What are you brewing?

[nzbrewer]

Since this is the most popular thread on the RealBeer.co.nz forum I thought I would start it here just to see what happens

[jt]

Put this keg in the fridge on the weekend in great anticipation.
My first impression was a bit hit of dairy milk chocolate and then some subdued Motueka - maybe the 1% chocolate was a mistake. I used to do this recipe but with dark crystal, not medium - maybe that's my problem. It has come better since then, but I think the recipe is a work in progress

cheers, jt

[Martin Bridges]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - an English-style ESB

3.6kg Maris Otter
0.5kg Crystal 60L
0.5kg Munich
30g Roasted Barley
Mashed-in at 67 degrees

25g Target @ 60 mins
20g EKGs @ 15
20g NZ Styrian Goldings @ flameout

Aiming for OG of 1.050 and 45 IBUs.
I've made a 2 litre starter of re-harvested Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley Ale and will be fermenting as close to 19 degrees as I can get in current climate.

I'll be dry-hopping with:
20g NZ Styrian Goldings
10g Target

Water was adjusted with some calcium sulphate. This time I'm putting the salts into the mash and into the kettle, rather than adjusting the strike water and sparge water.

This will be my case-swap beer, hopefully. Fingers-crossed. I've been struggling to clear my English-style beers recently. Not sure what the problem is.

[Martin townshend]

Tried Gelatin? 5g/litre in warm water, then 6ml of this /litre beer. Any higher than 5g of this, and i've found it can lead to head retention/lacing issues. Add as you keg/bottle/cask.
No good for vegatrians/vegans tho'

Cheers, M

[Martin Bridges]

Thanks - however, I always gelatin my beers, and it usually works. Just the last couple of bitters that have been very stubborn.

[JackoNZ]

Just chilling down a Maibock recipe:

BIAB method, mashed for 60mins at 69c.

66% Pilsner
34% Munich
25g Hallertauer at 60mins

Have noticed what I presume is the trub has come together in a large ball and floated to the surface in the boil kettle, normal?? Not sure if due to my previous beers being darker I just haven't noticed the same thing or if something has gone wrong. Could it be my kopperfloc addition kicked in big time and pulled all the crap together?

[James P]

Sounds like the excess proteins have been clumped together!

Nice easy sounding Maibock, what yeast are you using?

[JackoNZ]

Haven't progressed onto liquid yeasts yet so I'll be going with 2 packs of SAF-23. Used this on the Schwarzbier I am going to bottle later and has done a good job. Recipe pretty much based on the Maibock from JZ's Classic recipes. Thought I'd get some lager type beers down whilst it's so bloody cold!

[MrC]

Do you use koppafloc? I've notice a big difference in the look of the cooled wort since switching from irish moss to kopppafloc. Large white swirly coagulated cloud type things in the wort. Makes for good beer though.

[JackoNZ]

Yep thats exactly what it looked like. This was a smaller batch than normal, only 16L going into the fermenter but I used the same 1g of koppafloc. Maybe I need to bump up the amount for larger batches. Certainly got me some nice clear wort into the fermenter and easily avoided the trub when transferring from the boil kettle.

[MrC]

I use Koppafloc at a rate of 1g per 20L batch so 1g for 16L should be OK. The only trouble with using too much kettle fining is that it can remove too many proteins and reduce head retention, etc.

Clear beer vs. good head! Ha! That's an no-brainer.

[jt]

a big difference in the look of the cooled wort since switching from irish moss to kopppafloc

It's good isn't it !

[Haish]

Best bitter that turned out to be an ESB due to higher than usual efficiency. I decreased the gap on my mill which bumped my efficiency by 15%. The day was a bit of a debacle to begin with, I hit a stone in my grist which tried to break my wrist. I managed to empty half of my malt bill onto the ground rather than the bucket I was aiming for, then my drill ran out of battery so I had to finish the milling by hand. Smooth sailing after that though...

3.3kg MO
300g Carapils
110g Crystal
30g Choc

15g Pac Jade @ 60 min
25g NZ Fuggles @ 15 min
25g NZ Willamette @ 0 min

Wyeast 1318, 19 deg

21L, OG 1.051