Keeping it simple - Coopers beer kits

[altpferd]

Bottled my first real beer brew, a Coopers draught beer kit with Coopers brew enhancer 1. Kept it simple but didn't cheap out by not adding the enhancer. Tasted good even though we had some real hot days, we had to move it from one shed to another that was cooler with better circulation (luckily we have 4 sheds!) I used carbonation drops when bottling. Looking forward to trying some in two weeks. It had a quick ferment, 4 days, but we bottled after 7 days due to time limitations.

Now I have a Coopers Lager in there with brew enhancer 1. I know it's probably a bit hot to make a lager but son is keen to try a home brew lager as well. The shed temperatures fluctuate between 22 and 28 so I figured we'd be safe in sticking with Coopers brew kits than experimenting with fancier recipes, as Coopers seem to have a pretty good heat tolerance.

I'd love to try a Cerveza beer kit but I think it's too hot? Might try making it in autumn. We're in south-east Queensland, in the country, so no coastal breezes to cool things down.

Hoping to have a few decent beers for Christmas Day and New Year's. I probably shouldn't expect too much though.

 

[Bribie G]

Morgans kits also use the Mauribrew yeast (made in Toowoomba) that is fairly heat tolerant.

If you have a good look round the forum you'll find a lot of suggestions about brewing in the summer if you don't already have temperature control such as an old fridge. If you have spare freezer capacity you can freeze soft drink bottles of water and wrap the fermenter up with them in a beach towel and a doonah, that's what I did for my first summer until I got a forty buck second hand bar fridge and a fridgemate controller. I bet that old fridge is still going strong somewhere

 

[Rod]

It will help if you have an old fridge with a controller to make your beer

controller unit

http://mashmaster.com.au/p/365439/fridgemate-mkii-digital-temperature-controller-kit.html

worth every penny and not rocket science

an electrician can make one up in an hour with this unit

can also be used in winter with a heat pad for those chilly nights

 

[Bribie G]

I'm the world's worst mechanic. In the days when I used to do my own oil and filter change and spark plug change on a car, if it was a four cylinder car I'd buy a pack of six plugs because I would crush at least one of them. I would also make sure I was stocked up on band aids because I would also skin most of my knuckles.

But even I have wired up two Fridge Mates, no problem. Ha I spit on your electrician :kooi:

 

[altpferd]

Thanks, if we keep on with the brewing next year we'll definitely follow that rigged fridge suggestion!

 

[Bribie G]

Although it's a tad cooler here (but not all that much, I moved from Bribie Island last year and still dress exactly the same) I reckon you've still got a couple of months of grace before the real hot January and onwards weather.
For example it's currently 27 degree days on the Mid North Coast but still getting down to around 14 at nights and I've been fermenting an ale for a week just by opening the fridge door at night and closing it during the day. No power.
It's holding a pretty steady 20 degrees that's perfect for the particular yeast I'm using.

If you've got room for a dead fridge you can use the frozen bottle trick in that as well, I even did a couple of lagers during the summer on Bribie in an old dead fridge I'd carted down the street on a hand trolley from a neighbour.

On further thoughts I've got a new chest freezer (for food :huh: ) and might even slip in a couple of bottles to freeze, to give the fermenting fridge a holiday before the weather heats up again.

 

[altpferd]

Bribie Island is beautiful, we love to holiday there and would love to retire there Bribie G. I'll keep an eye out for a dead fridge.

 

[eungaibitter1]

The frozen drink bottles work well. I don't have the controller but just a couple of 2 Lt frozen in old chest freezer that holds 2 fermentors. The brews will also taste better after 6 or 8 weeks if you can.

 

[indica86]

Use BE2 - it has malt and makes a world of difference to your brew.
+ 1 for frozen bottles, I have mine in an esky and can crash chill that way too.

 

[BeardedWonder]

+1 for eski with frozen bottles of water.

I have a min/max thermometer in the eski as well and have noticed something like a 4-5 degree C variance on hot days, but I'd have to check my notes to be more specific (that's 4-5 degree C variance of the ambient temps in the ESKI, not the temps of the beer. I'm looking into a monitoring system for the fermenting beer itself, just for one brew, in order to get an understanding of how this 4-5 degree ambient variance affects the beer).

It gets pretty cold in there too. Maybe not lagering temps, but cold enough to cold crash.

Works well if you don't have the space for a brew fridge (my situation).
May not necessarily work out more cost effective if you don't already have an eski that's big enough. Some of those 100+ L eskis can be friggin' expensive!