What are you drinking ?

[jt]

Ok, so What Are You Brewing was a hotty, as topics go.

Now I'm 15 pints into a keg I only filled on Tuesday and wondering if anyone else has a favourite at the moment ?

It's my second brown with US-Oh05 and it's better than the forst, maybe Ikept the temps down a bit during the scorcher we had in januray

[Ally Mcg]

Right now I'm on my last bottle of Divine Brown, my third beer and a fairly insipid Mild.

To follow its an evening on the dark beers - some rogue mocha porter, some rogue chocolate stout and some of Dales American Stout. Looking forward to them all

[denimglen]

Drinking my second pint of my Munich Helles. Shit's tasty and clear as day, but worth the 7 weeks? Meh, I dunno. I reckon I could do a faux-lager that would be just as good.

Had a taste of my 'Pliny Lite', was good, not as bitter as I expected. But adding a pinch of CaCl to one glass and a pinch of CaSO4 to another cemented my faith in water treatment.

Got some bottles of my American Stout, but trying to savour them.

Still got a two bottles of Cantillon, a bottle of Liefmans, and a bottle of Boon in the fridge.

And I'm still in awe over Rodenbach Grand Cru, I wish beers like that didn't take so long to brew :-(

[JoKing]

I love Rodenbach... Steve at Hallertau has 3 barrels of Red ale funking the fuck out. They should be ready in 12 months time.

[denimglen]

That's choice.

I'm real tempeted to by a pack of that Rosalare strain.

[Mike Neilson]

Rumour has it and this is a rumor, if and a big IF and this is heirsay....... but if you lacto it up at the start to to right acidity and ferment with a champnge yeast you can get Rodenbach Grand Cru in 2 months???? Im not that ballsy!!

[denimglen]

So there's a possibility that's a rumour? :-P

I've also heard similar - a couple of people say Rosalare strain at 27 - 30C gives you something similar in a few months, just not as 'complex'.

But shit, 3 months vs 18 months for a little complexity and authenticity. Then it's three months FTW.

Fuck that shit, going CB.com.au now, just gotta buy another heat pad to keep it at that temp.

[denimglen]

Oh well, just ordered the roeselare, wish me luck!

[Mike Neilson]

Nice!! You going to ferment with a nuetral strain first or just chuck the pack in there?
So many ways to do this!! I trust JZ way of doing this.
But its not the way the Belgians do it!! But in saying that they only do it and it teating my rememememememory from 3 years ago but they can only do it for 4? months of the year between Oct-Jan? they said that the cool weather makes the bugs more happy when they hit the warm wort and to keep it warm they had to stick it up with the bats. I take it thats belgian for heat convection.

[denimglen]

I think I'm gonna go straight with roeselare - I hear it comes out with more sourness that way. Still got a bit of reasearch to do, dunno if I'll age in glass with a oak peg (if I can find one) or just go with the plastic bucket. I liked that aceto charachter but don't want it to be too over the top.

JZ was gonna be my first port of call for info on this, reading Raj Apte's site about this stuff at the moment too.

Might take a few mL out and freeze it for a rainy day, dunno how well that'll work with the different bugs though.

Yeah I heard that about their certain season for brewing, has stuff to do with the types of bugs in the air and all that.

[Reviled]

My flatmate wants to brew an American Stout for his first beer, what was your recipe bro? Was it pretty forgiving?

[denimglen]

Oh bro mantis as choice for first beer.

Ummm slightly higher gravity and a decent amount of hops to deal with for a first but you'll be there to lend a hand aye? As long as aeration is good and pitch is decent then shouldn't be any dramas.

Batch Size: 7.00 L
Boil Size: 10.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.072 SG
Estimated Color: 63.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 73.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.41 kg .Pale Malt, ADM NZ (1.7 SRM) Grain 85.75 %
0.16 kg .Roasted Barley (Bairds) (710.7 SRM) Grain 5.67 %
0.12 kg .Chocolate Malt (Bairds) (609.1 SRM) Grain 4.29 %
0.12 kg .Crystal, Pale (Bairds) (50.8 SRM) Grain 4.29 %
15.50 gm .Southern Cross [13.20 %] (60 min) Hops 63.6 IBU
10.00 gm .Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (5 min) Hops 8.7 IBU
2.00 gm .Nelson Sauvin [9.50 %] (5 min) Hops 1.2 IBU
10.00 gm .Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (DryHop) Hops 8.7 IBU
2.00 gm .Nelson Sauvin [9.50 %] (DryHop) Hops 1.2 IBU
0.30 gm .Koppafloc (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.50 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
0.60 gm Salt (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
0.70 gm Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1.30 gm Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1.40 gm Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
2.10 gm Chalk (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
12.80 L .American Stout Water
1 Pkgs Safale American Dry Ale (DCL Yeast #US-05)Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 2.81 kg
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 12.81 L of water at 72.2 C 68.0 C


Notes:
------
5g yeast

Ooooooooooooh oooooooooooh buttttttttttttttttttt.

That recipe is based on JZ's from BCS, in the Obsidian Stout podcast on the BN he said rip that page out of the book and replace it with the Obsidian Stout clone. So that may be worth a look.

If I was to rebrew I'd probably go a the same amount of hops at 15mins and move the 5 min to 0 mins, and still dry hop. Would technically knock it out of style but shit it would be tasty.

[Reviled]

Did you really only brew 7 litres??