All Blog Posts (228)

So after a whole lot of stuffing around, I've finally gotten my act together and upgraded my brewery somewhat.

I got the rusty steel bench off trademe, thought about sanding and painting it, and decided I couldn't be bothered, though did manage to dril a couple of bolts and construct a makeshift shelf. It's pretty awesome to have the gas burner…

Here's the last few recipes I've been playing around with - 3711 French Saison FTW!

Unseasonal Saison #17

16-C Saison

Size: 36.0 L

Efficiency: 75.0%

Attenuation: 92.4%

Original Gravity: 1.053 (1.048 - 1.065)

Terminal Gravity: 1.004 (1.002 - 1.012)

Color: 5.05 (5.0 - 14.0)

Alcohol: 6.37% (5.0% - 7.0%)

Bitterness: 21.7 (20.0 - 35.0)

Ingredients:

8 kg (89.9%) Pilsner Malt - added during mash

0.5 kg (5.6%) Vienna…

Thought I should publish the kettle I built for the E-brewery.…

Can any one recommend a particular type of March pump for sparging, a place to purchase ( and price) would be great. We have a separate HLT and also a Mash tun of the same size (approx 80L stainless).   Any tips for novices would be greatly accepted. cheers Sam

Can anyone help with a brew in bag receipe for Fat Yak pale ale???????????"

I've built a cider press, and Mike at Brewers Coop has kindly offered it a home so other brewers can use it too. We should be doing our last pressing next week, then I'll give it another coat of oil and drop it off to Brewers Coop. This is an account of the build process if anyone is interested, copied over from elsewhere - hope it formats ok.

The Problem…

So I just got a call from the wife that a package from INZ Hydro has arrived fro me at home, I picked up some fittings from a local fabricator this morning, keggles (HLT/BK & MLT) last week, got my pump (Resun MD40), silicone tube should arrive on Thursday, BK/HLT element is already wired from the previous brewery.

So I think I've got everything covers... Yeah Right!

I thought I should really track my build a little better than I usually do things.

Was going to go…

Nice to be back brewing again after a long break. Upped the ante by not only doing a double batch, but attempting to fly sparge. I've also been splitting the batches and using different yeasts - 1056 and S05. 1056 made me immediately convert to blow off tubes. Next plan is to figure out what I'm going to do with all this Munich II I have (obviously a dunked, but wondering how far I can push the ratio of Munich II to other grains...)

First of the Year #14

14-B…

At the end of each year I do a quick sum up of the top 10 things Epic Brewing Company has done over the previous 12 months (check out the previous years Top 10 – 2010, 2009, 2008)

1. Kelly…

Dear Hopwired,

What do you make your bottle caps from? it appears to be some kind of sill putty.

Regards,

This has been a long time in the planning and I finally received my kettles and control box via 'special' delivery on Sunday straight from the workshop of Chris Banks. It was wired in by a sparky on Monday afternoon and I finally got a brew away on Wednesday night

I was absolutely blown away by the quality of this build. All I can say is that Chris is a perfectionist and his stainless work is exceptional. I won't hesitate to get more stuff from Chris in the…

Just bottled my first all-grain brew. 7% alc/vol and 70+ IBU. Could taste the bitterness and some alcohol and can't wait until its fizzy and ready.

Made up some labels using beerlabelizer…

I've been so busy with work/study lately I haven't had a chance to finish off my blog series, so thought I better get back into it.

The goal here is to allow the Brewtroller to calculate how much water is needed to brew a particular batch, then fill the HLT with the correct amount, transfer the mash water to the mash tun, and finally sparge until I have the desired amount of water in the kettle. There is actually a particularly useful feature where by you can set the flow into your BK…

 65lt kettle with hop back filter,internal grain basket with perf bottom,Water jacket around kettle[sparge water]Three ring gas burner with heat shields sourounding ss counterflow.A footprint of 600mm x 600mm.

,1.5m high.My design ,will post pics on completion cheers.

Put down my first all-grain brew on the weekend. A version of the Yeastie Boys Digital IPA. Original recipe can be found here. Thanks Yeastie Boys!

Interpretation of it can be found here and is the one I used. Thanks Darren!

Exact recipe I used can be found…

Hi a friend has given me 6 cans of malt kits, 2 Coopers lager, 2 Coopers draught and 2 Mac darks. I am now doing brew in the bag all grain brewing however I have done a steeping brew with malt added to 19 litres. Can anyone help with steeping/partial mash receipe for any of these kits with my BIAB in mind?Would like to try the lager first, open to any ideas re hops( like them all)

Hi a friend has given me 6 cans of malt kits, 2 Coopers lager, 2 Coopers draught and 2 Mac darks. I am now doing brew in the bag all grain brewing however I have done a steeping brew with malt added to 19 litres.

Can anyone help with steeping/partial mash receipe for any of these kits with my BIAB in mind?Would like to try the lager first, open to any ideas re hops( like them all)

Hi - does anyone know where you can buy these in NZ?