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]

Man, that really stinks.

In my last job, we had something like 35 laptops stolen per year, even when they were kept in the boot of the car.

Have you ever tried beertools.com? I saw it was in the library, and found it to be a bit helpful. It is not as good as beersmith, but still helpful.

http://beertools.com/

[denimglen]

You're using BeerToolsPro right?

Can't you get your serial number from their website when you login or something?

[MrC]

Well, after a wee break from brewing I'm about to start lautering a pale ale to get the stocks back up.

The fear of running out of beer is a great brewing motivator.

The recipe is a NZ hopped version of a my best Pale Ale and also a test beer with the Koelsch base malt. Here's it is:

B-Sharp
3.400kg Global Cologne (AKA Special K, AKA Koelsch)
250g Wheat Malt
150g Carared
100g Caramalt 15L
100g Carapils

60min NS 14g
15min Styrian, Riwaka, 10g each
5min Styrian, Riwaka, 15g each
0min Styrian, Riwaka, 20g each
Dry Styrian, Riwaka, 20g each

Yeast: 1272
IBU: 28
OG: 1.042
Mash: 67c

[jt]

Hmm, I'd never considered Styrians and Riwaka ... have you used this before ?

[Mike Neilson]

Monks Habit? isnt that Riwaka Styrians Amarillo?

[MrC]

Yeah, I used it in a kit based beer last year at FO and Dry and I absolutely loved it. I've been meaning to do an AG version for a while but never got around to it until now. Similar to Bookbinder hopping only better :-)

[MrC]

All finished up now, even mopped the kitchen floor to create some good will :-)

Brewhouse efficiency was up by about 5% from 75% to 80% simply by changing from Maris Otter to Global Cologne. Still hit my OG of 1.042 but ended up with 23L in the fermenter instead of the expected 21.5L. Any one else had improved efficiency with this malt?

The only "known" process change that I made was that I mashed out for the first time ever today. I guess that could make a difference too???

[warra48]

Looks like an interesting brew.

My experience with Maris Otter was that I dropped about 8 to 10% on my mash efficiency with the first couple of batches I used it for.
Then I figured that by mashing for at least 90 minutes instead of the usual 60 minutes, I could recover most of my losses.

I don't believe a mashout affects your efficiency, just possibly the fermentabilty profile of your beer.

I'm sure different malts give me different efficiencies. For example, Golden Promise has always worked well for me, better than Maris Otter.

[jt]

No, my efficiency with standard mill setting has been slightly lower with Special K - may need to change that.

Probably the mash out for my money, the hotter the mash the better the flow and gravity for me

[denimglen]

Any one else had improved efficiency with this malt?

I've heard someone else say this as well. But I'd be interested to know if people are calculating this from the actual potential extract of the grain or using a standard 'two-row' extract number in their software.

I mashed out for the first time ever today

This is where I'd put my money. By heating the mash up you've just decrease the it's viscosity and freed up a little more starch that will still convert if the mash isn't raised above about 78C

[JoKing]

I had an increase in efficiency when I started using this stuff. I don;t know what it was about it - but you get the same efficiency with the Global Pilsner malt too.

I think because the berry size is so fat you are getting more fermentables weight for weight than what you do with a lot of the other stuff.

Make the most of it though - there's no more Colonge malt in the country until March... and I only have 1/2 a sack left!

[jt]

Moral of the story - it's your crush that matters, not the malt ?