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

[Matthew]

We've used weetbix in the last 3 beers and no complaints at all. Haven't been able to taste it but it's worked wonders for head retention and adding a touch of body.

[James P]

it's the Mystery brain that gives me the unique results ...

And I thought it was the carrots.... :)

[jt]

And I thought it was the carrots.... :)

If my wort turns orange I'll know I've overdone the 15 minute carrot addition ...

[Llew Bardecki]

Had my first genuine "dumper" last night.

I was set to bottle the Weizenbock that I'd brewed for the upcoming WnBC only to discover that something pretty nasty must've got into it when I racked it off the yeast a few weeks ago. It had turned into something like weizenbock flavoured vinegar. Lactobacillus? Acetobacter? Whatever did it, it was pretty unpleasant.

I saved a couple of bottles purely out of interest, but most of it went down the drain :( Was very sad to do this, as it tasted fabulous when I last transferred it.

On a more positive note, I also brewed a small batch of witbier last night:
50% Malteurop pils malt, 50% flaked wheat
Mashed at 67C for 60 mins. OG of 1.047
15ibu Pacifica @ 60 mins, 1g/L coriander and lemon peel @ 5 mins.
Pitched it onto a 500ml starter grown from the dregs of Three Boys Wheat. (Which the folks at the brewery very kindly told me is Wyeast 3944) and it's now happily fermenting away.

I guess I'll be trying to throw together a new WnBC beer pretty quick... Maybe something on top of that witbier yeast. It's fermenting at 21C, so that first batch ought to be done fermenting soon.

[MrC]

Had my first genuine "dumper" last night.
Bummer dude. Tipping out home brew sucks, I've had my share of that! Just try to get a positive out of it by trying to understand what went wrong and how to avoid it in the future.

What sterliser do you use? Get some Starsan if you haven't already.

[Llew Bardecki]

I've always used acidified bleach (15ml bleach, 10L water, 15ml vinegar), which supposedly (according to a podcast interview with the guy who developed Starsan) should be an effective no-rinse sanitiser.

It's worked fine for me for several years and 30+ batches, but after this experience I may well upgrade to Starsan.

[Barry]

The difference between what you are using and something like Starsan is surfectants. They are really really important - crucial, especially if you ferment in plastic.

Surfectants reduce the surface tension of the liquid allowing it to get into the tiniest cracks. Which is what you want/need. Go get some.

[jt]

So it's not just a case of squirting in some dishwash liquid then - I suppose that would upset the balance of the other ingredients ?

[Barry]

well it definitely wouldn't be no rinse with dishwashing liquid in there. In fact I reckon it would take a heap of rinsing. Unless you're making lemon fresh radler? :)

[jt]

Oki doki, throw in a dose of surfactant I thought .... then I read about surfactants ... nope, just buy the starsan

[Mark]

That's funny, I've recently done a Weizenbock that I'm going to give away as it doesn't taste quite right. I'll never get round to drinking it, but a mate thinks it's awesome, so problem solved.

[jt]

Masho !
Bought some Munich I with my last sack of Malteurop, the first in over a year
Got a hankering to repeat some older recipes that the notes read up on well
So, just mashed in
85% malteurop
10 Munich
5% caramalt
1.040 with US05
13 IBU Super Alpha to bitter, 13 IBU of cascade from 30 minutes