4 July 2009

A trip to U-Brew It

| johnboy
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[First filed: July 03, 2009 @ 11:32]

The RiotACT team can be notoriously difficult to pin down. And yet, when beer is involved mysteriously manage to appear with no problem at all.

A few weeks ago Che had been out to U-Brew It in Hume, and was so impressed he organised a trip for the rest of us to partake in the beery goodness while he packaged his first effort for taking home.

The concept is simple enough, instead of investing in expensive home brewing gear you pay to use theirs and take advantage of economies of scale. With no excise paid, because you’ve made it yourself, the beer can still be very cheap with the quality that the larger scale equipment can provide.

So here’s how it works.

1) Peruse the menu. Choose from dozens of beer styles with examples of similar commercial beers given. Once you’ve chosen which one you want the all important recipe card will be issued to you.

2) The recipe card will be full of things like “Black Bowl: 25 grams of Irish Moss and 30 grams of Cascade hops”. The most important thing is to get the malt bucket filling first as it can take some time for 5 litres of sticky malt to flow out of the drum. With the malt flowing everyone rushed around playing with scales and bowls, assembling their recipe.

3) Brewing. Equipped with a timer each and supervised by management we followed the checklist which made sure ingredients were introduced, to 50 litres of 70 degree water in great gleaming kettles, at the right time.

4) Pumping out. The finished wort is pumped from the kettle into a plastic lined fermenter via an intercooler which zaps the temperature down to a yeast friendly 30 degrees. It then goes and sits in a temperature controlled warm room for a week, before the staff move it to a cool room for another week.

5) Two weeks later come back. Either pay $40 for canning, or bring your own bottles.

All up, if you don’t have the bottle stock and need to can, it costs around $200 for 50 litres of beer. Or $2 for each of 100 500ml cans of filtered and carbonated beer.

While engaged in the process they’ve got Foxtel showing on a big plasma and samples of their different recipes flowing freely for the non-drivers.

For those of you curious about the canning process here’s some video of the machine in action.

Slideshow of the whole procedure below:

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chubbybatbrewery4:18 pm 18 Nov 09

Chubbybat Brewery offers rental equipment and instruction on how to make your own all grain beer. chubbybat.com

PS – join the Canberra Brewers Club!

http://www.canberrabrewers.org

If you rinse the bottles out with hot water straight after you use them you shouldn’t have much problems cleaning them. This is all I’ve done for the last few brews (no sanitising) and I’ve only had 1 contamination.

+1 for bleach. Rinsing off with hot water quickly gets rid of the chlorine smell.

This is the place for all your brewing questions…

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/index.php

LG said :

anyone know how much you’d normally shell out for a decent home brewing kit?

The kits are fine but if you’re anything like me you’ll slowly, bit-by-bit, increase your kit until you make the switch to all-grain brewing then kegs to save time and effort, then feel that your initial all-grain kit isn’t quite what you need/want and decide to upgrade to all stainless equipment and all of a sudden your wife is complaining that the spare room is full of brew stuff and the second fridge (a big commercial one) full of beer kegs is making too much noise at night and that you both need to move to a place with a double-garage and you look back and realise you’ve spent possibly a few thousand dollars on your kit….

U-brew-it is perfect if you want to avoid all of that and make quite acceptable beer

they store it and keep it at the right temperature for you while it ferments!

if people are interested in the tri nature products, here is the link:
http://www.trinature.com/

Woody Mann-Caruso4:04 pm 06 Jul 09

You could be putting beer into kegs for $200, but you wouldn’t be getting it out.

Secondhand 19L keg with new seals, pressure tested: $59. Liquid disconnect: $17. Soda stream regulator adapter: $30. Gas disconnect: $17. New regulator: $70. Sodastream Alcojet 40L cylinder: $30, or $11 if you ask the right way. Total: $223 for a completely portable kegging setup. Get a secondhand regulator and disconnects and score the cylinder at a garage sale or Revolve and you’re easily under $200. Or get a Tap-a-Draft system for $135.

Then between bottle wash, spray bottle for disinfectant, disinfecting chemicals, actually buying the first kit. I wouldn’t recommend a friend budget for less than $200.

Diluted Home Brand bleach is pretty much the best sanitiser you can get and cost fractions of a cent per batch. Even the grungiest bottles will sparkle if soaked in bleach solution for a couple of days – no brush or special chemicals required, just a rinse with plain water.

For and for $DEITY’s sake, give the Big W kits a miss. A few kg of fresh extract, some decent dried yeast, some Irish moss and some properly packed hop pellets won’t cost much more and will taste infinitely better. If you just want to dump and stir, get a 3kg ESB kit. If you just want to stir, get an ESB fresh wort kit.

johnboy said :

ewww

Dishwasher’s have two problem:

1) They’re not designed to get water up into all your bottles.

2) dishwashing detergent (which will be there as residue even if you’re not using it) will kill the head off beer.

re dishwashers, 1) the fisher and paykel drawer dishwashers do a great job with bottles.
and 2) there is a product from Tri-Nature which uses an active ingredient of citric acid. We use it as it isn’t harmful to kids, but i have mates using it for their bottles as it doesn’t have a nasty side effect – like poison you.

I don’t brew but I pickle and jam and I use the dishwasher on my jars- never had a problem.

I’ve been brewing for a goodly number of years and never experienced any problems with the dishwasher.

ewww

Dishwasher’s have two problem:

1) They’re not designed to get water up into all your bottles.

2) dishwashing detergent (which will be there as residue even if you’re not using it) will kill the head off beer.

Big W kits can be OK.. but check the use by dates carefully.

The kits they sell in supermarkets are fine. You won’t need a bottle tree if you have a dishwasher (whacking rinsed bottles through the dishwasher makes the entire experience a lot more bearable).

Keep the advice coming people 🙂 – although perhaps I’m moving things off topic.

JB, do you have a particular brand / supplier in mind? I imagine you’re not thinking of the kits sold at Big W?

You could be putting beer into kegs for $200, but you wouldn’t be getting it out.

You really want a proper capper not that bollocks of belting the bottles with a hammer. And a bottle tree and jet takes so much angst out of the process as to be essential to brewing with sanity.

Then between bottle wash, spray bottle for disinfectant, disinfecting chemicals, actually buying the first kit. I wouldn’t recommend a friend budget for less than $200.

But if you have an endless appetite for pain and large amounts of free time then sure, you can get started for the cost of a fermenter and the first kit.

Woody Mann-Caruso11:37 am 06 Jul 09

I’d say you can get started for $200, but then also need to build the bottle stock

!!?

Food-safe plastic bucket with tap, plastic hose, decent-sized saucepan, done. Even if you bought one of those commercial packages that give you a bottle washing brush, crown seals, thermometer, hydrometer etc you won’t be set back more than $90. You could be kegging for $200.

Thanks JB, building up the bottle stock shouldn’t be much hassle 😉 just a question of committment to actually brewing my own beer!

I’d say you can get started for $200, but then also need to build the bottle stock (ie drink two cases of beer)

But without access to forced carbonation it’ll be six weeks before each batch is ready to drink. So you need a bottle stock of 12 cases of bottles.

anyone know how much you’d normally shell out for a decent home brewing kit?

As well as being a good way for a novice to get a decent brew (my brother’s bottling efforts exploded under the house), It’s a great tax dodge.

apologies – this was the original story from the opening.

http://the-riotact.com/?p=6210

i think they were. Just not editorial.

http://the-riotact.com/?p=6539

I’m surprised you’ve just cottoned on to this. It’s brilliant, we’ve been batching at ubrewit for years (2?).

johnboy said :

bloodnut said :

I think part of the joy has always been brewing it in my own garage – regardless of the quality of the outcome. You, the shed, the dog and a longneck – t’s a little more personal, clandestine and thus far more appealing.

It’s like the difference between having a shower at your own place or in the footy change room.

But loseing all the cleaning! Anyways, to each their own.

i’ll still be going out for a gander this weekend…

Squil said :

Ah brewing. One of those uniquely male domains as you try your hardest to display tidbits of knowledge no one but you will surely know.

Can’t wrong you there. Most homebrewers are nerds… (AFAIK) and work in ICT (IT in the old days).

Squil said :

dick-measuring-pissing-contestry

Now, now. That’s no way to talk about your partner’s hobbies.

Clown Killer6:56 pm 03 Jul 09

Mexican Gold

It’s a good rendition of a Corona style. ‘Twas popular last summer but when it’s cold outside?

Woody Mann-Caruso6:37 pm 03 Jul 09

But in some recipes grains are added to the brew in a grain bag to introduce their flavours before being removed.

Good to hear. Even a little fresh grain can make a world of difference.

Brilliant idea if you like Beer, can’t stand it myself(ducks)

Hmm, this may provide a means of preventing my significant other from filling the spare bedroom with homebrew equipment, something he regularly threatens to do (we don’t have a shed or garage for the purpose). I’ve lived in too many houses where the garage can’t be used due to all the crates of bottles stacked in there for homebrew.

bloodnut said :

I think part of the joy has always been brewing it in my own garage – regardless of the quality of the outcome. You, the shed, the dog and a longneck – t’s a little more personal, clandestine and thus far more appealing.

It’s like the difference between having a shower at your own place or in the footy change room.

But loseing all the cleaning! Anyways, to each their own.

The majority of the fermentation is malt based. But in some recipes grains are added to the brew in a grain bag to introduce their flavours before being removed.

I think part of the joy has always been brewing it in my own garage – regardless of the quality of the outcome. You, the shed, the dog and a longneck – t’s a little more personal, clandestine and thus far more appealing.

It’s like the difference between having a shower at your own place or in the footy change room.

Definately booking a trip out there!!! Mmmmmm…… beer….

Nambucco Deliria2:44 pm 03 Jul 09

You can’t go wrong with Interstellar Lager or Mexican Gold. Both brilliant, Katie.

Just booked myself and a mate in to give it a go. Looking through their lists I’m now torn between the ginger beer, cider or beer. Any recommendations?

Ah brewing. One of those uniquely male domains of intense dick-measuring-pissing-contestry as you try your hardest to display tidbits of knowledge no one but you will surely know.

Thanks johnboy. Looks fantastic.

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

There was grain? I thought U-Brew It was an all extract setup.

???There isn’t???
If not, then I hope the extracts are fresh. It does make a whole world of difference!

Woody Mann-Caruso1:46 pm 03 Jul 09

Sammy said :

Real beer contains no dextrose.

Quick, somebody tell the Belgians they’re doing it wrong.

mill, mash, lauter

There was grain? I thought U-Brew It was an all extract setup.

Looks great, I’ll have to organise a trip out there also.

thanks for the posting!

johnboy said :

Also the minor matter of the staff taking care of the cleaning, always the least fun part of the brewing process.

*Shudders*
Tell me about it! It’s the homebrewer’s least favourite part, albeit necessary to prevent infecting the beer (cleaning=sanitisation). But knocking back an ale or two, from your last batch, during the cleaning usually helps to ease that pain.

Also the minor matter of the staff taking care of the cleaning, always the least fun part of the brewing process.

Nambucco Deliria said :

the place is flat out most of the time.

I can just imagine… fresh brew for $2 per 500ml? Forget the bottleshop then!

Well yes, there is the effort (boil, mill, mash, lauter, chill, etc – all explained by the staff at U-Brew It), and the waiting (fermentation), and bottling/canning, and all that but good things are worth the wait.

Nambucco Deliria12:32 pm 03 Jul 09

You should have mentioned that you need to book up a couple of weeks in advance generally, as the place is flat out most of the time.

Sammy said :

Real beer contains no dextrose.

I believe there are no-dextrose recipes available for the purists.

AAAAhhhhh life contains many simple pleasures, this my friends surely must rank as one of them. As an aside, I attended a wedding a while back where the groom provided all of the male guests with a sample of his own brew as the gift to each of us produced at affore mentioned establishment.. Damn fine drop i must say.

Real beer contains no dextrose.

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