New to brewing.

[CoxR]

Hi all, I am just wanting to introduce myself I have been a member here for nearly a year and prior to that I had the occasional read over on some topics that interested me. I am more of an avid consumer but have always been interested in brewing.
To date I have not brewed anything and don’t intend to until I have all the required equipment. I do however use a brew on premises brewer and have a keg setup so I can enjoy good beer at home for a good price. I have only been doing this for about 6 weeks and have used this forum and youtube to overcome all the problems that new keggers endure, so thanks to all the contributors to the forum for a vast amount of knowledge that exists here.
Anyway now that I think I have overcome problems with kegging and carbonation, (I actually intestinally made a keg go flat so I could play around to re carbonated it) I think my next step is actually brew something. I have 2 fermenters that came with the keg setup I purchased and a heap of other gear to get me started. I am waiting picking up a second hand fridge soon that I can change the thermostat in for a ferment fridge and will look at putting down fresh wort kits to get that side sorted. Again I understand this is still technically not home brewing but my wife and I want to drink good beer.
What do people recommend for my next steps in brewing after a few fresh wort brews have been done?

Thanks,
Rodney

 

[Yob]

Clearly a man of patience, that'll serve you well.

Cheers

 

[MastersBrewery]

You'll find fresh wort kits are still able to be "played" with to some degree, use of different yeasts, dry hoping, even adding candy sugars, can change a simple brew into something to drool over. Try and have a good read up on any yeast you haven't tried (which is probably all of them) that way you can avoid the pit falls and learn from the mistakes of others. Yeasts can throw big flavours the same as hops and malt. Yob above is the man for hops. If your not sure of a combination ask.


Oh yeah, welcome and enjoy the forum!!

MB

 

[CoxR]

Thanks guys, and yes Yob I am patient however it has been a very hard learned skill.
So the idea to play with fresh wort kits is the go to learn a little about brewing. I am sure this will give reasonablly drinkable results.
I am happy with the beers I have had from the brew on prmisis place I use actually they are bloody good, but I do really want to play with 20 litre amounts.
Why does my favorate comercial beer Coopers Pale taste not as good as it did before I started kegging from a brew on premisis?

 

[contrarian]

As a new brewer I can say that fresh wort kits are a great place to start. Pretty hard to make bad beer with one and plenty you can do to improve them and experiment with fermentation temp and yeast.

The next step for me was brew in a bag which is a gear efficient way to get into all grain and you can get started for about $30. My setup cost a few hundred but I don't have your patience an wanted something that could do 40L batches because I'm time poor and something I wouldn't want to upgrade in 6 months.

My advice would be to save the cubes from the fwk's because it sounds like it won't be long before you're filling them with beer you've made yourself!

If you're interested in giving that a go in time make the effort to see someone else brew, it's not hard, brewers are a friendly lot and love sharing a brew day. That's the only way to find out what a simple and forgiving process it really is. I've made beer that wasn't exactly what I was aiming for but it was still beer that I thoroughly enjoyed drinking and now makes me sad when I have to pay $50 for a carton of something semi decent!

Enjoy!

 

[Yob]

Why does my favorate comercial beer Coopers Pale taste not as good as it did before I started kegging from a brew on premisis?

As a former coopers pale drinker, religiously, and an eventual convert to AG brewing, simply, the eyes are opened to the possibility of creation and I shit you not, therein is the wonder and magic of the hobby...

Being handed a beer is in no way the same as creating in fo yourself, it is truly one of the great pleasures in life...

From grain to brain as they say

 

[CrookedFingers]

I'm with Yob on this CoxR.

I am a Coopers lover, but ,brewing your own is such a pleasure you will soon want to drink your own over most commercial brews !
There are so many variables, no brew will taste the same !

Great hobby !

CF

 

[Tropico]

Patience is the most important thing.

As you already have the fermenters, you could try a kit and kilo as a test run.

I know that this is starting at the bottom, but it will give you invaluable experience in actually doing a ferment at a very modest cost.

You may not get the quality of beer that you are after or what can be achieved, but some of the kits are reasonably good, and with a few bits thrown in you may produce something that is quite acceptable and even better than most economical commercial beers.

It will also give you the experience of the process of fermenting. Once you have your process down pat and have overcome all the little mistakes that can be made, then the next big step is achieved.

 

[CoxR]

Thanks again an sorry for my no replies. Today was my first day off in near a month.
I have had a chance tonight to read some more info here to assist me on my beer journey, I have also ran out of beer in my kegs and and am back to drinking Coopers untill next Saturday. Anyway what I am looking at after brewing some fresh wort gear is buildaing a single vessel unit, or Braumeister clone. I am very fortunate that I am a fitter and turner by trade and now a maintenace manager, I also have some very talented boilermakers and fitters that work for me as well as access to lots of control gear, electrics, valves and steel to build something half decent.
I have chosen this style of brewing due to size of the rig and the somewhat ease of reproducing a beer. I am only going of what I have read here and what I have watched on youtube. I can build anything from a proper shop diagrame and construction manual. I can build most things from looking at something but it is beer and I don't want to mess around.
Can anyone suggest a good build to follow? Or have a construction list and manual?
Thanks,
Rodney

 

[Blind Dog]

First post on this site, so take it with as much salt as you wish.

I started brewing again 9 months ago after a gap of too many years since Uni. As a Pom, coopers pale ale was my go to as UK beers are generally expensive rubbish here (hook norton being the reliable exception). Did one K&K and to be honest it tasted like crap, although apparently just as it should per the local HBS.

I would honestly recommend Nick JDs BIAB thread plus Lord Gumbas dual pot stove top method from this site, and maxi BIAB (Google search) for inspiration - all excellent. I got a $20 19l Big W pot, $20 15l Kmart pot (as Local Big W just had the one), some viole from Spotlight, Dr Smurtos golden ale recipe from this site, hops & cracked grain & silicon hose from craftbrewer, 20l cube from anaconda and 3 weeks later was drinking the gods own nectar. Cost me a little more than a case of mega swill from Dans.

Haven't looked back since - apart from the lavender scented wit bier that tasted like toilet freshner, cumin in a stout ( thought it was ground star anise ) and a few other experiments that ended life down the sink...

Hope you enjoy the journey as much as I have so far

 

[Clarkholio]

DR Smurto's golden was my first BIAB AG about 2years ago as well and is still a mainstay in my brewing calendar inbetween making probably too many high gravity IPA's. www.biabrewer.info is a pretty good forum with plenty of info on single vessel brewing.