Recommend Hbs Adelaide And Reading Material For Newbie

[Jonesy_sa]

hi all,
Like allot of people i purchased a Coopers kit and gave it a go. I made a couple of batches as directed by the kit and they turned out ok. Long story short i enjoyed the process but couldnt find a beer i enjoyed drinking (only tried local beers). Early last year i visited Europe and fell in love with German beers. I also met my partner, who is german, on the trip and she has been living here since.
We would like to start brewing and see if we can make our own German style beers or copies of our favourites.
We would like to brew beers of equivalent taste, without allot of the rubbish commercial brewers add, at a fraction of the cost and have been advised this is quite achievable. In the past i only brewed up the premix cans of goo that coopers sell, this time round im more than happy to go to more effort.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a HBS that knows their stuff and any reading material to get me on my way?
I live in Western Subs of Adelaide however i would travel an hour or more if the store and customer service was very good.
thanks

 

[Kieren]

Welcome Jonesy.

A couple of homebrew stores that cater for the more serious brewers is Beerbelly (prospect) and Brew Adelaide (up north somewhere). I avoid brewcraft and the like.

How to Brew is almost considered the homebrewers bible and available online too at howtobrew.com. There are many others worth checking out including the classic beer styles series which include many german styles, the complete joy of homebrewing and designing great beers.

Also check out brewadelaide.com/forum - where a lot of sa guys organise catch ups and talk more beer and bullshit. There is a get together this weekend which you would be more than welcome to come along. It is always good to see how other go about brewing their beer.

Kieren

 

[glaab]

beerbelly are good for gear, the guys on semaphore rd[state hydro and homebrew supplies] are good for consumables for kit or extract. plenty of gooD reading here; http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html
Cheers and welcome to AHB

edit; too slow again

 

[ben_sa]

+1 to the above.

Welcome mate! Good to see another Adelaide brewer! Get on over to brewadelaide, where the cool kids hand out

Beerbelly (wayne and amanda) is great for everything from the beginner to all grain ingredients. Nige (brewadelaide owner) is also very well priced, more AG based though imo (ill be heading that way asap!)

Ill throw my hat in the ring for The Country Brewer, in Kilburn (no affilliation) but when i moved to extract brewing/steeping etc. I found Phil to be extremely helpful. He still is now im moving across to BIAB/AG.

In short, plenty of good people with a lot of knowledge, NOt to mention the people on here and the adelaide forum.

Have fun!
Ben

 

[Jonesy_sa]

Well if that isnt a warm welcome then i dont know what is!
I have done a fair bit of reading the last few days. Probably to much as allot hasn't made sense or didint sink in...too much info can be a bad thing.
After some thought I have decided this time round BIAB is the best option for me. It doesn't look complicated and the results seem quite impressive.

I already have the Coopers kit but i still need to track down a few dollars in pieces.... A quick list includes a 70lt pot (incase i want to do double batches later on), various tools to measure temps, gas burner, bag, and the list goes on but posts for the Gear and Equipment Thread i think.
I would also like to get a handle on the software available such as BeerSmith and track down some recipes for the beers i like.

Thanks for listing those stores. They look really good and a hell of a lot better than the Brewcraft store i walked into years ago. I live near Semaphore and quite regularly at Killburn so i might drop into Beerbelly this weekend and grab some prices on bits and pieces.

With my previous kit i used the plastic pip bottles. Apart from kegging which seems expensive what are my options?

cheers

 

[woodwormm]

+ 1 for Amanda and Wayne at Beerbelly,

but my other fave and who also imparted soooo much knowledge onto me and my mates about K&K along with all the extras... is Holden Hill Bill, as we call him..

i think the shop's Brewmaker? (happy to be corrected) and it's just up from the holden hill copshop, just under the pool hall where there was that shooting all those years back.. but i digress,

Holden Hill Bill is great with getting the best out of a can, and extremely helpful and generous with his information, same goes for the younger guy there, Julian i think.

enjoy.

 

[cynical]

Hi,
New brewer here too. I bought my stuff from Coles and looked in a Brewmaker shop but it seemed expensive. Are wayme and amanda cheaper. (is amanda hot hehe)
c

 

[Lodan]

Hi,
New brewer here too. I bought my stuff from Coles and looked in a Brewmaker shop but it seemed expensive. Are wayme and amanda cheaper. (is amanda hot hehe)
c

Being a new brewer here you wouldn't be aware that they're forum members

From memory the only brand that coles sell is the coles brand (this possibly explains your beer taste problem here http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...p;#entry792525)

Coles brand kits are not as good as the coopers cans (which start at the base and slowly increase in price and quality). Brewmaker's prices are reasonable for the type of product they're selling.

 

[cynical]

teehee. I didnt know. Can i use treacle instead of the stuff in the cans. seems bloody expensive
c

 

[Amin]

i think the shop's Brewmaker? (happy to be corrected) and it's just up from the holden hill copshop, just under the pool hall where there was that shooting all those years back.. but i digress,

Sharky's?

 

[Lodan]

teehee. I didnt know. Can i use treacle instead of the stuff in the cans. seems bloody expensive
c

:icon_offtopic: i'll answer at your other thread

 

[Hatchy]

teehee. I didnt know. Can i use treacle instead of the stuff in the cans. seems bloody expensive
c

The cans are expensive? You should be able to brew a 23L batch for under $40 even with some proper yeast & some hops. Sounds like pretty cheap beer to me.

 

[Tanga]

Wow, quick move to BIAB. It you don't want to make the leap just yet you good try steeping specialty grains and adding them to the fermenter.

 

[bignath]

Hi,
New brewer here too. I bought my stuff from Coles and looked in a Brewmaker shop but it seemed expensive. Are wayme and amanda cheaper. (is amanda hot hehe)
c

I'm wondering if your confusing Brewmaker with Brewcraft....I've never been to the Holden Hill shop but i used to live down the road from a brewcraft (yellow and black signage everywhere), and yes, they most certainly are a rip off.

Amanda and Wayne (Beerbelly) are very cheap, but they tend to specialise in ingredients and equipment more suited to AG brewing as opposed to K&K style.
I get all my ingredients from them. They are very, very good.

Have heard excellent things from Nige's shop, just haven't got there yet.

teehee. I didnt know. Can i use treacle instead of the stuff in the cans. seems bloody expensive
c

This is the one that really perplexed me.
You say you get your ingredients from Coles, yet you think it's an expensive way to make beer....Are you serious?
If you're using the homebrand kits, your spending around $7 per can, so in total probably making two and a half boxes of beer for maybe $12-15. What's expensive about that? Even if your using the Coopers range (most coles supermarkets are getting rid of them from their shelves) you might be paying around $20 for two and a half boxes......an absolute bargain if you ask me.

I'm sure you could use treacle but the beer? would taste like shit.....

Just go buy a coopers can, better yeast, add some hops and your making beer for less than a six pack of commercial stuff...

 

[Jonesy_sa]

I think ive been HiJacked!!!!
also....

Wow, quick move to BIAB. It you don't want to make the leap just yet you good try steeping specialty grains and adding them to the fermenter.

BIAB seems pretty similar to this except perhaps a larger scale so i figured i would just take the leap With that said it will take me a little while to collect all the bits and pieces i need so thought i might do something along those lines; maybe two batches, to kill the in-between time and get my fermenter temps nice. Not to familiar with the process but figured i would discuss it with the guys at the brew store.
Is this the method you use, had much luck?

 

[drsmurto]

hi all,
Like allot of people i purchased a Coopers kit and gave it a go. I made a couple of batches as directed by the kit and they turned out ok. Long story short i enjoyed the process but couldnt find a beer i enjoyed drinking (only tried local beers). Early last year i visited Europe and fell in love with German beers. I also met my partner, who is german, on the trip and she has been living here since.
We would like to start brewing and see if we can make our own German style beers or copies of our favourites.
We would like to brew beers of equivalent taste, without allot of the rubbish commercial brewers add, at a fraction of the cost and have been advised this is quite achievable. In the past i only brewed up the premix cans of goo that coopers sell, this time round im more than happy to go to more effort.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a HBS that knows their stuff and any reading material to get me on my way?
I live in Western Subs of Adelaide however i would travel an hour or more if the store and customer service was very good.
thanks

Bill at Brewmaker in Holden Hill was my first point of call back in the kits and bits days. Lots of knowledge relevant to kit brewing and with plenty of packs to help you move at your own pace through steeping grain and adding hops, good yeast etc throught to AG (in it's various guises).

 

[Malted]

I think ive been HiJacked!!!!
also....

BIAB seems pretty similar to this except perhaps a larger scale so i figured i would just take the leap With that said it will take me a little while to collect all the bits and pieces i need so thought i might do something along those lines; maybe two batches, to kill the in-between time and get my fermenter temps nice. Not to familiar with the process but figured i would discuss it with the guys at the brew store.
Is this the method you use, had much luck?

I think that BIAB is a very fine way to start making beer. I don't use it myself as I use three vessels but really like the idea and sheer simplicity of BIAB. Save up the bickies to buy a decent brand 40L urn and you couldn't go wrong. Some brewers do doubles with their urn by well er, having a second urn that is done simultaneously. Otherwise a big arse aluminium pot is much cheaper than a stainless steel pot.

I reckon BeerBelly at Shop 6, 421 Prospect Road, Blair Athol will get you sorted. The proprietor of the store is a member of this forum. Despite specialising in all grain supplies, they have cans of extract, Coopers goo and dried extract etc. Amamnda is pretty much the store operator and is good for advice.

For all grain supplies your best best is with BrewAdelaide (delivers free on Fridays to most metro and northern areas) but he does not have a physical store (internet + garage) to be able to chew the fat with him.

Oh yeah, keep livin the dream!