll work things out.
Have no chilled in cubes so far too.
I'm sick of having empty bottles lying around so would love to get a keezer setup. How much did yours cost roughly to set up?
Swapping a beer or two sounds good too, and if you need those kegs emptied feel free to ask here for help.

 

[mofox1]

It also put a serious dent in my brewing schedule while I was building it.

That it does. I ran out of beer over the xmas break for the same reason. Stupid thing was I had at least 4 cubes ready to go - was just too busy / forgot to ferment them in time.

 

[Fraser's BRB]

Well for those in the Singleton area, Andy, Sp0rk etc, I throw the taps open to mates, neighbours and drop-ins most Friday afternoons, so if you're interested, PM me and I'll pass on my contact details.

 

[Dae Tripper]

Seems we may have to have a Singleton brewers meet up! I didn't think there was many all grainers here.