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

[Mike Neilson]

Time to brew some UK Ale

 

88% Maris Otter

6% Medium Crystal

2% Dark Crystal

2% Amber

2% Chocolate Malt

 

67 Degree Mash

 

25 Ibu Northdown @ 60

12 Ibu Northdown @ 20

1g/L EKG and Brambling Cross @ 10, 0, Dryhop

 

1.052 - 1.014 5%

45IBU

WY1968

 

 

[MrC]

Looks nice Mike.  I have a smack pack of Wy1968 sitting in my fridge waiting patiently for a fermenter to come free.  It could be a while though with my RIS fermenting slowly at 17C.

 

What fermentation temps are you planning on?

[Mike Neilson]

I need that smack pack!! Im going to pitch at 18 and let it peak at 20 degrees then a short diacytel for 2 days at 22. If you need to sell that smack pack before hand I can take it off your hands.

[MrC]

Sorry mate, that smack pack is reserved for an IPA I've been planing for weeks.  I've never used 1968 before so I'm quite excited about it too.

[Mike Neilson]

Dam it will be no good in an IPA you should use 1469 for it I got about 100L of slurry for ya for it, and I will take the 1968, hahaha

[MrC]

OK then, it's a deal.  I still want to brew with 1968 as well though so I might hit you up for some of that slurry when it's done.

 

I'll PM you, now.

[Nick T]

At last brewing again (AIPA) after the last brew was interrupted by the September quake. Of course as soon as I started doughing in we had a little tremble - 'here we go again' I thought!  Anyway, need some advice - my post boil wort was very cloudy, I have not had this before. I did some things different to normal though - first off, my grains are not as fresh as they normally are (using up the old stocks). Second, as well as adding irish moss I also threw in a teaspoon of kopperfloc, never used it before.Third, I used a different yeast nutrient at the end of the boil, winter harvest wine nutrient instead of my normal brewcraft yeast nutrient. Ended up with only about 7 litres of clearish wort on top of the brain-mush at the end of an extended chill. I drained that off then put the boiler in the freezer for 5 hours, it didn't seem to want to cool down but then left it overnight and it dropped to about 2 deg. Managed to get another 11 litres of clearish wort off again this morning, before striking the top of the brain mush. Now warming the drained wort to pitching temp while the remainder goes back into the freezer at 0 deg. 

 

Any ideas on what might have gone wrong?  My boiler (40l, 2.4kW electric urn from craftbrewer) of late has had a tendency to turn itself off and on a lot at the end of the boil, after I drop in the chiller, so I end up with the last 10 minutes with about a 98deg rolling soup. (Will be solving this once the electrician turns up this week to rewire the garage for my 4 kW boiler.) But this did not result in clarity problems for my last few brews. 

[Martin Bridges]

Koppafloc & irish moss are basically the same thing, so you've effectively doubled up there. That could lead to a lot more coagulation of proteins. To be honest, I never worry too much about the clarity of the wort going into the fermenter. If I can get clear wort that's great, but I'm not too worried if it's a bit mushy.

[Stu H]

Laying this down today. Using rainwater now that the gutters are clean on my roof!

 

Helles Bock

Size: 6 gal

Original Gravity: 1.068 (1.064 - 1.072)
Bitterness: 26.8

2.5 kg Munich Malt
4.8 kg Pilsner Malt (Organic)
28.0 g Northdown (8.7%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min (was meant to use Magnum or Horizon, but couldn't source any... This seemed the closest on the "hop wheel"

Wyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager

 

Never drunk one of these before, but looking forward to it!

[Martin Bridges]

Brewed an English Mild yesterday. My plan was to follow Stu's advice and keep it simple, but the recipe kinda got away from me due to substitutions etc.

 

2.75kg floor-malted Maris Otter

230g Crystal 60L

170g Caramunich II

80g Black patent

80g Chocolate malt

60g Munich

60g Special B

 

I actually upped those weights by 20% to account for no-sparge brewing.

 

12g Target @ 60 mins

15g Fuggles @ 15 mins

 

Yeast is Wyeast 1469 (West Yorkshire Ale). A secondary reason for brewing this beer is that I intend to dump an English IPA onto the yeast cake in a couple of weeks.

 

Lovely clear wort into the fermenter at 1.032. Bubbling away nicely at 19 degrees today.

[Stu H]

Making use of the uni holidays, and the ingredients I've got lying around the house.

 

Cheapo-NZPA/Blonde

Size: 6 gal

Original Gravity: 1.045 
Bitterness: 39.1


4.8 kg Pilsner Malt (Organic)
32.0 g Motueka (6.6%) -  60.0 min
15.45 g Nelson Sauvin (12.6%) -  10.0 min
25.0 g Motueka (6.6%) - 10.0 min
25.0 g Riwaka (5.9%) - Flameout
15.0 g Nelson Sauvin (12.6%) - Flameout


Mash @ 69, ferment with 1272

 

I could dry-hop it, but I probably won't need to.

[Richard Jack]

Here's a question for the chocolate lovers: If I'm adding cocoa nibs after primary, what temperature will be best for them? I can keep it in the ales fridge at about 19C, under the house at the keg fridge at 10C or in with the lagers at 1C. I know it makes a huge difference with hops, so thought I'd ask the question.

In lieu of other advice I'll probably just rack it to the keg with the nibs in muslin cloth, then leave it under the house and let the average temperatures do what they want to it.

Planning on around 80-100g of nibs unless anyone tells me I'm being stupid... Anyone? :) It's already had 20g in the mash and 20g in the boil.