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

[Martin Bridges]

Sounds great! Let me know how it turns out, I'd really like to have a go at a Berlinerweiss.

[Mark Jackman]

40L, your a brave man. I would love to brew one but Id have to do my homework first.

[Richard Jack]

It's not like it's a whole load of grain and hops going to waste if it doesn't work, though!

[Mark Jackman]

Thats true, can always send it here if you have too much ;-)

[Richard Jack]

Smooth brew day - a flatmate had appropriated the pot I use to do a decoction step, so I ended up doing a double infusion. 

I'm giving the lacto a head start in the wort at 28C. Hoping the DMS monster doesn't come visiting with that short boil.

[Matthew Vincent]

Has anyone ever tried doing an Double IRA using kits?

I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a Double IRA but what the hell - what's experimentation without madness :)

I was thinking a couple cans of William Warn IRA, 2kg of DME, a 60 minute boil with numerous hops additions (maybe just straight Simcoe, I'm kinda sick of Nelson Sav & Mot) ending up with about 23 litres of wort in the barrel. Yeast would be a couple packs of rehydrated Danstar Nottingham Ale.

Please confirm I'm mad if this sounds crazy as it'll be around $80 worth of ingredients and alot of my time wasted if I end up with rat poisen ...

As I've typed this, it's just dawned upon me that I'm probably a hell of a lot wiser to halve all of the above and just make a 11.5 litre batch for starters?

All feedback/comments appreciated :)

[Mark Jackman]

The theory sounds right, what hopping schedule were you thinking of?

[Matthew Vincent]

25g @ 60, 20, 10, 5, 1 & 0

 

I wouldn't be adding the tins to the boil until the last 5 - 10 minutes. (I would've already disolved them/watered them down and brought the 'syrup' up to around 90'C before adding to the main pot)

[Peter Smith]

my experience of doing double cans is that they come out very very bitter, and need about 6-9 months in  the bottle to mellow and even then i was not happy with the result, YMMV.

[Mark Jackman]

I wouldnt do any early additions since the kits are prehopped, the kits are normally no boil right? Might be better to do one kit and the DME for something like 16L perhaps then heavily late hop it.

[Mark Goodin]

Had a great Brewday on Sunday; knocked out my first double brew day, brewing back to back 23Lt batches in just under 8hrs. Amazing what a bit of prep, a plan and slight overlap of time can achieve, considering a normal brew takes me upwards of 5.5hrs.

Brewed a 1.070 India Red Ale, hopped with C-Type Hop blend, 30g @ 60min, 150g @ 10min and will Dry Hop another 70g

Also a 1.060 American Pale hopped through with Citra and Centennial at 60min, 10min and Flamout, with 2 big Dry Hops planned

Also managed to bottle 40 bottles of Oatmeal Stout, and 8 bottles of Coffee Oatmeal Stout, 4Lts that I had pulled off into a carboy with ground roasted coffee beans added for 4 days. At bottling had a very strong espresso taste...really liked it!

Was a busy day!

[Mark Jackman]

Good work! It's amazing how much you can get done with a plan and a free day to concentrate on beer, and also how little you can get done if you dont have a plan and an appointment.  I know which sort I prefer!