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]

What'd you brew Jo ?

All tidyied up here as the southerly starts to blow in. Had a few interuptions, including fresh cheese scones so I'm running a bit later than usual.

Hydrometer sample tastes good, different to expected. I'm getting more of the hallertau than I thought.

[JoKing]

I brewed a Hellesbock using Golden Promise, Munich and Pale Crystal. I bittered it with 55g Perle Hops, and finished it with 55g of Czeck Saaz. It's fermenting nicely on the yeast cake that I pulled the "Levitation" ale off of.

OG 1.070
FG 1.015
7% abv
44 IBU (maybe 50...)

Hopefully ends up tasting good - I haven't brewed a beer like this before. Gave Greig a call to see how his one was coming along and decided to bite the bullet. It was the first brew with my MLT and I was more than impressed with its performance. I only lost .3 degrees over an hour. First step mash in ages too.

It better be malty - or I quit!

[MrC]

I brewed a beer last year when I had a tendonitis in my arm. My wife did all the heavy lifting. It was a case swap beer that HAD to be brewed that weekend. I beleive it was a coconut porter...

[Martin Bridges]

Aha! So you were only the Assistant Brewer on that beer! I call foul!!! :-)

[James P]

Thanks exactly what I thought when I saw that, so Mrs Cherry should get all the accolades and not Mr C! :)

[vdog]

Brewing on Monday - a headwetter for the imminent arrival of a new baby:
92% Golden Promise
8% Crystal 55L
Pac Jade to bitter
Sauvin and Motueka from about 20min through to flameout
Big Sauvin/Mot dry hop for about a week
US-05.

Aiming for about OG 1.072, FG 1.018, 80-ish IBU. I'm a little worried about self-control with a full keg of this in the fridge!

[vdog]

This did not go very well - due in part to shabby technique I'm sure, but also really highlighted the need to get my shit sorted and add sightglasses to the HLT and the kettle since my volumes were off. Didn't pay enough attention and ended up with quite a bit more wort than planned, which dragged the gravity down. Lost shitloads to trub thanks to all the hops, and wound up with 35L of 1.057 wort, plus another 3-4L that I could have recovered using Jo's technique but couldn't be arsed.

Not sure what it'll turn out like - mash temp was slightly lower than planned too (65C) so I'm a bit worried it's going to turn out to be really unbalanced since it's missing some of the gravity and will probably attenuate more than I'd planned. Guess we'll see though - 3 weeks and counting.

[jt]

3 weeks and counting.

Three weeks 'til baby's due or the beer's ready ?
Anyway, I hope that both turn out well chap

35L of 1.057 wort

Could you have boiled longer to end up with a higher gravity ?

[vdog]

Cheers JT - and in answer: both. Aiming to be drinking this one soon after the birth. =)

And yes, in theory I could have boiled longer, but I was worried about what a (say) 90min boil might do to my overall bitterness given that I'd used a high-AA bittering hop?

[Matthew]

Perry cider today. Just harvested my pears this morning. A poor crop quantity wise this year with probably only a third of what we got last year and the birds had already had their fill. Anyway grated them all up and filled a 25L chilly bin. I'll pour/press off the liquid later today as I'm not going to have enough time to wait overnight, boil it for a bit and then top up with bottles of apples juice in the fermenter depending on how much I get. I'll probably just do a 50/50 mix.

[Llew Bardecki]

That looks fabulous!

How do you press the fruit? I tried doing some apple cider last year and had a heck of a time. I filled up my brewing grain bag with chopped, frozen, then thawed apples, then squeezed for all I was worth to get the juice out. It was very hard work, especially on the hands and wrists. I imagine grating the fruit helps some though (can't believe I didn't think of that!)

[Matthew]

Used this kitchen whiz thing to mince it to pieces. Open the tap at the bottom of the fermenter and the juice pours out (I have an SS hose at the bottom too). Also have a thick piece of polystyrene to push down on from the top of the bin. I'll probably stand on it to get the last bit out.