Beer thread
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I received an early Christmas present of Kereru Brewing's Advent Calendar which comprises of 24 different beers for the 24 days of December before Christmas. I don't think I had drank any of their beers before, so it's a good opportunity to sample them. A cool idea to do this limited edition box.
The artwork on their cans is fantastic.
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@bovidae said in Beer thread:
I received an early Christmas present of Kereru Brewing's Advent Calendar which comprises of 24 different beers for the 24 days of December before Christmas. I don't think I had drank any of their beers before, so it's a good opportunity to sample them. A cool idea to do this limited edition box.
The artwork on their cans is fantastic.
Nice idea, their beers are a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality but then again that can be said of any brewery to be honest.
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Haven't updated for a while but I have to say, I have loved getting into my home brewing.
On my 5th batch right now having previously brewed a Narci-Citrus IPA and a The Point IPA (both of which are the pre-packaged brew ingredient sets which I couldn't help but modify including making the second a Double IPA at 8.5%).
The third brew I just used the BrewArt ingredients rather than a kit to brew a Double Dry Hopped (DDH) Hazy IPA (my favourite thus far) and last beer which only came out of the Droid was made using a NEIPA Fresh Wort Kit (FWK) from all All Inn Brewing.
Everything thus far has turned out really well but there is always the steep learning curve but loving every minute of it.
Now today, it's a hot and humid day in Sydney so what better than enjoy a pour of your own DDH Hazy IPA on the balcony...?
Well I will tell you what is better, enjoying the first pour of your own beer out of your own Kegerator on the balcony.
I think I just found my own piece of heaven.
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@nzzp said in Beer thread:
@roninwc best hobby in the world!
I took a mini keg away with me for Christmas. Love it
What brewing are you doing @nzzp ?
Kit, BIAB, All Grain, etc.?
Very much in awe of the guy who go all the way into all grain brewing. The precision and the commitment, just awesome. Some of these guys are turning out better than commercial craft beer quality Hazies, NEIPAs, as well as larger and pilsner.
Keen to do some of my own Brew in a Bag (BIAB) to get the core part of the wort done and then add some dry or extract malts or the BrewArt ingredients. And hops of course. And wow, the world of hops alone is staggering.
That's the great thing about the Droid, it's basically a 10 litre smart temperature controlled fermenter allowing you to brew all styles of beer without having to have your own temperature controlled environments during fermentation.
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@roninwc I brew in a bag, in a 114l pot. Do full volume mashes up to 60l or so, and up to 90 with fiddling around. I use two induction hobs to heat
Fermenting in a chest freezer with ss brew tech brew buckets.
It's really simple, works well and has not much cleaning or maintenance.
My mate just got a 60l Brewzilla, and a 60l fermzilla. The pressure fermentation looks awesome, dispensing from the fermenter.
I don't drink it all myself! Have mates I brew with, but often doing just 20l batches for me and my partner
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I’m gonna start brewing in the new place ( along with a vege garden and growing my own chillies ) although with the abundance of beer to choose from I might not get around to it as often as I’d like.
There is something immensely satisfying about drinking your own brewed beer even if you’re following a recipe
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@roninwc I have exactly the same set up as in your photo but have only made one batch in the five years since I bought it. Just takes up too much time. Great place to prove my bread dough though.
I had already decided to have another go over the Xmas / New Year as it's an expensive ornament.
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Yeah I say I’m gonna do it when I have loads of space but realistically I don’t know if I will. We live in absolutely unprecedented times in terms of different types of beer to buy, the selection is ridiculous ( although still not enough Pilsners on the shelf, GOM gripe ). Why not get out there and support the professionals ?
Plus if I do it and fuck it up first time I might throw my toys and not try again.
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@dogmeat said in Beer thread:
@roninwc I have exactly the same set up as in your photo but have only made one batch in the five years since I bought it. Just takes up too much time. Great place to prove my bread dough though.
I had already decided to have another go over the Xmas / New Year as it's an expensive ornament.
Before the purchase, I considered exactly that situation, buying equipment but then not using it often enough to warrant the purchase. It's happened many times in the past, just ask my wife.
So I did the research and that's why I decided on buying the BrewArt BeerDroid.
Brewing a good to excellent beer is as simple as filling with tap water, adding steraliser tablet, waiting 2 hours before emptying the steraliser water, then pouring 10 litres of water of your preferred brewing water (I use reverse osmosis water from the supermarket as Sydney tap water can be terrible) into your Droid, pitching the yeast, toss in the packets of ingredients, close the lid and select the brew program you want.
There are programs for each of the BrewPrints (full kits that include the yeast, malts and hops), standard programs for Ale and Larger or a fully customisable option. Then there is nothing more to do than wait for 7-14 days depending on the type of beer you are brewing. Oh yeah, there is the option on some beers to dry hop when nearing the end of fermentation which is simply open the packet(s) of hops, open lid, pour in, close lid.
At the end of fermentation which the Droid will tell you, it will automatically cold crash for two days to let all the bits settle and then tells you it is ready to keg and/or bottle.
And BTW, there is an app that updates you at every stage and also allows you to manage the brew if you want to go full customised and step up temperatures as the brew progresses.
It really can be as simple as that but you can also take it to different levels if you want to and experiment like I am trying to.
And I live in an apartment so the size and 10 litre batches really appealed. Also clean up is a breeze, there is a outlet below the spout and most of the stuff at the bottom (called Trub) of the Droid can just be poured out into a bag. I then scrape the rest out with a spatula and then rinse down. Then it's ready to be sanatised and start another brew.
I started bottling but realised that I wanted to keg and therefore the kegerator became a must (at least that's what I tell the wife but in reality, I've always wanted a kegerator and I worked backwards on how to best get that.
Now the decision is whether to do a secondary fermentation or force carbonate and how long to let it mature before it goes on tap.
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@roninwc you may as well force carbonate, particularly for hoppy beers. You don't have to let the beer warm up after dry hopping is complete - it's one of the real advantages of kegging.
BeerDroid looks a nice unit. You can probably start making your own recipes - but just getting a regular cycle of brewing is important. The more you brew, the more you save!
Also, first beer out of the house last night, and $13 for a glass that looked only just 400 mm if you squinted was surprising in Whangarei. Not bad, but that's city prices. Puts the brewing for $1.50/$2 a litre into perspective for sure
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Panhead Sandman Hazy - me like
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@taniwharugby said in Beer thread:
Panhead Sandman Hazy - me like
Panhead is a pretty safe bet. Bloody good to find some in a bottler in rural Hawke’s bay over the break although in the stinking hot day we had when we arrived the Exports went down a treat to be fair.
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Put myself in detox after a few beers in the bay over the break, not heaps but enough each day ( 8-10 or so ) to make me think a break will do me good.
Broke the drought yesterday for the anniversary with the girl with a fortune favours berry stout ( outstanding ) and currently sipping an Urbanaut Chilli Lager ( also outstanding but in a different way )
Fuck we live in an amazing time for beer drinking compared to what our Dads “endured” at our age.
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@tim said in Beer thread:
Pretty good.
Just had a pint of this off the tap. Nice drop but happy to try something else afterwards.
Have been trying a few of the new lower alcohol (long) session beers at 2.5% or so during the holidays.
Can recommend the Urbanaut 2.5 Hazy. Very juicy and not “weak” at all.
Canyon from Queenstown also do a nice 2.5 called “Tussock Basher”
Both lift the game a bit from the likes of Fugazi and Small Wonder. Up there with the Croucher version -
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@tim said in Beer thread:
@crucial said in Beer thread:
Just had a pint of this off the tap. Nice drop but happy to try something else afterwards.
Yeah, it's definitely a "one is enough" beer for me. Like many sours are.
I had my one sour a few years ago. It was ok😀
Seriously, one craze I never got into. Just never floated my boat although lots of folks go crazy for them
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Urbanaut are one of the most out there breweries. Tried their Hokey Pokey Hazy over the weekend. Also a one is more than enough type of beer. Not really hazy at all but it instantly took me back to being at the movies as a nine year old. Someone else described it as summer at Mission Bay in a glass.
Way too sweet but an interesting flavour profile. They nailed the caramel perfectly, but you have to ask what's the point? It's beer Jim but not as we know it.
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@taniwharugby said in Beer thread:
Panhead Sandman Hazy - me like
I've been drinking only Hazy IPAs and Pale Ales over this summer period, and this was one of them. Great on these hot days.
Others have included:
Behemoth Brain Smiles
Behemoth Something Hazy
Deep Creek Haze
Panhead Hot Rod
Sawmill Hazy Pale Ale (on tap)Both Behemoths were very tasty.
