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

[Matthew Vincent]

Hopefully the FG will be a bit higher than 1010.

Yeah the yeast was all I had at the time. I've always used Notinghams Ale yeast previously with good results.

The fermentations gone really quite only after 2 days so don't know what's going on there ...

[David R]

That fresh hop brew looks awesome!! I'm looking forward to being able to do the same in another year or three.

I just completed my first two all grain brews, one on Saturday (http://hopville.com/recipe/1691117) and one today (http://hopville.com/recipe/1690952), both half-sized experimental batches trying to create something hoppy and sessionable. Both went well, though I learned my chilly bin doesn't seal very well and I lost 3-4 degrees over the hour. I actually forgot to measure the temp after mixing in the grains today, the strike water was 72C, aiming for 67C and it ended up at 62C after the hour, so close enough I guess. Both turned out around 65-70% efficiency, which I was fairly happy with. I'm basically doing a BIAB but mashing in the chillybin to keep the temp constant then lifting the bag into my brew pot to sparge. Ended up with a bit more trub in the pot than I expected but [hopefully] nothing to worry about.

I'm already scheming and dreaming of a bigger chilly bin with a manifold or false bottom, but this set up will do for now until I get a bigger pot and wort chiller sorted. I actually feel that 12L is a good batch size for me at the moment while learning and experimenting, still a reasonable yield for the time spent but also not going to get stuck with 2doz+ quarts of something not that flash if it doesn't turn out quite right.

[MrC]

Planning a psuedo pils for some home grown hops.  It's a small change to a basic Pils recipe that I've brewed several times and enjoy.

4.3kg German Pils

0.5kg Munich

0.2kg Wheat

0.4kg Carapils

25 IBU Pacific Jade

1/3 Homegrown @ 10 min

1/3 Homegrown @ 0 min

1/3 Homegrown Dry Hop 5 days

US-05 @ 18-20C

No water adjustments

[jt]

You weren't tempted to nip down to Petone for water then Mr Cherry ?

But seriously, I like the look of that grainbill. Were you tempted to go any lower with the '05...

[MrC]

18C is the best I can without temp control and is clean enough for me in this style of beer anyway.  I've brewed roughly this recipe about 5 times and I like US-05 in it.  

Will be giving most of it away as I didn't grow the hops.

[jt]

You must have a cooler spot than me at the moment Mr Cherry, 20c seems to be the bottom end of my ferments

[MrC]

I've tried several locations but the bath tub always wins. South side and one external wall with a small window. Also has the added bonus of being able to add cold water to the bath, not during a drought of course though. Slicker pads seem to help.

[MrC]

Just re-read that post. I hope I'm not the only person that knows what slicker pads are. Showing my age ...

[Hutch]

I bought some medium peated malt a few weeks ago and I've been umming and ahing about using it since then. I've read that 1% is too much and that 25% is about right, and of course Rex Attitude is 100% heavily peated malt. I finally just said 'stuff it' and got around to making... something...

It's a peated pale ale with fresh smoothcone.

12L (half batch just incase it sucks)

2.75kg (86%) Pale Malt
.25kg (8%) Medium Peated Malt
.2kg (6%) Pale Crystal

20g (equiv dry weight) Smoothcone at 60min
20g Smoothcone at 10min

1.056 OG
Wyeast 1098 

[MrC]

Good on ya for giving the peated malt a good nudge.  I guess the 'right' amount all comes down to what you like.  For me the right amount is always zero percent :)

[Hutch]

I would take a sample and tell you how it tastes, but I dropped my sample jar and my hydrometer, damn.

[Karl Hayes]

I had an impromptu brew day today - and made it up as I went along.

The grain bill is as follows:

5.2KG Fawcett Maris Otter

0.63KG Munich T1

0.225KH Pale Crystal

0.19KG Pale Chocolate

0.16KG Chocolate

0.13 Black Malt

0.063 Medium Crystal

I started out with 35L pre-boil using single batch BIAB methods. This ended up being 28L of highly sedimented wort @ 1.050 (indicating 70% eff) split into a 23L cube and a 5L mini-fermenter.

Hops:

24g x Nelson Sauvin 11.1 at 70 mins (Actually at 55 mins but adding 15 mins "No Chill Correction")

150g x Danscade fresh green flowers at 20 mins (Actually at 5 mins but adding 15 mins "No Chill Correction")

13g x Nelson Sauvin 11.1 at 20 mins (Actually at 5 mins but adding 15 mins "No Chill Correction")

18g x Nelson Sauvin for 7 days dry hop

18g x Styrian Golding for 7 days dry hop

I'm going to pitch a smack pack of London ESB yeast into the 23L after I transfer into fermenter tomorrow.

I'll pitch farmed Pilsner Urquell 2001 into the additional 5L of wort for no particular reason other than I have the yeast handy.

Any comments? Advice?