• This forum allows conversation on non-controversial topics, therefore no politics or religion. "The Campfire" is an area meant for casual, civil discussions. Deliberate anti-social activity including personal insults, profanity, pornography, racism, threats and purposely inflammatory posts may result in suspension of forum access or possibly a permanent ban from GSR.

    The words insight and incite are pronounced the same. But one of them will get you banned and the other will not. Before hitting the Submit button be certain which of the two better describes your post.

  • Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Scored a free 'kegerator' - any brewers here?

oldGSfan

Forum Sage
Past Site Supporter
Among my many bad habits, I'm a beer lover. This setup was free, he had built it for soda for his kids - what was he thinking?

Good quality parts, all there, 4 tall soda kegs (perfect), C02 and regulator, distributor, taps all nice, fridge works. Thermostat too. I'll have it looking much less forlorn soon, replace that wood riser for the taps with something. I brewed a lot when living in Australia, the cost was 1/4 of buying a slab at the store. They sold cans of malted barley in Safeway for about $10. Strangely I got a vintage glass carboy for free a few weeks before, and was looking at my long-neglected brewing supplies. Kismet!

Anyway, don't judge a book by its cover, it's a good setup for the money ;)

Hp6h6NM.jpg
 
Kegger at Tom’s house. Nice score.
I brewed when in college. Kind of miss it. Roommate took the carboy and the rest of the brewing supplies when he moved out. Had a nice stash of Grolsch bottles with the ceramic flip caps too. Never got back into it. I know my then girlfriend / now wife objected to the smell in the apartment. But I think I could get away with it now in the garage. Ah, but I have enough hobbies. Maybe when I retire.
 
Long time ago I used to brew my own. Rick, my next-door neighbour, loved what I made and asked me to make some for him....and he wanted it really extra-strong.

I did what he asked...it was about 11 to 12 percent alcohol.

Rick downed the first in a few seconds and I warned him this was really strong....he had another....same way and then two more...all in half an hour or less.

That was about the same as drinking two full bottles of wine.

As Rick went to his front porch with his fifth brew in hand I happened to have a camera.there and was taking pictures of the kids. Rick plunked down on fold-up webbed chair just as I moved the camera toward him.

Rick was a big guy, a firefighter, about 6 ft 2 and 220 lb

He was well away from sober and plunked his body down hard on the chair, just as I snapped his photo. It was perfect timing, as the webbing broke and Rick went arse-first right through the chair bottom.!

Sadly, Rick has gone, now, but we looked at the photo and laughed about that moment for years.after,
 
The glass carboy still has the label on it from the early 90s. A bit 'on the nose' these days haha.

uAFHLP3.jpg
 
The wife and I brewed our own for a few years.
I learned it was a lot of work, and they sell the stuff already made down at the corner store.:p
 
Did the home brew a couple different times. Last time, my buddies decided they wanted something more exotic, so they made a batch of mead. Used a glass Sparklets water bottle. I checked out at this point, because the last thing I needed was something more potent than homemade beer. Anyway, all in good fun.
 
Do you rememer coopers, the only aus owned brewery left. They sell cans that you can easily brew with.I put it into stubbies & reuse the twist caps, 50c compared to $2.20. They taste good if you put in extra hops & use brew encaser.
 
Do you rememer coopers, the only aus owned brewery left. They sell cans that you can easily brew with.I put it into stubbies & reuse the twist caps, 50c compared to $2.20. They taste good if you put in extra hops & use brew encaser.

Yes, I used Cooper's almost exclusively when in Oz. The price of brewing there was cheaper than the bottle shop - I remember 1/4 being my ballpark figure. What I found interesting was that the beer prices at pubs and sporting events weren't marked up three times, as they are in the US. It was nearly on par. I didn't use enhancer.

The price differential here is not as much, but it is still cheaper to homebrew if you compare apples to apples. Yeah, I can go down to the store and buy some swill for $25 a case. Or I can make double that for about the same, and make it better. Similarly, I can cook a fantastic burger on the grill with fresh ingredients, or I can go to a fast-food place and get something I don't enjoy as much for twice as much.

Oh, just remembered. Soon after moving to Sydney (Caringbah actually) my 2nd time, in '05, I awoke to a massive belch from the neighbor's yard. Eventually, I met them, George Straun was his name. He was a 96-year-old digger who was taken POW by the Japanese at the Kakoda Track campaign. He never talked about it, but his wife said that he went through horrific stuff. He open-vat brewed, and his beer was better than mine. My wife's cousin lived on a beautiful farm on the Severn River near Inverell NSW, and he brewed mead sometimes. Not a fan.
 
Last edited:
The govt has put a large tax on retail beer & spirits, (& tobacco, used to, not now) a carton of retail beer ( mainly japanese owned) is $70.
 
Bought these in Australia in about '06. Time for the bin.


Drinks a cold one... Actually, now that I think about it (in Best George Carlin's 10 Commandment skit voice), if it were fermenting in the can, 3.3 lbs of sugar woud have blown years ago. Hmm, maybe just heat. Fished it out of the bin and gonna open it up, do a pinkie test.

gNLtpKT.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top