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

[Sam]

Accidentally left the temp controller set to 5C. So, just after I pitched the yeast (at around 12C), the wort cooled overnight to 5. I fixed it up in the morning, and it gradually rose again to around 12C and appeared to ferment just fine. First time on a lager yeast so this is new to me.

For the third brew, we found we had the right ingredients for an IPA from Brewing Classic Styles -Biere de L'inde (a bit of a theme here...). I used an older Wyeast smack pack (Irish Ale), and let it sit on the plate stirrer for an extra 24 hours. Didn't have the hops on hand, so replaced used Green Bullet, Cascade (10 mins) and Goldings (flame out). 

The water supply report for Masterton (unsure how much of Masterton this applies to) showed very low levels of Calcium and Magnesium ( < 3 ppm). I added 5g calcium chloride, 5g epsom salt, 5g gypsum to bump up calcium and magnesium, and also to get the profile for an IPA. 

[FatD]

3.63 kg marris otter
227 g Crystal Med
227 g wheat malt
113 biscuit malt (was victory/biscuit/amber/caraamber)
 

Mash at 68.8 for 1 hour (75deg mashin) 11.66 litres
Sparge at 74 deg 20.78 litres

.3 oz Northern Brewer (60 mins)
.3 oz Perle (45 mins)
.3 oz Fuggle (15 mins)
1/2 oz NZ Golding (2 mins)

1 tsp irish moss

Windsor yeast - on heat pad 2 weeks (around 20-22 deg)

Bitterness 21 IBU,

[Martin Bridges]

Just turned off the chiller for a Dusseldorf Altbier, with a slightly experimental technique:

Muscles From Dussles - Dusseldorf Altbier

64.4% German Pilsner

19.3% Munich

9.7% Aromatic

4.9% Caramunich

1.7% Carafa Special II (see below)

Mashed all except the Carafa at 65 degrees for 75 minutes

90 minute boil

35g Target @ 60 mins

15g Saaz @ 15 mins

OG 1.050, 48 IBUs

Pounded the Carafa in a pestle & mortar and steeped it in 1 litre of water overnight at room temperature in a caffetiere. Strained and added the liquid for the last 10 mins of the boil. This is a technique I read in Gordon Strong's "Brewing Better Beer" and decided to give it a run in this beer. The idea is to get the colour without any roastiness or astringency.

Yeast is Wyeast 1338 European Ale. I made a 1.5 litre starter a couple of days ago and it seemed to have finished. I gave it a bit of a swirl to pick up some of the yeast on the side of the flask and it has kicked off again! Looks like I'll be pitching the whole starter rather than waiting for it to settle and pouring the beer off.

Pretty smooth brewday, hope it turns out OK. Planning to ferment at 15 degrees for about 4-5 days, then up to 20 for a couple of days before racking it to a secondary and crashing to 1-2 degrees for a month.

[Bambule]

I have heard of adding the dark malt at the end of the mash  and then sparging through it to get the same effect.  Seems to be a german thing.

[Stu H]

Great name!

[Liam Callaghan]

Just kegged and bottled my first Saison and Saison copy with a normal saf ale yeast so I have a good comparison.  Both tasting very good from the fermentor :p

Now to wash my yeast and get the samples potted up and labelled...  After a beer... Or two

[sockmerchant]

let me know how it turns out. I imagine they will be quite different. 

[Liam Callaghan]

I'll bring some for our next session mate if you can make, I hear you onmly live around the corner from me.  They taste pretty good to me!

[Kelly Milligan]

Just mashing my Cali common :) Got my strike perfect this time, and after dough in was stabilized at 66.2c (66 target). Goddamn this biscuit malt smells delicious! 

[Benjamin Morehu]

Im doin a Saison for the first time and the recipe (Brewing Classic Styles pg 208) says to ramp up frementation temp from 20C - 27C over the course of fermentation. Should I be doing this over a 5 day period or the 12 days total Ill have it in the fermentor ?

[Raffe]

I brewed a saison recently (wyeast 3711), pitched at 20C, let the yeast grow over the first 24 hours and it rose naturally to around 22C, then moved it up to around 25/26C over the next 48 hours. I held it there until day 14, as the airlock activity only stopped then. I then kept the beer in the fermenter another week at ambient (around 22/23C) at the time. OG was 1.050ish, FG was 1.006. Worked well.

[Liam Callaghan]

I ran mine out at 26 degrees for the full two weeks (Farmhouse yeast) 1.057 - 1.008 I think.  Bottle conditioned at the same.  It's a cracker!  Interested to see what the differences are with the stepped fermentation.