11 January 2007

The RiotACT guide to singleton survival - Episode 2: Beer

| johnboy
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With many of our younger readers heading off into the world to fend for themselves for the first time we thought this would be a good time to take you through the things you need to know if you’re going to stave off scurvy and impress people you’d like to sleep with, all with a minimum of cost and time spent cleaning.

Most young singles quickly realise that the less money they spend on food, the more money they have to spend on alcohol.

But the converse is true, the less you spend on alcohol the more you can spend on food.

The RiotACT will never advocate abstinence. Instead we advocate making your own to drink on a budget.

Brew shops like “Brew Your Own at Home” can get you going with a starter kit for $100 and if you get friends involved you can pool equipment like bottle trees and cappers.

Once you’re started delicious premium quality beer can be yours for around 50c a schooner.

Ciders can also be made well in beer kits, for the ladies (and men I grudgingly suppose) who don’t like beer. Also the brew shops can set the spirit drinkers up with kits that produce passable licquers.

No drinker on a budget should be without it, and with the money saved you can buy a pizza for someone you’d like to have sex with.

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VYBerlinaV8_now with_added_grunt4:05 pm 21 Dec 06

I should probably add here that I got my home brew kit from my wife. As a present. On Valentine’s Day.

Woohoo! It was a while ago, but I still claim the mileage from this.

VYBerlinaV8_now with_added_grunt4:03 pm 21 Dec 06

Photos too please Mael.

As has been said above – experiment lots. Somethings the results are good for weed kill, other times brilliant.

Post the story Mael.

…… alright, this lark is worth a go then. If only for the fun of the process and not the inevitable bottle explosion.

I can do a story on a beer fridge setup if required

I have a 2 tap rig 50/30 litre with enough space at the top to chill a few bottles of wine and purchased beer

My only advice with trying to impress people with homebrew, give them normal beer first, then switch. Get them while their senses are down…

Vic Bitterman8:56 pm 20 Dec 06

I’ve been homebrewing for so many years now I’ve lost count. I loved it when Col opened a 2nd store in what was then the ‘markets’ complex of the Hyperdome, next to PF3… made trips to stock up easier during my lunch break…. the good old days.

Ahh is that the name of that place – brew ya own at home ?

I just knew it as Kambah Homebrew shop.

Get the sarsparilla kit – well worth it – and make it alcoholic – nasty stuff

barking toad3:00 pm 20 Dec 06

Yes. I know the place. It’s been there for years from memory and will get a visit from me again.

Adding to VY’s rules, third, don’t be afraid to experiment a bit. There is nothing to say you need to stick 100% to the recipe. Occasionally you will accidentally make an awesome brew. Which leads to rule 4, always make notes on what you do, that way when you do make an awesome brew you can replicate. I have had had few great brews that Johnboy has made by experimenting.

Rule 5. & Real men drink the sediment!

Kambah shops, opposite the Burns Club.

basic supplies are in most supermarkets next to the cordials, but every now and then you’ll need to return to the mothership for chemicals (the right chemicals makes sanitation easy), parts and advice.

barking toad2:14 pm 20 Dec 06

Why wasn’t this thread posted 5-6 weeks ago?

Then I could have got one for the missus birthday and she could have given me 12 cases of chrissie presents (yes, I’ve always wanted that).

This has seriously reignited one of those “gunna” projects from many years ago. So, where is this “Brew Your Own At Home” of which ye speak?

I’d second the suggestion to leave it in the bottle as long as possible – after only a week or two, it will still taste pretty ordinary.
Thing is, once you’ve built up a bit of a stock, if you keep up the supply all your bottles can be of a decent vintage. Most of my batches these days ferment for a week, sit in a secondary fermenter for at least two weeks, then in the bottles for another 3-4 weeks before I even try them.

But when you first start out, having that much patience is pretty much unheard of 🙂

mm, boil up the honey with slices of root ginger before pitching it into the brew, luvverly.

and yes, very dangerous.

VYBerlinaV8_now with_added_grunt1:37 pm 20 Dec 06

“Alcoholic ginger beer is a trap. Don’t do it.

You will drink 30 long necks in a night and not wake up for days…

I have brewed a number of alcoholic ginger beers, the most recent involving a goodly quantity of raw sugar and honey. Even in a fairly strong (alcoholicly) ginger beer, you don’t really notice the alcohol. Then you try to stand up.

hee hee

Sadly no.

Rule of thumb is on week to brew, one week to carbonate in the bottle.

Even then it would be better to leave it to about 6 weeks old depending on what you’ve brewed.

So start them going one a week through the fermenter. Drink Melbourne Bitter or Reschs longnecks (800ml!) to build up the bottles. After 6 weeks you’ll have 12 cases of beer, you always wanted 12 cases of beer didn’t you?

Seriously though I’m in the process of rebuilding my stock and most of it gets drunk around the two-three week mark.

Just put a couple aside from the good batches to build a cache of the seriously primo stuff.

You should be right for the one dayers.

Absent Diane1:30 pm 20 Dec 06

cask wine and lemonade for extra buzz…

barking toad1:26 pm 20 Dec 06

If I get the missus to put a kit under the xmas tree for me will I be able to start drinking the product xmas afternoon?

Or will I have to wait ’til the start of play on Boxing Day?

Cask wine and orange juice (for students that would be orange drnk.)

The RiotACT guide to singleton survival – Episode 6 – How to make coke in your bathtub

For those who abstain, ginger beer can be brewed and bottled and makes a refreshing change from commercial soft-drinks. Bottles can explode if you get it wrong !

I’ve been a fan of the goonbag too Seepi but I find it can too often lead me astray.

I prefer something no more than 5% alcohol for casual drinking.

VYBerlinaV8_now with_added_grunt12:23 pm 20 Dec 06

I’m a moderately keen home brewer, and I would add 2 small bits of advice:
1) Always make sure everything is super clean and sterile when you prepare brewing kit and bottles.
2) Letting your beer mature a while in the bottles will often produce a better result.

Home brewing is not only extremely cheap (15 bucks for 28-30 longnecks of finished product), but heaps of fun too.

I heartily endorse the products and services available from Colin at “Brew Your Own at Home”. There is no finer range, nor corresponding free advice available on the subject in Canberra.

I’m not in any way affiliated with the store, but I do spend an awful lot of time there 🙂

If you drink any decent quantity of beer, and aren’t brewing your own, you’re missing out and spending much more than you need to.

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