Home Brew Hints.

[Irish in Oz]

@Hooli  never seen that type of kit before, good idea with the cask but the overall time between brewing and finish is a bit longer.

[DP1400]

I used to brew gallons of bitter in the 80`s. I`ve noticed that the kits I used are still available today and i`ve felt tempted to start again. However, Beer is so relatively cheap nowadays I haven`t bothered. But thats not the point really is it!

I started by decanting the brew into bottles, which was all ok but the beer did have a bit of a `twang` to it! I eventually upgraded to kegs with sparklets and it made all the difference. Nice lively stuff without the sediment issues, and in fact, a nice clear pint. Trouble is if I remember rightly, i`d arrive home from work every night and `test` the brew (as you do!), and before I knew it i`d only got a few pints left as it reached its best

A few years on, and a mate gave me a ginger beer plant......regardless of how much you may like ginger beer, don`t be tempted to `brew` your own. Its seriously dangerous. We were woken in the early hours one morning by an explosion. Turns out the fermenting beer had got too warm in the bottles (which were in a kitchen cupboard) and the whole batch of a dozen bottles had exploded and seriously damaged the door in the process! I had given the Father-In-Law the other half of the plant.......needless to say, his erupted too, luckily in an outhouse!

Back to the `safer` beer brewing......I`m still tempted, after all, its just a hobby isn`t it

[Hooli]

@Hooli  never seen that type of kit before, good idea with the cask but the overall time between brewing and finish is a bit longer.

Nor had I, which is why I randomly picked it up when I saw it. For £12 I can't complain at the results, although I spent more than that on a bottle capper! I could have left it in the foil keg, but figured it'd last longer bottled as I'm not a big drinker.

[DP1400]

I DO like the simplicity of that kit Hooli......thanks for sharing. I`ll keep my eye open for one - essential shopping i`d say!

[Hooli]

When I googled for a pic they seem easy enough to get online, including from the maker.

https://www.muntons.com/brewkit_type/brew-in-a-bag/

[Irish in Oz]

Munton's in good stuff I buy a lot of it their Irish Recipe Stout is spot on.
I have had Ginger beer and Cider bottles blow as well, the yeast used is slower and the first fermentation takes longer, if bottled too soon it can kick in again in bottle over pressurising it.
As DP says beer and alcohol in general is reasonable cost in UK but when I get back to Oz I'll be back into it again as it's about twice the price, 18 440ml cans of Magners for 11 quid ($22) would cost at least $60 in OZ.

[grog]

I will also give that Muntons a try as experiment, easy way to do it. Glad you mentioned our rip off prices Irish. My Coopers home mades about 70 cents each, to buy from pub $4 to $5. Coopers Lager tonight. Basic brew, half dextrose, half malt. Always comes out nice.

[Irish in Oz]

Cooper isn't to bad used to buy it in Coles was pretty cheap. Beermakers seem to be taking over on the shelves in the brew shops.
As for the Aussie Gov rip off about 30 months ago they put an extra $5 on a carton with refunds on the empties, but you only get $2.40 back and have to travel to a bottle bank then stand like a prick and load the empties into the machine and probably queue as well