Home Brew

[tony05]

Hi Folks..... ive been going to do this for a while.

I make my home brew from scratch. I have built a grain mill that cracks the malted barley, i soak it in hot water in the temp controlled brew rig and boil it with hops of my choice.

i have temperature controlled fridges to firment in and gas teh beer after filtering out the yeast and drink it off the tap from the keg.

here are some pics of the brew rig.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/tonymoy/the_complete_rig_edit_Large.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/tonymoy/panelandpipeworkunderHLTandMT.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/tonymoy/HLTandHERMSSolenoidsandmashreturnte.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/tonymoy/entirePanel.jpg

[tony05]

here are some of the nice beers i make. There is no boundty to what i can make.

german wheat beer
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/tonymoy/IMG_3475380x570.jpg

11% ABV Imperial IPA
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/tonymoy/iipa_080807.jpg

Keolsch
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/tonymoy/Koelsch549x824.jpg

porter
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/tonymoy/Brownporter.jpg

[tony05]

who else here makes home brew?

I love a good beer with chilli of any sort

I think this will be a great spot to talk home brew and how you take it with your chillis.

Im planning a chilli beer soon so that will be here to in the future.

join in folks!

cheers

[AlabamaJack]

all I got to say Tony is that is one heck of a high tech setup...

[Pam]

My friends are always telling me I need to brew my own beer, but I prefer drinking other people's.

That dark beer in the Toohey's glass sure is a purdy thang, when should I drop by?

[Sickmont]

Interesting set-up, Tony. You wouldn't be willing to share the plans for that rig, would ya?

[bentalphanerd]

Tony - I'm coming to visit mate & check that out. You got room to put me up for the next decade or two?

[cheezydemon]

I brew. I don't have near the setup you do.

I have been brewing for 2 years or so.

i have done 25 batches or so, from Imperial stouts to a Munich Helles and just about everything in between.

I have a Marzen bubbling away right now and a flowery APA and a SNPA-like IPA in bottles.

That is a nice set-up! I guess that coil is an immersion chiller? It looks a little small unless it is counter flow. Sorry it is the only half intelligent comment I could come up with!

[rainbowberry]

What's the German wheat beer like Tony? My Uncle swears by it, I'm sure what he drinks is quite strong, well he always seems pretty pis*ed after drinking it.

[LUCKYDOG]

holy crap thats one hell of a setup!! Its hard looking at the pictures then seeing your avatar ... I dont know it just hits me weird

[cheezydemon]

Hee hee Lucky. Like maybe the beer rots or mutates teeth? That can't be tony05.....right?

[chuk hell]

Awesome post Tony. Love the pics.

Moving to "The Buzz" ...

[tony05]

Na thats not me in the Avatar. I have perfect teeth and less hair.

The copper coil in the picture is used to maitain heat in the Mash. I use a pump to recirculate the mash liquor through it (the tank is full of hot water)

GErman wheat beer.... one of my fav's. Its an easy drinking beer, with low bitterness and high carbonation. The use of wheat malt gives the beer a "fluffy" light mouth feel. It is firmented with a special yeast that produces subtle flavours like babanna and clove and its bloody delicious. Its usually served cloudy with the yeast mixed in as this is where its flavour comes from. Drink it cold in a tall 500ml glass.

Rainbowberry.... i would highly recomend you try this style of beer. you shouldnt have any trouble finding it in england. Its usually called Heffeweizen or weissbier.

Pam..... the dark number is an English Brown Porter. Its a great style of beer. chocolate and smooth crystal sweetness. I brewed that one with an american hop called wilamette and it was delicious. THe keg ran dry real fast.

OOOOOO i didnt tell you i have it on tap did I.

In the pub, a crap beer coats around $4. In the cities its more. lots more! Ive paid $8 for a hot bottle of Boags premium at Melbourn airport.

I make premiun beers for 45 cents a schooner or 50c a pint.

Its the best tax dodge in the world!

cheers

Oh and this is me after a day fishing

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/tonymoy/Mewithfish-1.jpg

[imaguitargod]

Aha! Now I know your true face. Soon I will be in Australia and I will find you. Then you will take me to your secret hide out where I will steal the planes for your brew tank...and the WORLD WILL BE MINE!!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


Seriously nice set up!

[rainbowberry]

Rainbowberry.... i would highly recomend you try this style of beer. you shouldnt have any trouble finding it in england. Its usually called Heffeweizen or weissbier.


I've seen it sold in England Tony. My uncle drinks one called Schneider weisse.

[tony05]

:lol: The world isnt mine...... yet..... so it doesnt work.

as for plans, there were no plans. I just had what i wanted in my head and started screwing fittings together and bending up pipes. It worked out great.

I do have a wiring diagram for it but thats about it.

Do you want to build one? I got a lot of the gear from where i worked when the stripped out old plant and installed new gear.

I worked out it would have cost me thousands to build but i kept that cost down to about $600 aus. the pump was $250, metal for the frame was $100 and pipe and fittings ect cost about $250.

you can get temp controllers ect cheap of the net if you look around.

Ranibowberry...... thats a great wheat beer!!! its a bit darker than come but a clasic of the style.

cheers

[rainbowberry]

Ranibowberry...... thats a great wheat beer!!! its a bit darker than come but a clasic of the style.

From what I remember Schneider Weisse is quite strong. As for Ranibowberry :lol: usually I get called Rainbowbeery by mistake.

[tony05]

Ahhh sorry..... its not that i cant spell, i cant type!!!!

hehe

cheers

[stillmanz]

Magic set up I used to brew all the time just the basic set up you get. Then I turned into an alcoholic and couldn't keep up. lol nice looking brew.

[Pam]

Aha! Now I know your true face. Soon I will be in Australia and I will find you.


Be afraid.


Be very afraid.

[snydro]

hahaha holy jesus thats an amazing set up you got there man you must be pro at brewingsome tasty beverages. im just a cheap keeler and ferment it in the jug it came in lol nice little fishy aswell looks good

[cheezydemon]

Right on Tony, what method do you use to chill?

You should check out this forum. www.homebrewtalk.com

I have found cool people there just like here.

Awesome setup brother, is cleaning it easy?

[texas blues]

When I use to homebrew I dreamt of a rig like that or rather the idea of it. I never got past the 7 gal glass carboy however did learn to mash rather than use extract. The pics of your homebrew hoskey are simply delicious! After seeing your setup and pics I might have to figure out a way to start homebrewing again. Trouble is this horrible Las Vegas water. Chock full of salt and calcium I tell ya'...clogs the faucets and shower head every two weeks.

Thanks for the inspiration..
Cheers, TB.

[tony05]

Hey Cheezy.... I will check that site out.

HEre is a link to my Aussie home brewing home

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com

As for chilling the beer once boiled, see the 2 little things sticking out of the big keg on the right..... they are hose atachments. I drop a submersable pump in my pool and recirc water through an 18 meter 1/2 inch copper coil whick takes the heat out of it really quick. And i dont use a drop of water.

To clean it i juat wheel it outside, hose it all out, scrub all the sticky bits, and pump some hot watyer through the lines. Takes me 1/2 hr at the end of the day.


Texas...... i started out doing AG brewing with an esky and a keg with the top cut out to boil in. still use it to make smaller trial batches and specialty beers.

This setup took me 2 years to slowly build while i was using it at the same time. It kind of evolved if you know what i mean. If something didnt work i changed it and it turned into this.

And the beers are good. I recently won my State Home brewing championship and the beer (an english old ale) went on to get a 1st place in its clase in the Australian National Brewing Championships. I compeded against comercial brewers that brewed there own at home and beat them..... just!

cheers

[Sauceman51]

Maybe you should check into getting filters for the shower n faucets.

[jarvass85]

Hey Tony05 I've been thinking about giving brewing my own beer a shot, what do you suggest for a beginner? how are those beginners kits?

[cheezydemon]

I personally don't recommend kits, they are very limiting. The website link I gave has a recipe database, also www.brewyourown.com has great recipes.

I highly recommend it. You won't save tons of money, but you will be drinking high end brew at the budweiser price.

I bought water at the store Tex, 2 of those 2.5 gallon jugs are like $4.

[jarvass85]

The only reason i asked about a kit, was because i have none of the equipment. So I was thinking get a kit try out one or two recipes, then start trying different things.

[Sickmont]

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/tonymoy/Mewithfish-1.jpg

I see you've finally shaved, bro.

As for the electricals, yeah, i'd be interested in see the plans....if your don't mind, of course.

[chilehunter]

tony - thats one heck of a setup you have there :shocked: but :cool:

[xgrafcorex]

WOW! that's an awesome set up! haven't seem something so elaborate for a home brewer before. granted, i don't know many people that home brew. :P

those beers look awesome also. :clap:

when are you opening up your brewery?

[tony05]

Kits are OK but the yeast that comes with them is usually crap and they are bittered with a liquis hop extract...... yuck. This leads to what is usually refered to as the "home brew taste"

here is how i would recomend you get started.

Get yourself a firmenter kit to get all the bits you need.

Instead of getting a pre hopped kit, buy a tin (1.5 kg or so) of light "unhopped" extract. Put this in a large 20 liter pot and disolve it all in 14 liters of water. boil your bittering hops for 45 to 60 min, add some flavour hops at 15 min before the end and some aroma hops in at the end of the boil.

disolve a KG of dextrose or malt extract in this and cool in the bath tub full of cool water.

tip it in the firmenter once cool, and try to strain out the hops with some nylon cloth thats been steralised. I can point you to a website here in aus that sells "hop socks" i put him onto them and he now sells them to anywhere. they are nylon filter socks and hold the hops while you boil them, then just lift them out at the end. Too easy.

top the firmenter up to 23 liters and firment with a nice clean yeast like US-05 for a dry yeast of any of the liquis dtrains can be used to make fantastic beers.

firment any beer at the lower limit of the yeasts capabilities. It will say on kits to firment at 20 to 27 deg C (dont know farenheit) I do it at 18! clean as a whistle and no home brew taste...... just premium beer taste!

let me know if you wnat help with a recipe to get started. I have started a lot of folks out with this and after making kits they sware to never go back...... ususally end up going AG.

cheers

I can help you with amounts and times if your keen. I just need to know the acid content of the hops and what hops and type of beer you want to make.

No brewery planned........ i like making beer for me..... not swill for the man!

I have it on tap in a keg in the fridge too and just built a 50 liter "water purifier"

cheers

[ring sting]

most commercial beers give me a headache after half a glass/stubbie etc. And, no, I'm not that much of a light weight. I seem to be okay with apple ciders and some wines.

Tony05, could this be something other than the preservative? Is there preservative in yer home brew? How long does it keep? I'm not considering it currently, but it could be an option for me..

RS

PS I like the rig.

[imaguitargod]

most commercial beers give me a headache after half a glass/stubbie etc. And, no, I'm not that much of a light weight. I seem to be okay with apple ciders and some wines.

Tony05, could this be something other than the preservative? Is there preservative in yer home brew? How long does it keep? I'm not considering it currently, but it could be an option for me..

RS

PS I like the rig.
It could be that you are alergic to thigns that occur during the fermentation process, yeast, mold, etc.

[texas blues]

Ring Sting ..sounds like a natural reaction to sulfites produced during natural fermentation. Very common occurence leading to headaches with very little actually drunk and in some cases allergic reactions. Your more heavily filtered fermented alcohols will have much less. Wines are generally on the high side..as well as homebrew. Homebrew is just another moniker meaning "better living through homemade chemicals".
Cheers, TB.

[billyboy]

thats an amazing rig youve setup there for your "home brew" tony05, the best home brew Ive ever tried was made by one of the old local pro fisherman round here who just uses the yellow top coopers tin in his brew, its potent & knocks you, but clean tasting & hangover free:P believe me Ive drank plenty of it too!

[Omri]

I'm 74.923278% sure that you need some kind of permit here.
Well your awesome looking setup inspired me to build my own. time to do some reading and get parts!

[tony05]

No chenicals ect in my brew. Its brewed to German purity laws..... nothing but Malt, Hops, Yrast and Water.

Comercial beer gives me a hangover..... i can drink twice the home brew and feel fine the next day.

as for how long it keeps.... it lasts for ages. The beer i won the state title with was 2 years old and i have 8 bottles left that will be entered over the next couple of years to see how they go.

BB.... this is better than the old coopers lager with extra sugar to make it stronger.
Im talking James squire, Little creatures, premium microbrewery quality beer that you pay $60+ a carton for.

and i run it through a 1 micron filter and pour it from a 50 liter keg in a fridge for 45c a schooner.



The secret to making good home brew is using good yeast and firmenting it cool.

cheers

[bentalphanerd]

tony - starting from scratch - what's the easiest most cost effective way to make a decent brew of say 20 litres. And does this mean I have to bootle, sugar & cap...or spend a couple hundred on keg & gas....or is there another way?
My preferences are Tooheys new on a daily basis, Tooheys Old on w/ends.

[tony05]

mate have a look on the link to the home brew forum i posted above...... its great and you can get around 6000 brewers opinions, ideas ect.

Id say go with kegs!

the up front cost is a bit much but in 2 batches its payed for its self

lets break it down.

What does a carton of tooheys new cost..... $35?

23 liters is about 2.5 cartons. thats $87

to brew it as i described above you will need not including gear ect

malt extract: $10
dextrose: $5 max
hops: $4
yeast: $3, less if you reuse it

there is $32, thats a $55 dollar saving / batch.

bottles are cheap and easy but its not as good or easy as a keg.

with a keg, you can rack your beer of the yeast to a clean firmenter, chill it in a fridge for a couple of days to clear it, rack it to the keg and gas it in a day or 2 and start drinking. I run mine through a 1 micron filter to make it shinny clear and then gas it....... its like beer from the club.

there is better beer out there than new and old..... thats the beer i always swore by...... not any more.

Its a scary thing to delve into.... but you just have to jump in and have a go. A lot of people do it wrong and stop because it tastes like crap..... I like to try and help out people to make good beer.


start with a good kit.... the coopers premium range is good..... the blur draught kit is nice. FIrment it with a pack or US-05 yeast (chuck the one in the lid in the bin) at 18 to 20 deg. when its done, use a piece of tubing to rack the beer to a clean firmenter, making sure you fill it f rom the bottom and dont mix too much air in. Let this settle for a week to become clear and rack back to the origional firmenter.... this will remove most of the yeast. If you can get all the old yeast out, you wont get that dreded yeast cake in the bnottom of the bottle that makes the beer cloudy when poured.

I have a table that tells you how much dextrose to prime with to bottle. I disolve it all in a bit of boiling water and mix it into the ready to bottle beer., then bottle as normal..... this gives you perfect, even carbonation accrros every bottle and no risk or double prining potential bottle bombs. Its called "bulk primimg"

leave to gas up and enjoy.

cheers

[AlabamaJack]

20 to 27 deg C (dont know farenheit)

The easy way to convert without using the 5/9 math and a pencil is 10 degrees C = 18 degrees F plus 32. i.e. 10C = 50F, 20C = 68F, 30C = 86F, etc.

by the way, it is -2C here this morning...was 31C Monday afternoon.

[Sickmont]

I got your e-mail Tony, thanks!

[tony05]

not a problem!

[cheezydemon]

I started in a plastic water cooler jug. Bottling is way cheaper and I still prefer it. Just save used bottles or buy them fairly cheap.

I don't actually save money by homebrewing, but I drink incredibly good beer at the budweiser price.

They sell something called a "party pig" that I am looking into, it is a fairly cheap way to keg 2.25 gallons. About $50 us.
http://www.undergrounddigital.com/partypig.htm

That way I could bottle about half of a 5 gallon batch and let it age, and have the other half on tap.

On www.homebrewtalk.com, there are some favorable reviews of it.

[streetbmx]

very nice setup, looks like something out of byo zine. ive only done 2 batches so far (an XPA and an IRA), in a simple primary/secondary glass carboy setup. I've only done extract so far, and dont see myself going much beyond that. I would like to make some hard cider next time around...

[theHippySeedCo]

Very Nice setup VERYYYYYYYYYYYY, :) and those Beeers Oh My,,

a mate of mine runs a Brewing supply Company in WA and sells prob most of the pieces to make a Rig like yours, so others can make their own :) http://www.gryphonbrewing.com.au/store/index.php

Nev is a top bloke also a chiilihead and working on chilli beers of various types so ill keep ya's posted :)

[tony05]

HEre is a beer i had recently. Its a munich lager brewed by a fellow Aussie brewer. Bloody nice too.
I drank it from this glass i scored from Belgium. I love it.

cheers

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/tonymoy/IMG_4558Large.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/tonymoy/IMG_4561Large.jpg

[theHippySeedCo]

aww thats beautiful man , great colour toooooooo :)