Oztops

[deebee]

I bought some oztops recently and I love em. For those who dont know, this is a kit containing yeast and bottle tops. The yeast is designed to ferment fruit juice and the bottle tops have a little pressure valve built in. You put the yeast in a bottle of fruit juice and screw on the lid. The pressure valve stops the bottle from exploding but retains enough pressure to carbonate the drink. You can produce alcoholic fruit drinks in a few days. Well my wife loved the lambrusco thing I made. The scrumpy from cloudy apple juice was really nice too, nice balance of sweet and dry. And really easy too.

BUT GET THIS: I made a porter last week and overfilled the fermenter by a few litres. After pitching the yeast and giving it a final aeration mix, I tapped some wort into a couple of PET bottles, fitted the oztops lids and gave an extra shake for good luck.

They fermented beautifully and after a week I tasted one. Well it could do with some conditioning but it was actually pretty good. There was some hops muck stuck to the side of the bottle so the bottle is a chucker but none got in the glass. So I got an early sample of a brew that is still sitting in primary and can get a fair idea of how its going, whether to dry hop, etc. And to top if off, there is a thick layer of yeast at the bottom of the PET bottle ready for another starter.

Bloody great little system. I can see myself doing this every brew now.

 

[sosman]

Hey you almost convinced me to go buy some. The closest thing I have done is at

and the full story is at brewiki: Its Just Not Beer

 

[RobW]

Deebee

where do you buy oztops - supermarket or bottleshop?

 

[deebee]

Ken,

homebrew shop

 

[RobW]

Cheers

 

[Justin]

Also straight from the oztops blokes, direct. $25, including free postage to your door. Takes 2-3 days dependingon where you are. That's how I got mine.

www.oztops.com.au

 

[kman]

mini only cost me $18 from my local homebrew shop