Please Recommend Me A Home Brew Kit

[schia]

Hello friends,

I started home brewing with Coopers Home Brew Kit and I found it to be really easy to use and importantly to clean. I find brewing in a carboy a little bit troublesome when it comes to cleaning and also racking it for bottling. You can argue that I did not have the right equipment's to do a fine job but nevertheless the extra effort that comes with it seems to make the Coopers kit a clear winner in my limited home brewing experience book.

Now that I've moved to AU I did not bother to drag all those brewing equipment's down with me and the big question here is, instead of what I deem as the trusty Coopers kit, what other brewing kit's in the AU market that you have found useful and can recommend it to me.

I cant wait to start brewing again and I think I'll start off with the Coopers wheat beer once I have my feet firmly planted.

 

[1974Alby]

A lot of people (myself included) use a Bunnings fermenter...$16 from the big green shed plus a $1 or two for a tap. It comes with a lid and seal which you can drill out and insert a gromet and airlock if you want, or just throw away the lid and cover the fermenter opening in glad wrap, secured with the rubber seal!..I have two of these and a Coopers DIY fermentor and I prefer the Bunnings ones. They are cheap, take up less room and work fine.

saves more money for hops and good yeasts etc!

 

[RdeVjun]

+1 for the big green shed's 25L water drum- brilliant fermenter, reasonable footprint in a fridge (I often use two at once) and quite cheap. Throwing the lid away is optional, I did and use cling film but the lid seal holds it in place. :icon_cheers:

 

[schia]

A lot of people (myself included) use a Bunnings fermenter...$16 from the big green shed plus a $1 or two for a tap. It comes with a lid and seal which you can drill out and insert a gromet and airlock if you want, or just throw away the lid and cover the fermenter opening in glad wrap, secured with the rubber seal!..I have two of these and a Coopers DIY fermentor and I prefer the Bunnings ones. They are cheap, take up less room and work fine.

saves more money for hops and good yeasts etc!

Did a google search for Bunnings and it does look like the Coopers kit only slimmer. Because I am based in Melbourne and I guess the only natural question is, this time of the year, what brew should I make to be ready for Christmas? Since summer is on its way I dont think lager would be a good choice and was thinking along the line of a nice ale.

 

[kungfutigerrob]

The carbouy that you refer to sounds like the glass ones that are popular in the States.

Not many people use these here, as they are a pain to clean and rack from.

It also sounds that you don't have any equipment yet. If that is so, then a Coopers kit is a good place to start as they come with everything that you need, including plastic bottles. These are available at Big W stores and K-Mart, though Big W usually have a wider range of accessories and cans of goop.

After saying that, I would recommend that you find a local home brew store (LHBS) and buy a kit from them, as they can offer you lots of good advice and products.

When I first started brewing, the manager of my LHBS (who came 4th overall in the recent Queensland competitions) suggested that I put aside the 1kg of dextrose that came in the kit, and add 1kg of Brew Booster, 250gms of Caramunich grains, Amarillo finishing hops and use Safale S-05 yeast.

Ofcourse this meant more sales for him, but my very first brew (only 3 months ago), turned out to be very tasty. He also emailed me a page of tips on better brewing, as opposed to me just relying on the dodgy instructions that come with kits.

 

[Silo Ted]

Another Bunnings barrell devotee here . Toss the lid, fit with a gladwrap hat and you're away.

Christmas brew ? Try an American style Pale Ale. I'm assuming youre doing kits ? Two cans of Coopers Cerveza, a bit of steeped crystal, and a combination of the American "C" hops (Cascade, Chinook, Centennial) with a focus on flavour & aroma additions, ferment for three weeks with US05 or WLP001 yeast, botle condition for 8 weeks and crack on Christmas day. Will be bloody beautuful (for a kits & bits anyway)

 

[Spork]

Coopers kit is pretty good if you need a spoon, hydro, PET bottles, can of goo etc. If you don't it's a bit of a waste. The FV and tap are easy to clean, but the FV takes up more room than it needs to and the tap does not easily fit my silicone hose to rack or to bottle with. Bunnings FTW.

 

[felten]

Apart from the coopers barrel, I use the blue willow brand jerry cans you get from bunnings. And +1 for glad wrap.

 

[seamad]

Good summer drop for me is a hefeweizen, before all graining made a couple...
Can of coopers wheaat, can of coopers wheat malt ,which is 50% wheat/ barley
If you can get some wyeast 3068, if not wb06 fine