To get the chlorine out of the water, I just leave it overnight before brewing with it right? If that wont work, then I can probably get some rainwater from the in-laws place which will not be chlorinated. I took a sample of the amber ale last night and it is only down to 1.030 after 10 days so I think I need to do something about that before I can bottle and repitch onto the slurry - I will try warming it up to 22 degrees and give it a swirl or a stir with a sanitised spoon or something to wake the yeast up. Got to pick up a heat pad/electric blanket after work. Looks like I won't be brewing this weekend anyway.
Theres a heap of conflicting information about removing chlorine from water, some places state that leaving it overnight or filtering it will remove the chlorine, and others state that water treatment uses chloramines which are harder to remove???
If it was me, and it was easy enough, id try and score 30 odd litres of rain water for this kind of beer, add some chalk to it to smooth out the roast and the smoke character will be amazingly soft but smoky at the same time!! The more i talk about it the more tasty this beer is sounding haha, maybe ill have to do something similair myself soon!!
Ah yes, but there aren't many vineyards in Manurewa! Actually, the water tastes OK but I can drive 15 minutes to the in-laws in Drury and take as much rainwater as I need, so I may as well.
Oh and with the Amber you could allways rack it to a secondary which sometimes kicks the yeast back into life, and then youll still be able to pitch onto the dregs...
I get my water from the hot tap which seems to have a hell of a lot less chlorine in it. If you left that overnight, it would be perfect. I'm of the opinion that if you can't smell it - it aint there.
Warehouse has a single electric blanket for $17.99 - guess what is going to be wrapped around my fermenter tonight? (will be putting a smoke detector directly above it!)
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.00 kg Pilsner (2 Row) UK (1.0 SRM) Grain 80.81 %
0.75 kg Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 15.15 %
0.20 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.04 %
30.00 gm Williamette [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 16.3 IBU
15.00 gm Williamette [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 8.2 IBU
10.00 gm Hallertauer, New Zealand [6.50 %] (15 minHops 3.9 IBU
40.00 gm Hallertauer, New Zealand [6.50 %] (0 min)Hops -
30.00 gm Williamette [4.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.95 kg
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 15.26 L of water at 73.6 C 68.0 C
5 min Mash out Add 2.45 L of water at 100.0 C 72.0 C
That's a quite heavy load of "cara" or "crystal" type malts, over 19%.
It will be malty, but for my taste also too sweet, particularly as you are only planning about 28 IBU.
I'd halve the "cara" malts and replace them with straight out Munich or Viena. A touch of Amber (about 100 gr) would be nice too to give it some biscuity complexity.