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Give it a go, go to your local home brew shop and get a kit,
about $75 buys everything you need to brew 30 x 740mL bottles.
Kits include a 30 lit fermenter complete with hydrometer, air
lock, bottling tap & valve, thermometer, bottle brush, 30 PET bottles
and ingredients for your first brew.
Ingredients for subsequent brews are around $10 - $18 depending
on your choice of brew, not bad for the equivalent of 60 stubbies that will leave
most commercial beer for dead. If you add some more "exotic"
ingredients, you can add $5-10 to that, but most don't see the
need.
I suggest that you purchase from your local home brew shop not
the supermarket.
Not only do home brew shops have a far greater range, they also
carry manufacturers premium range of beers and usually have very
good product knowledge.
In my experience the extra dollar you may spend in
the home brew shop compared to the supermarket is more than
compensated by help, advice and much better range of product.
Not only that, many home brew shops have different brews on tap
for sampling which is great for broadening your knowledge of
beer types.
In my opinion, 90% of home brews that I have made or tried are
better than 90% of the commercial beers that I have tried.
The vast choice of ingredients available (commercial brews to
which you just add fermentable sugars) are so good that even
someone like me who finds making a cup of coffee a challenge,
has never had a failure.
Have a look at Oliver
and Geoff's homebrew and beer website. There is
a mountain of info here on home brewing and their opinions of
beers from around the world.
This is a terrific web site for all beer lovers even if you
don't brew your own.
A quote from their web site ( which I have copied without their
permission, but I am sure they won't mind, http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/beerstyles.html
) .....
"Australian lagers
These rank, alongside beers from the United States, as some of the worst beers in the known universe. They include the likes of Southwark and West End (South Australia), Toohey's (New South Wales) and Victoria Bitter (Victoria). There is nothing going for these beers; they are generally tasteless and bitter. The worst is Carlton Cold (which Oliver and Geoff crowned the World's Worst Beer, until they tasted Budweiser from the US). Light beers are low-alcohol versions of these lagers."
Highly recommended reading if you agree with that, me, I brew my
own..
Yes, I know that bloody clock is annoying but I thought it
was a clever bit of JavaScript (author unknown).
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Some of the best brews I have done to
date . . . |
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* Coopers Irish Stout -
One of the best stouts on the
planet, including you know what, (every second brew I do is one
of these), 4.6%alc/vol
* Morgan's Australian Bitter -
This is my favourite summer beer - bar none - great beer
Recently been this using a low carb enzyme to accentuate the
bitter taste (or more correctly, reduce the sweetness) and
reduce the waist line - result, taste is great, waist line
unchanged :-(
Unlike commercial bitter beers that I have tried, this has a
nice flavour and no rotten after taste.
Around 4.6% with the ingredients I use.
* Morgan's Queensland Bitter -
This is more like a proper bitter ale, a lovely drop, it's nothing like most
commercial bitter lager rubbish, 4.3%
* B&B Alaskan Ice -
A nice fresh beer with taste, 4.3%
* Morgan's Stockman's Draught -
Real beer like pubs used to have
on tap many, many years ago, 4.7%
* Cascade Pale Ale -
A nice mild taste (for an ale), great beer 4.1%
* Coopers Sparkling Ale -
Beaut beer if you like a heavy ale, a little strong at 7%
(
It is a simple matter to reduce the alcohol content by reducing
the fermentable sugars without noticeably affecting the taste.
)
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Morgan's has a excellent range
of home brew equipment and brews.
Their Australian Bitter is one of my all time favourites.
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And if you only want to consume
commercially available beer, *Coopers is one of the best.
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Coopers also has an
excellent range of home brews.
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* My unbiased
opinion |
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Ray's Caravans,
Campervans & Motorhomes |
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