Modern Vespa

oh good i almost always brew coopers its a good brew for the price dontcha think


and at the bottleO look out for a pack of coopers vintage well worth the extra bucks if you like a naturaly brewed style beer

Cooper's vintage? I'll ask my man to get some in. The Youngs, and Muntons kit are very good too. I usually brew up the cheap ordinary bitter, which with a bit of care can yield 40 pints of half decent beer at around 20p a pint.

neil i cant remember if its called heritage or vintage.. they only brew it in small batches



coopers best extra stout for lunch

Can you save me the bottles - need a few more

thanks!

Mine is just over a week into its second (bottle) ferment - MMMMMMM

I don't think it'l see out winter though

FOund a place in the hills that will do raw juice for a buck a litre!

Anyone one got any spare bottles?

Hey Joshzongzing,

That's my idea of lunch!

Yep. you need to keep the bottles. I have enough for 4 lots for 5 gallon brews, and 2, 5 gallon pressure barrels, as well as some smaller bottles for short runs of out of the ordinary beer.

I will have another go at cider this year.

sure ill do a Kramer and drive to SA with a truckload of empty bottles

hehe 10c each

stick em on ebay - you should get a good price for them. Save you driving!

I've heard of Coopers malt extracts for homebrewing, but is Coopers also a brewery where you can buy their beer too? Are they the same company?

If you guys are brewing with extract syrups or powders, I would encourage you to look at all grain brewing. A little more equipment, a little more time, a lot better beer and more flexibility.

Can someone recommend a kit for someone starting out in brewing?

Also excuse my ignorance but can I keep beer in a wood barrel like they sell online, or will the beer go flat? Is it even worth it to keep it in a barrel?

For equipment, this is a good place to start. Midwest Supplies Starter Kit You'll need bottles though too...

For the beer, start with an extract kit. If you can make Kool-Aid and boil water you can brew beer using extracts. Here's one a lot of people start with Cream Ale

Start with ales, not lagers. I know some people will age beers in a wood barrel, they can be pretty expensive though. I would think the beer would go flat. People will age a beer for a long time in a wood barrel to get the oak flavor, then keg or bottle it to carbonate.

yes coopers is coopers they brew bottle fermented beers no additives no preservatives,,,,,,,,,

the most popular would be original pale ale green and sparkling ale red ...

theres a trick with coopers where you roll the bottle to mix up the sediment for better flavour

thanks Jeremy.

How do you feel about the Coopers kit?

dunno if this is a concern in beer brewing, but im still working on my cream soda, and im having some trouble. I had a couple of false starts, but after realizing my bottle was too large for my recipe and adjusting accordingly, now i can actually work on the flavor.

as of right now, the last try was TERRIBLY yeast-y. It actually tasted like a cream soda flavored beer. is this a product of too much yeast, fermenting too long, or just using cheap yeast? there's not a brewing shop around here, so i used standard baker's yeast, which i read was fine as long as it's active yeast. does this sound like something anyone could offer some advice on?

Wow, I'm missing some good conversation by sticking to the modern section.

Find a well regarded local brewshop and do as much business with them as you can. There's nothing wrong with the online places at all, but supporting your local shop is important as it benefits all the other homebrewers in your area. They should be more than happy to help you put together the equipment you need and should have recipes ready to go.

Make sure you get an autosiphon.

Bottling is a pain in the ass, but if you're not kegging, it's probably the best way. Barrels are possible, but a potential disaster.

Not a fan of bakers yeast for brewing, but lots of people use it. It typically is very yeasty.

Champagne yeast is usually the recommended brewing yeast for sodas. Dry yeast is really cheap, and you can buy it online and not have to worry too much about it being alive or not.

It's funny, because I've seen several places online where people recommend champagne yeast for best results, and then others say do not use it because it builds too much pressure too fast and you can end up with a busted bottle and a big sticky mess. After three failed batches though (only 1 being my fault) I think I'm going to both give this a shot AND look for a new recipe. It's killing me to pour out that much cream soda at a time, even if its terrible!

I would absolutely agree with this, I don't have a local shop though...

I made a Root Beer with my kids using extracts. I carbed it with champagne yeast in 2 liter plastic soda bottles. Took a LONG time to carb fully. The bottle will feel rock hard, but the soda will still not be carbed. Patience is the key. In the end, it tasted a little yeasty. The best way to carb sodas is using a keg pressurized with C02.

Yes Coopers is a real Brewery

Yes they do real beer.

They are not like most of the other brewers here, owned by Kirin or Fosters , but still a "family" show

I have been brewing beer for a while now too!
I actually have a home tap setup (kegerator) and am able to rack my beer from my primary (or secondary) directly into the corny keg and after a bit of forced carbonation.... HOMEBREW BEER ON TAP!

I like coming up with the names:

Garfunkel Dunkel (German Dunkelweizen)
Wild Hop Red (Only used wild hops growing in my neighbor's yard)
Uncommonly Strong Californian (Strong Ale/California Common hybrid)
The Pacific Northweizen (A tradition syle Hefeweizen with Northwest hops and locally sourced malt)
Waldtier Altbier (A traditional style German Alt Bier)

It is hard to juggle all of the hobbies, I hope to use my Vespa as a beer delivery vehicle. That would be awesome!

Yes

Have a look at the coopers site (coopers.com.au)

heres a link that may be of interest http://www.coopers.com.au/media/54082/uscraftmkttodrivecoopers08072009.pdf

Nice to see the Outback Steakhouse, with its Genuine Rack of New Zealand Lamb, has seen beyond the Novelty signs, and is now stocking a decent beer.

Must've been when I pasted one of their store managers out the door.

If people cannot find the home brew kits in a local store, I'd be happy to get them into the mail, at cost. PM me.

BTW - my first cider is all gone - less than a month old and a real hit.

Very dry, but still great.

Have another down now using fresh juice, and looking like 8% or so!!!!

Just have to wait for it all to go off - currently a week into its second (bottle) ferment!

Should be perfect for summer........... if it lasts

Just finished bottling my first batch from my Coopers brew kit.

If you have any tips for an amateur Id love to hear them.

I envy those of you with room to brew. My damn apartment is so tiny. I enjoy pickling though, and get to enjoy many of my friends' respective homebrews. So life is good.

Good Man.

Best tip is leave it, and brew more - the older it gets, the better.....

Other tip - KISS - keep it stunningly simple - don't get too fussy with hygeine.

Have fun!

(but what did you brew? - lager, stout, pale ale?)

Its just the basic lager that came with the Coopers kit. I want to do an IPA next. Yea im trying to be patient.

Xantu, I live in a tiny college apt too the coopers kit doesnt take up any room and is only 100 bucks. makebeer.net

Im enjoying it. It is a very novice beginners kit but ive been told a great place to start.

will still get you going!

The kit is basic, but has kept me going - I have two tanks on the bubble, and lots of beer in stock.

If you're looking for some beer entertainment, I suggest you check out Brewing TV

Episode 1.3 focuses on Worth Brewing which is my local brew pub, billed as the smallest licensed brewery in the country.

Also, I recently did the open fermentation challenge the put forth. I brewed 10 gallons of Northern Brewer's recipe Belgian Patersbier. Split the batch in half and fermented 5 gallons in a bucket without a lid.

i love beer and go in phases


recent favorites





all time favorites:

Whereas most beers have a "best before" date on the bottle, Coopers beers and stout have a "best after" date. But it's hard to leave em alone for long.

the difference between fake and real beer - the coopers date is for bottle ferment and maturation - the others is when all the sulphur and dead yeast react and create a bad hangover

Im trying to decide what to make next.

A. Dark Ale

B. Stout

C. Wheat Beer

or any recommendations of ones anyones tried.

Easy choice

Thanks for the tip.

I really like heavy beers so thats what im looking for.

Time to bump the beer thread.

My wife and I celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary in 2011, so we decided to do something big and fun together.

In September we fly to Germany and Belgium for a 10 day beer tour. Pretty excited as I've never been to Europe. Plus there's the whole beer thing, and time away with my wife of course.

Sounds awesome. I'd love to do Scotland, myself for the distillery tours. My wife-not so much! A buddy of mine who brews has a new year's resolution to only drink beer brewed within 200 miles of wherever he is located. I thought that was kinda cool. Not an option for me, cuz I drink a lot of Bell's. Brewed in my home town of Kalamazoo, MI.