Backyard Beer Production

[Martin A1]

Hi Murray,

Not sure if you want to promote this on your site given your target audience but I thought I would share this. Please kill it off if you feel it's inappropriate.

For those who enjoy a beer after a hard days self sustainable aquaponics gardening then you should look into brewing your own.

I employ a keg system which I would highly recommend. Those of you that have tried the bottle brewing method would agree that washing bottles gets to be a chore.

My keg system is used to store the brew after it is brewed in a carboy as per normal home brew procedure. The keg's are pressurised with food grade CO2 to gas the beer instead of secondary fermenting in a bottle. With an old fridge (hopefully not that old cause they are inefficient by comparison) you can have a gas line going in and a beer tap coming out! Bob's your uncle :)!

It's great for ginger beer and the like too (non alcoholic if you prefer)

Steady temperature when brewing is very important so I find the best time to brew is spring and Autumn when the temperature is steady around 20 degree's. Like aquaponics the more you control the system the better results you get. Sterilisation against wild air borne yeast is very important.

Anyway just some thing for consideration and remember to always drink responsibly ;)

[fishfood]

Hi Murray,

Not sure if you want to promote this on your site given your target audience but I thought I would share this. Please kill it off if you feel it's inappropriate.

For those who enjoy a beer after a hard days self sustainable aquaponics gardening then you should look into brewing your own.

I employ a keg system which I would highly recommend. Those of you that have tried the bottle brewing method would agree that washing bottles gets to be a chore.

My keg system is used to store the brew after it is brewed in a carboy as per normal home brew procedure. The keg's are pressurised with food grade CO2 to gas the beer instead of secondary fermenting in a bottle. With an old fridge (hopefully not that old cause they are inefficient by comparison) you can have a gas line going in and a beer tap coming out! Bob's your uncle :)!

It's great for ginger beer and the like too (non alcoholic if you prefer)

Steady temperature when brewing is very important so I find the best time to brew is spring and Autumn when the temperature is steady around 20 degree's. Like aquaponics the more you control the system the better results you get. Sterilisation against wild air borne yeast is very important.

Anyway just some thing for consideration and remember to always drink responsibly ;)
Or like this

[fishfood]

And heres pickys of the latest fridge this holds 6 kegs

[Murray]

I do not drink alcoholic beverages personally, but it's fine for those who enjoy an ale or two.
When I lived in Port Moresby I was the President and licensed victualer of the "Squash Club" for a number of years. The "Squash Club" at that time was the nicest and best appointed club in Port Moresby with over 800 members.
My qualification for the position when I was approached to take it on was that "I was the only bloke in Port Moresby that they know for sure did not drink"
I spent many an enjoyable Saturday night (and week night) behind the bar. Disco nights were particularly busy.
I learned a thing or two about the care of temp rites and how to pull a good beer, not to mention some of those bar cocktails the lady members enjoyed.
So enjoy your "home brew", and I will stick to "Lemon Squash" thanks

[GaryD]

Hi,

FF......Is that fridge in your shed? It's beautiful.....particularly the one with the beer tap and drip tray.

Martin.....don't be concerned. This site is about backyard food production and when Jan and I owned a pub some years ago, the brewery rep never tired of telling me that beer was actually a food rather than a drink. So, it's cool.

As someone who has been down the bottle washing track, I agree heartily with your choice of postmix syrup kegs for finishing homebrewed beer.

Gary

[fishfood]

Hi garry its just a 4 m=4m extention for entertaining on the back verander

[GaryD]

Mate.....can I come and live at your place?

Did you build that wood oven yourself? I have a steel pizza oven but it doesn't hold a candle to your type of oven.

When I was a kid there was one of these things in the backyard of every second Italian person we knew.....and that was plenty.

What did you do before you became the accomplished dump rat that you are?

Gary

[fishfood]

Beleve it or not i was a buttermaker [won the australian champion ship in 85 out of 94 entries] the rest is self tought[ both parents dead before i was 16]
only ever had 5 jobs

[Martin A1]

Awesome set-up Fishfood!!!!!

A wood fired pizza oven... now that is something that's been on my list for a long time. I love wood fires and thin base pizza.

Mate what else can I say? When can I come over?

Your a genius!

PS Gary I think you can buy the pizza oven as a kit and make it yourself. I have a friend in Sydney who did it by his pool. You just need a suitable location. No doubt FF picked his up for free somewhere.... legend!

[fishfood]

Heres 4 shots just to show how it was done

[GaryD]

Excellent stuff, Fishfood.

You've certainly acquired an interesting skill set in addition to your buttermaking accomplishments.

You seem to bring a professional touch to everything you do.

Gary

[Jonathan Dyer]

Hi Fishfood,

Just a quick question do you make beer with kit malt or with real grain?

[Martin A1]

I am all ears gentlemen!

I'd think that at $10-$20 a throw you can't go past a kit based liquid malt?

Jonathan have you ever made your own from real grain? I don't reckon my wheat/barley paddock would be big enough :)

[Jonathan Dyer]

Martin

I make everything and anything. Beer, wine, spirits I make hundreds and hundreds of liters of them all every year.

I haven’t as yet made true all grain beer it is much harder with more equipment need to convert the starches found in the grain to readily available fermentable sugars. I just need a few more things to make the entire process easer and I’m off. You don’t need much grain to make a decent batch of beer a good 100Kg of malted grain will produce 200-280L of beer (Dark heavy beers to light beers).

Tin malt is ok and a good beer can be made with it but it is still inferior to real beer.

I don’t use a beer fridge as the cost of operating a fridge is expensive and the kegs and taps cost over $300 if not more. I use 330ml bottles and as far as washing the bottles I just put them in the dishwasher with some SMS and citric acid to boost the sanitation of the SMS no cleaning on my behalf.

[fishfood]

Hi Fishfood,

Just a quick question do you make beer with kit malt or with real grain?
Hi at the moment i am lazy just use kits i am slowley collecting all the stuff for grain brewing

[Jonathan Dyer]

so fishfood whats the beer of the month?

[fishfood]

Been a bit slack latley been drinking the xmas presents [crownies ] and party leftovers [bit of everything] will get rid of a few on sunday at Jims

[Hamish]

I just found this thread - hile I am not a big beer drinker I am very impressed with the setup! Especially the wood fired oven - I have always wanted one!

[djs-sa]

i think it time to clean the brew kit ready for summer time,

last year I used the cooper's mexican with great success so i think i might stick to that to start with

[Jonathan Dyer]

The cerveza is a good all-rounder and well suited for that summers drink hitting the spot nicely.

[Martin A1]

Agree about the cerveza (light and great on a summers day with fresh slice lime off the backyard tree) but if your going to go to the trouble of brewing your own, for the love of beer, do yourself a favour and spend an extra $5-$10 and buy quality ingredients from a home brew supplier. Branch out into some different styles. It is worth it I reckon'!
I have done plenty of supermarket brews so don't get me wrong. Much depends upon a steady brewing temperature no matter what you use. Spring is a great time to stock up with quality so get busy.

[djs-sa]

I have done so martin I purchased the brewcraft mexican with no15 brew sugar and the RO unit will ensure quality water too

[fishfood]

Have just opened a 50 litre keg of bitter that has been mellowing for 2 years [very nice ] so on tap atm well mellowed bitter couger and coke apple cider and kilkenny

[MarkEinOz]

G'day Folks,

If your really interested in improving your beers, can I recommend you visit http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com (http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/)

These guys are as obsessive about brewing as we are about AP!

[jpcw]

Love your setup fishfood

I've been brewing in keg's for over 10 years now and you can't beet it. Had a disappointment earlier this year when my fridge dies on me and I've only just got a new one which isn't set up yet.

One thing I did with my postmix kegs was to stand an esky on it's end and cut a hole the size of the postmix keg. Then I could drop the keg in and fill it full of ice and take it on the road.