Beer and brew!

[Big Kev]

2 bucks for 100ml. It's getting worse.

[Super Mario]

Summer is upon us, a time of harvest and frantic beer making in preparation for Christmas and the holiday season. We are coming off excellent November sales with the James Squire brands showing strong growth right around the country. Following on from last year we expect December to again be a big month for sales.
http://www.jamessquire.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/mad-brewers-logo3.jpg (http://www.jamessquire.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/mad-brewers-logo3.jpg)The brewers have also been working to fine-tune our next limited release. In keeping with the harvest theme, our Mad Brewers have been carefully crafting a crisp and fruity delight which is based on a Belgian seasonal style but as usual with a slightly off beat twist. At this stage we still don’t know exactly how it will turn out, but that’s half the fun. You can expect to see this release in bottle shops around mid January in the usual 640mL Mad Brewers format and on tap at selected venues including the James Squire Brewhouses.http://www.jamessquire.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/squires-bounty1.png (http://www.jamessquire.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/squires-bounty1.png)
Following on from the successful opening of The Generous Squire venue in Perth, we are excited to announce that Hobart beer lovers will soon have there very own Squire venue opening in early December at Salamanca. The Squire’s Bounty will have the full range of James Squire beers available on tap plus a great range of food to delight your taste buds. Owned and operated by well known and highly respected Tasmanian publican Paul Jubb, this venue is a must to check out before Christmas. The Squire’s Bounty does not at this stage include a microbrewery but will feature all our core range on tap including India Pale Ale and Porter, plus the James Squire and Mad Brewers limited releases as they become available.
Here’s to a great summer,
Tony Jones
Chief Brewer

[Big Kev]

https://beermasons.yourmembership.com/store/

Saw that the other day. 125 bucks PLUS shipping, for 17 ****in' beers. I nearly choked.

Considering 4 of them in the intro pack are "lucky" beer, it's got to be the biggest rip off known to man.

I'd rather spend that 125 (plus delivery) going into dan's or first choice and just grabbing that many dollars worth of individual beers.

[Super Mario]

I'm yet to find a good web based beer supplier, yet curiously I've found Cellarmasters (http://www.cellarmasters.com.au/)to be excellent value for wine.

[Zan]

I collect bottle caps from beers that you don't see everyday, I make them into fridge magnets for the brew fridge.

If I get enough, I could make an awesome lagerphone! ^_^

About a year ago I decide that I don't have a collecting hobby, so I decided to start collecting beer bottles, which is a good motivation to try a beer I've never seen before. I think I have about 70-80 different bottles now. I'm moving into an apartment soon, so I don't know what I'll do with them. One day I hope to have a mancave that I can use them to decorate with.

[MacGuyver]

I've only just discovered that there's a whole club devoted to collecting beer cans:

http://www.abcca.com.au/

There's probably one for bottles as well!

[Super Mario]

Getting ready for the pub.

:cool:

[Zan]

I've only just discovered that there's a whole club devoted to collecting beer cans:

http://www.abcca.com.au/

There's probably one for bottles as well!

I wonder why cans. Probably easier to preserve I guess. I'm gonna try and buy some of that model spray on laquor to preserve the labels and see how it goes.

I hate drinking out of cans btw, so I wouldn't be able to collect them.

[Super Mario]

New micro-brewery opened up in Dandenong, it's called the Cold Water Creek Tavern and it's located on a hotel, right near the Hogs Breath Cafe too! Might have to go check it out this weekend.

[Space_Monkey]

So after some months of banning I can finally post in the Beer Thread again!

What's everybody enjoying over xmas? I'm on the James Squire Amber Ale, it's nothing outlandish but dang if it ain't superb.

[Big Kev]

Sister got me a beechworth brewery sample pack. Big fan of the celtic red, the rest of their beer is average.

Also bought my own little sample pack for tonight. Coopers extra strong vintage ale, grand ridge hatlifter stout, patagonia pure malt beer, james squire sundown lager, coopers 62 pilsner, tui and a james boags pure.

The tip of the iceberg is a six pack of "Hummingbird". It's beer infused with passionfruit. Should be interesting.

[Big Kev]

Currently enjoying the James Squire sundowner lager.

Oh.My.God.

Smooth and subtly fruity. A magic brew. :D

[Big Kev]

So today I spent $220 on about 45 diff imported and local beers as my xmas present to me. :D Found a place with the biggest range of beers ever. They're opening up in richmond soon with over 8,500 diff varieties of beer. Naturally I'm on the mailing list, invite list for the new store and exclusive invite to beer tastings.

Will post photos of all the beers and list them once I find the battery charger for my camera.

In the meantime ate at a spanish restaurant tonight. Had 2 spanish beers. Mahou and Mahou negra. Both amazingly impressive beers. The mahou negra obviously being a dark ale, I found while drinking it that I really have acquired a taste for the darks as I really did enjoy it far more than the standard lager.

At the moment I'm enjoying another very fine dark. Coopers extra strong vintage. 7.5% alc. Win. :D

Now onto the grand ridge hatlifter stout. I've never been a fan of grand ridge. And this occasion does not differ.

[Super Mario]

Coopers Extra Strong Vintage is awesome.

[Big Kev]

Now having the coopers 62 pils.

Damn that's a smooth beer.

[Jickle]

Currently enjoying the James Squire sundowner lager.

Oh.My.God.

Smooth and subtly fruity. A magic brew. :D

It's pretty amazing stuff.

[MacGuyver]

I finally got a chance to try the White Rabbit, found a liquor store over here that has started stocking it.

Awesome beer! :D

[Zan]

[color=darkred]So today I spent $220 on about 45 diff imported and local beers as my xmas present to me. :D Found a place with the biggest range of beers ever. They're opening up in richmond soon with over 8,500 diff varieties of beer. Naturally I'm on the mailing list, invite list for the new store and exclusive invite to beer tastings.
Where is this or whats it's name? Gonna have to find a new bottle shop after I move. :(

[Big Kev]

Where is this or whats it's name? Gonna have to find a new bottle shop after I move. :(

Will you be living around melby? If not, it won't be much good to you

[Super Mario]

I also am interested in this store.

I've heard good things about Purvais Cellars in Surrey Hills too but have never been there.

[Big Kev]

Dude. Think back when you first walked into "world 4 kids" or "toys R us" as a junior.

Walking into this place is like reliving that all over again!!! :D

Purvis cellars man. Do it.

So tonight I've had a tui - which was surprisingly not terrible, and the hummingbird blonde lager which has the passionfruit in it. Tasty, but after my second one, no more for me.

Time to move to something else.

Boags pure. Just plain beer. Not that flash.

[enrique]

So today I spent $220 on about 45 diff imported and local beers as my xmas present to me. :D Found a place with the biggest range of beers ever. They're opening up in richmond soon with over 8,500 diff varieties of beer. Naturally I'm on the mailing list, invite list for the new store and exclusive invite to beer tastings.


What's the name of this place and do you know more about when they will open? Very interested.

I went to a pub near my house yesterday to grab something to go with dinner, wasnt really fussed so just asked for Stella and the old bloke behind the counter in the bottleshop replied , "Stella?", "We don't sell that fancy shit here". :D:D:D:D. Funniest thing I'd heard all day.

[HiredMan]

I had a couple of Cass (Korean) the other day, pretty average. Not as good as Hite (which is also pretty average :/).

[Big Kev]

What's the name of this place and do you know more about when they will open? Very interested.

I went to a pub near my house yesterday to grab something to go with dinner, wasnt really fussed so just asked for Stella and the old bloke behind the counter in the bottleshop replied , "Stella?", "We don't sell that fancy shit here". :D:D:D:D. Funniest thing I'd heard all day.

Hahahaha! Bless his soul. :D

[Spudzilla]

Hot day + cricket on TV = drinking beer to make it more interesting

[Big Kev]

Ok, going to be punishing a few varieties of wheat beer tonight. First on the cards.

http://www.austrianbeer.co.uk/images/maiselsweisse.jpg

Oh my GOD what a ****ing tasty brew!!!! It's like a wheat beer that's been given a light dusting of dark malt.

http://thebeerlist.org/wp-content/gallery/Hefe-Weisse-Dunkel/Franziskaner%20Hefe%20Weisse%20Dunkel%20Label.jpg

Franziskaner Weissbier Dunkel. Another dark wheat beer, but this one doesn't have a dark flavour, in fact it's kind of plain. Tasty though. Not a shit wheat beer like so many I have sampled. :D

http://www.bunitedint.com/portfolios/producers/g_schneider/edel_weisse/_images/edel_weisse-bottle.jpg

Another tasty wheat. Probably worth the price. :D

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Flasche_Franziskaner_Weissbier.jpg

Now drinking the less dark buddy. Just another plain wheat sadly.

http://www.beerstore.com.au/beerstore/uploads/beerImages/Blanche_De_Chambly_L.jpg

Like a disturbing cross between champagne and beer.

[Super Mario]

I spent about $7 on a Mc Choffe only to be disappointed, Leffe Brun shits all over it.

[Big Kev]

Hey mario.

Dare you to drink a Tetleys.

[Super Mario]

My housemate and me often go to Dan's and pick 2 of six different beers each, once I picked up Tetleys but my housemate talked me out of it, having lived in England for a couple of years he informed me that it was ****ing shit. Still one day I might buy one just to try it.

[Spudzilla]

Ok, going to be punishing a few varieties of wheat beer tonight. First on the cards.

http://www.austrianbeer.co.uk/images/maiselsweisse.jpg

Oh my GOD what a ****ing tasty brew!!!! It's like a wheat beer that's been given a light dusting of dark malt.


Where did you get this from? A place like Dan Murphey's or a local bottle shop? I'm getting a bit bored of the same sort of stuff.

[Big Kev]

My housemate and me often go to Dan's and pick 2 of six different beers each, once I picked up Tetleys but my housemate talked me out of it, having lived in England for a couple of years he informed me that it was ****ing shit. Still one day I might buy one just to try it.

One of the rare few beers I have ever taken one swig of, and tipped.

[Super Mario]

Where did you get this from? A place like Dan Murphey's or a local bottle shop? I'm getting a bit bored of the same sort of stuff.

You live in Moe right?

There's a shop in Yarragon which is dedicated to beer, you should go there, it's divine.



Yarragon Ale House is managed by an award winning brewer with over 150 international awards & medals, including Supreme Champion title.

101 BEERS
LOCAL WINES
MONTHLY SPECIALS
HOME BREW SUPPLIES

We take beer seriously and believe you should also!

[Big Kev]

Tonight's brain numbing cocktail is beginning with this little beauty!

http://www.fortybeers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Beer-Review-SheepShaggers-Gold-7e.jpg

Despite the rank name, it's actually a highly tasty beer, which is unusual for a novelty named brew. I'm not usually a fan of golds, but this one is doing quite nicely.

http://komplexify.com/images/2009/Kwak.jpg

8.5% yet strangely not over heavy on the flavour. Giving me a damn good kick in the head though! **** yeah!

http://www.beerstore.com.au/beerstore/uploads/beerImages/Cuvee_Des_Trolls_Large.jpg

7%, but tastes like vb raw.

http://www.thegreenwellystop.co.uk/whiskyshop/images/uploads/fruitbeer2.jpg

OH.MY.****ING.****ING.****ING.****ING.GOD!!!!!!!!!

DO NOT SLEEP
DO NOT REST
DO NOT STOP
UNTIL YOU HAVE TASTED THIS BEER!!!!!!

http://www.origin8delicafes.com/images/products/large/st.peters-ruby-red-ale-500ml.jpg

Not bad as far as a celtic red. The bottle is better than the beer.

http://www.shildonfox.com/Skull%20Splitter.JPG

More like tastebud splitter. 8.5% English bitter style. Tastes like overcaramelised beer.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GTOvscGTs34/SfV_5_eDL6I/AAAAAAAAADI/SDL8S2noqV4/s320/Otway_6_pack_new_sm.jpg

Couldn't get a proper image for it, so found this one, that has shown me I have other beers to try. Prickly Moses Red Ale. Yep, having a red night tonight.

Not a heavy celtic red. More like a light celtic red. Probably the type of celtic red that most people would appreciate because it's not heavy, and I like the burn that comes from a real one. When it comes down to it though, I have nothing nasty to say about this beer. I want to try the rest of their line.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3423/3305289475_338e14fbf5.jpg

Another reason to hate the Kiwi's!!!! They have stolen the recipe for 3 Ravens American 55!!! (so yes, it's 500ml of ****ing tasty beer!!!)

http://www.crackedkettle.com/store/images/FRAOCH.gif

Brewed with real heather flower. Have a taste.

http://soheil.callage.com/photo%20Galleries/Beers/images/USA-Saranac%20Pale%20Ale.jpg

Overhopped. And this is me saying this. Delicious, but way over.

[VanAce]

Was given a Grand Ridge brewery sampler so I have been drinking a fair bit of Grand Ridge lately. It gets my stamp of approval.

[Big Kev]

Really? I honestly can't stand that stuff.

I mean I'm well aware that as a person who can't eat egg, tomato, beetroot, eggplant, pumpkin etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. my taste preferences are nowhere near that of people who can eat anything without a worry.

But god damn, when it comes to beer I seriously find grand ridge to be decades behind every decent beer, with a shinier label.

[cont] http://blog.collegebars.net/uploads/10-beers-you-must-drink-this-summer/10-beers-you-must-drink-this-summer-sierra-nevada-pale-ale.jpg

Dear god, this is one sour brew. Ouch. Too much hops. I WILL finish this beer.

===============================

Today:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3252/2707778001_fdfa411fa0.jpg?v=0

Saranac Pomegranate wheat beer. Can only get a slight aftertaste of ANY minute flavouring of pomegranate, and it's a so light it's barely detectable.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TxBQbuSOnVQ/Sj6UQqmwkLI/AAAAAAAAC9A/KrwophsQV7o/s200/Andechser+Weissbier+Hefetrueb.JPG
Another tasty wheat beer.

http://users.jyu.fi/~mweber/blog/images/Morocco_Ale.jpg

Quite possibly one of the smoothest and tastiest dark ales I've ever had the pleasure to enjoy. Fantastic.

http://www.beerstore.com.au/beerstore/uploads/beerImages/Judas_Large.jpg

Yet another beer that will make it's money on name alone and not on taste. I don't even know how to describe this one. Maybe dark ale. Not tasty.

http://struise.noordhoek.com/eng/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/Struise_Mikeller_49434966df490.jpg

Mikkeller. Another heavily hopped beer, only *slightly* too much hops, but otherwise, another 3 ravens style awesomeness, in a 9% alc win volume.

http://bierkraft.com/ProductImages/grozet%20gooseberry%20wheat%20ale.jpg

Blech. Not horrible, just weird.

http://www.genx40.com/images/2008c/bdtp1.JPG

Another 3 ravens win.

http://www.iba-brands.com.au/Uploads/Images/cristal-pilsener.jpg

Not usually a fan of pilsner, but tasty as!

http://www.beerstore.com.au/beerstore/uploads/beerImages/Super_Bock_Green_Lemon_L.jpg

Shandy.

[Big Kev]

So finally got motivated to get the bruhaus up and running again. Have started off with a brigalow draught and a brigalow new with the proper brigalow extra malt packets.

Last three brews I did of brigalow was when I wasn't quite thinking properly, and ended up chucking plain dextrose in. Naturally they turned out to be heavily sweet beers that I couldn't stand, however one of my mates seemed to love them. I also had experimented with corn starch in regards to head, but it appears that most of the actual syrup cans and some of the brew sugars have them pre-mixed, so they ended up fizzing over. Or maybe it was just a bad mix.

Either way, out of the three, the bitter was the worst, so I've decided to re-try the two other brigalows, and hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to chuck maybe one or two more barrels on. :D

Edit:

As of this morning have mount mellicks cream ale and one of the very first brews I made, the Munich Lager - both with a brew enhancer 2. Let's hope the mount mellicks pulls through this time. I had to tip the last two attempts.

[MacGuyver]

It's always sad when you have to tip out a batch of beer! But sometimes it has to be done.

I've tried the Punk IPA that Brew Dog has created, I thought that was pretty good. Looking forward to trying some of their other beers. Wish I could get a hold of their Tactical Nuclear Penguin, the 32% alcohol monster that has been posted up here somewhere before. Just to say that I've tried it!

[Big Kev]

Hell yes!

They had a few "champagne bottle" styled longnecks at the brew fest, can't remember the names of them, but they were hell strong in flavour. Pretty much like that double tin batch of coopers I made. I'm pretty sure they were beechworth brewery gear.

So I've pretty much tried all of the tins now, and next on the list is a bunch of the "thomas coopers special" batch, and once they're done, I've decided to go on a wheat malt rampage. Going to do pure malt extract brews like you've been suggesting, but all wheat. Oh yeah, and a couple of attempts at APA's while I still have the two kits to make that 3 ravens that I've been meaning to attempt for ages.

Any tips to give on the pure malt extract brewing? Know where I can buy the stuff in bulk?

[MacGuyver]

I've made some good wheat beers using just wheat malt, yeast and hops. Very easy to make especially if you have your temperature control sorted. Pure malt extract brewing is pretty easy but it takes a bit longer because you have to boil your hops in during certain intervals but other than that it's very easy, I'm sure you already knew this.

Also when doing your boil, the larger the volume you boil the less hops you need to add for your bittering stages due to hop utilization. So if you boil all your hops in 2L of water and malt you'll need to add more hops than if you'd boiled 4L of water. To work out how much malt that you need to add to your boil, some people say that the starting gravity of this boil should be about 1.040 but all I do is work out how much malt would be in my boil volume of say 4L compared to what is in the full brew volume.

If you were able to you could boil the whole volume that you intend to brew but then you'd need to find a way to cool it down quickly and also work out evaporation rates. And then you may as well move on to all grain!

When boiling, don't boil with the lid on your pot otherwise you'll get froth ups quite quickly. And when adding any powdered malts/sugars to your boiling water it's best to take it off the heat first otherwise it can froth up and it can also stick to the bottom of your pot and burn.

As for buying malt in bulk, all I can suggest is trying your local brew shops or online brew stores. One near me will sell 20Kg of dry light malt for $110, haven't really come across liquid malt in bulk quantities but I guess that's because once you open the tin you probably should use it all!

[MacGuyver]

Sounds like a German brewery has taken on the challenge of creating the strongest alcoholic beer in the world over BrewDog's effort of 32%. Schorschbräu previously held the record of 31% before BrewDog beat them, and now they've apparently topped it with a whopping 40%!

I don't think it's been released yet, and I think some tests will need to be done on it to confirm it's 40% claim.

http://www.benz-weltweit.de/derbraeuvomberch/index_eng.html

[Italian Stallion]

I recently purchased one of those Coopers Micro Brew kits. Put my first batch on about a week and a half ago, just a Cooper's Mexican Cerveza.. just to try something different to the Lager that comes with it, since another mate's got that going at the moment. Bottled the other night, so another week & 1/2 (according to Coopers' instructions, anyway) until it should be ready to drink. I'm told the longer you store it the better it tastes, though, so I plan to keep some aside to try over time! The only thing I really did differently to the directions was fermenting at a lower temp (18-20) compared to the 23-27 they recommend.. I'm told this is a marketing ploy to get more people into it, as 16-20 is harder to maintain in our weather conditions than 23-27, and supposedly the high temps can bring on a bit of a funky taste? Either way, hopefully that's a step in the right direction!

Trying to get my head around do a bit more of an in-depth brew sometime soon, instead of just relying on their packaged recommendations. Any tips on where to start? Or somewhere to read up on it? I guess a starting place might be adding hops? And maybe better quality yeast than what's provided?

[Big Kev]

Something I didn't wrap my head around earlier on was some advice that big Mac up there told me.

Most of the tinned stuff, e.g. coopers green, mexican cervesa etc. is already PRE-hopped, so there's no real need to add hops to it. If you're brewing from pure malt extract tins, that's when you should fart around with hops. In the meantime, just go through a few of the brewcraft kits to get an idea of what's going on, and get a hand on their brew book, it's got a shitload of recipies, so if you copy a recipe down, you can actually get the whole kit cheaper by ordering the bits separately rather than the price markup they give you for the boxed stuff.

As for the bottle and barrel stuff, I tend to go 2 weeks in each. And yeah, the lower temperatures are more aimed towards the european market.

I'm still not sold on the yeast changing the flavour all that much. That's something I'm going to try over my next four barreled coopers green batch.

Oh yeah, and get stuck into the coopers green. It's the best home brew on the market.

[MacGuyver]

Trying to get my head around do a bit more of an in-depth brew sometime soon, instead of just relying on their packaged recommendations. Any tips on where to start? Or somewhere to read up on it? I guess a starting place might be adding hops? And maybe better quality yeast than what's provided?

Best things you can do to start off with is buy a better yeast from a brew shop if you can, find a way to maintain steady temperatures and try not to use too much dextrose in your brews.

The yeast that comes with the cans will still make beer but may have been sitting on the shelf for some time so it could be a little slower to start. There are things you can do to check if it's still viable and give it a bit of a head start on fermentation though. With regards to temperature, ideally you don't want to be brewing above 22oC as you can get some flavors that you might not want depending on the style of beer you're making but what's worse is when you have great fluctuations in temperature. Ales are generally recommended to be brewed at 18 to 20oC but a little either side won't be a problem if you have a healthy yeast.

Adding too much dextrose to your beers will give you cidery like flavours and can give you a watery beer depending on how much you use because all it does is bump up the alcohol percentage without adding any extra body to the beer (I found this out the hard way!). I'd recommend adding some malt instead, which will boost the alcohol, body and head retention. Too much malt though can make a really malty beer (not always a problem!) and can change the balance of the beer in terms of bitterness and hop flavors so adding some dextrose to balance it out can be beneficial. If you add a packet of Brew Enhancer 2 to your batch of Coopers then you're pretty much covered until you're ready to start moving onto other things.

You can add some hops if you want to Coopers cans but I'd only be doing it for extra aroma as the cans are already pre-hopped as Kev has said. You can buy finishing hops which is just some hops in a little bag that you chuck into the fermenter to give it extra aroma but no bitterness.

Yeah and go the Coopers Green! :D

[Big Kev]

You're a perthian, yeah mac?

[REQUIEM]

Just been given a carton of " hammer and tong " draught by my next door neighbour as he doesnt drink beer and he admitted regifting. He stated that its a Boags beer and since free beer is free beer I will find it a home.

Taste test: after a 2x stubbie's it tastes like that 'Sol' mexican beer you can getn which I dont recommend. But for free its cold and its beer so its all good.

[Big Kev]

Jesus christ. Even if I was given that stuff for free I'd tip it.

Tastes like vb that's been left in the sun and re-refrigerated about 3 times over.

[REQUIEM]

Jesus christ. Even if I was given that stuff for free I'd tip it.

Tastes like vb that's been left in the sun and re-refrigerated about 3 times over.

Yeah but I cant even re-regift as I opened it to try them, I managed to get through four of them before I had to purge my tastebuds with a single malt.

[VanAce]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3423/3305289475_338e14fbf5.jpg

Another reason to hate the Kiwi's!!!! They have stolen the recipe for 3 Ravens American 55!!! (so yes, it's 500ml of ****ing tasty beer!!!)

I've seen there Pale Ale before and it apparently has 15 kinds of hops in it which turned me off to it. I will give it a go sometime.

[Cerebral]

Drank one of these suckers on my birthday:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1119/583571269_a63796aef5.jpg

Lucky Beer. It was pretty good. I was tossing up between this and 'Beer Lao' which was voted best Asian beer by TIME magazine but in the end, the Buddha bottle won me over.

[REQUIEM]

Sounds like a German brewery has taken on the challenge of creating the strongest alcoholic beer in the world over BrewDog's effort of 32%. Schorschbräu previously held the record of 31% before BrewDog beat them, and now they've apparently topped it with a whopping 40%!

I don't think it's been released yet, and I think some tests will need to be done on it to confirm it's 40% claim.

http://www.benz-weltweit.de/derbraeuvomberch/index_eng.html

I will be trying that for sure.

[Italian Stallion]

Cheers for the advice Kev & MacGuyver.

I think I'll skip the hops for now then! Might as well screw around with stuff that will actually improve the flavour first.

With the malt extract tins, how much do you generally need? I see that the Coopers ones are 1.5kg - would you add the whole thing to the brew? Or only use a bit?

Which one is the Coopers Green? Just the Lager? I did a batch of that tonight. Used Brew Enhancer instead of the regular stuff that comes with the kit though. I was going to go get some proper Lager yeast from Brewcraft, but I reckon I'd have a bit of trouble maintaining the temperatures this time of year. Maybe closer to winter I'll give it a go how it's supposed to be done. Since they package Ale yeast with the Lager tins (because of the heat thing), I just used that. Is that gonna yield much of a difference? ie. is it going to taste like total piss now? Surely they wouldn't sell it with it if it did...

[Big Kev]

I've found that brew enhancer 2 doesn't taste all that much different to brewblend 15 from brewcraft, and it's 10 bucks cheaper. Keep this in mind. ;)

The coopers green is the pale ale.

[Italian Stallion]

Yeah. I'm pretty sure they use the same ingredients! Not sure about quantities though. Which one's cheaper? The Brewcraft one? I think I picked up the brew enhancer 2 for about $7, so $10 cheaper is bloody good. :p I've been meaning to go to Brewcraft for a while, and now I have to buy more bottles + carbonation drops, I'll have to go in shortly - so I'll definitely have a look into it! That recipe book sounds good too.. though I've got a couple of recipes lined up that I want to try already!

Just a question regarding pitching the yeast - should I wait until the wort has cooled down to 18-20 degrees before I do it? Or just get it done in the 25ish degrees, then get it down to the temperature range required by the yeast for fermentation?

[Big Kev]

Brewcraft #15 about $16 at brewcraft.

Coopers brew blend #2 about $6.50 at coles.

Coopers pale ale tins are also about 12 bucks at coles as compared to $20 at brewcraft.

Now here's the important bit. No more buying bottles from brewcraft, no more buying carbonation drops.

If you need empty stubbies, I've got a ****load here, but most of them need washing (and probably soaking). I fell for the spiel about normal stubbies not being tough enough etc. Total bullshit sale talk. They're fine, I've been using vb/carlton/hoegaarden/tooheys dry/etc. bottles for ages without problems. Don't spend money on bottles that you can get for free.

Secondly, no more paying for carbonation drops. Go in and specifically ask for the priming scoop. Then buy yourself a plastic "tupperware" style tub from your closest el cheapo shop (reject shop or discount shop) and fill it with plain old white sugar. Then buy yourself a mini funnel. All you have to do is use the right scoop with the right sized bottle, and you'll save yourself a fortune, and i find once you're in the routine, it's quicker than fishing for those bloody lollies anyways. Seriously, a bag of those lollies will cost you $3 and last you 100 beers. A bag of white sugar will cost you $3 and last you about 3000 beers.

As for the temp, no more than 25 degrees or it will kill the yeast, but yeah, you can chuck it in at 25 and it should be fine to cool down on it's own. You don't want to leave it too long in between putting it all together and chucking the yeast in because apparently it can get infected.

[MacGuyver]

A method that's even easier than adding a bit of sugar to every bottle is called bulk priming, but you'd need another fermenter or large enough container to do this.

What you do is add x ammount of your priming sugar of choice to a few litres of water (just enough to dissolve all the sugar) and then boil it for about 10 or so minutes to reduce the liquid and sterilize it. After it's cooled down a bit, tip it into the new fermenter.

Then you need to transfer your beer from your primary to your second fermenter/container using some tubing that you can get at a hardware store once it's been sterilized. As this is happening the beer is mixing with the sugar you added but you don't want it to splash about too much because you don't want to introduce too much oxygen to the beer at this stage. Just before I go to bottle the brew I'll make sure that I give the beer another good steady mix to ensure even carbonation.

If you have an accident and the beer does splash about quite a lot then it won't be the end of the world, your beer will still be fine!

The benefits of bulk priming are getting your beer off the yeast cake, even carbonation between all of your bottles and speed. I personally think speed is the biggest advantage for me. Getting your beer off the yeast cake is mostly only important for beer clarity, however if you use a good yeast with a high sedimentation rate this won't matter much if you don't bulk prime. Some people think it also helps with improving flavor but I'm not so sure. Also with the scoop method you can still get even carbonation, a small ammount less/more between each bottle probably won't be noticed.

To work out how much sugar you need to add to your beer for priming, if you want to get technical it really depends on the style of beer that you're making as different styles have different carbonation rates and there are some good websites on the net to help you figure this out. But all I do is add 8g/L of dextrose to all my beers and it works fine for me.

Of course if you just moved onto kegs then you wouldn't need to worry about any of this at all! :D

[Big Kev]

Just bought myself one of these little beasties.

http://www.nexternal.com/hombre/images/carboyandbottlewasher.jpg

The "Turbowasher". Fits straight to your garden tap.

$34 bucks with a lifetime guarantee. Hopefully it makes life much easier than the standard bottle washer. Will let you guys know.

Also bought an american pale ale kit, the new celtic red kit and a fat yak kit. Going to paste the recipes straight to the inside of my brew book and pick the bits individually from now.

[MacGuyver]

I'd be interested to hear how the Fat Yak kit turns out as I've been meaning to have a crack at making a Fat Yak clone for a while. Most of the recipes that I've seen on the net use nelson sauvin hops and cascade as well as some liquid/dried pale malt and US-05 yeast so should be fairly straight forward to put together.

[Italian Stallion]

How do clone beers generally compare? Obviously similarly enough that they are clones, but..? There's a few I've seen I want to give a go.

Tried my cerveza the other day. Happily impressed with it. Tastes good, no funny tastes or smells. If Corona can be sold for fifty bucks a slab, I'd probably make a mint selling this.

Also put my second brew on about 10 days ago. The lager that comes with the kit, with Brew Enhancer #1 (bought it accidentally instead of #2 for the cerveza, thought I'd go ahead and use it!), and the standard yeast. Gravity reading yesterday was 1020, down from about 1040 OG. Seems to be taking an unusually long time to ferment - and while I know lagers generally do take longer, I thought since they Coopers stuff is pre-packaged with Ale yeast it only takes about a week? Or does it still take longer regardless? I hope I haven't stuffed it up!

[MacGuyver]

I wouldn't worry about it if it's taken a week to ferment, some beers I've made have taken about 2 weeks to stop fermenting. I think it all depends on the temperature you brew at, the health of the yeast and also what percentage of easily fermentable sugars are in your brew.

Also something I said earlier about not adding hops to Coopers cans was wrong. You can add hops to Coopers cans (I've done this a few times!) but you've just got to make sure that you don't boil them for any more than 20mins with some unhopped dry/liquid malt otherwise you start to extract bitterness from the hops. Doing this can be a great way to spruce up Coopers cans and give them a bit more character. Can't believe I forgot about this!

[Big Kev]

How do clone beers generally compare? Obviously similarly enough that they are clones, but..? There's a few I've seen I want to give a go.

Tried my cerveza the other day. Happily impressed with it. Tastes good, no funny tastes or smells. If Corona can be sold for fifty bucks a slab, I'd probably make a mint selling this.

Also put my second brew on about 10 days ago. The lager that comes with the kit, with Brew Enhancer #1 (bought it accidentally instead of #2 for the cerveza, thought I'd go ahead and use it!), and the standard yeast. Gravity reading yesterday was 1020, down from about 1040 OG. Seems to be taking an unusually long time to ferment - and while I know lagers generally do take longer, I thought since they Coopers stuff is pre-packaged with Ale yeast it only takes about a week? Or does it still take longer regardless? I hope I haven't stuffed it up!


Grab a hold of the barrell, and shake it in a circular motion.

Shake it like you're angry with it.

[IsItDead?]

I wouldn't worry about it if it's taken a week to ferment, some beers I've made have taken about 2 weeks to stop fermenting. I think it all depends on the temperature you brew at, the health of the yeast and also what percentage of easily fermentable sugars are in your brew.

Also something I said earlier about not adding hops to Coopers cans was wrong. You can add hops to Coopers cans (I've done this a few times!) but you've just got to make sure that you don't boil them for any more than 20mins with some unhopped dry/liquid malt otherwise you start to extract bitterness from the hops. Doing this can be a great way to spruce up Coopers cans and give them a bit more character. Can't believe I forgot about this!

Unless, of course, you want to extract the bitterness from the hops.

[MacGuyver]

Unless, of course, you want to extract the bitterness from the hops.

Yeah some people like to do this with pre hopped cans, really kick the bitterness up a notch as most concentrate cans are probably considered mildly bitter especially if you're looking at emulating more bitter styles of beer like IPAs, making the concentrate can up to 23L like most kit instructions recommend or you just want more bitterness.

I've done a 60min boil with hops & malt once and then added this to a Coopers can + other bits, turned out too bitter initially for most of my friends (not for me!) but over time most thought it was pretty awesome. I had a brewing program to help me out though so I had an idea of what I was expecting in terms of overall bitterness.

[VanAce]

I had the Guinness 250 Anniversary Stout the other day. I really enjoyed it. Wouldn't call it a stout though it was closer to a black beer.

[MacGuyver]

I've just found out that my local specialty beer shop is taking pre orders for BrewDog's 32% Tactical Nuclear Penguin, they've managed to organize a small shipment to be sent over here. The catch though is it costs $130 for a 330ml bottle!

I guess that's not too bad if you had a group of mates wanting to split the cost, you probably wouldn't want to drink it all yourself and I doubt you'd be able to reseal it again once it's opened. It's something like 8.3 standard drinks so you could take it on the chin if you wanted to but I'd imagine it would be a beer that you'd take a few slow sips of, not something you'd slam down in front of the tv!

[Dorkify]

I have a pilsner for the first time a few weeks back and I love them. My favourite so far though would be the James Squire Pilsner. Also, recently tried the Red Angus Pilsner... it doesn't taste like a pils, but it is a great beer nonetheless.

[Cerebral]

I don't know if it's the bowl of chilli and noodles I just ate, but this Boag's draught tastes like caramel. What the heck

[Jickle]

Last night I got moderately drunk on Monteith's Crushed Apple Cider, which just happened to be the cheapest/nicest drink available at the relatively overpriced bar I was at. Highly recommended. Goes down dangerously easily. Is the rest of their stuff good?

I also tried a Lobo cider (made from Adelaide Hills apples, apparently), which was nowhere near as good. Quite pulpy, which was nice, but it had a pretty strange flavour to it.

[VanAce]

Is the rest of their stuff good?

I've had the Golden Lager on tap and that was quite nice. I haven't had anything else.

[Zan]

Hey guys, I have moved recently, to Glen Huntly, Melbourne south eastern suburbs.
I no longer have a great bottle shop at my doorstep. :(

Does anyone know of any speciality beer shops, or something to that effect around this area? Something a little more interesting than Dan Murphy stock.

[MacGuyver]

Has anyone else heard of the limited edition IPA that Little Creatures have recently released in pint bottles and on tap? It may very well be the same as the stimulus IPA that they released on tap last year (I never got a chance to try it) but these pints are selling out fast! Some liquor stores have been taking pre orders for the next delivery they receive. A beer that you have to pre order?! Crazy!

Here is a list of stockists and info:

https://www.littlecreatures.com.au/Happening-Things/menu-id-76.html

[Italian Stallion]

Saw that the other day... there's a stockist near me too, apparently. Might give 'em a buzz tomorrow and see whether they've got any in. Any clue on price? And if it can be bought in six packs or individually, or if you've gotta buy a slab?

Speaking of Little Creatures, gonna give my LCPA clone a taste tomorrow night. Seemed to taste pretty authentic during fermentation when I was checking for gravity (couldn't help but give it a try!). Can't wait. Got a LCBA clone to go on after it too. :p

[kirok]

Drinking Vb at the mo-ment like I should ;).

[obsolete]

Speaking of Little Creatures, gonna give my LCPA clone a taste tomorrow night. Seemed to taste pretty authentic during fermentation when I was checking for gravity (couldn't help but give it a try!). Can't wait. Got a LCBA clone to go on after it too. :p

The first brew i did was lcpa what ingredients did you use?

[MacGuyver]

Saw that the other day... there's a stockist near me too, apparently. Might give 'em a buzz tomorrow and see whether they've got any in. Any clue on price? And if it can be bought in six packs or individually, or if you've gotta buy a slab?

Speaking of Little Creatures, gonna give my LCPA clone a taste tomorrow night. Seemed to taste pretty authentic during fermentation when I was checking for gravity (couldn't help but give it a try!). Can't wait. Got a LCBA clone to go on after it too. :p

The price of the pints should be equal to that of the pale ale and the bright ale; the place that I picked up my pints from were selling them at 2 for $11 but most places I frequent have little creatures pints 2 for $10.

The prices on cartons seem to vary a bit; I've heard tales of some people being able to pick up a carton of 12 pints from the brewery for as little as $49 but liquor stores selling them for about $60 when they had them in stock. Some liquor stores only received like 1 or 2 cartons but then some I've heard received 10 or so.

As for what it tastes like, I think it's glorious but I'm not 100% convinced it's better than their pale ale. They've used all cascade hops in the IPA so it tastes similar to their pale ale IMO. If they released it on a regular basis I'd buy it along side the pale ale.

Also I'd be interested to know what ingredients you used in your LCPA clone, as I've not been 100% successful in my attempts simply because of the amount of hops you'd need to match it. The closest I've ever tasted was from a mate who used 1kg of cascade flowers for his dry hop!

[obsolete]

So do any of you guys use kegs or just bottle?

[VanAce]

Has anyone else heard of the limited edition IPA that Little Creatures have recently released in pint bottles and on tap? It may very well be the same as the stimulus IPA that they released on tap last year (I never got a chance to try it) but these pints are selling out fast! Some liquor stores have been taking pre orders for the next delivery they receive. A beer that you have to pre order?! Crazy!

Here is a list of stockists and info:

https://www.littlecreatures.com.au/Happening-Things/menu-id-76.html


Always been a fan of Little Creatures but sadly there doesn't seem to be a stockist anywhere near me. So it looks like I may miss out :(

If anyone picks some up could they send me the label as I collect beer labels.

[VanAce]

Another limited release its on its way from James Squire in mid May called Malt Runner.

I am currently drinking Mad Brewers Orchard Ale.

https://www.fine-wine.com.au/image/cache/frame-product-large-046c279aa36626835a2657a34c15e941.png

I am liking it so far. It has an interesting taste due to the addition of crushed apples added some time in the brewing process.

[MacGuyver]

I've had a few bottles of the Mad Brewers Orchard Ale, I think it's pretty good but I don't know if I would drink more than one at a time (plus it's a 640ml bottle!).

I'll be keeping an eye out for the Malt Runner!

[Sir_Tam]

what is this thread about?

i dont understand the op.

[Super Mario]

Another limited release its on its way from James Squire in mid May called Malt Runner.

I am currently drinking Mad Brewers Orchard Ale.

https://www.fine-wine.com.au/image/cache/frame-product-large-046c279aa36626835a2657a34c15e941.png

I am liking it so far. It has an interesting taste due to the addition of crushed apples added some time in the brewing process.

Hmmm I still have one of the Ten20 Commemorative Ales left, did anyone else try that? It is the best beer I've ever drunk and the Orchard Ale has left me disappointed because it doesn't compare. Still my local has about 4 cases of it so I'll probably end up grabbing one.

[MacGuyver]

I never got the chance to try the Ten20 ale unfortunately. :( I've heard nothing but good things about it.

[Super Mario]

I've got about 400-500 rinsed empty beer bottles just gathering dust in my house if anyone wants them they're yours. :)


Kev?

[VanAce]

http://www.jamessquire.com.au/blog/index.php/2010/05/17/new-james-squire-malt-runner/comment-page-1/#comment-7000

Anyone tried the new Malt Runner yet?

[MacGuyver]

Cheers for the heads up on the Malt Runner, haven't tried it but I'll see if I can pick one up on my way home today.

I've heard that Little Creatures are releasing another small batch again, they have a notification on their web site about it but I can't find any information on what it is. But a friend of mine reckons it might be an American brown ale which will be released at the end of the month.

[Super Mario]

http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/0912/cliff-clavin-on-beer-reprint-of-a-classic-diatribe-from-chee-demotivational-poster-1260903243.jpg

[MacGuyver]

I've just brought a six pack of the Malt Runner, it's not too bad a drop but I think I liked some of Malt Shovel's other limited edition beers better (like the Hop Thief). But I've heard that it might taste better if it's allowed to warm up a little, so I might try that next. There's a subdued cherry flavor to it which is nice, and it has some good chocolatey flavors that aren't over powering either.

I'd recommend giving it a go, but I'm undecided if I'll pick up another six pack. I'll see how the other bottles that I've got left go down!

[Blob]

LOVE the Squires seasonal beers and Im looking forward to seeing how this Malt Runner goes. However does this mean we won't be seeing the hop thief this season? Easily one of the best beers ive ever had.

[MacGuyver]

New Little Creatures single batch is coming out very soon, here is a list of stockists:

https://www.littlecreatures.com.au/Happening-Things/menu-id-76.html

Looks like they're releasing this to more outlets than the single batch IPA, don't know if that's a good or a bad thing as they might sell out even faster! :p Hopefully this means they've made more than just a few cartons this time.

[VanAce]

Brown Ale. Sounds interesting. And also a stockist near me. will have to look out for it.

[Jickle]

Is anyone else doing Dry July this year? After an absurd hangover about a week and a half back I decided it was a good idea. Should be an interesting month.

Now for the shameless donation plug. (https://www.dryjuly.com/profiles/jamesoconnor)

[Italian Stallion]

The first brew i did was lcpa what ingredients did you use?
The price of the pints should be equal to that of the pale ale and the bright ale; the place that I picked up my pints from were selling them at 2 for $11 but most places I frequent have little creatures pints 2 for $10.

The prices on cartons seem to vary a bit; I've heard tales of some people being able to pick up a carton of 12 pints from the brewery for as little as $49 but liquor stores selling them for about $60 when they had them in stock. Some liquor stores only received like 1 or 2 cartons but then some I've heard received 10 or so.

As for what it tastes like, I think it's glorious but I'm not 100% convinced it's better than their pale ale. They've used all cascade hops in the IPA so it tastes similar to their pale ale IMO. If they released it on a regular basis I'd buy it along side the pale ale.

Also I'd be interested to know what ingredients you used in your LCPA clone, as I've not been 100% successful in my attempts simply because of the amount of hops you'd need to match it. The closest I've ever tasted was from a mate who used 1kg of cascade flowers for his dry hop!
Can't quite recall the ingredients. It's based on a fairly common online recipe for it. I sort of went with the majority, but they all had different ideas about how long to steep the hops etc, so I just sort of averaged it out and went with that!

That LCIPA wasn't bad, by the way. Ended up grabbing a few bottles from a stockist near me. It was actually the first IPA I'd had, and found it ridiculously bitter at first.. but I enjoy it more each time I have it. I also got some of that Orchard Ale from the same stockist. Interesting beer. I did like it though!

New Little Creatures single batch is coming out very soon, here is a list of stockists:

https://www.littlecreatures.com.au/Happening-Things/menu-id-76.html

Looks like they're releasing this to more outlets than the single batch IPA, don't know if that's a good or a bad thing as they might sell out even faster! :p Hopefully this means they've made more than just a few cartons this time.
Any idea when this is actually out? The details seem sketchy! I'll be right near that same stockist I got the IPA from, on Friday.. hopefully they have some of this in then as they're on the list again!

Onto more homebrew related stuff; I've done a Squire's Golden Ale clone just on 2 weeks ago. The temps were a bit lower than I'm used to, given the time of year - roughly 15 - 18 the entire time I saw it. Now, the OG was 1046, and it seems to have stopped fermenting at 1014. Do you reckon that sounds about right, or have I let it get too cold and it's finished fermenting prematurely?

[obsolete]

It may take longer because its colder weather leave it another day and see if it drops a bit more either way it should be ok.

[Super Mario]

Is anyone else doing Dry July this year? After an absurd hangover about a week and a half back I decided it was a good idea. Should be an interesting month.

Now for the shameless donation plug. (https://www.dryjuly.com/profiles/jamesoconnor)

I thought it was Ocsober

[MacGuyver]

Any idea when this is actually out? The details seem sketchy! I'll be right near that same stockist I got the IPA from, on Friday.. hopefully they have some of this in then as they're on the list again!

Onto more homebrew related stuff; I've done a Squire's Golden Ale clone just on 2 weeks ago. The temps were a bit lower than I'm used to, given the time of year - roughly 15 - 18 the entire time I saw it. Now, the OG was 1046, and it seems to have stopped fermenting at 1014. Do you reckon that sounds about right, or have I let it get too cold and it's finished fermenting prematurely?

I'm not 100% sure when it comes out but my mate was talking to one of the brewers about 2 months ago about the brown ale and he was told that they've bottled twice as much of the brown ale as they did with the IPA so when it is released you shouldn't have too much difficulty getting it. It's supposedly available at the brewery on tap at the moment so I wonder if they'll sell you a few bottles yet? I'm going to be keeping an eye out for it over the next few weeks and I've told enough people about it that when it does come out I'll know!

As for your final gravity finishing at 1014, it also depends on what you've used for your ingredients. If you've used all malt then the final gravity will be higher then if you used say half malt and half dextrose. If you're worried you could always swirl the fermenter around to see if it wakes up the yeast but I wouldn't be too concerned. Just leave it for a few days and it should be right!

[Italian Stallion]

Hmm, maybe the LC Dining Hall in Melbourne will have some.. Possibly a good time to go there!

Ahhh, right then. Well, it was all malt, so perhaps I'm about right! I've left it for a few extra days and it doesn't seem to have moved. Might bottle it up tomorrow night.

I should really read into how all this stuff reacts and effects things. I mean, my brews come out good following directions, but knowing little things like the malt vs dextrose thing would help! Any sites you know of with decent writeups that aren't too complicated?

[obsolete]

Just spent $600 buying more brew stuff like a frigde kegs and other things now to get back in to it again and get a proper set up going and some good beer on tap :D

[MacGuyver]

The LC Brown Ale is out now, a mate of mine is picking me up a carton today from the brewery for $49 which is pretty cheap. So tomorrow is tasting time, unless I cave in and track some down on my way home today!

I should really read into how all this stuff reacts and effects things. I mean, my brews come out good following directions, but knowing little things like the malt vs dextrose thing would help! Any sites you know of with decent writeups that aren't too complicated?

I can't think of any good write ups on malt vs dextrose off the top of my head but if your brews are coming out fine then I wouldn't worry about it too much. Dextrose will add alcohol to your beers but not body or flavor. So adding too much will give you watery, cidery tasting beer. A little can dry the beer out if you're finding your extract brews are too sweet but it all comes down to the style of beer that you're making and your personal tastes. Choice of yeast can have an effect on final gravity as well but that's another story!

[VanAce]

I had the LC Brown Ale the other day and I enjoyed it alot. I have decided I am a fan of Brown Ales.

[Michaelangelo]

I had this when I was in Brussels on the weekend:

http://www.brasserieecaussinnes.be/bieres/cookie_beer_b.png


Tasted like gingerbread men. Awesome.

[MacGuyver]

That cookie beer sounds interesting, I've read some things about it and it sounds pretty intense!

Anyone here tried or seen a White Rabbit White Ale? I've heard it's a little bit like a Hoegaarden but not as big on the Belgian flavors. I think it's starting to pop up in a few liquor stores around now but it's been on tap for about a month in a few places.

[Michaelangelo]

I also had this from the same place:

http://www.music-cats-beer.co.uk/images/barbar_12.jpg

It's honey flavoured, and incredibly refreshing on a hot summer day. This pub has 2004 different beers available and this is what the guy behind the bar recommended first up. It was magnificent. He then gave me a huge folder with the entire menu to browse through. It was like being a kid in a toy shop.

[kirok]

Ah this thread kicks ass but I drink Bourbon now mixed with dry ginger ale :/

[Knuckle Children]

White Rabbit White Ale: quite possibly the best beer that I've had. It's probably not a session beer, but damn it's tasty.

[MacGuyver]

Yeah I didn't mind the white ale but I'm more of a fan of the dark ale.

I've heard that the next Little Creatures small batch will be coming out very soon. It's an oatmeal stout, and apparently they've had a few problems filtering the batch so it may only be released in very small quantities. My local is getting 12 cartons though so as long as I can get down there when it comes out I should be able to snag a few.

[Knuckle Children]

I haven't tried the Dark Ale yet, but I've only heard good things about it. Definitely my next purchase. The last Dark that I had was a James Squire variety, and the exact name escapes me, but it was brilliant. It had a strong toffee flavour, and went down way too easily.

[VanAce]

Yet to try the White Ale. I tried a Cascade First Harvest and found it to be nothing special. I picked up but yet to try a Matilda Bay Longshot which is this years seasonal. Meant to be coffee inspired. i will tell you what I think once I have tried it.

[MacGuyver]

Little Creatures oatmeal stout has been released to the same liquor stores that received the brown ale. I managed to pick up a few pint bottles of it yesterday but am yet to try it out. It's available at the brewery on tap in WA, and I've heard that today from 3 or 4pm they're going to put out a keg of it with a hand pump.

[Knuckle Children]

I bought a 500mL bottle of Well's Banana Bread beer on the way home, just because I saw it advertised in the paper and it sounded interesting.

http://img.epinions.com/images/opti/69/24/Wells_Banana_Bread_Beer-resized200.jpg

After the first couple of sips it tasted okay, with a hint of banana aftertaste, but after a few more mouthfuls, the shit started to taste like a ****ing banana Big M. I checked the ingredients, and it has artificial banana flavour in it.

Why the **** would they do that, especially considering their spiel about carefully brewing the beer with banana hops, etc? A subtle aftertaste, like Beez Neez has with its honey, would have been nice, but their in-your-face banana flavourings killed it. It was $6 poorly spent; not recommended.

[VanAce]

Yeah doesn't seem like a good idea having banana artificial flavouring in a beer.

[enrique]

To me it actually sounds alright but then again as knuckle children experienced, in reality it probably not as tasty as it sounds. Shame. I saw the words cookie and beer at the top of the page and am intrigued. Hmm

On another note I had some pure blonde for the first the time the other day. Felt dumber with every sip.

[VanAce]

Both Hahn and Pure Blonde announce low-carb wheat beers (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad-application/brewing-giants-turn-white-and-wine/story-fn6bfmgc-1225956117478)

I like wheat beers but I wonder but sort of put off by the low-carb aspect. The Hahn one sounds a bit more interesting as it is more of a Belgian style.

[Super Mario]

The Pure Blonde Blonde.

[Space_Monkey]

Anyone picked up some Little Creatures Oatmeal Stout?

I grabbed a bottle whilst I was on my way to Melbourne the other day.

It is now sitting in a dry cool cupboard waiting for winter. :)

[MacGuyver]

I didn't mind the oatmeal stout, but I reckon their best small batch beer so far has been the IPA.

I picked up a bottle of Vale Ale today, wasn't too bad but thought it was a little boring. I've heard that it's much better on tap though.

Something else that I was able to try recently was one of these:

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/6433/stoneruin.jpg (http://img46.imageshack.us/i/stoneruin.jpg/)

100+ IBUs, mega hoppy and 7.7%. Not something you'd slam down in a hurry!

[Pan]

Cascade has launched a new iPhone app called "Cascade- Brewer's Nose". Allows barcode scanning of over 500 local and import beers and accompanying tasting notes and food recommendations. It works with social networking to compare notes with friends etc,

Not too bad, and free from the app store atm.

[enrique]

The Pure Blonde Blonde.

Dumb and Dumber?

[Super Mario]

So anyone been to Biero (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Melbourne-Australia/Biero-bar-Melbourne/165366810149304)in Melbourne yet? The best selection of beer I've ever seen. :)

[VanAce]

I have heard of it but haven't been yet.

Was at an English pub today so I had a Newcastle Brown Ale. Always have a Newcastle when I hit the English pubs, probably my favourite English beer. Although I haven't had many other English beers to compare to.

[MacGuyver]

I don't drink a lot of English beers either but I do like this one:

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/7677/landlord.jpg

Can be about 8 to 9 clams a bottle though.

[IsItDead?]

I don't drink a lot of English beers either but I do like this one:

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/7677/landlord.jpg

Can be about 8 to 9 clams a bottle though.

Where did you find it? Perth bottle shop or online? I've been wanting to try it but haven't been able to it in a bottle shop in SA.

[MacGuyver]

Where did you find it? Perth bottle shop or online? I've been wanting to try it but haven't been able to it in a bottle shop in SA.

I've found it in a few specialty bottle shops around Perth, I think I've even seen it at my local Dan Murphys over here as well.

[VanAce]

Heading off to party run by Tiger Beer tonight so I will probably be drinking Tiger Beer tonight.

[VanAce]

I tried the Hahn White Beer the other day. Not too bad. Haven't tried it with the Orange in it yet as suggested.

[Gunblade89]

I'm drinking some Cascade Draught at the moment, good stuff.

[MacGuyver]

Anyone else tried the new Little Creatures small batch, the East Kent Goldings Ale? I thought it was very easy drinking, would make a good session beer but not mind blowing.