It's here!

The microbrewery kit arrived today. It's a clever package with everything I need except the water. It's  also manufactured in Australia which gives me a slight boost of confidence because Aussies know their beer, right?

The only slight disappointment is the inclusion of plastic bottles. The purist beer drinker in me is a bit put off by the idea of drinking crisp, fresh cool Cerveza from a 750ml plastic bottle. That being said, its possible to have glass bottles explode if the bottling process isn't completed at the right time or I over-carbonate the bottles. Plastic is certainly safer and with this being my proverbial Homebrew cherry getting popped, I think it's best to have as many beneficial supports in the process as I can. Plastic it is!

The next step is to unpack the kit and plan the first day. This involves a fair bit of effort as I need to look ahead and ensure the temperature requirements for each stage can be met by wherever I choose to store the mixing tub during the brewing. I also of course need to allow plenty of time to wash, sterilise and set up the kit, and the mixing needs a pretty consistent level of attention given to it as adding the yeast too early or too late will apparently lead to crap beer.

Long story short: I'll be doing all the initial work this weekend when I can give some focus to the task. To give you an idea of what is involved and to make a rough attempt to make this update worthwhile, I've found the below video of how the process works. It's about 6 mins long :)

Direct link for iPhone users: Coopers Microbrewery Video