[Tandum (Robin)]

After a recent visit to no tax on beer Vietnam where a 600ml Tiger had a local price of $1 or $2 in a tourist spot, I couldn't cope with $60 for a case of beer at home or even $18 for 3 Tallies. I thought I'd have another go at home brewing.

It's been 30 years since my last encounter and hasn't it all changed. Now we have computers and the Internet for some direction and expert brew shops everywhere. I have 5 brew shops within 15 minutes of here.

You can buy everything from milled barley to hops and exotic yeast strains. Cooking up a mash is not easy and requires exact temperature control. Not to worry, you can buy fresh worts. One of those shops near me specialises in making craft beer worts. Dump that in a sterile fermenter add yeast and go. Maybe throw in some dried hops a few days before fermentation stops for that hoppy aroma. Amazing.

I got a brew kit off Gummy with everything for $40 but I remembered bottling from the old days, what a pain. Admittedly, you can get PET plastic bottles and screw caps now and you drop carbonation drops into the bottles instead of sugar but the thought of cleaning and sterilising and filling and capping and storing 30 bottles, not again. I found a 2nd hand kegging kit at a reasonable price so away we go bottle free.

Just got the 7Kg CO2 bottle filled, not cheap, cleaned and refurbed the 3 kegs and the filter setup and tested everything for leaks. My first brew which is a 150 lashes clone should be ready next Tuesday odd. It goes into the donor keg and it is then low pressure fed through the 1 micron filter into the maturing keg and sealed. That keg goes into the fridge with the gas and should be carbonated in 5 days.

I've already got the next 2 brews planned. The down side, the fridge in the garage is too small. But there are plenty of free, big, pickup fridges on Gummy. I'll get it sorted.

Sorry crappy phone photo but you get the idea.