Where Is A Good Gear Place In Brisbane?

[Temple of Seth]

Hi everyone. I'm a new transplant in Brisbane (specifically, St. Lucia), who's been brewing for 5 years but couldn't pay the price Quantas asked to move the brewery. Therefore, in the interests of getting off the ground with the hobby I dearly miss, I am interested in gleaning the least path from A (me not brewing) to B (me brewing on a regular basis). The quantity we're optimizing here is a function of two variables 1) cost - I can likely budget $50/fortnight to the hobby at most 2) location - I have acces to automotive transport through friends but for the near future it's easiest to get places via bicycle (obviously for fermenters there will have to be arrangements made) - I am currently located in St. Lucia, near U.Q. I expect to be here for 20 more months at least - plenty of time for several experiments with light malt-based fermentations.

In short, I need gear. I am looking for:
fermenters (I like glass, but I'm willing to experiment - how else does one learn?)
copper tubing and tube benders (hardware store suggestions, if you would)
ingredients, preferrably in bulk (especially dry malt extracts)
strange early beer herbs (mugwort, marsh rosemary etc. - as available on this continent without quarantine)(ooh, I understand that there is an indigenous hop replacement - Dodonea sp. was it?)

In general, I'm looking for 1. brew stores within easy distance of St. Lucia and 2. Hardware stores within easy distance of St. Lucia. I know it took a while to say this simple thing, but I'm currently indulging in my taste for Oz wine.

oooh ooh - and is there anybody on the list that's done some experimentation with the sap of Eucalyptus gunnii?

Do any of these Queensland palms produce something worthy of wine? I'm looking at a share house next semester - so I'll actually have a yard. I take it as wrote that there will be palm trees.

What about bamboo sap? Any knowers out there?

 

[Snow]

whoa! Many questions you have!

I can answer a couple...

For your nearest (and best) brewshop, I would go to Western Suburbs Homebrew on moggill Rd, Chapel Hill. Mal there will help you with a lot of the stuff you want, including bulk grain. As for your basic brew kit, I would scour the Saturday Weekend Shopper and trading post for a second-hand set-up. Many people getting out of brewing, so you can get fermenters, bottles, cappers, etc. Also try calling the local brew clubs (yellow pages) and ask them to raise your plight at their next meeting. You never know what you might end up with!

For copepr tube, look in the yellow pages for plumber suppliers. Near you, the tradelink plumbing in Taringa (Moggill Rd, outbound side, I think) has stacks of tubing, elbow bends, t-pieces, shanks, fittings, etc - not sure of price, though.

Eucalyptus, bamboo, palm sap wine experiments? Dude you're on your own there!

Cheers - Snow

 

[barfridge]

Welcome Temple of Seth!

Make sure you keep us up to date on your experiments in brewing, sounds like really interesting stuff.

 

[jgriffin]

I agree with Snow about Western Suburbs Home Brew being a good place to start.
You should also check out http://www.tradingpost.com.au and http://classifieds.news.com.au/index.jsp

Most people in Oz use plastic fermenters i find, personlly i find that they bounce well so glass probably won't happen unless i decide to brew lambics or mean or something else that needs to age.