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

[Alasdair]

Sounds good Stu. I'm happy to start with a simple malt bill and work from there. What's 'a little' in your book? Say 6% specialty malt all up?

[Stu McKinlay]

Guessing you're using UK pale malt to start. I'd to up close to 10%, with a lot of bitterness and hop flavour/aroma. I like 'em big and bittersweet. Most people like 'em dry, so maybe 6% is good. 4% caramunich II and 2% caraamber???
Yum, the thought of it is making me thirsty.

[Tony]

Bushnix APA, this weekend.

2.7 kg Pale ale
250 g Munich malt
250 g crystal
150g wheat
100g cara munich

20 g of Cascade at start
50 g cascade 10 minutes from end
30 g Cascade at flame out

Liquid ale yeast starter

Bushnix= Bush (as in president)- Nix (German slang for nothing)

[Fairlane]

Made my first IPA in a year or two a fortnight ago and am waiting patiently for it to condition in the bottle.....

13.34 kg Pale malt
0.62 kg Crystal malt
0.73 kg Toasted munich malt

100g Pacific Jade (After 90 min)
100g Nelson Sauvin cones (130 min)
45g Hallertau (150 min)
100g Nelson Sauvin cones (165 min)
50g NZ Cascade (165 min)

Gervin Ale yeast giving 6.5% Alc

Smelt amazing during fermentation I can tell you that....

dh

[Stu McKinlay]

what the hell are those times about?
did you boil for 90min and then add hose hops? were the 165min hops a flame out addition or "near the end"?

80L?

if i didn't know your were a Liverpool supporter I'd think you were a bampot!

[Edward Siddle]

what's a bampot stu? scouse slang?

today I was off work with a cold. sneezing and blocked nose, generally infectious. so stayed home, but wasn't feeling that bad and could smell a little bit so, at a leisurely pace, starting at 12.30 or so and going until pitching the yeast at 8.40 i made my once a year attempt at a traditional Oktoberfest type beer:

4.2kg Vienna
500g Pils
500g Dark Munich
NZ Pac Hallertau to 24IBU
s-189

20L, was pitched with slurry from yeast cake of previous beer at OG 1058 and 12 C.

In the two previous years I have also made a version of this beer. The first time I had either bad luck or bad management with a yeast starter and it started waaaay slow (more than a week) and required a repitch and was horrid (drank it though, i'm not a throwouter); last year it tasted ok but was pretty bland and the OG came in lower than I wanted (52 or so), so was more of a high-ish vienna than a festbier. today all seemed ok, but proof in the pudding. thanks Al for holding the malt for me, nice to catch up last night and have a chat.

also today bottled a franconian-type dunkel made 3 weeks ago and which also started horribly slow but i pitched plenty and the yeast eventually came out of their cold slumber and, from a hydrometer sample and 300ml remnants of the fermenter when i bottled, it seems they've done a good job. more caramel and more hoppy than a munich dunkel, and in six weeks or so with conditioning and lagering, hopefully bloody nice.

ps, if we're talking football clubs: Ipswich Town Football Club/Wellington Phoenix, aaa-Oh, aaa-Oh, aa-Oh-aaOh-aa-Oh etc

[Fairlane]

Hey stu,
because I only have a wimpy gas ring to heat the wort, my boil is about an hour longer than I'd like it to be....hence, first hops added after 90 mins. last hops added were indeed a flame out addition and the final volume was 45L.

It's not actually that bitter but it has plenty of flavour and aroma :)

[Dan]

If you leave the lid on until you reach boil it will quicken it up, then record your times when boil has started.
It takes me about an hour to reach boil after sparge, 1/12 without lid, I leave my lid partially on during the boil now too, tilted to allow steam out, it helps provide a better boil.

[Richee]

Why wait till after the sparge to start heating. As soon as the kettle is say a quarter fill is there any harm in starting the burner?

[Dan]

Depends on your process and equipment, if like me you use your kettle as a hot liquor tank you have no choice but to wait till its empty!

[Richee]

hmmm, yes that's a pretty good reason! I'm lucky to have HLT then.

[Fairlane]

Well....due to the way my recipe calculator works, if I leave the lid on I don't evaporate enough water and I can't fit it all in my kettle.

...and I start heating as soon as I have a couple of litres from the sparge in.

End of the day, the extra hour is no big deal and until I get around to buying a high pressure regulator, that's the way its going to stay....

Plus it gives me more time to have lunch :)