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

[Andrew]

Just made the smallest batch ever. 3 ltrs Brown ale, maybe for the WBC comp. I like to think of it as exclusive...

[JoKing]

Gonna give this brew a crack tomorrow. It's a starter Ale for a strong dark I've been planning for forever. A select few will be able to get some of the starter solution which is cranking hard at the moment.

Comments welcome.

Nutty Pale
16-B Belgian Pale Ale
Author: J Wood
Date: 9/05/2010

Size: 24.24 L
Efficiency: 82.0%
Attenuation: 79.0%
Calories: 168.39 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.051 (1.048 - 1.054)
Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.010 - 1.014)
Color: 25.84 (15.76 - 27.58)
Alcohol: 5.28% (4.8% - 5.5%)
Bitterness: 26.5 (20.0 - 30.0)

Ingredients:
4.3 kg Dingeman Pilsen Malt
.500 kg Caramunich® TYPE II
.500 kg Biscuit Malt (Mout Roost 50)
50 g Fuggle (4.8%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
20 g Fuggle (4.8%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
1L WYeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II

00:03:00 Mash In - Liquor: 21.2 L; Strike: 71.7 °C; Target: 67 °C
01:03:00 Mash - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 67.0 °C
01:33:00 Sparge - Sparge Volume: 22.11 L; Sparge Temperature: 75.6 °C; Runoff: 22.17 L

[MrC]

Looks good Jo. My next brew will most likely be a Belgian Pale Ale also.

That looks like a lot of Caramunich II & Biscuit. I personally wouldn't add that much Caramunich II, it gets cloying for me at that level. Do you reckon 26IBU will be enough to balance the Caramunich II?

[JoKing]

Yeah - I've been going up quite high in specialties lately because I always get such a high attenuation. I remember the last Belgian Pale that I brewed being too bitter and it was only 30IBU. The buscuit malt is quite dry too - so I want a bit of body to accentuate the toasty buscuitty notes. I don;t think it'll be cloying though - I want it to end up a bit chewy, but not overly sweet.

[JoKing]

So rather than do what (quite often) other people do on here: Ask for comments and then dismiss any comments other people make... I decided to cut back on the specialties to 300g each.

Cheers for your help Mr C!

[MrC]

Comments from other people are all well & good but sometimes you need to trust your instincts and what you know about your own system, processes & palate. I hope I haven't put you crook.

Why do you get high attenuation? High pitching rates? Does your thermometer need recalibrating?

[Martin Bridges]

Not exactly brewing, but I've had a major bottling (and cleaning) session today. Since I started kegging I've been very glad to avoid bottling runs, but these 2 beers needed bottle conditioning.

First up was my Mackenzie's Windsor Ale, a spiced strong English ale for the case swap. The racked beer was tasting (and looking awesome) but I stuck to the original 19th century recipe and added the final 2 secret ingredients. Primed with just a very small amount of dextrose, finings, then into bottles. Enough for the case swap plus another 8 for me, which I intend to mature for a while. Hopefully this will have conditioned up in time for the case swap.

Then I finally got around to bottling Tintin's Black Heart, my funky Belgian stout. The brett seems to be slowing down now so it's a good time to get it into the bottles. No priming sugar, I'll just leave the brett to carb it up. I don't want much carbonation anyway. This beer is tasting intriguing, layers and layers of flavour. I might bring a bottle along to the WBC for some opinions.

Knackered now, so will crash out on the sofa for a bit with a bottle of chocolate milk - a few beers to be had later with dinner.

[Ally Mcg]

Grains crushed for another blond/very pale ale tomorrow.

5kg Global Cologne
.25kg Wheat
.25kg Carapils
Centennial throughout for 28IBU (tho i might sub in some Columbus at 90 and 15 for a bit of variety)
Wyeast 2565 Kolsch
Target OG - 1.051

trying to keep things simple so I can see what the Global Cologne is like.

[MrC]

Looks nice. I brewed a beer with a very similar grist to see what Global Cologne was like and it was great. An awesome base malt.

[Ally Mcg]

Wort sample pre-hopping tasted awesome. Had a lovely rich sweetness with a slight nutty finish.

Decided it could handle some more late hopping so doubled the final addition and went straight Centennial from start to finish. Never used that as a single hop before so will be interested to see how it comes out.

[JoKing]

It should be great. I love centennial - it's awesome. Ruination (which is in my top 3 IPAs) is all Centennial - so with any luck you'll get some of those characteristics in your brew.

[Haish]

Double brew day for me. 60 litres in fermenters, 20L of US Brown and 40L of Blonde.

Brown (Tasty McDole)
4.7kg GP
0.5kg Caramunich II
0.5kg Carapils
0.4kg Wheat
0.2kg Chocolate
36 IBU Southern X @ 60
30g Amarillo @ 15
45g Cascade @ 10
45g Cascade @ 0
60g Amarillo dry
OG 1.068
W1762 Pacman

Blonde
8kg NZ pils
200g Cara
200g Carapils
30 IBU Southern X and Centennial
OG 1.053
US05

Looong day...