Beer thread
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@RoninWC said in Beer thread:
Very solid effort @MN5
Colour looks spot on, good head on it as well.Thanks pal.
Given that I’m so conditioned to craft beers I think 4.4% just tasted a bit, “empty” for want of a better word or perhaps I’m a perfectionist, not quite sure !
Will do pics of the next one on here too.
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@RoninWC said in Beer thread:
@MN5 said in Beer thread:
@RoninWC said in Beer thread:
Hey @MN5 apologies for the slow response.
)
Awesome bday gift, welcome to the world of home brewing.
In terms of best place to brew, ideally you want it in an area where the temperature doesn't change much, if at all. Somewhere in the middle of the house or in the garage if you can keep the temperature more stable.
One tip, especially if it starts getting too cold, wrap the fermenter in old jackets or towels that will add some thermal protection.
My Fermzilla came with it's own jacket but I've also used a old beach towel around it to keep temps steady.
After the larger, I'd try an ale as those can stand a little more variation in temperature and try some different yeasts such as those out of the Lallemand range which are usually very easy to find and your Local Homebrew Shop (LHS).
Once you get a little more confident with the process and tools, you can look at doing Fresh Wort Kits (FWK) which are pretty foolproof as you just add yeast and hops as per recommendations on the box or even try using extracts, Dry Malt Extract (DME) over Liquid Malt Extract (LME) for me personally. You just use a prescribed amount of water heated up and you add the DME gradually until all is well dissolved. ( see
Enjoy and happy brewing!It’s ok pal, I just assumed you were hunting out memes and would get back to me when ya could
First brew seems to be going ok so far, there was a mini cold snap midweek but luckily the bloke I’m doing it with decided to grab one of these….
Mangrove Jack's Heat Pad 220-240V 25W
This Mangrove Jack's Heat Pad ensures constant brewing temperature which is crucial for the success of brewing beer, wine or spirits....
So fingers crossed that has kept things pretty constant. We did have an electrician round midweek to install a heat pump so he had to turn the power off, it did drop to briefly to 16 degrees, that shouldn’t be an issue hopefully ?
We dry hopped over the weekend and due to do bottling mid week once we’ve done the SG reading.
I CANNOT wait to get good at this and brew some weird and wonderful beers ( chillis and coffee beans are going to be added, not to the same brew )
He wants to do a Stout but keeping the fermenter at over 26 degrees ( which is what you need apparently ) might be a problem at this time of year.
Meant to reply to this before. A stout is an ale and no way would you ferment at that high a temp. I then looked around the library on BrewFather and after checking a half dozen or so stouts from contributors I trust, I would say that a stout should be fermented at around 18-20°C and not 28.
Given it's winter now, that probably makes it a good time to do a stout but one thing with dark heavy beers, they usually take longer to brew and longer to condition before drinking.
A good half way would be a nice amber ale or something like this from Long White Cloud Brewing Company which make High Gravity Wort (what we call Fresh Wort Kits or FWK) so you dump it into your fermenter, add water to desired volume and then pitch yeast.
They make a malt monster that looks good.
I used to play with kits and mix them to good result. Take a decent stout kit and mix in an amber/brown ale. You can play with the ratios and save the leftover malt for another go. That can mean that you can up the gravity and % but also get a 'lighter' result more like a Porter.
I did a take on the Kereru Toasted Coconut Porter this way that turned out mint. My only complaint was that because I bottle conditioned and didn't add CO2, the oils from the coconut 'flattened' the head too quickly once poured.Found it a fun way to play without going full brewing monty.
Also found that cutting into 5l carbouys to ferment meant I could try tweaked recipes in each and the amount of beer wasted if a 'recipe' didn't work was less. -
@MN5 said in Beer thread:
@RoninWC said in Beer thread:
Very solid effort @MN5
Colour looks spot on, good head on it as well.Thanks pal.
Given that I’m so conditioned to craft beers I think 4.4% just tasted a bit, “empty” for want of a better word or perhaps I’m a perfectionist, not quite sure !
Will do pics of the next one on here too.
Hahah, completely agree @MN5, anything less than 6-6.5% is just dishwater to me. When buying craft beers, I always go for the bigger which for me are often if not most always better. Alcohol seems to be able to carry the bigger hoppy flavours in the West Coast IPAs and Hazy/NEIPAs that I love.
My last three grain to glass beers have been:
Russian River Pliny the Elder (WC IPA) Clone @8.25%
Aurora House No-Boil DDH Double NEIPA @8.1%
Aurora House DDH Double NEIPA @9%BTW, the Aurora House part comes from the apartment where we live.
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@RoninWC said in Beer thread:
@MN5 said in Beer thread:
@RoninWC said in Beer thread:
Very solid effort @MN5
Colour looks spot on, good head on it as well.Thanks pal.
Given that I’m so conditioned to craft beers I think 4.4% just tasted a bit, “empty” for want of a better word or perhaps I’m a perfectionist, not quite sure !
Will do pics of the next one on here too.
Hahah, completely agree @MN5, anything less than 6-6.5% is just dishwater to me. When buying craft beers, I always go for the bigger which for me are often if not most always better. Alcohol seems to be able to carry the bigger hoppy flavours in the West Coast IPAs and Hazy/NEIPAs that I love.
My last three grain to glass beers have been:
Russian River Pliny the Elder (WC IPA) Clone @8.25%
Aurora House No-Boil DDH Double NEIPA @8.1%
Aurora House DDH Double NEIPA @9%BTW, the Aurora House part comes from the apartment where we live.
Yeah if I have one early criticism of the Mangrove Jacks ones it is the fact there’s not as hell of a lot over 6%.
Which ones would you recommend ? ( always an awkward question given the subjective taste of beer )
EDIT: other than the ones listed…..it’s been a long day
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@MN5 here's what I would recommend, rather than just sticking with the kit and that's it, there are two ways to add extra ABV, one which will add no extra flavour or the other which will add flavour and body to the beer.
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Simply add Dextrose to your kit.
So heat up some of the water you are going to use in a pot on the stove and dissolve say 1 kg or more of Dextrose into the water, let cool and add to your fermenter.
Roughly, for 10l of beer, 250g will add .5% additional ABV. So 1kg will add roughly 2%.
There are calculators available online that can give more precise figures but I usually work with that. -
Add either Dry Malt Extract (DME) or Liquid Malt Extract (LME)
Similar to the above but don't add the DME to very hot water or it will go into clumps and may even caramelize (yes, I know this one from experience). So 1kg DME added to 1.5l of water will do the trick, just make sure you stir constantly until it all dissolves.
For LME, you heat up the can by placing it in water and just pour the liquid into your fermenter as you do the other Mangrove Jacks ingredients.
Honestly, for me I would go down the Dextrose or DME route which I've done for beers that don't for whatever reason meet their expected Starting Gravity (amount of sugar in water) before fermentation starts.
Another thing, since you are getting into this, invest in a Hydrometer. All local home brew shops (LHBS) will have a hydrometer. Measure the liquid from the fermenter before you pitch the yeast and then measure again once fermentation is complete (Final Gravity) and then using one of the online calculators, you will have your ABV. And they really are simple to use.
To add, Dextrose, DME and LME will also be found at your LHBS.
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@RoninWC said in Beer thread:
@MN5 here's what I would recommend, rather than just sticking with the kit and that's it, there are two ways to add extra ABV, one which will add no extra flavour or the other which will add flavour and body to the beer.
-
Simply add Dextrose to your kit.
So heat up some of the water you are going to use in a pot on the stove and dissolve say 1 kg or more of Dextrose into the water, let cool and add to your fermenter.
Roughly, for 10l of beer, 250g will add .5% additional ABV. So 1kg will add roughly 2%.
There are calculators available online that can give more precise figures but I usually work with that. -
Add either Dry Malt Extract (DME) or Liquid Malt Extract (LME)
Similar to the above but don't add the DME to very hot water or it will go into clumps and may even caramelize (yes, I know this one from experience). So 1kg DME added to 1.5l of water will do the trick, just make sure you stir constantly until it all dissolves.
For LME, you heat up the can by placing it in water and just pour the liquid into your fermenter as you do the other Mangrove Jacks ingredients.
Honestly, for me I would go down the Dextrose or DME route which I've done for beers that don't for whatever reason meet their expected Starting Gravity (amount of sugar in water) before fermentation starts.
Another thing, since you are getting into this, invest in a Hydrometer. All local home brew shops (LHBS) will have a hydrometer. Measure the liquid from the fermenter before you pitch the yeast and then measure again once fermentation is complete (Final Gravity) and then using one of the online calculators, you will have your ABV. And they really are simple to use.
To add, Dextrose, DME and LME will also be found at your LHBS.
Yeah the kit I’ve got comes with a hydrometer. No dramas there.
Excellent post, some great food for thought.
I remember close to 20 years ago when Monteiths Winter first came out and we all went, “whoa, a 6% beer, steady on”. Now that’s pretty much the norm ( or maybe late 5% or so ) as drinkers we’re so conditioned to the stronger beers now and it can be dangerous trying something new when you have to drive and realising it’s 8% or so !
My brewing partner and I popped into the shop on Friday avo and the guy was a great source of info ( much like yourself ). He suggested warming up the pouches in hot water to make them pour easier. Genius. So much easier today.
We were going to pick the Sabro single hop IPA but instead went for this…….
Pink Grapefruit IPA with Dry Hops
Inspired by Brew Dog's Elvis Juice Citrus IPA, this contains great citrus hop notes combined with grapefruit aroma to give an abundance of fruit on the nose. Sharp and tangy, the grapefruit complements and enhances the citrus character of the hops, making it refreshing, clean and crisp on the...
Really excited to see how it turns out, a bit of Vitamin C for winter perhaps.
You can’t fault the price, this, Malt extract, 12 more glass bottles, extra sanitiser and a little pouch for the hops for $56 each split down the middle. SOOOOOO good !
Can confirm we sanitised the shit out of everything too.
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https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/anchor-brewing-cuts-christmas-ale-18145920.php
Anchor Brewing Co. is significantly scaling back its distribution — and canceling Christmas this year.
The San Francisco brewer will halt national distribution of all of its beers, including its signature Anchor Steam Beer. Currently, the beer is available in all 50 states. Going forward, Anchor beers will be available only within California, which represents 70% of its sales, according to a company representative.
Anchor Brewing Company is an American alcoholic beverage producer, operating a brewery on Potrero Hill in San Francisco, California. The brewery was founded in 1896 and was purchased by Frederick Louis Maytag III in 1965, saving it from closure.[2] It moved to its current location in 1979. It is one of the last remaining breweries to produce California common beer, also known as Steam Beer, a trademark owned by the company.[2]
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Over the long weekend just passed here in Sydney, it was my birthday and had brewed up a storm in May all aimed at the weekend previous when I was in Melbourne for the Fei Ile Islay Whisky Show and this long weekend.
Got 3 beers on tap, including 2 NEIPAs that I literally just finished in late May fermenting one immediately after the other and the other is a clone of the famous Russian River Pliny the Elder West Coast IPA.
Saturday was messy so didn't get to do a side by side tasting so yesterday, decided that a breakfast beer or two was definitely the go so at around 0930 I poured one each of the NEIPAs to taste side by side.
On the left is the "no-boil" Aurora House DDH NEIPA at 8.25% and on the right the Aurora DDH Double NEIPA at 9%.
No-boil is a new technique in all grain brewing where you do not boil your wort instead, after completing the mash and mash out, you raise the temperature of the wort to 80°C and hold for 30 minutes. At the same time you do your hop whirlpool. It worked a treat as I saved a good hour or so in the brew day not having to wait for the wort to get to the boil, boil for 30-60 minutes (30 is common for Hazys and NEIPAs) and then drop the temperature down to 70-80°C for a whirlpool.
One interesting thing is that I used the exact same grain bill for each of these but the no-boil ended up lower ABV due to not concentrating the wort prior to fermentation.
I then stuffed things up by using different yeast as one of the yeast packages I was planning to use was clearly expired (why liquid yeasts are so temperamental) and different hops so couldn't really say this was a side by side comparison of the two techniques.
Also had the three Hard Seltzers ready for the weekends as well.
From left to right:
Left to right...
Rugby red grapefruit at 9%
Strawberry punch at 14%
And the Tropical Torpedo at 17%
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@MN5 said in Beer thread:
God damn that’s some strong seltzer !
Where do you get the Pliny the Elder from ? I have a mate who went overseas and raved about it so would be good to brew some.
It was a clone that I brewed unfortunately as I would love to try this beer but for us in the Southern Hemisphere we are doomed to never get an allocation as it sells out locally and even those on the East Coast of the US don't get an allocation apparently.
The clone recipe was from a very good source and from the look and taste descriptions of the original, this is not far off.
Link here to the recipe I used... https://shop.theelectricbrewery.com/pages/russian-river-pliny-the-elder-double-ipa#Recipe2019
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@RoninWC said in Beer thread:
@MN5 said in Beer thread:
God damn that’s some strong seltzer !
Where do you get the Pliny the Elder from ? I have a mate who went overseas and raved about it so would be good to brew some.
It was a clone that I brewed unfortunately as I would love to try this beer but for us in the Southern Hemisphere we are doomed to never get an allocation as it sells out locally and even those on the East Coast of the US don't get an allocation apparently.
The clone recipe was from a very good source and from the look and taste descriptions of the original, this is not far off.
Link here to the recipe I used... https://shop.theelectricbrewery.com/pages/russian-river-pliny-the-elder-double-ipa#Recipe2019
OOOO, looks a bit complicated for my skill level, I might have to try when I’m more experienced.
I’m away this weekend so my brewing partner needs to add the dry hops. He’s even going to record it and send it to me.
As the most experienced beer brewer I ( don’t actually ) know would you you recommend putting them in that little sack or not ?
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@MN5 said in Beer thread:
As the most experienced beer brewer I ( don’t actually ) know would you you recommend putting them in that little sack or not ?
Don't bother if they can drop out with a cold crash before you bottle/keg it. THe hops will drop out when it's cold, so don't worry too much
I have started using a floating dip tube with a hop screen, and it keep junk out of the beer and particularly the keg head post... really nice.
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@nzzp said in Beer thread:
@MN5 said in Beer thread:
As the most experienced beer brewer I ( don’t actually ) know would you you recommend putting them in that little sack or not ?
Don't bother if they can drop out with a cold crash before you bottle/keg it. THe hops will drop out when it's cold, so don't worry too much
I have started using a floating dip tube with a hop screen, and it keep junk out of the beer and particularly the keg head post... really nice.
“Drop out” ? What do you mean?
Can you tell I’m really new to all this and the lingo that accompanies it ?
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@MN5 said in Beer thread:
@nzzp said in Beer thread:
@MN5 said in Beer thread:
As the most experienced beer brewer I ( don’t actually ) know would you you recommend putting them in that little sack or not ?
Don't bother if they can drop out with a cold crash before you bottle/keg it. THe hops will drop out when it's cold, so don't worry too much
I have started using a floating dip tube with a hop screen, and it keep junk out of the beer and particularly the keg head post... really nice.
“Drop out” ? What do you mean?
Can you tell I’m really new to all this and the lingo that accompanies it ?
Aha, sorry, was travelling yesterday so quick answers only.
When you add hops (I'm referring here to hop pellets, which are all we really get regularly in NZ), they contain hop matter. The hops themselves are super bitter, which you'll know if you ever taste one (and you should, but probably only once).
What you want from the hops is the flavouring/armoa, particularly from the oils, and what you don't want is the hop matter. So when I say 'drop out' I refer to the hop matter.
If you dry hop heavily (and modern IPA/HAzy can have amounts of hops that classic beers never contemplated), you can get hop matter in suspension. This shows up in the beer as 'hop burn' - a real bitterness or burn in the back of your throat. You know if it you have it. That drops out if you gelatine fine, or leave it to drop out naturally, particularly in cold beers.
So, when you use a hop sock, it lets you take a lot of the hop matter out. The risk is usually seen as the hops not being completely exposed to the wort, and the possibility of the effectiveness of your dry hops dropping off. Thta depends on the sock size and amount of hops. Personally, I haven't bothered; I just chuck the hops in, and then cold crash and let it drop out naturally (or encouraged with gelatine fining). When it's all dropped out, you can serve - either from the fermenter if it can handle pressure (Fermzilla in my case) with a floating dip tube, or run it to bottles or kegs. If you move it, avoid oxygen at all costs; it oxidises the hop flavour/aroma really quickly.
Hope that answered your question, feel free to ask more.
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@MN5 said in Beer thread:
You and @RoninWC truly are the gurus and I bow to your knowledge ( either that or you’re great at googling and making things up )
honeslty, the more you know, the more you realise you don't know. I've been fiddling around with brewing for about 13 years now, so you pick a lot of informaiton up.
My mate is a real guru though, a much better brewer and follows modern brewing techniques. It's ridiculous - he got me into trying 24 hour dry hops and they came up really well ... a real change from 3-6 days.
It's a great hobby. Just do it, enjoy it and keep iterating. The best advice is to focus on repeatability - then you can iterate to better beer. If every brew has different faults, you'll struggle.
Also, we live in a golden age of brewing hardware. When I started you couldn't buy off the shelf brewing products easily - if you didn't know someone, trying to start all grain was a nightmare, and you largely had to make the gear you wanted to use.
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@MN5 and @nzzp
Dry hopping is such a cool part of home brewing, other than the selection and use of your yeast, hops provide most of the flavour in your beer.There is an old adage in brewing, "the brewer makes wort, the yeast makes beer".
And to add to that, the hops make a lot of the flavour.@MN5 the cold crash is done at the end of fermentation and it allows for all the non-beer matter such as yeast and other particles/matter called "trub" as well as hop matter. Generally a cold crash is done at around 1-5°C for a minimum of 2 days to allow for all the particulate to fall to the bottom of the fermenter.
At home, I use my kegerator and take the kegs out and put the FermZilla in that as it just fits. I'm not sure what you and your brewing partner use?
And to add a bit more information about dry hopping, I will often use a method called Double Dry Hopping (DDH - now you know what that means when you see it on the craft beer cans). So like @nzzp I just drop the hops in without a bag when dry hopping but, I only use that for the 2nd or late dry hop additions.
I always use a bag for the first dry hop addition when I do a DDH.
To explain, the first dry hop addition is usually made either at the start of fermentation just before pitching the yeast or at "high krausen" when fermentation is said to be at it's most active. This can result in biotransformation where certain yeasts have the ability to transform certain hop compounds to create even juicer flavours.
For the first dry hop addition, you usually want to remove this once the peak of fermentation is over and you don't want to end up with the hop burn the @nzzp mentioned before. And a general rule is that you also do not want your hops in with your wort for any more than 5-7 days as your beer will start picking up "green and grassy" flavours.
For this I use a bag and fish it out of the fermenter with well sanatised stainless steel tongs.
To be honest, the best bag I've used and was one of the best pieces of advise I received when starting out, was to go to Bunnings and buy an XL pain straining bag in a pack of 3 (https://www.bunnings.com.au/uni-pro-10-20l-paint-strainer-bags-3-pack_p1661270).
These bags are big enough to handle the large hop additions I use which can be up to 200g.
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@nzzp said in Beer thread:
@MN5 said in Beer thread:
You and @RoninWC truly are the gurus and I bow to your knowledge ( either that or you’re great at googling and making things up )
honeslty, the more you know, the more you realise you don't know. I've been fiddling around with brewing for about 13 years now, so you pick a lot of informaiton up.
My mate is a real guru though, a much better brewer and follows modern brewing techniques. It's ridiculous - he got me into trying 24 hour dry hops and they came up really well ... a real change from 3-6 days.
It's a great hobby. Just do it, enjoy it and keep iterating. The best advice is to focus on repeatability - then you can iterate to better beer. If every brew has different faults, you'll struggle.
Also, we live in a golden age of brewing hardware. When I started you couldn't buy off the shelf brewing products easily - if you didn't know someone, trying to start all grain was a nightmare, and you largely had to make the gear you wanted to use.
Oh absolutely, I know the old cliche of your uncles shitty old home brew that is barely drinkable is a thing of the past. The gear and products are just awesome these days.
Technical Info | Long White Cloud Brewing Company
