Manuka beer a great success!

Im very new to brewing, and today is the day I have found out that I actually CAN do it!

I just used a basic Coopers kit, and did some experimenting. I did 3 tests-
Test #1 Coopers Larger as per instruction
Worked mint, tastes as it should.

Test #2 Coopers Larger with 1/2 sucrose, 1/2 Manuka Honey
Yum, yum! very smooth with a sweet after taste!

Test #3 Coopers Larger with no sucrose, just Manuka Honey
Very strong honey after taste, probably a bit strong for my liking.

Excellent, very nice, much recommended!

Any recommendations for my next trial?

Maybe try out some different hop varieties or yeast strains. Are you brewing 20L batches?

yea 20L batches. Yea ill do that, ill try some different hops in there. How much difference will different yeast make?

Well, think about the difference between the taste of wort and the taste of beer. Sounds obvious, but you just have to think about that for a sec. Then realize that each yeast strain is like a different nationality of people. They all do basically the same things, but they all sound different and look different doing them, and they prefer different climates and different cuisine.

Yeast makes a HUGE difference. Bavarian weizen, Belgian ales, California Common, Australian sparkling ale, and English ales are ridiculously dependent on the appropriate yeast for their unique flavors.

Ah I see, I see. Yea ill definately try that with the next brew, ill do another couple of different brews to experiment again. I can see this as a hobby that im going to get addicted to!

Cheers

I'd suggest going away from kits and towards extract and grain brews.

www.howtobrew.com has some good starter info if you wanna go in that direction.

I've never really rated those Cooper's kits, especially if you follow the instructions. They always end up coming out way too cidery from all the sugar they tell you to add.

Also if you want to talk to some other Kiwi brewers check out http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/

thanks denimglen, that howtobrew.com link is awesome, thats definately the next plan from here! Cool ill join up to realbeer.co.nz too.

Thanks again!
Adam