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Robbo

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I recently bottled my first batch of beer, and im ready to start another batch, except im not sure what to do, any suggestions would be greatly appreaciated. My first brew was simply a Morgan's Australian Bitter with 1kg of Glucose. Im just looking for something that will taste better and it isnt a huge jump from just adding sugar and water :p

I guess im after something simple with a few extra's like maybe malts or something instead of glucose?

-Robbo
 
Robbo
Here's a couple of quick and easy ideas to think of....
-Try using some DME or LME instead of glucose. (Dry/Liquid Malt Extract)
-Add a little bit of specialty grain ie crystal
-Try a different good quality yeast
Ask your local HBS (Home Brew Store) owner for some tips

Try to only do one thing at a time though, that way you know how it has affected your beer.

Hoops
 
well done. welcome to a great and highly addictive hobby.

as for what to do next, you could see if your Homebrew shop has some brew boosters or similar products. they are a mix of dried malt and dextrose (from memory). these seem to make a better beer. they also might offer things like grain combo packs and some of the hops in a tea bag type thing to help make a better kit beer.

if he looks at you like you have some weird disease, try someone else and shop around. not sure if you are close or not, but the blokes at grain and grape are a helpful bunch of people (sounds like an ad i know, but i live in darwin.....)

i'm sure a few of the home brew shop people on the forum, could offer you some "better" pointers. :p
 
Robbo,

congratulations on making your first beer! Now that you have gotten started in this addictive hobby, it's time to have a crack at a quality brew. If you're game, try this simple recipe.

Go to the homebrew shop and get yourself a good quality kit (Morgans Blue Mountain, Morgans Amber, Coopers Draught, etc), 1kg Liquid malt extract (LME), 250g medium crystal malt grains (ask the HBS guy to crack it for you), 15g hop pellets (say goldings or tettnanger variety), a nylon grain steeping bag, and a packet of Safale dry yeast.

Put 4L water in a pot and bring to the boil. Put your grains in the steeping bag, tie it in a knot and throw it in the pot. Bring back to the boil for 10 mins. Take the bag out (do NOT squeeze the grains!) and sit it in a colander over the pot. Pour some hot water from a keettle over the grains to rinse out the sugars. Into the pot, pour in your LME, bring to the boil for 10 mins. Next, pour in your can of kit wort and dissolve well. Put the lid on the pot and put the pot in a bath of cold water for 10 mins. Keep replacing the cold water until the wort is cool (under 30C is good). Pour the wort into your fermenter, aerate heavily (i.e turn it into a pile of foam!), top up to 23L then aerate heavily again. Add your Safale and ferment as usual for 1 week. After 1 week, put your 15g hop pellets into a coffee mug and pour in just boiled water to fill the mug. Let sit for 2 minutes, then pour into your fermenter (if you rack to secondary, pour into your secondary fermenter before racking) and do not stir. Let sit for 1 week in primary or 2 weeks in secondary. Prime and bottle as usual and drink after 3 weeks.

This should give you a nice English/Irish style amber ale. Enjoy!

Cheers - Snow
 
I would put 500g light DME and 250g wheat DME and 250g dextrose into a pan containing 2L cold water. Stir to dissolve, bring to a simmer using moderate heat, skim the scum that forms when it darkens, simmer the wort for 5 minutes to sterilise it, add to fermenter.

Once you have done a wort boil you can steep grains, add hops etc.

That mix of extracts and sugars is our most popular simple Pack, BTW

Jovial Monk
 
Go Robbo!

What sort of beer do you like to drink? You'd be amazed how quick you can start making a similar style. Post a few of your favourites. You can get pretty close without doing too much extra.

One of the things that I love about brewing is that you can make it as simple or challenging as you like. There is always something new to play with.
 
Thanks for all the support and advice! I hope to start my next batch on saturday, but im still not sure what im gong to make, i think ill end up deciding at the last minute :)

-Robbo
 
Robbo,

Something that tastes good and is simple is one of the 15 litre ESBeer fresh wort kits. I have brewed a couple of the APA's and I was quite pleased.

cheers
 
;) G'day Robbo

At the risk of putting all fellow brewers offside heres the recipe ive brewed last 6 brews when I havent the time for a full mash brew...

1 Can Morgans Stockmans Draught

Half Can of Coopers Bavarian Lager

600 Gms Dextrose

Mix all into the fermenter with very hot water...(not Boiling)

Use the yeast from the Morgans and ferment for 5 days at 20C - 23C
Rack into 2nd fermenter after 5 days and leave at room temp for 4 days then bottle or keg as usual

The SG should be around 1047

This is a surprisingly clean tasting brew ....

Cheers :chug:

JWB
 
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