Beer problems in Darwin

[JAZZA]

G'Day Guy's,
I am having a few problems brewing here in Darwin and need some advise as I don't think it is just the one problem.

At the moment we are about to hit the dry season where the average air temp is 31 dgrees celcius.

My local HBS sells (Tailored Ultimate Brewing System) it is a kit consisting of:
2 cans of coopers malt extract
1 hop bag
1 vial of hop oil/ hop conditioner
1 Pkt of yeast usually their own brand and sometimes black rock.

The HBS said the malt that was in the kits was of high quality and holds the flavour?

The yeast they supply they call Turbo yeast and they claim it is able to work from 15- 40 degrees.

I have been brewing at between 28-32 degrees.

I have also been getting a funny taste which I think tastes similar to the smell of the hop conditioner.

I spoke to the HBS and they said it wouldn't be the conditioner it is the tea bag you don't leave it in the fermenter if you are going to drink it early.They said their hop pellets are very fresh.

They won't tell me what is in the conditioner but say it is exactly the same stuff they put in beer cocentrates with the malt only this is in the vial.

But I do know how some of you feel about hop oil.

So I was want to know what I should do stick with this stuff?

OR: do my old trusty Coopers Pale Ale and air con the shed at 25 degrees?

OR: Throw the vial in the bin and boil up 30 grams of hops and put in 20 grams ( cascade maybe?)

DOGGER ANY SUGGESTIONS

CHEERS,

JAZZA

[Wassa]

Jaz,

I am a firm believer in sticking with the basics. If it was me I'd be making a Coopers Pale kit with a hop teabag of goldings, willamette or cascade. I'd either put it down with a kilo of light dry malt extract or a combo of malt, dextrose and malto dextrin and use a decent yeast like safale AND use the air conditioned garage.

I have never heard of this hop conditioner and if they are supplying you with 2 cans of liquid malt did they give you boil instructions on how long to boil it and at what times to add the hops?

Anyway hope I helped a little.

[Shaun]

Jazza PM me we can see about getting together.

My Opinion on TUBS (Total Utter Bull Shit) or (Totally Untrue Brewing Story)

The Malt extract is simpply a 1.7kg Coopers liquid malt extract. The vail is ISO hops to give the extract bitterness, some of them have finishing hops for flavour and aromor. What they are selling is a short cut extract brew. They use ISO hops as a quick and easy bittering so you don't have to boil as they know it is hard to cool. The yeast that I have seen are Coopers yeast or Black rock which do not coupe with the heat.

[Paleman]

The yeast they supply they call Turbo yeast and they claim it is able to work from 15- 40 degrees.

I have been brewing at between 28-32 degrees.

Gday Jazza, a problem i detected first off is your brewing temp. I dont care what yeast you use. 28-32 degrees is far too high, even for Ale.

You need to brew down to 18-20 degrees for a nice ale. 10-14 for Lager yeasts.

How about getting yourself a garbage bin, or vessel that will fit your fermenter inside. Put your fermenter in. Fill it with water up to your brew level. Then place some ice blocks around it. Frozen milk bottles, or soft drink bottles of water will do. This will bring down the temp of your brew dramatically.

You need to work at it though and keep the frozen blocks up to it. Every day.

Otherwise, you need to get yourself a brewing fridge.

Having said all of this, then start with a good basic kit beer......dont go for some fangly dangly crap thats meant to beat the heat.

[JAZZA]

Thanks for your replys I do know some of my problems are basic but I have never brewed in the tropics before being from Perth originally.

Any more suggestions are welcome.


Cheers,

Jazza

[Shaun]

Jazza another trick I have learnt up here is to leave a little no rinse sanitizer in the bottom of your gear when not in use to stop mould growing in it. I found during the wet no matter how clean you think it is mould will grow.

For temp control I have a brewing fridge perfect temp control for whatever beer.

The other problem you will find is getting the brew to yeast pitching temp. I pre-chill (10 deg for ales, 5 deg for lagers) about 20l of filtered water to add to the brew and bring it down to pitching temp. The cold water temp here is about 29 deg, this is already above where we want to be.

I currently have 20l chilling for a pilsner with lager yeast that I am putting down tomorrow.

[JAZZA]

Shaun,


Where do you buy your brew gear from?



CHEERS,


JAZZA

[MEC]

Jazza,

I too live in Darwin and have had some trouble with the TUBS kits.

They would develop a nasty aftertaste that I found undrinkable.

But things improved when I moved operations form the shed to inside the house and controlled the temp as Paleman describes.

I’ve since made really good brews. TUBS and standard kits. But for me to be completely convinced on the TUBS I’d have to get consistently good results, so the jury is still out.

I’m a relatively new brewer, still in the experimental stage, and there is nothing worse than buggering up the brew and having to wait for the next. So I have a “safety brew”. I always have plenty of Coopers Pale Ale with BE#2 made up before doing anything silly.

Good luck,
MEC

[flaschbier]

Wow, why don't you brew with grains? Malt extract here is rare... And about the final taste, brewing with extract, have some difference?

[Shaun]

Jazza

I get stuff from Kmart when 15% off, BigW not a bad range. The specialty stuff I have been using Oz brew in Coconut Grove not impressed though with there prices or advise if you call it that.

We need to get Darwin brewers together and se if we can bulk mail order. Deliver chargers are a killer on small orders.

Flaschbier

Extract or more specifically hoped kits (1.7kg can that only needs dextrose added) are very common, cheap, easy and good quality if you know which brands to buy. Unhoped malt extract is also very common and cheap so the majority of brewers in Australia brew what we refer to as K&K (Kit and a kilogram of fermentables).

[JAZZA]

Thanks Shaun

We will have to meet one day and have a few.

I have been to both stores in Darwin and asked for advise and have caught them out a number of times on the lack of knowledge they have.


CHEERS

JAZZA

[Longrasser]

Just put down a TUBS as per instructions
It looks too simple to be true
Will let you know how it pans out
Bit bloody expensive if its stuffs up.

[Longrasser]

Day 4 really good krausen bubbling nicely ...erm.... there is one extra thing i put innit ...the bloody rubber grommet

No PET bottles in Big W or Coles WTF?