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

[MrC]

Nothing brewing at the Cherry Brewery. I've decided to wait for some feedback from the NHC before I brew again.

I have a an iteresting scenario at the moment with two lagers that I bottled two weeks ago. Both were brewed with the same yeast (literally), both fermented, bottled and stored at the same temp, both primed to the same level of 2.5 volumes. However, one is significantly more carbonated than the other. The difference between the two brews is that one was lagered in a secondary fermenter and the other was bottled directly from primary. At bottling time, the lagered beer was significantly clearer and is taking a lot longer to carbonate. I'm assuming that the lagered beer will actually corbonate to the desired level but at the moment it is still less carbonated than the non-lagered beer.
I've entered both in to the NHC so hopefully the lagered beer will be fizzy enough on the day. I't may even depend on how soon it gets refridgerated.

[James P]

In my limited brewing experiences (nearly all lagers) I have found that the yeast seems pretty dormant after the secondary (I lager in secondary for about 4-5 weeks) however if you leave it for a good three months you have a lager which has the right carbonation and is clear as filtered beer and usually tastes great.

I unfortunately have a mouth puckering lager that I have just tasted tonight... not happy however can just about pin point the cause as it is the same recipe I have used about six times now. Poor cleaning or a different hop.

[HerrSchnapps]

English Special Bitter (John Palmers Lord Crouchback's Special Bitter)
Upscaled for 23 L and lower efficiency using BIAB (2nd go, finally had a chance to bottle the stout today also, tastes, smells and looks fantastic. Looks like it wasn't an infection but just yeast! :D)
- 4kg Pale Malt
- 300g Med Crystal
- 25g Northern Brewer @ 60 mins | 24.6 IBU
- 22g NZ Golding @ 30 mins | 8.4 IBU
- 22g NZ Golding @ 15 mins | 5.4 IBU

IBU: 38 | OG: 1.045
Kettle is sitting outside right now covered in a camping mat, sleeping bag and duvet. Should hold the temp at 67c for another 50 mins...

[HerrSchnapps]

Wow, just siphoned into the fermenter and pitched. After running the measurements through Beersmith, we ended up getting spot-on 80% efficiency from BIAB!!! Method as follows: Aiming for 23 L, beersmith calculated we go for 26.34L at start of boil. I used 1.2L/kg of water loss to the grain, so 4.3*1.2 = 5.16 L of water for grain absorption. Instead of adding this to the 26.34, I took 2L away for sparging, which gave us our final mash-in volume of 29.5L. Bought temp up to 69.6 with bag and then added grain, dropping the temp down to 67 (woo! spot on!). Covered in camping-mat, sleeping-bag and a duvet and let it sit for 90 mins. Boiled up the missing two-litres of water, then, taking the bag out slowly, poured this sparge water all over it (slowly). After most of the water had flowed through, we then slowly twisted the bag, squeezing out more sugars until it was tight, then dumped it into a clean bucket and started the boil. Voila! Oh yeah, ended up with 1.046 OG and 23.3 litres, could have gotten more but I stirred up the wort and lost over 2L to trub... :( Stupid whir-pooling...

[jt]

Looking good !

What's the yeast ?

Cheers, jt

[HerrSchnapps]

Safale S-04. Looking foward to the wyeast shipment, got an Irish Ale (1084) and London Ale (1028) for an Irish Red and Honey Brown Ale respectively.

[jt]

I'll assemble the buckets, pots & pans of the Bad Practice, Shabby Techinique Brewery on Sunday for batch 635 - "Mako Man" in honour of the Welly's first Sheild defence this century.

It's really just a repeat of the last NZ Draught / Lager with a fancy name but what the flip, sounds fancy eh ?
It might just turn out to be 'a great-tasting light beer with a bite' (apologies to DB's fine beer of the 90's)
87.5% Pils
10% Munich
2.5% Carahell
10IBU of Super Alpha to bitter and 10 of Hallertau late, 1.040 with W2112 and hoping for FG 1.010

[jt]

Time is short and kegs leak ale at an alarming rate so here goes.
I'm going to use the US-05 that's been sitting in the fridge as a backup.
Thought I'd do a basic ale. Two tins of extract, bitter with Willamette and finish with some Cascade. 1.050 / 35 IBU

But what do you reckon to a small mash - 500gm Munich - or a touch of crystal - or a bit of wheat ?
And what about temperature for US-05. What's it like under or over 20C ?

[Reviled]

US-05 under 20 will ferment really cleanly giving little yeast esters and really let the hops and malt dominate! I use it all the time for APA's and IPA's.

[jt]

Cheers chap - what's it do at 20 or above ?

[Kempicus]

I find i get a honey esther nose to it....complements the ridiculous amounts of hops that i use nicely though!

[Reviled]

Actually, you may be right there! I had an APA which I gave to a mate yesterday and he swore black and blue that it had a honey smell/taste to it...

This was my 74IBU APA which is loaded with Citrus type hops... I couldnt taste any honey personally tho...

Havnt fermented past 22, allthough it still comes out really clean with minimal esters...