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

[jt]

like the pics Martin, hope Mrs B has a good stock of pantyhose !

I brewed the blonde this morning while Mrs T was off doing the Round The Bays Walk.
Ed, have you brewed your blonde yet or are you waiting for the carahell ?

Blonde tasting about ANZAC day maybe as a thought, which prompts - should we have another SOBA meet in Welly soon ?

cheers, jt

[Edward Siddle]

waiting for the carahell, mike says he's shipping it today, though i've also got a couple of other things i might do first. but anzac day could be good.

[denimglen]

Mike from Brewer's Coop? Does he sell Carahell malt or are you getting the extract that he has there? Cheers.

[jt]

Mike has some weyermann grains in.
From the price list
We are currently stocking the following:

Torrified Wheat
Weyermann Carahell
Weyermann Caramunich type 3
Weyermann Caraamber
Weyermann Carafa type1
Weyermann dark wheat
Weyerman roasted Wheat
Weyermann Carawheat
With the exception of the dark wheat, these malts have been discounted approx 30% on what we would currently charge and this will continue while stocks last.

[denimglen]

Thanks JT, always forget to ask what he has when I'm down there, usually turn up with a recipe I plan on brewing so I don't worry about other malts.

[Stu McKinlay]

Handbrewer's Imperial Amber
84% Maris Otter
11% Munich II
2.5% Pale Caramalt
2.5% Dark Crystal

A little Calcium Sulphate in the liquor.

OG 1.084.
100% Sauvin (60min and 15min) to 71 IBU.

US05 - two packets.

Interestingly, I had a Danish beer enthusiast come around and join me on brew day ("sunevdj" on ratebeer, if anyone wants to see what he thinks of kiwi craft beers - he's here for a few months and is writing a story on NZ beer scene for a Danish beer mag). Danish homebrewers call themselves neither "Amateur Brewer", nor "Non Commercial Craft Brewer", nor "Homebrewer". The term they use, and hence the name of yesterdays brew, is "Handbrewer".

[jt]

I've just got a sack of marris Otter.

I was using the Aussie pale and had good results with every recipe as long as it was dark. Light beers suffered terribly from astringency (topic somewhere here) so I dropped it and went back to Marris Otter where I had no problems.

I did a trial with gypsum, which didn't work and a trial with a product called ph5 which did but left too 'burton' a flavour in the beer

I did like the Aussie pale for the recipes that worked though, it was like a blank canvas to paint your specialties and hops on and if I had my water treatment down pat would use again for sure

[Barry]

interesting that 5.5 didn't work jt, I've always been keen to try it. by "burton", was it unpleasant, or just not to your taste? can you describe the flavour - salty, minerally? did you measure the ph before and after - did it do it's prescribed job correctly?

Cheers

[jt]

I haven't checked ph levels for any of my beers - so it's really unscientific to blame that on my bad batches, but after much trial & error that was my conclusion.

I once made a bold statement that I wasn't going to tinker with my water unless I did it properly - then I went & tinkered making some assumptions based on other peoples water additions.
Suprise, suprise, ph'ing big suprise - it didn't work - why don't I listen to myself

What did ph 5.2 do to my next batch ph-wise - phck knows, I didn't measure that either
What did it do to the flavour ? Well it was very sulphorous in the fermenter when used at the perscribed tablespoon rate. It lost that in secondary pretty much but the finished product - according to the tasting notes were "very much like Keirans 'burtoned ale' that I tried when he was in newtown'

[denimglen]

Thanks.

Might not be the right malt for me, I usually go with amber and lighter. Might give Weyermanns Pilsner a shot after this sack.

[jt]

Dunno DG, you won't have the same water as me, try a batch and see how it goes.

[denimglen]

Yeah, might do a SMaSH brew with that and weyermanns and see how they come out.

Cheers and beers.