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]

Pac Hal has been a mediocre hop for me, I prefer riwaka's performance!

I get more lemon / lime citrus from hall Aroma than I got Orange from Pac Hall.

The 1.040 and 20 IBU can be a tasty beer, depending on your taste and what you expect from the hops. A good bittering addition followed by a good late one can be really good - it's all about the balance. I don't like too much of the Halleratu Aroma, but I'm quite pleased with the 10gm each cascade & Motueka dry hopped in the last (not so) Blande incarnation, just kegging tonight

cheers chaps, fermenter to clean, must go

[MrC]

I agree James. I brewed a couple of beers with Pacific Hallertau and don't feel the urge to use it again. Maybe I didn't use enough.

[jt]

but I'm quite pleased with the 10gm each cascade & Motueka dry hopped in the last (not so) Blande incarnation, just kegging tonight

Veeryy pleased with the dry hop additions.
I enjoyed the balance of the Blandes to date, but a bit of extra hop in the end is really lifting it. I don't usually mix hops much, but the cascade & mot have worked really well

[MrC]

Shouldn't you be using a lager yeast for a NZ Draught?
Do you reckon US-05 at 15-18C will be clean enough to fool the judges (assuming they haven't read this) ;-)

Seriously though, have you brewed the same beer with US-05(coolish) vs. a lager yeast?

[James P]

Yeah Mr C I did read that in the guidelines. However as they are accepting beers from Monday until July 28th (?) I want to enter one in any case. Hopefully not the only NZ Draught then they won't know it's me!

I am pretty happy with US05 at the lower temps, not a true lager but still provides some crispness I can get from a lager strain such as S189 or W34/70. My alternative is a pack of Wyeast 2112 but my preference is W2007.

At the end of the day I will get some feedback from beer judges as opposed to the guys at work!

[jt]

A cool ferment with '05 gets close, maybe even good enough - depending how fussy you are. I also find that the lighter the grist the crisper the beer too and a wee bit of wheat seems to help that along

[denimglen]

Yeah, I am actually sick, just not thaaaaaaaaaaat sick.

Anyways, blog of the brewday coming up.

[Martin Bridges]

A re-brew of my Anniversary Day Porter. Slight changes to hops and yeast.

4.0kg Maris Otter
0.55kg Crystal 60L
0.55kg Munich
0.35kg Chocolate
0.20kg Black Patent
Mashed at 67 degrees

Water was adjusted slightly with Calcium sulphate, calcium chloride & magnesium sulphate.

75 minute boil
20g Target @ 60 mins
40g NZ Styrians @ 15 min
20g NZ Styrians @ flameout

Fermenting with re-harvested Wyeast 1056. I made a 2 litre starter earlier in the week. Targetting fermentation around 19 degrees.

Aiming for an OG of 1.061 and 40 IBUs, so pretty robust. Last time I brewed this the efficiency was way off but the beer turned out great.

[denimglen]

JZ's recipe? Similar grist and quantities, although his reecipe is pretty standard anyway.

That's a tasty porter, is on my rebrew list, I thought more black patent wouldn't go a miss though. I love the acrid/ash/charcol flavour.

[Martin Bridges]

Yup, it's JZ's Black Widow Porter (no spiders in mine though). I was planning to do something funky with this one but going on holiday then working in Hamilton for a month have restricted my ambitions. I just want a nice tasty porter.

[Mike Neilson]

Im brewing up a new HLT!!

[denimglen]

Pictures!