Places that do keg exchange (filled with beer!)

[adzr]

I'm based in Melbourne Victoria and the only place I know that will exchange your empty 19L keg with one full of the beer they brew on premises (at a cost, obviously), is The Brew Barn in Hoppers Crossing. (http://www.thebrewbarn.com.au/)

The only problem is, the beer they make is not all-grain. They buy in some sort of malt extract in big steel drums (probably 200L in size - just guessing though) and use that as the basis of the beers. The end result is still reasonably good, but it's not the quality of an all-grain brew you come to expect from a homebrew shop.

Normally I would not want to just "buy" a pre-made homebrew beer (takes the fun out of making it), but I am preparing for a party and the logistics of myself making multiple beers and having them ready all at once is too difficult, as I can only brew one beer at a time. Hence, in this case I liked the convenience of handing over a bunch of empty kegs and walking away with full kegs.

So does anyone know of any other places in Melbourne that do a keg exchange like this but using all-grain beer? Or any other suggestion that might be helpful to getting all-grain beer ready to drink from multiple kegs quickly?

Thanks.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Haven't been yet, but I know http://thepublicbrewery.com.au/ does brew on premises all grain. It's in Croydon.

 

[Bridges]

Buckleys brewery in healesville does it I believe. Can't comment on prices or the beer itself as it's been ages since I tried it.

 

[sponge]

It wouldn't surprise me if there's a couple of micros around your area which would be happy to help out.

I know HopDog up here are able to fill kegs with their delicious nectar (well, I'm pretty sure you can purchase the kegs filled with beer and return the kegs for the deposit you left. Wouldn't surprise me if you could BYO though and have a brewery fill it)

 

[Black n Tan]

Buckleys brewery in healesville does it I believe. Can't comment on prices or the beer itself as it's been ages since I tried it.

I wouldn't buy Buckleys beer, horrible, horrible stuff. I think they have a chronic infection issue.

 

[Bridges]

I wouldn't buy Buckleys beer, horrible, horrible stuff. I think they have a chronic infection issue.

All righty then. Line through that...

 

[adzr]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

In terms of going directly to a micro brewery (whose main purpose is to sell the beer they make rather than ingredients/equipment like a homebrew shop), is that they're going to sell it at quite a high price. The cost of getting the 19L keg filled at the Brew Barn beer is only about $50-65 depending on the beer. To get that much from a microbrewery may cost $200 (I assume??). I'll definitely ask the question though.

The other advantage buying from a homebrew shop is that almost certainly no one at the party would have had that beer - it would be new and different for them. I'll see if Grain & Grape can sell the beers they sell in the FWKs ready to go in a keg in the same fashion as the Brew Barn.

DJ Lethal - Thanks I've heard of them but never been, will check on them.

Any more suggestions on homebrew places that may do this is welcome, cheers guys.

 

[lobedogg]

Not sure how much time you have up your sleeve but if you've got over 2 weeks I'd be buying a few wort kits from Grain & Grape and fermenting them out yourself....

If you don't have enough fermenters/cubes, more is always good!

 

[adzr]

Lobedogg - that is exactly what I do currently, however I only have one spot to fermenter in a temperature controlled environment, so I can only do one batch at a time. I'm looking to do 3 19L batches and 2 50L batches, so it'll take too long. Even then, it's risky in case anything goes wrong. Since it's a party, I need to be sure they'll all be good.

Also, I don't have the capacity to do 50L batches myself. For simplicity, I just want to be able to purchase already made home-brew quality beer!

 

[zeggie]

Ive investigated this before and it was just easier and cheaper to get a few slabs of quality beer.

 

[wombil]

Wacko,150 litres,U Beaut Party.

 

[adzr]

Zeggie - Well The Brew Barn does do this for only approx $160 for a 50L keg - way cheaper than buying slabs and marginally more expensive than brewing yourself. But as I said, only problem is they make them from extract kits which while not a deal breaker, is not ideal. I thought surely some other homebrew shop / micro brewery offers this service with all grain quality beer, even if it costs a bit more.

 

[Blind Dog]

Anywhere that sells beer they've made has to charge excise which adds a significant cost. Brew on premises effectively get an exemption as they allow you to use their equipment to make beer for personal consumption and can register as such with the ATO.

I'd check out the public brewery as linked above

(edited: to add last comment)

 

[Grainer]

Public brewery.. you can have a few great beers and a meal too

 

[DU99]

Cheeky peak brewery,but that's a bit far