Woolies stock changing?

[trustyrusty]

Hi There

ATM about 50% of beer is Cooper's Pale from woolies with some addtional hops - I like it, its easy to buy etc etc.
I noticed last time I was there the homebrand was rebranded and when I went in the other day there was very little stock or Coopers and seemed to be on lower self. Not a lot of homebrand either. Are they stopping Coopers and just having homebrand and slowly getting rid of all?

Thanks

 

[sp0rk]

Coopers have confirmed that Woolies have just about halved the stock they're buying from Coopers

 

[trustyrusty]

You mean they are buying 50% less of each or dropping stock like pale ale and just having lager and draught?

PS Dan Murphy had Coopers Premium in stock for a while, that has gone now, well at my local anyway. (I think in this case they might think is a threat to other sales, especially with the brew machine you can buy at Harvey Normans)

 

[trustyrusty]

mmmmm.... according to coopers customer service..

"Woolworths have probably taken DIY out of your local store." They suggest I call Woolies.....annoying... my local is quite a big store and busy, not a regional size store with limited stock...

From what I can tell things are changing at Woolies.

Dan Murphies might hold stock.

 

[Hangover68]

My local had decent stock last time i looked but did have a lot at reduced price, possibly clearing out.
What is the woolies homebrand like ?

 

[Indian Giver]

My local had decent stock last time i looked but did have a lot at reduced price, possibly clearing out.
What is the woolies homebrand like ?

Pretty decent. I'm normally an AG brewer, but went into a competition (no prize) - well really a challenge, for doing a woolies knk beer. (google home brand knk comp).

Mine was a bit outside the remit of the comp but some really good beers were made. I was happy with my southern brown - similar to Hook Norton's Old Hooky.

 

[trustyrusty]

Well when you start adding exta hops + LDM, liquid malts etc etc are your really tasting the home brand...
Thats what gives the S*^*^ with ratebeerkits ....not one the same, so you really cannot compare ...

 

[Indian Giver]

True. However, whether coopers, woolies or others, you never get enough yeast for the kit (pitching rates/yeast health being the joint #1 (sanitisation the other) importance in any type of brewing), so extra yeast/a proper sized packet of yeast is an automatic purchase (or save up multiple packets for one beer), you pay for sugar/dextrose per the basic instructions (so that sort of deals with the LME/DME), so how much is the woolies kit (or any kit) even with the basic kit.

The point is that it's a good starting point in terms of wort production time being reduced/eliminated. Sure, it costs more than the AG equivalent, but as an AG brewer, if I'm doing a kit beer - it's mainly to quickly fill a keg. So you're buying goo for time. As it stood, at $1.20 a litre or so, it's not the cheapest HB around, but still far cheaper than commercial and having followed up with a similar style beer in the same session, the HB has significantly less faults than its commercial equivalent.

A well made kit beer is better than a badly made AG beer and from having done the experiment myself - the stuff that makes a bad AG beer (or a bad kit beer) isn't the wort production side of things as a rule, it's the other stuff that all types of brewing have in common, namely process driven post mashout - yeast health, brewery sanitisation, recipe construction/ingredient selection.

That was the point of the experiment in the first instance - what do we learn from being experience AG brewers and how does that equate to being a better kit brewer (and therefore able to advise other newbies in a more positive direction).

 

[trustyrusty]

Cheers,

Atm my recipe is kit + kit yeast + steeped hops (only about 10g)
Mostly coopers pale and I think is pretty good. I find beer finishes within time frame, seems to be enough yeast. Temp control has really helped. That is probably the most important thing. The home brand I found a bit thin but was before temp control....

Don’t really have time to do much else. Love to do AG but too much time, extra investment...

 

[Indian Giver]

Where are you getting hops from? It may be that by buying from a shop that specialises in both AG and kit, you'll be buying per gram a great deal cheaper.

For instance, my LHBS is around $6-10 per 100g of hops, depending on the variety. If you're buying in those "steeping hops" packs, then you're likely paying too much.

Understand completely the AG time thing. And if you can get a good beer from a kit (which is quite possible), then happy days.

As for yeast, my LHBS does have dried yeast packets on special each month. When a variety I use comes on, I'll stock up and then use them as I can.

As for the Coopers vs Woolies thing - I can't honestly offer an opinion as both beers I've produced with each have had additions. But I will say as a base, both have made excellent beers.

 

[trustyrusty]

I got hops from hbs, 100 g bottle... 14.00 I think it was cheers

 

[pcmfisher]

the HB has significantly less faults than its commercial equivalent.

Say what?

 

[Indian Giver]

Say what?

I have side by sided a home brew of same style alongside its commercial equivalent in this instance.

Could taste a touch of diacetyl (not necessarily a fault), some chlorophenol issue and a sizeable whack of acetyldehide in the commercial one that the home brew did not possess. One thing with a KnK IPA, with good yeast health and a low ferment temp - if there is kit twang, good yeast handling and a sizeable hop bite and bitterness did a fine job of covering it.

 

[pcmfisher]

I have side by sided a home brew of same style alongside its commercial equivalent in this instance.

Could taste a touch of diacetyl (not necessarily a fault), some chlorophenol issue and a sizeable whack of acetyldehide in the commercial one that the home brew did not possess. One thing with a KnK IPA, with good yeast health and a low ferment temp - if there is kit twang, good yeast handling and a sizeable hop bite and bitterness did a fine job of covering it.

By commercial you mean a micro brewery offering? If so, yeah ok, but not from the mega swill breweries.
The big boys beers although not nice a lot of the time are technically close perfect and exactly the same every time.

 

[Indian Giver]

By commercial you mean a micro brewery offering? If so, yeah ok, but not from the mega swill breweries.
The big boys beers although not nice a lot of the time are technically close perfect and exactly the same every time.

It was from Little Creatures. I will caveat it with our local Dans does not necessarily treat their stock well, but what I describe is a brewing fault, not usually a storage fault.

I went home last night and tried it again, and sure enough it was there. SWMBO refused another LC beer after the other day, and just hit the grenade keg up for my beer. She's even fussier than I am.