HomebrewandBeer.com forum

Hi Guys,

I'm looking for some advice and learning aids.

- Anyone know of a home brewing club in my area? (Ipswich 4305 Australia).

- Good place to buy Keg's & associated equipment?

- Good training videos to watch on the net to understand the process?.

I find I am allergic to a lot of the additives and rubbish they put in commercial beer so I am looking to brew my own.
I have played with spirits before so I have some equipment like fermenters etc.

Although I've never tasted a Malt beer I think I may like it as I like malt barley.
I have big 40Kilo bags of hole grain barley here as I have a horse.

Any help appreciated.
.-.-.

Welcome siliconjaguar.

I'm not a local in QLD, so can't help you with brewclubs, but I'm sure others will pop up with answers, or see my suggestion to discuss it with Ross from CraftBrewer.

Probably the best place for you to source your requirements, in fact, is CraftBrewer. They will have all your needs. They're just south of Brisbane. They will also do mail or courier orders. Geographically not impossible for you. Ross is knowlegable, and a great chap to deal with.
Link: http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/
Give Ross a call and see what he can do for you. He can also tell you about brew clubs suitable for your area, I'm sure.

Feed barley will not make beer. Barley needs to be malted, so best to buy what you need from a brewing supplier.

Hi thanks for the reply and the info.

I am currently looking for some keg's etc.
I see some on eBay for around $60 a pair, is this a good price?
And Barley, yes I realise I have to Malt it first. I watched a YouTube video on that. So it is possible to do it from stock feed.

Oh and thanks for the welcome!

.-.-.

The kegs on ebay that i think you a referring to are 'pinlock' kegs. My personal preference are 'balllock' kegs. The pinlock kegs do not have pressure relief valves on the lids.
Yes, there are ways around it.
Whatever style of keg you choose though......stick to it. Mixing and matching will just make more work for yourself. Unless of course you've got the money to spend on MFL quick disconnects for both styles.

Yes your right. Pinlock.

I'm learning as I go unfortunately. This is why I was hoping to find a local group to cut the learning curve down.
Makes life a lot easier when you can chat to people about things. Or watch video's on the subject.

Yes, I like the ball lock ones two now that I understand the difference.

Does anyone do stainless connectors for these?
So far all I see is plastic or alloy.

.-.-.

There is quite an active brew club in Brisbane, known as BABBS.
Link: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/i ... owforum=38

siliconjaguar wrote:Yes your right. Pinlock.
I'm learning as I go unfortunately. This is why I was hoping to find a local group to cut the learning curve down.
Makes life a lot easier when you can chat to people about things. Or watch video's on the subject.
Yes, I like the ball lock ones two now that I understand the difference.
Does anyone do stainless connectors for these?
So far all I see is plastic or alloy.
.-.-.

I'm pretty sure that all disconnects for Cornelius kegs are plastic. I've never had a problem with them.

There is an endless supply of information on the interweb. warra has posted a good link there.

siliconjaguar wrote:And Barley, yes I realise I have to Malt it first. I watched a YouTube video on that. So it is possible to do it from stock feed.

Oh and thanks for the welcome!

.-.-.

Once again, welcome Siliconjaguar.

Hey, wait a minute, are you sure it's brewing advice you're after, Siliconjaguar.

I looked into malting a while ago and decided that it wasn't worth the effort for the speculative results. Your circumstances may differ and if you want to give it a go then why not? It is possible to make malt from stockfeed barley but I wouldn't expect great results. The reason being that barley, when harvested, is given a rating. If I remember rightly things like size, consistency, protein and nitrogen content all come into it, along with some other things. These affect the quality of the malt you can make or what other use the grain can be put to. Again, if I remember rightly, the highest rating that can be achieved is malt then food (baking, soup etc) on down to feed grade which is the lowest. Stock feed barley I believe is grown at a loss by farmers, but since barley is a speculative crop in many areas once planted it's usually seen through to harvest in all but the most unfortunate circumstances and sold for whatever they can get to recoup losses. Anyway, have a Google on barley and grain growing in general, as I believe you'll find it enlightening and there's a bit to know if you're serious about malting.

Cheers