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

[Mike Neilson]

Dude it smells so good I dont want to add any hops!! I just hope the 50Ibu up front of Chinook tames it!! We will see, If I get scarred I could allways chuck in 40 Ibu @ 30?

[Reviled]

The grist looks pretty good tbh, just really crystally, what temp did you mash at?

Im sure if you leave it as is it will be an awesome beer

[Mike Neilson]

Mashed @ 64 and went down to 63 for the last 1/2 hour before full conversion Should be dry enough I just want to get that intense light crystal caramel in it and to see how it will help the hops, I wanted to do it all pils malt and crystal but ran out of Pils so had to add the Pale Malt and wheat, the wheat was only there as the colour was creaping up

[Reviled]

True yeah thats pretty low, im sure it will turn out great mate!! Know what you mean about the caramel flavour, all the IPA's i had in USA had it...

[Mike Neilson]

I Bet and I bet they were all 10% CaraPils and 10% Crystal 40L

[Mike Neilson]

Well just drinking these to beers now crystal clear (actually slight hop haze I reacon could be yeast could be the hops) beer thanks to my randal turned water filter to now turned beer filter, Used Polyclar VT today just out of intrest its been sitting in the cupboard for about 2 years now and I was thinking of chucking it glad I didnt, heres a couple of things I noticed with it, It mixes up like gelatine, it forms like little gel balls in the beer, drinking the beer now it hasnt effected its head as it still tall and proud (need a control). I dont think you need it really but its still an intresting experiment and if you are using a malt (or hops) with loads of Polyphenols or are filtering beer allready and end up with cloudy beer after a short while then give this a go I reacon.

Also the USIPA 21% Crystal malt beer went from 1.076 to 1.010 (86%) so no need to worry about attenuation with all the crystal malts!! But there is the big caramel residual sweetness there though which is actually quite a nice refreshing change to the bitter or dare I say astringent finish to some of the APA IPA's IIPA's I have been drinking latly my NZ Pale Ale included!! Maybee time will tell with the USIPA when the bitterness aroma and flavor starts to drop off and all im left with is a sugary mess!!

[Mike Neilson]

Gee's how easy is Maris to brew with!! Its super easy through some water at it and its converted in 15 min!! wozzers!! Crystal clear run off and clear wort once cooled!! Why did I bother with all the other stuff!!

[Reviled]

Ive never had exceptional experiances with Maris, dont know why but theres just been something not quite right about the beers ive brewed with it... I think overall its harder to get an awesome beer out of it, but when you crack it you really get something amazing!!

[Mike Neilson]

It just preforms so well!! I cant remember the last beer I made with the stuff??

[Reviled]

Last beer I made with it was my Case swap brown, and I really liked it, sadly that was the last of my sack and every beer I brewed with it before was pretty average... Like I said I get really variable results with it and dont know why?

[warra48]

Maybe part of the problem with Maris Otter is that it is an old fashioned malt, and needs to be treated like the Brit brewers did of old.
I read the comment about conversion of Maris Otter in only 15 minutes, but I venture to say that is unusual and not my experience.
When I mashed for 60 minutes, I dropped 10% on my usual expected mash efficiency. When I upped it to 90 minutes, it was getting close to recovering the lost points.
The last brew I did, an IPA, I mashed for 120 minutes and got 98% mash efficiency.
My boil was for 90 minutes.
To sum up, what I'm suggesting is that if you have problems with Maris Otter, try mashing for at least 90 minutes, boiling for 90 minutes, and see how you go.
By the way, my current sack is Thomas Fawcett floor malted Maris Otter.

[Mike Neilson]

Meh im not sure about the mashing for longer Idea if its converted its converted, If it takes 5 mins it takes 5 mins if it takes 2 hours it takes 2 hours and it all depends on what your mash ph is a mash ph of 5.8 will take longer to convert than a mash ph of 5.2.

Maris Otter aint just Maris Otter it all depends on the Maltsters and the raw matarial specs at the end of the day So to compare Thomas Fawcett Floor Malted Maris Otter to Hugh Bairds is like comparing Stilton Cheese to ordinary Blue Cheese. I mill my grist to obtain a brew house efficientcy of around 80% I dont want 95% Brew House efficientcy as I believe it thins out the beer by having less ingredients to make the same ammount of litreage.