Savings and Homebrand

the Baron · Post by **the Baron** » Tuesday Oct 19, 2004 11:58 am

G'day, has anyone ever tried brewing a Savings or Homebrand (generic Coles and Woolies brands) brew. As down the golf club, the tins that you fill with sand for filling in holes are mostly Coopers but a high percentage are also the Savings and Homebrand, I have heard that these can be lethal so have avoided them but some people must obviously buy them, any reports???

db · Post by db » Tuesday Oct 19, 2004 12:25 pm

i've done 2 2can brews with them + some extra grain & hops.. with a 10-20min boil they've come out fantastic..

thehipone · Post by **thehipone** » Tuesday Oct 19, 2004 12:33 pm

I've only used them when I was trying to make a super-high alcohol batch and figured it would taste awful anyways. It turned out ok, drinkable, but not my best.

wombat · Post by **wombat** » Tuesday Oct 19, 2004 1:25 pm

they're basically alright but just cheap. they're mostly underhopped, undermalted (they use some glucose in the can) and the yeast sucks. if you make one, say a draught one for example, try using one of those 1.5kg coopers/morgans unhopped malt cans or 1kg of Light dried malt extract to it instead of sugar, add another 12g or so of Pride of Ringwood hops and culture up your yeast out of either 2 or 3 cooper's sparkling or pale ale longnecks or just using 1 packet of Safale s-04 dried yeast. i recommend the sparkling or pale ale yeast but i would probably use both a starter from only 1 bottle plus the safale yeast. whatever you do though, don't add the yeast that comes with the can. for the love of god (or whoever else lol), don't do that. a mighty fine beer you can make.
-wombat

thehipone · Post by **thehipone** » Tuesday Oct 19, 2004 3:23 pm

Doesn't it kinda defeat the cost savings of buying homebrand if you're going to go out and buy a can of good extract, hops and good yeast to add to it?

Although wombat, you are probably right, doing those things could make it into a decent brew.

Franky · Post by **Franky** » Tuesday Oct 19, 2004 4:21 pm

I'd rather just pay the extra couple of bucks and get a can of Coopers concentrate, which is only about $4 more anyway, rather than pay all that money for all the extra bits just to bring it up to scratch.

wombat · Post by **wombat** » Tuesday Oct 19, 2004 11:07 pm

that's exactly my point - you'll get what you pay for

-wombat

db · Post by db » Wednesday Oct 20, 2004 10:38 am

if they did include glucose would it not say so on the ingredients?

wombat · Post by **wombat** » Wednesday Oct 20, 2004 3:04 pm

homebrew store guy told me they fill them with some glucose.
what does it say on the can?
-wombat

thehipone · Post by **thehipone** » Wednesday Oct 20, 2004 3:16 pm

I'm pretty sure they at least hide the fact that there is glucose in them. They call it something else (wheat syrup?) that I can't really remember right now.

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Wednesday Oct 20, 2004 9:09 pm

Corn Syrup normally, It isn't actually hidden, if you read the ingredient dec it has to be declared, so if it isn't 100 percent malt it will say something else

Dogger

db · Post by db » Thursday Oct 21, 2004 10:05 am

i've bought a coupla homebrand (woolworths) lager cans & i'm pretty sure they didnt say anything about glucose or corn syrup (i will check it out tho).. & they taste fine.
actually taste tested one last night that i bottled 2weeks ago. 2x cans of h'brand lager, 150g of crystal malt, & 25g of saaz hops (boiled for 20mins) & its great

full flavoured.. similar to squires.. fantastic.
i guess if i did the same with 2x coopers cans (or something similar) it may taste better, but at $7.50 per can of h'brand you can't go wrong..

Post by **Oliver** » Thursday Oct 21, 2004 10:21 am

Lads,

I suppose the other danger is that those no-brand cans are made from confectionary malt extract with isohops added, which is cheaper than using brewer's malt extract or, as reputable manufacturers such as Cooper's do, in essence making a mash beer and then, instead of adding yeast and fermenting it, simply condensing and packaging it in cans to send out to homebrewers.

Confectionary malt is generally made with poor-quality, high-nitrogen barley, which is less suitable (unsuitable?) for brewing.

CHeers,

Oliver

db · Post by db » Thursday Oct 21, 2004 10:31 am

interesting.. this also can be said about some of the bigger labels too tho? i heard this was how goldrush cans used to be made (i dont know how true it is)

the Baron · Post by **the Baron** » Thursday Oct 21, 2004 4:34 pm

Thanks guys, from the information given I think I will just stick to what I know (brand name beers), and if I am feeling adventourous I will just expirament with these (or maybe I should invest in a dictionary first, I hate words more than five letters long)

db · Post by db » Friday Oct 22, 2004 1:26 pm

http://forum.countrybrewer.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=924

goatsby · Post by **goatsby** » Sunday Nov 21, 2004 10:07 am

They are ok I like rthe Savings brand I havnt tried the Farmland(I asy thats savings with a different pic)

But anything is preferable to drinking Hahn Ice

BPJ · Post by **BPJ** » Monday Nov 22, 2004 9:03 am

If you want to save a few dollars, go to KMart, when they have 15% off. You can pick up Coopers for about 8-9 bucks

BPJ · Post by **BPJ** » Monday Nov 22, 2004 11:07 am

Just got back from the shops and had a look at the Farmland Brand
Ingredients = Hopped Barley Extract, Concentrated Brewing Wort.

Doesn't shed any real light on the subject. I do use the Savings brands of caps. They work well on both round topped bottles and screw tops.

wombat · Post by **wombat** » Thursday Nov 25, 2004 10:51 am

i hear you - me too. they work fine don't they

-wombat