Now I’ve settled in a little to my new place, I’ve had time to put on a new brew. On the train every day I pass a homebrew shop at Thornleigh, and recently I managed to visit. A homebrew shop is a different experience to buying homebrew kits at the supermarket. There’s all sorts of specialist paraphernalia and ingredients. For example I finally managed to buy a test tube for my hydrometer, and a bottle filler.
I also bought a “full malt” kit – a 3kg tin, to which you just add water (and yeast) The result is supposed to be a richer more rounded taste than the more common 1.5kg kits which require the addition of sugar and/or “brew enhancers”.
It’s a lager kit from a local company called X-tract Brewing which I’d never heard of before. I threw in a half dozen small hot chillis, split lengthwise. Original Gravity was 1.041 to 1.043 on 2nd November. (Adjusted for temperature.) It was transferred to a secondary container (“racked”) a week later, with the specific gravity 1.011. I also removed the chillis then. Tasting showed a nice heat – noticeably tingly, but not overwhelming.