Simple Brew

[el capitan]

Hi there,

I'm just wondering on the best simple brews that you can buy from K-Mart and Big W.

I'm only asking cause I don't have the time to add hops and its going to be a while before the next pay day comes round

I've done the Coopers Mexican, Mexican with lime, and Larger. Now looking at a Stout or anything else.

Thanks

 

[pablo_h]

Coopers pale ale and coopers stout.

Just do either with BE#2 and 500g dry malt.
You can go to most brewshops and buy hops in a teabag, you just steep them in a jug of hot water and throw it in the fermenter.

 

[Interloper]

Coopers tins are on sale at K-mart at the moment just for the record if you are trying to save some cash.

 

[samhighley]

Personally I think the best Coopers kit currently available at supermarkets is the European Lager.

Sam

 

[Hutch]

Personally I think the best Coopers kit currently available at supermarkets is the European Lager.

Sam

+1.

Makes a very good beer, for a kit. Make sure you pick the newest can off the shelf (check the "best-before" date under the can).

 

[Mitternacht Brauer]

+1.

Makes a very good beer, for a kit. Make sure you pick the newest can off the shelf (check the "best-before" date under the can).

I very much agree . Half way through my second keg of Euro lager at the moment . This one does'nt hold out much promise to last long either.

 

[Crusty]

el capitan,
I put down a Canadian Blonde International using the BE1 as stated on the can & it's a great beer. My fermentation was a little slow, almost two weeks. I kegged it after two days testing with the hydrometer to make sure fermentation was over. 230 kpa for a full 48 hours then burped it to serving pressure, 30-50 kpa seems to work pretty good with my system. Pale colour, crisp & slightly bitter. I like it.
Crusty
Edit: Almost half a keg gone already.

 

[Katherine]

Coopers dark ale makes a nice beer. Through a T of cinnamon in at the end...

 

[Interloper]

Coopers dark ale makes a nice beer. Through a T of cinnamon in at the end...

I have a coopers dark ale at the momemnt with nothing more than the kit, kit yeast and a kg of BE2 and it is very, very drinkable at just 3 weeks old. 22 litres for under $18.

 

[griffo_69]

Heres a cheap brew, i stumbled upon this one by accident. i had brewed 3x brews at once before winter, a tooheys extra dry style beer made from black rock lager which cost me about 40 bucks buy the time the added all the hops, malts ect, and a coopers euro lager and i had a few bucks left in the ashtray and 1kg of bundy white sugar in the cupboard so i bought a Brigalow Club gold from Bi-lo for $9.37 and the $2 worth of bundy white sugar and its been seriously the best beer i have ever made out of pure chance and ive been brewin for around 5 years now, its had the best clarity, the best head retention/carbination and that was only after 2 weeks of letting it sit. so that works out to be $11.37 so for a couple of bucks you can have pretty good night with all your mates. ive done a few of the brigalows brand, extra bitter and also brigalow new. for the price you cant go wrong, my mates are still raveing 2 months later on that club gold batch i did and i normaly use dextrose but thought id use up my sugar and yeah its a goodie! Now i always love to push the trolley for the misses at
BI-LO
cheers
Griffo

 

[petesbrew]

I managed a not-half-bad JSGA clone out of the Brigalow Wheat kit - adding some tcb liquid wheat extract,a heap of amarillo, and US-05 yeast.

Other than that, I like the Coopers brand Canadian Blonde, Pale Ale, Dark Ale and the Stout. Good reliable kits.

 

[Bribie G]

ive done a few of the brigalows brand, extra bitter and also brigalow new. for the price you cant go wrong, my mates are still raveing 2 months later on that club gold batch i did and i normaly use dextrose but thought id use up my sugar and yeah its a goodie! Now i always love to push the trolley for the misses at
BI-LO
cheers
Griffo

Back in the late 70s early 80s Brigalow was THE home brew kit in Queensland and quite frankly it was pretty ordinary compared to todays kits. For starters they were only about 1.2 kg and I doubt if they were kettled, just a squirt of this and that. However after getting back into brewing after nearly 20 years I'm surprised to see them still around, and I suppose they have to be doing something right to survive for 30 years, in competition with the likes of Coopers etc. I'm tempted to give them a go, there's still a BI LO at Morayfield. At that price they may be good as a tou-can

 

[The Big Burper]

BG,

I found a can of that Brigalow Club Gold at the local Woolies, $9.60 a can, plus $1.19 for a kilo of the dreaded sugar.

The can states ingredients as malt, extract of cereals :huh: , hops and yeast.

One interesting thing is that on the yeast sachet, it says IMPORTED FROM EUROPE.
so it may be the yeast that makes it an acceptable brew.

I let ya's know.


cheers
Dave (el cheapo)

 

[Bribie G]

Ha! Was in Morayfield today and went to the last BI LO this side of the black stump and all I could get was a can of Brigalow Bitter to try out! Story of my life, if there's any more Club Gold at Woolies I'll get one tomorrow. I'm having an ale now as the fermenter is sterilising ready to take the Brigalow (just did a bottling) and starting a separate thread on my K&K experiment as it may be of interest to new and some experienced kitters.

BTW I'll bet any money that the extract of cereals means corn syrup (aka glucose syrup) because that was definitely what they used to pack the kits with in the 80s.

We'll have to compare notes.

 

[Thunderlips]

Personally I think the best Coopers kit currently available at supermarkets is the European Lager.

I always thought their Bavarian Lager was quite a bit better.
A damn shame they have recently discontinued it.

 

[Bribie G]

Probably off topic because the O.P. specified supermarket brews but I am more and more leaning to Morgans kits which of course are only in brew shops. However for the extra 3 or 4 bucks I have found them to be better than Coopers in flavour and don't develop the chill haze that has affected the last 3 Coopers I have done.

For example I did two identical Coopers Lager from the original Coopers series with 750 dex, 500 LDME and cluster teabag. Also a Bavarian Lager with the same mentioned sugars and a hallertau teabag. All three have shocking chill haze that makes them look like what the public consider home brew should look like.

By contrast I have two Morgans, a Queensland Bitter brewed to exactly the same specs as the above and a Queensland Lager with liquid malt extract and a Saaz teabag.

They are bright as a button when cold so I assume the problem is the kit, not the adjuncts.

Furthermore, the Morgans with the teabag are, to my taste over hopped so I won't use a teabag next time, whilst in the case of the Coopers the added hops have hit the spot.

So, back on topic, I would definitely trust a Morgans brew plus a kilo to do a better job than a Coopers plus a kilo. IMHO

 

[el capitan]

Cheers all.

Gives myself and hopefully a few others a few ideas on what to look for.

Jus to let you know, I've just put down a Bravian and Stout at the moment with BH2 and the yeasts that are supplied. Hopefully they come out good. Going to leave them for 3 weeks before bottling. Does anyone reccomend using the finings for these brews?