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 DT]

Definitely at the tough end of things...

Re-jigging this now - had way too much speciality malt and ended up at 1.018. Wasn't terrible but the added sweetness & malt backbone overpowered the hops. Will post a re-brew recipe when I get around to it in a couple of weeks. Aiming for sub 10% total speciality.

I've found that I can get out to around 80% with a good starter and aeration and low mash temp with wlp001. Obviously with the higher gravity it's going to be a push - thinking of extending mash out to around two hours as well which should improve ferment-ability (apparently you can eek out another 2-3% with extra long mash).

I'd rather not use sugar additions if I can avoid it - I don't think Liberty use it in their recipe (not mentioned on their website) - they do have the starting gravity and ABV tho which give the 1.080 & 1.012 figures - while there isn't any info regarding yeast I think 001/chico would be one of the few yeasts able to attenuate this far.

Also going to do a full re-pitch off the bottom of a lower gravity batch to get a really healthy pitch. All that said if I can't get close to 1.012 I will look at adding half a kg of dex to version 3. Not having pure oxygen probably doesn't help either...

[Pierre Malan]

I wouldn't be too frightened about supplementing with some sugar to crank up the alochol but keep it dry.  Some very good brewers I know do this as a matter of course.

I've tried it once, but massively missed by OG (of course the only time it happened), so can't comment from personal experience.

Other comments welcomed - would be great to see if a collective C!tra recipe could be developed.

[Sam DT]

Have posted a new discussion and updated recipe in clone brews group

[William Fitzgerald]

An American Red, brewed with lager yeast so I can save money on heating.

23L batch:

5.50kg 2-Row

300g Carared

75g Roasted Barley (add 10 mins from end of mash)

18g Simcoe @60

12g Mosaic @15

18g Citra @15

Whirlfloc Tablet @10

24g Mosaic @0

36g Citra @0

2x WLP802 (2L Starters)

Mash in with 15L water @73.5C, rest for 75 mins

Mash out with 6L water @80C, rest for 10 mins

Batch sparge with 10L water @70C, twice

90 min boil

Fermentation: 9C for 4 weeks (+/- diacetyl rest), 1C for 2 weeks 

OG 1.054 FG 1.014 IBU/SG 0.719

[Steve Dorrington]

I've taken to brewing a couple of small 8 Litre BIAB batches recently because I can do them in less than 3 hours, a 10L fermenter will fit into my fermentation fridge on top of a 30L fermenter and the ingredients cost so little. 

MiniBIAB#1 "Rye Must You Label Me" a Rye Pale Ale from "Craft Beer & Brewing" website.  

1.7kg Gladfields Pale Malt, 500g Rye Malt, 200kg Caramalt, 75g Extra Dark Crystal.  Mash @67C

12g Centennial@60mins, 12g each Centennial & Chinook @ 5mins,

Yeast US05

12g Centennial, 6g Chinook & 6g SthX (only because I didn't have any Simcoe) all at 7 days.

Trub and all went into the fermenter.  OG 1.066, FG ?  Bottled 13 bottles so only got 6.5Litres, but straight out of the fermenter it tasted really good.   There maybe a bigger brew of this very soon.

I was impressed with Beervana this year and one brew that stood out against the hoppy styles was called "Schoolmaster English Ordinary Bitter"  from Te Aro Brewing.   So Sunday afternoon I did another 8L MiniBIAB#2 brew.  An Ordinary Bitter from the book "Brewing Classic Styles" called "No Short Measure".   Ingredients for 8L:

1.5kg Maris Otter, 100g Crystal 120L, 50g Special Roast (50L) Mash @ 67C

14g Kent Goldings@60mins, 6g @ 30mins and 1 minute.  Yeast S-04

OG 1.038 and got 9.5L into the fermenter (incl most trub).  More wort than I wanted, but the OG was close to target. 

Kerry, from Te Aro Brewing /Brewtopia told me today the Beervana kit recipe is available for customers.  Next time, after the Rye  :)  

 

[Mudcrab]

Hoping to brew a saison this weekend and am after a bit of advice on two aspects:

1. A lot of reading suggests to increase the temp after 48-72 hours of fermentation. Has anyone had any experience with this? If so, what was the outcome. 

2. I have a small boil kettle so have to use a mix of grain and extract (BIAB). I mash and boil in ~10L of water and then usually top up the fermenter with water to 21-23L. What would the result be if I topped the fermenter up to say 15L? Apart from the lower quantity, would it increase flavour and/or ABV? 

Cheers

[Julian Melville]

I've finally come up with something that I'm really, really enjoying. Brewing it again this weekend. I call it Golden Pash and it probably falls into the XPA category (it's quite similar to Panhead Quickchange, a little bigger and more bitter). This recipe is BIAB, full volume, no sparge. I'm looking forward to varying small things, doing Galaxy instead of Mosaic when it's available again etc.

Golden Pash (23L into the fermenter)

OG 1.051

FG 1.010

Theoretically about 65 IBU but it doesn't taste like it.

Yeast is Wyeast 1272 (American Ale 2), 2L starter. Start fairly cool and let it rise slowly.

3.0 kg Golden Promise

3.0 kg Vienna

Mash around 68C, single infusion.

Mashout at 73C for 10 mins.

60 minute boil.

20 IBU worth of bittering @ 60 (I used Pacific Jade)

Koppafloc @ 10

20g each Mosaic and Citra @ 10

25g each Mosaic and Citra @ 5 minutes after boil ends, leave to whirlpool for half an hour

30g each Mosaic and Citra when it gets down to 85C, leave for a few more minutes, then chill

25g each Mosaic and Citra dry hop in a hop sack for 3-4 days

Fine with gelatin, bottle condition at around 2.4 volumes.

[Duncan Emo]

That looks cool Julian - may give that a whirl!

[Greg Tarr]

Julian took out home brewer of the month (?August) with this at No1 Queen St

[Julian Melville]

It came out fantastic. I would dial that mash temp down a couple of degrees, the recipe above is a blend of the first batch I did with a step mash, and the second I did as a 68C single infusion. The first was just a tiny bit thin on the finish, the second has a bit too much malt sweetness so 65-66 should be just about right.

I said above it was a bit like Panhead Quickchange, I've now discovered it's even more like Liberty Rackets with a shade more malt.

[Greg Tarr]

(And it is delicious!)

[Kevin Sharp]

Brewing today: TPA Hidden Agenda.

TPA is a Tropical Pale Ale in that any fruit you imagine (mango, guava ... durian) you'll find it in there somewhere.

TPA Hidden Agenda

Method:	All Grain	Style:	American IPA
Boil Time:	60 min	Batch Size:	28 liters (ending kettle volume)
Boil Size:	33 liters	Efficiency:	80% (ending kettle)
Boil Gravity:	1.052 (recipe based estimate)

Original Gravity: 1.061

Final Gravity: 1.012

ABV (alternate): 6.66%

IBU (tinseth): 51.78

SRM (morey): 11.98

Fermentables

Amount	Fermentable	PPG	°L	Bill %
5.8 kg	Gladfield Ale	37	2.75	82.9%
0.6 kg	Gladfield Medium Crystal	35	55	8.6%
0.6 kg	Gladfield Redback	35	35	8.6%

Hops

Amount	Variety	Time	AA	IBU	Type	Use
20 g	Simcoe	Pellet	14	Boil	60 min	24.94
14 g	Amarillo	Pellet	8.6	Boil	15 min	5.32
14 g	Simcoe	Pellet	14	Boil	15 min	8.66
14 g	Amarillo	Pellet	8.6	Whirlpool at 80 °C	30 min	4.3
14 g	Cascade (US)	Pellet	7.6	Whirlpool at 80 °C	30 min	3.8
14 g	Centennial	Pellet	9.5	Whirlpool at 80 °C	30 min	4.75
14 g	Amarillo	Pellet	8.6	Dry Hop	4 days
14 g	Cascade (US)	Pellet	7.6	Dry Hop	4 days
14 g	Centennial	Pellet	9.5	Dry Hop	4 days

Mash Guidelines

Amount	Description	Type	Temp	Time
--		Infusion	68 C	60 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 2.5 L/kg

Other Ingredients

Amount	Name	Type	Use	Time
1 g	Koppafloc	Fining	Boil	15 min
0.5 g	Coriander seed	Spice	Secondary	--

Yeast

Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05

Attenuation (avg): 81% Flocculation: Medium Optimum Temp: 12.2 - 25 °C Starter: Yes Fermentation Temp: 20 °C Pitch Rate: 1.0 (M cells / ml / ° P)

Priming

CO2 Level: 2.5 Volumes

Target Water Profile: Burton on Trent (historic and decarbonated)

Ca+2	Mg+2	Na+	Cl-	SO4-2	HCO3-
187	41	113	85	720	20