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]

I've got one bottle of the last collabarative brew left the Maximus approximation .. you still got one ?

Maybe it's a taster for the NW 3 Guys Golden Ale discussion ?

[Chris Banks]

Yep still got one left!

[Matthew]

I still have an original BKP I'll throw into the mix!

I'll be keen for a catch up that weekend but it's also anniversary time so I don't think I'll be able to do a whole brew.

[Martin Bridges]

Bit of an experiment today. Being a true Yorkshireman I have a fondness for Parkin - a cake made from oats, black treacle & ginger (but it's so much more than that, especially when mum makes it!). So I decided to try and brew a beer that echoed those childhood memories.

65% Golden Promise
20% Toasted oats
5% Melanoidin
5% Biscuit
2% Dark crystal
3% Black treacle

High temp mash to get lots of body, aiming for 1.070.

30 IBUs of Pacifica in a 90-minute boil

2 oz fresh grated ginger @ 15 mins, then another ounce at flameout. I might add more ginger in secondary if necessary. I'm looking for ginger to be present but not dominant.

I'm going to dump the wort onto a US-05 yeast cake. I should probably use an English yeast but I have this yeast cake available and you know what they say about Yorkshiremen (that they're like Scotsmen with all the generosity beaten out of them).

[newbilong]

ecky thump. just in time for guy fawkes too.

how did it turn out?

[Martin Bridges]

Yeah, I've timed it for the Parkin season, although it doesn't work quite so well in the southern hemisphere. If it works OK I suspect I will brew it again in Autumn.

It's going well. Because I dumped the wort onto a good US-05 yeast cake it took off like a rocket and primary fermentation was slowing right down yesterday evening (2 days in). So I boiled up the black treacle with a litre or so of recovered wort, cooled it and chucked it in last night. This morning it was fermenting steadily again.

I tasted the wort pre-fermentation and it tasted almost exactly like Parkin. If I manage to retain some residual sweetness we should end up OK. I may have discovered a new beer style - up yours Pumpkin Ale!

[newbilong]

tha's probably looking for plenty of chewy body to it. here's hoping it sticks granny's chops together like t' real stuff.

[Martin Bridges]

Just checked this after 10 days fermentation. Amazingly it has got down to 1.014, which is a bit lower than I wanted it. Good slickness from the oats. The ginger is a little overpowering. Initial thoughts for next time:
- English yeast
- dial oats back slightly (15%?)
- less ginger
- a little darker (more dark crystal?)

Now I just need to find a keg to put it in.

[Bambule]

I'm cranking up production,

Bottling this tomorrow... Should make it in to the homebrew comp

Wairarapa Pride

3.5 kg halycon pale
0.15kg 80L crystal
0.2kg Dark Crystal
0.1 kg amber

30 IBUs of EKGs at 60, 10 & 0

1968 Fullers yeast
OG was 1.042 and just trying to encourage it to attenuate to 1.013.

And tomorrow

Halcyon Readers Digest

4.5kg Halcyon Pale
0.4 kg Cara Munich
0.15kg Black Patent
0.05kg Amber

60IBUs with Summit & Nelson Sauvin.

US05 yeast
Aiming or OG of 1.056

It may be a bit too green for the homebrew comp, but in for a penny...

[Ally Mcg]

Rebrew of the Black Emperor for me today, but with Southern Cross instead of Centennial like the last one.

Global Cologne, Carafa II and Black Patent, with Southern Cross at 60 and 0 on a kolsch yeast cake. 1.045 and 30ish IBU

Whilst that boiled I chucked my Starter for ten (a coopers kit that i used to start my Kolsch yeast) into bottles, adding a few different hop pellets and random things to each bottle as an experiment. 8 variations, mostly hop based (southern cross, fuggles, pac gem, target, willamette and rakau) with a couple given over to totara stems and chillies, along with a control version.

Carb'd to <1.5vols of co2 (according to beersmith) to try and avoid anything too calamitous with foaming, but we shall see.

[Greig McGill]

Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

[Reviled]

Brewed this yesterday with Darrin in attendance, struggled to get a decent boil going tho cos it was horrificly windy :o( Meaning I ended up with 23 litres instead of 20, but oh well...

6.5kg Golden Promise
315g Cara Red
250g Cara Pils
80g Crystal 120L

Mash - 45g Chinook
FWH - 35g Summit 15.9% (2 hour boil)
90 - 15g Summit
30 - 28g Summit, 28g Amarillo
0 - 30g Summit, 30g Amarillo, 30g Cascade
Dry - 30g Summit, 30g Amarillo, 30g Cascade

US-05

OG - 1076 and 147 IBU