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

[Michael]

Had a good brew time yesterday. Whilst brewing, I bottled my 'Phat Tyre.'

I just put this down yesterday. What do you guys think?

90% Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner Malt
10% Baird's Crystal (Medium) - 150 EBC

1.25 hour mash in bag at 65C

60 Minute 30gm Perle
30 Minute 10gm NZ Cascade
15 Minute 20gm NZ Cascade & Irish Moss
0 Minute 50 gm NZ Cascade

Yeast: US-05

[denimglen]

I think that's gonna be choice, maybe a little too much crystal for my tastes. Look pretty similar to one of my first APAs I brewed.

[Michael]

Thanks DG.

JT showed me the post where you brewed something similar. It gave me a little more confidence. :)

[jt]

We talked about the amount of crystal, was 500gm and 5kg pale, so 9% ?

Yea, there's a few recipes posted where the various caras and crystals total up over 10%
This was less crystal than a previous brew of Michaels and a compromise with the 6% I was using

cheers, jt

[denimglen]

Yeah looking back through my brew log 10% is pretty good if you're heading in the amber ale direction (and I love me an amber), seems everything else I brew is <8% and probably averages around 6% in the beers that do include crystal.

That Baird's Med crystal is a real solid malt, I really should use it more.

[jt]

You'll get a feel for medium crystal anyways ... you can always try another with 5% for comparison, or mix it up with some lighter and some darker

[Michael]

Forgot to add that my pre-boil gravity was 1.040, and post boil was 1.048.

I guess that is not a great efficiency?

[Barry]

1.048 from 5.5kg of grain is a touch on the low side but nothing I'd be concerned about if it turns out to be consistent and reliable.

[denimglen]

What's the batch size?

[Michael]

28L Mash in. It ended up with about 20L in the fermenter.

[denimglen]

That's only like 55 - 60% efficiency.

If you care, want to look into it and can be bothered taking a few extra measurements during your next brewday I'd suggest using the calculator/spreadsheet found on this page.

But like Barry stated, consistency is more important than efficiency %age.

[Mike Neilson]

This Weekend's brew The Sour Belgian Blonde

50% Global Pils
10% Unmalted Wheat
35% Malted Wheat

5% Light Candi Sugar

66 Degree Mash

Belgian Water

1.060

At the 60th minute im going to transfer 15L into another kettle and continute to boil without hops with the other 10L im going to add my bittering hops to about 10Ibu. At the end of the boil of the splits im going to transfer the 15L to a fermenter and pitch a culture of Lactobacilus and the other 10L im going to pitch a measure of Unibroue yeast. Once the lacto reaches my desired sourness I am then going to blend the two together and probably pitch another bit of Yeast to just make sure its going to ferment. It kind of a take on a Berlineer Wiess, but it Belgian as Belgian Blondes taste really really good in summer!! What you dudes think?