What are you brewing?

[big dave]

First brew day for ages - nearly out of beer.... I have it on the boil, bittering addition to go in shortly.

Am having a go at a BIAB SNPA-type of ale; Pale Ale malt with a bit of dark Munich, and some wheat and crystal, and Cascade and Amarillo hops. Am having a little play with a shorter boil - 60 min - and shorter hopping times. Time will tell if it is a bad move....

[emnpaul]

I'm going to have a crack at a Belgian Witbier. I'm calling it "Wit you talkin' 'bout Willis".

2.5Kg Pilsener
2.25Kg flaked wheat
0.5kg flaked oats
0.115Kg Munich I
0.225Kg rice hulls (for filtering)
45g citrus zest (Most recipes specify Curacao orange. Stuffed if I know where to get them)
11g crushed corriander seed
1g dry chammomile flowers
Yeast WLP Belgian wit or Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier



Using the Wittbrew recipe from "Brewing Classic Styles" above with a few ingredient changes. Saaz for bittering instead of Hallertau, 200g of Aussie ale malt for extra diastatic power to convert the oats and wheat and combination citrus rind instead of curacao orange which I couldn't get. Also not worrying about the rice hulls.

[chadjaja]

I always use some rice hulls anytime oats go near my mash. I also up the coriander to 20g but thats just a personal preference.

Ferment temp is the most important thing with this brew and yeast. Its all up to what character you want out of it. More banana or more clove.

3944 is a great yeast and I do a very similar brew for a house beer year round. Enjoy

[emnpaul]

Thanks for the advice Chadjaja.

I was tempted to get some rice hulls but thought "if wringing the bag out doesn't get it there's always next time". First time I've made it and not too sure abuot the corriander so I might see what happens flavour wise and adjust spices from there.

I'm using WLP400 Belgian Wit which I think is White labs version of your 3944 but correct me if I'm wrong. WL advise 20*C ferment but might go for 21 just to push a fraction more bannana. What do you think?

And yes, if it's anything like a Hoegaarden I am going to love it.

As a sidebar to this it is far and away the cheapest beer I've ever brewed at about $14 for 16 Litre batch. This owing to the fact I have access to an endless supply of flaked wheat, barley, oats and rye at my workpace. Not to mention invert and glucose. All at a low, low price. For that reason alone it could become my house beer if I can finally settle down and concentrate on a style.

[chadjaja]

Yeah the hulls are more important if you are using a tun with manifold/braid like i do. I find I get a stuck sparge otherwise.

21 is good and you can push it a little higher once gravity reaches about 50-60% i've found. A smaller batch is good because if you pitch well you can expect a huge krausen. I top crop this yeast all the time. Skim top layer, come back the next day and skim the new and middle layer. This yeast just keeps giving

Hoegaarden uses some lemon too so maybe experiment with that too and see how you like it. The coriander is only upfront when its real fresh, its the first thing to dissipate

If you want it any cheaper use a tiny amount of a neutral bittering hop like magnum and then a saaz addition at about 20-30 mins. That way you get the saaz but not over the top hops to mask the flavour the yeast imparts. Also you use less saaz as with bittering it you use a bit with its low alpha

Try it with chamomile or hibiscus flowers too! Both give good beers

[emnpaul]

Thanks for the reply. Some good advice there. Might try some of those things out in the next one. Maybe some rye too, at some point.

Cheers
Paul

[melykabeer]

Ok i need to post to get into this competition

I am about to brew some of boonies LCPA clone After returning the can to the home brew store for a swap over because it was 6 months out of date!
I did get a replacement but has anyone tried it with a coopers draught? I was thinking of putting another one down next weekend with a coopers to see if its still as good. Ive got this process going atm to restock all my bottles, every weekend ill bottle a batch then make another. I have 2 fermenters that fit perfectly in an old fridge .

[Oliver]

Ok i need to post to get into this competition

Hi melykabeer. Long time between posts Unfortunately the competition was only in September and October Happy to have you back, though!

I am about to brew some of boonies LCPA clone After returning the can to the home brew store for a swap over because it was 6 months out of date!
I did get a replacement but has anyone tried it with a coopers draught? I was thinking of putting another one down next weekend with a coopers to see if its still as good. Ive got this process going atm to restock all my bottles, every weekend ill bottle a batch then make another. I have 2 fermenters that fit perfectly in an old fridge .

I can't comment on whether the Coopers Draught would be a suitable replacement in terms of taste in the recipe (which calls for Morgan's Stockman's Draught, I believe). However, according to this page the Stockman's Draught is 28 IBU, compared with the Coopers Draught, which is 31 IBU, according to our calculations. So on that front I reckon you'll be right.

I hope this helps, and sorry about missing the boat on the comp!

Cheers,

Oliver

PS I am about to embark on a similar process to you, aimed at brewing like a bastard for as long as it takes to get some beer into bottles. Apart from a couple of special bottles, I have no HB in stock. Very embarrassing. There are eight bottles in the fridge, and I suspect they'll all be gone before the new beers are ready to drink.

[melykabeer]

damb I am off by a month. I thought it was October.

I will give it a go and see how it turns out. I will have to make it in 2 weeks time so I can reuse some of the yeast from the yeast cake, I don't have another sachet of 56. Thanks for the info Oliver.

Although the IBU will be similar I suspect the hops used to make the kit are diff and will affect the taste. Anyhow I have enough left over hops and will reproduce the with the different can.

I haven't brewed for over a year since a few weeks ago your lucky to have 8! I have 0.

[Oliver]

The little lady and I put down a blackberry cider this afternoon:

* 12 litres of filtered, preservative-free Victorian apple juice that we picked up from the Yarra Valley today.
* 500g frozen blackberries, thawed, roughly crushed and steeped in about a litre of boiling water to (hopefully) kill any nasties. Bought at the same place as the juice.
* US-05 yeast.

Great colour out of the fermenter. OG 1039.

We did buy another 500g blackberries but I was a bit worried about overdoing it. We can always add more next time if we need it.

Cheers,

Oliver

[Gill]

Oliver, this cider sounds similar to something floating around in my mind. Please let me know how it goes in regards to the amount of frozen fruit.

Cheers


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-19.304549,146.793016

[Kaiser Soze]

I brewed a Meantime IPA type clone on the weekend. Slightly different to the You Can Brew It version, but tailored a little to suit my tastes and the ingredients I had on hand.

Code: Select all

Recipe: Meantime IPA

Style: English IPA
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 40.00 L      
Boil Size: 45.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.064 SG
Estimated Color: 6.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 40.6 IBU

Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU      
8.00 kg       Pale Malt, Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcett)Grain        81.67 %      
1.00 kg       Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM)            Grain        10.21 %      
0.20 kg       Caramunich I - 50L (Weyermann) (51.0 SRM) Grain        2.04 %        
40.00 gm      Fuggles [3.60 %]  (60 min) (First Wort HopHops         8.3 IBU      
40.00 gm      Styrian Goldings [3.60 %]  (60 min) (FirstHops         8.3 IBU      
40.00 gm      Fuggles [4.50 %]  (60 min) (Aroma Hop-SteeHops          -            
40.00 gm      Styrian Goldings [5.40 %]  (60 min) (AromaHops          -            
30.00 gm      Magnum [12.50 %]  (60 min)                Hops         19.6 IBU      
60.00 gm      Fuggles [3.60 %]  (5 min)                 Hops         2.2 IBU      
60.00 gm      Styrian Goldings [3.60 %]  (5 min)        Hops         2.2 IBU      
0.60 kg       Jaggery Sugar (2.0 SRM)                  Sugar        6.08 %        

1 Pkgs        British Ale (White Labs #WLP005)          Yeast-Ale                  
1 Pkgs        London Ale III (Wyeast Labs #1318)        Yeast-Ale                  


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 9.20 kg
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge

Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp    
75 min        Mash In            Add 23.99 L of water at 71.2 C      65.0 C  

I added Jaggery to this which I've never used before, so interested to see what that impars. And I pitched onto part of a Mild yeast cake, so plenty of healthy yeast to do their thing. They are furiously eating away at it and it was tasting quite dry this morning.

[chadjaja]

My wife just had a 7lb box from hopsdirect arrive. She asked whats in it and I replied "The hop bill for the next IIPA of course!" She prob does believe me that all 7lbs are going into the next boil

My black IPA comes off gas tomorrow morning so I'll give an early evaluation of how it turned out

Double batch of Belgian wheat being brewed tomorrow as well

[Kaiser Soze]

My 5lb box arrived today too! Can't wait to crack these open and brew with them. Looks like another IPA on the cards.

I got a hop called Calypso - anyone brewed with it? I read a few reviews on some of the American sites.

[warra48]

Tomorrow is brewday. Plan is to do a sort of Alt.

25 Litres
Mash 64ºC 60 minutes
Anticipated OG 1.051

93.8% Joe White Munich
5.2% Carabohemian
1% Carafa Special II (last 10 minutes of mash, for colour, I don't want the roastiness)
37 IBU Smaragd 60 minutes
9 IBU Smaragd 15 minutes
3.3 IBU Smaragd 5 minutes
Whirlfloc, Yeast Nutrient 10 minutes
4 packs Saflager S23 (yes, 4 packs, I got them for a bargain price)
Ferment 3 weeks at 10ºC, then lager for as long as I can stand it.

Using rainwater with 7 gr each Calcium Chloride and Calcium Sulphate.

[emnpaul]

I had a day off today. I could have cleaned the house, mowed the lawn, trellised my hops or painted the garage. I brewed intead.

Thanks and compliments to Bribie G for his recipe

Midnight Train Malt Liquor
Batch size: 13L
OG: 1089
FG: 1022 (expected)
ABV: 8.8% + about 0.3% for priming
IBU: 11.2

Grain Bill
2.275kg pale malt (BB)
0.600kg Aussie pils malt (JW?)
0.563kg polenta (corn)
0.563kg white rice
0.370kg cane sugar
0.016kg melanoidin

Hop Bill
11.7g cascade (5.4%AA)

Ferment @ 20*C with WLP 011 European Ale Yeast

I used a US style cereal mash with the pils malt http://www.winning-homebrew.com/cereal-mash.html to convert the boiled rice and corn. It was pretty amazing adding the malt to the very stiff cereal mush and watching it de-gelatinize before my eyes. This was then added to the main mash which consisted of the pale malt and melanoidin, then mashed at 65* for 2 hours. That was the good bit.

The bad bit was that using a 19L pot as a BIAB mash tun my efficiency goes south once I get past about 3.5kg af grain. I wasn't sure what sort of efficiency I'd get with the cereal mash thrown into the mix, but I found out. The ingredients listed were calculated for a 13 litre batch. My volume into fermenter, after trub losses was 10.1 litres @ 1090. Diluted to 10.2 litres @ 1089. Cheap and cheerful 19L stockpot BIAB does have it's limitations.

[chadjaja]

Update on my black IPA....

Still a bit green in the keg after only the one week but its still pretty promising.

Its as black as the ace of spaces, pours a dark head with great retention and the aroma is the usual C hops of citrus, pine and bit of grapefruit.

Bitterness is upfront and lingering but not real harsh at all. Its a little drier than i wanted and could do with a bit more body. There is a hint of roast but for the most part its clean tasting, just enough roast from the choc malt addition to compliment it. Could of dry hopped it a bit more imo too. First attempt so I've got a base now to work with and dial this in as its a great beer to sit on and relax with.

4.5kg trad ale JW
500g pale wheat
450g light crystal
350g midnight wheat
150g choc malt
200g caramunich II

20g Magnum @60
30g chinook@20
40g cascade@20
25g chinook@5
25g cascade@5
40g Amarillo@0
40g Citra dry hop
30g chinook dry hop

OG 170
FG 1016

Mash at 67.2
Batch size 20L

wyeast 1056 2L starter

anyone else doing Black IPA's and have some tips?

[Oliver]

* 12 litres of filtered, preservative-free Victorian apple juice that we picked up from the Yarra Valley today.
* 500g frozen blackberries, thawed, roughly crushed and steeped in about a litre of boiling water to (hopefully) kill any nasties. Bought at the same place as the juice.
* US-05 yeast.

Oliver, this cider sounds similar to something floating around in my mind. Please let me know how it goes in regards to the amount of frozen fruit.

We bottled this on Sunday. It was very dry out of the fermenter, and a tad over 1.000. There's not a huge amount of blackberry taste so I'd be tempted to go 1kg next time and add about 500g lactose to sweeten things up a bit. Having said that, it should be quite a nice drop once it's carbed up.

And a final tip: make sure you put the blackberries in a hop bag or stocking because we didn't and wasted a bottle or two because they broke up into tiny pieces and we got sick of taking apart the little bottler to get the cider flowing again.

Cheers,

Oliver

Postscript 1/1/12: Tasting notes for this cider, which is drinking very nicely after two weeks in the bottle.

[Marty]

As I mentioned on a previous thread I've just got back into brewing after a 6 year back. The first brew was taken from a recipe I had written down in 2006 and I can't recall if I ever made it or in fact made and tasted it.

Lazarus Amber Ale (named as my brewing has risen from the dead!)

2 x 1.5kg Coopers Liquid Amber Malt Extract
300g Crystal Malt
100g Caramel Malt
28g Fuggles (60 min)
14g Fuggles (40 min)
28g Fuggles (20 min)
28g Cascade (5 min)
Wyeast London Ale Yeast (1028)

23 ltrs SG 1052

I am going to bottle this tomorrow. It smelt fairly hoppy in the fermenter so could be an interesting result!

Marty

[Rob S]

Munich Lager Tin
#60 German Enhancer kit
500g pale light malt
Hersbrucker hops at 1 min plus 10 min steep
SAF Lager 34/70
OG 1.043
Pitched at 23 degrees
Plan: -
2 weeks at 11 degrees
3 days at 18 degrees
1 week at 11 degrees
Rack then 4 weeks at 1 degree
Bottle & condition