Aussie Brewer

[KyliesBrewery]

Hi all, I'm Kylie, from the hills of Byron Bay, Australia, a place called Eureka.

I brought my boyfriend a Home brew kit for Christmas, but we were so excited we opened it when we got home & got started.
It was the new Coopers "Sleeve" style kit, and we have bottled the Coopers Lager that came with it & have a Coopers Pale Ale brewing now.
I got so excited after looking at the set up of it & started imagining up ideas for containers for brews... (Our 3 by 3 mtr pool was the biggest, haha) and crazy ideas for "fruity beers/ciders"
I finally settled on our 2 Blue 15L Water bottles, which have a tap at the bottom.
I brought a Ginger Beer Concentrate Packet & a plug w/ an airlock, and put a balloon with the top cut off around the lid. This is working extremely well from what I can tell, I went in last night & the balloon was blown up the size of a grapefruit. I peeled an edge of balloon from the side of the bottle & air rushed out smelling of Ginger.. mmm. I quickly let it go, the seal returned & I feel good about it. Nice & refreshing in the sun.
Whilst my boyfriend will join this site too, he has spent the last few weeks reading almost every thread, he has taken control of his home brew kit in the aim of getting as many brews out as possible for summer. I figure if we make lots of different ones, then we can save a few of each to let them mature in the bottles for longer.

I am extremely interested in brewing up beer from scratch (maybe partial mash for a while) as I am a huge cook, love the kitchen & quite like the malty smelll. I was disapointed when i found out that growing hops in my area is impossible(???) as I love my garden & will be looking at growing my own barley/wheat for more brewing. I will be doing some more reading in the following weeks & hope to have a partial mash try then. (I figured after about 10 brews from can have been ok)
I know this is a huge post, I really can get to talking. I hope everyone is well and has an absolutely fantasic holiday season. I am looking forward to having some nice chilled home brew in my pool.
Merry Christmas
Kylie x
PS. I have a special idea I have just started, involving watermelons & mint, I will post about it in the cider section...

 

[superjunior]

welcome kylie! sounds like your off to a great start curious, why is it impossible to grow hops in your area?

 

[Jette]

Kylie: what is your town like? It sounds like a good start, and will be interesting to see how your projects turn out. Enjoy!

 

[KyliesBrewery]

Hi, thanks 4 the comments.
As far as I have read so far, the hops plant needs a very certain amount of daylight hours to flower correctly. Melbourne & Tassie (South of here) have longer daylight hours then up here. I have just been reading more about growing them, and it is not impossible, just extremely hard.
I live in the countryside, on a macadamia & avocado farm of 45 acres. I thought with all the space it would be perfect for growing hops, but our block is steeply sloped facing east down to a creek, So the sun disapears early in the afternoon & we are in shade... mmm, not the best for hops... I will have to look further into it. The climate is subtropical, extremely warm weather, but soaked ground (we are 23 days into Summer here & its 24 degrees, raining & mud everywhere!)
Bottling our second beer tomorrow, and I have a watermelon cider that is ferociously bubbling away... smells nasty strong!

I was told not to let light into my beer... is this true? Something about it going off? We have kept the beer out of the light, but my cider is just on the bench... should I move it?

Thanks for the help,
Merry Christmas!!!

 

[Edski675]

Hi Kylie

What I'd give for 24C. It's about -17C here right now....

Watermelon cider - wowsers, I'm going to have to up my game!!! Only just started this homebrew malarky, although I've made some very basic cider from shop bought apple juice. I'd never even thought of growing hops!!! At 53 degrees north, 5 degrees west... is it possible?

 

[Edski675]

Hey Kylie I'm enjoying the cricket