Beer thread
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<p>Green Beret? It's OK Not a lot of flavour for an IPA but significantly cheaper than Emersons at one of my 2 locals. Its more malty than hoppy with a bit of citrus coming through. Not a long taste though.</p>
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<p>My other local brews their own - Kauri - which is a bloody good drop if you see it in addition to running usually about 6 guest beers, so I normally only have the Beret if I want a less expensive session.</p>
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<p>I have gone from beer purgatory with only the standard Lion muck to a really good brew pub less than 10 mins walk away and a place that has 40 craft beers on tap with rotating guest food trucks 30 mins in the other direction. Inside the last 9 months</p>
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<p>Bloody great although the diet is getting even more challenging as a result</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="594669" data-time="1467863730">
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<p>Don't worry bro, am gonna stop off at my local bottle shop on the way home to see if they have any more of the GG IPA (as well as some of their Hop Drop cider which I hear is excellent - for the Missus) and I'll think of you as I am downing it ;)</p>
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<p>Good on you though, I have never thought about needing to do a dry July, don't think I drink enough for it to make any difference!</p>
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<p>I very, very rarely get pissed nowadays but beer is empty calories which an athlete ( haha ) like me just doesn't need. Issue I had with my last brewing session was I found it so easy to have a bottle ( 750 ml ) a night and before I knew it I'd put on a bit of weight. Once the beer is open you can't reseal it and put it back in the fridge ( well that's my view anyway ). Plus the craftier the beer the worse it is for you ( forget all that "pure" ingredient bullshit, it's still fattening hops, yeast and generally higher alcohol content after all ). As it stands there are 30 something bottles sitting in the garage and they'll stay unopened til end of the month ( I have an engagement party on the 30th so may have to can Dry July early )</p>
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<p>dogmeat, I'm under no illusion that Macs is the "best" but it's definitely the best of "mainstream" beer.....way above Speights, Tui, Export etc.......in the last few years it snuck ahead of Monteiths overall as well in my opinion.</p> -
<p>see I don't even come close to a 'beer a day'</p>
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<p>A normal week for me might be 2 or 3 500ml bottles plus a dram once a week; whereas a 'heavy' week might be 5 or 6 500ml bottles, while some weeks I might have no beer.</p>
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<p>My wheat beer brew was able to be drunk for 10 days now, and I have had 3 bottles...although I did have a night out on it on Saturday due to parents wedding anniversary; even though I seemed to drink loads of beer plus some celebratory 15yr single malt, I felt fine to drive...I didn't, Mrs TR did, but I think the occasion/company can temper how easily alcohol affects you.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="594673" data-time="1467865081">
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<p>see I don't even come close to a 'beer a day'</p>
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<p>A normal week for me might be 2 or 3 500ml bottles plus a dram once a week; whereas a 'heavy' week might be 5 or 6 500ml bottles, while some weeks I might have no beer.</p>
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<p>My wheat beer brew was able to be drunk for 10 days now, and I have had 3 bottles...although I did have a night out on it on Saturday due to parents wedding anniversary; even though I seemed to drink loads of beer plus some celebratory 15yr single malt, I felt fine to drive...I didn't, Mrs TR did, but I think the <strong>occasion/company can temper how easily alcohol affects you.</strong></p>
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<p>For sure. Will see a whole bunch of old mates at this engagement party, it's at a bar on Courtney Place so bracing myself for a few expensive rounds.</p>
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<p>A beer a day isn't really normal for me either but problem I had was it became the norm without me really thinking about it hence the desire to stop</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="594674" data-time="1467865286">
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<p>A beer a day isn't really normal for me either but problem I had was it became the norm without me really thinking about it hence the desire to stop</p>
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<p>OK, so I'm really late to the thread, but hey.</p>
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<p>I had the same issue. Wasn't long before Fri-Sat-Sun included Thurs, then Hump Day, and then with homebrew in the fridge it was most nights. 10kg in a year from owning a small brewery ... not complaining as it was worth it, but some hard yards in the start of this year to get back down.</p>
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<p>Now I'm pretty well beer free from Mon-Thurs, unless there is a special occasion. </p> -
<p>Parrotdog IPA, decent drop, not quite as flavoursome as Good Geroges one.</p>
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<p>Also tried the Good George Hop Drop Cider and the Doris Plum cider, both very nice, the former probably the best.</p> -
<p>I had a can of panhead fresh hopped vandal stashed in the fridge. 8% and simply incredible - just upset that by the time I got to taste it they had finished for the year.</p>
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<p>First world problems.</p>
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<p>I haven't read the thread TR, but what do you brew on? Gone the grainfather route, or a home grown piece of kit?</p> -
<p>Had a 50th the other weekend and they had <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://www.facebook.com/FiveBarrels/'>5 Barrels</a> NZ IPA on tap. A lot of pints went down very nicely.</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="nzzp" data-cid="595740" data-time="1468138966">
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<p>I had a can of panhead fresh hopped vandal stashed in the fridge. 8% and simply incredible - just upset that by the time I got to taste it they had finished for the year.</p>
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<p>First world problems.</p>
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<p>I haven't read the thread TR, but what do you brew on? Gone the grainfather route, or a home grown piece of kit?</p>
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<p>I just use a normal plastic 23L barrel to brew, just buying the ingredients and experimenting with adding some other flavours. Had the guy at the brew store trying to convince me I needed one of those new fangeled things that did it in a few days, at $6k to start with, cant see me getting that past the Finance minister anytime, ever!</p>
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<p>Wouldn't mind giving a cider a crack from scratch, but I don't really have enough of any one fruit just yet.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="595866" data-time="1468208288">
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<p>I just use a normal plastic 23L barrel to brew, just buying the ingredients and experimenting with adding some other flavours. Had the guy at the brew store trying to convince me I needed one of those new fangeled things that did it in a few days, at $6k to start with, cant see me getting that past the Finance minister anytime, ever!</p>
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<p>Wouldn't mind giving a cider a crack from scratch, but I don't really have enough of any one fruit just yet.</p>
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<p>Cool, so extract at this stage by the sound of things.</p>
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<p>I'd strongly suggest you don't buy the $6k WililamsWarn if you are an enthusiast. They are shiny, but better suited to people with more $ than time. If you have a vege patch, you probably aren't there Their beer is fine, but limited to what they put in a can.</p>
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<p>If you enjoy good craft beer, think seriously about going 'all grain'. It's a shed load easier than years ago, and you can get going without massive outlay with a brew-in-a-bag setup. It's like charcoal bbq though - you have to want to do it.</p>
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<p>Happy to post more of what i know on brewing if anyone is interested, but something to think about in any case.</p>
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<p>I did extract for years, and then piled all into a 60L kit that soon became 100L batches. Good social fun - do it with a bunch of mates during the week, and we're all done and cleaned up in less than 6 hours.</p> -
<p>not extracts as such, used feijoa (from my trees) and vanilla in my wheat beer, orange and lemon (again from my trees) and vanilla in my last brew of bock, recording all the data (ingredients, time frames and temperatures in case I get an awesome one, or a bad one...)</p>
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<p>Either post in here or just PM me. </p>
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<p>I am always looking for a challenge.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="595891" data-time="1468218471">
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<p>not extracts as such, used feijoa (from my trees) and vanilla in my wheat beer, orange and lemon (again from my trees) and vanilla in my last brew of bock, recording all the data (ingredients, time frames and temperatures in case I get an awesome one, or a bad one...)</p>
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<p>Either post in here or just PM me. </p>
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<p>I am always looking for a challenge.</p>
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<p>That sounds bloody fun - you've gone full mad scientist.</p>
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<p>will post more later</p> -
<p>I used to take a Stout extract, mix it with a brown ale one then use both together to make two 5 litre carboys up with something experimental and a 20 with the rest but add back lots of aromatic hops at the end to make something a bit like PKB. The total of 30l from two 'cheap' kits upped the ABV and mouthfeel.</p>
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<p>Toasting thread coconut and adding it to the mix makes a nice 'coconut porter' too.</p> -
<p>Things that improve extract brews:</p>
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<p>1. Using all malt (no sugar near it) - use two kits or a kit and a jar/tin of malt and mix. r</p>
<p>2. Pitching plenty of healthy yeast at the right temperature (ideally cool). This means more than the little bag they give you on the top. I have had a good experiences with re-using yeast cakes - it is pretty straightforward really. Pitching at 25C is a good way to have some interesting flavours in your beer.</p>
<p>3. Temp control during fermentation. Kind of. You can make good beer sitting the fermenter in a water bath, but you really want to keep most beers between 17-20 degrees during the whole ferment. For repeatability buy an old fridge and get a temperature controller - the STC1000 is very popular. </p>
<p>4. Gelatine fining gives clear beer. Really easy and effective.</p>
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<p>The other big breakthrough for me was using StarSan for sanitation. So much easier (and more effective) than a lot of the crappy sanitisers out there.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="595718" data-time="1468131713">
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<p>Parrotdog IPA, decent drop, not quite as flavoursome as Good Geroges one.</p>
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<p>Also tried the Good George Hop Drop Cider and the Doris Plum cider, both very nice, the former probably the best.</p>
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<p>I reckon ParrotDog are way down in quality that what you get from Garage Project or Panhead. Not entirely sure why, I mean Bitter Bitch is a fantastic name for a beer but colour me disappointed in them as a brewery on the whole for whatever reason.</p>
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<p>Best APA available at the moment in my opinion is still Rocky Knob, haven't found one as good as that.</p> -
<p>I had the Monteiths Pale Ale on the weekend (it was a cheap 6-pack because i bought so much wine). It's very light isn't it? Flavours are okay, just light, and you could tell from the tasting, confirmed by looking at the bottle, that the alcohol content was down.</p>
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<p>Bland. Not something i usually say for Monteiths beer. </p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mariner4life" data-cid="595994" data-time="1468301496">
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<p>I had the Monteiths Pale Ale on the weekend (it was a cheap 6-pack because i bought so much wine). It's very light isn't it? Flavours are okay, just light, and you could tell from the tasting, confirmed by looking at the bottle, that the alcohol content was down.</p>
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<p>Bland. Not something i usually say for Monteiths beer. </p>
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<p>Monteiths used to be my favourite kiwi beer by far, they experimented a bit when others didn't but Macs followed suit and overall surpassed them in my opinion. I'll always have a soft spot for Summer and Radler, they certainly have their charms on a hot day but that "mid strength" shit you get at the Rugby is fucken awful. Macs Hop Rocker is far better than Monteiths Pilsner.</p>
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<p>I like their "fancy" beers, Double IPA is a goody but recent history would suggest Macs will surpass them with their effort at the same.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="595990" data-time="1468300748">
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<p>I reckon ParrotDog are way down in quality that what you get from Garage Project or Panhead. Not entirely sure why, I mean Bitter Bitch is a fantastic name for a beer but colour me disappointed in them as a brewery on the whole for whatever reason.</p>
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<p>Best APA available at the moment in my opinion is still Rocky Knob, haven't found one as good as that.</p>
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<p>Bitter Bitch is a hell of a good beer if you can find it fresh.</p>
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<p>Best APA - not sure if it counts - but Liberty Citra. Sensational beer, just about everything from Liberty is a great, well made beer.</p> -
<p>I find both Monteiths and Macs a sort of half way house between the mass produced big brewery muck and the more flavoursome (and expensive) small batch breweries.</p>
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<p>What's the highest price anyone's seen out there? I saw a 500 ml of something at Supa Liquor at the weekend for $33/bottle [pass]</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="dogmeat" data-cid="596083" data-time="1468355638">
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<p>I find both Monteiths and Macs a sort of half way house between the mass produced big brewery muck and the more flavoursome (and expensive) small batch breweries.</p>
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<p>What's the highest price anyone's seen out there? I saw a 500 ml of something at Supa Liquor at the weekend for $33/bottle [pass]</p>
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<p>Really? That is extraordinary. I think I would want to buy it to see what a $33 bottle of beer taste like</p>