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crusader1612 said:
Will do.
Hey I notice your getting pretty good efficiency? Any Ideas why that is?? Where are you getting your malts from these days? Your still BIAB with no sparge right?
Click to expand...

Yeah hitting well above 70% each time, so I think I need to lower my malts a tad to compensate!
I'm getting all my gear from Darrin and Narelle at Craft Brewing Ltd. Brilliant crush and decent price on the gear as well.
Yep still BIAB, but I do sparge.


  • Hit strike temp
  • Mash in
  • Rest
  • Drain
  • Sparge in the bag to boil volume

I put down the efficiency to the crush and the bag. I've gone from using a fine mesh like swiss voile to using a coarser mesh and my boil pot seems to be a wider pot, not sure if that helps any, but could be a mix up of all of them.
 
NZLunchie said:
Yeah hitting well above 70% each time, so I think I need to lower my malts a tad to compensate!
I'm getting all my gear from Darrin and Narelle at Craft Brewing Ltd. Brilliant crush and decent price on the gear as well.
Yep still BIAB, but I do sparge.


[*]Hit strike temp
[*]Mash in
[*]Rest
[*]Drain
[*]Sparge in the bag to boil volume


I put down the efficiency to the crush and the bag. I've gone from using a fine mesh like swiss voile to using a coarser mesh and my boil pot seems to be a wider pot, not sure if that helps any, but could be a mix up of all of them.
Click to expand...

Sparge in the bag?? How does that process work. I'm trying to nail a better efficiency.

Will have to try craftbrewing been doing brewshop mainly. And my efficiency seems to vary a little bit

Might be time to think about my own mill?
 
crusader1612 said:
Sparge in the bag?? How does that process work. I'm trying to nail a better efficiency.

Will have to try craftbrewing been doing brewshop mainly. And my efficiency seems to vary a little bit

Might be time to think about my own mill?
Click to expand...

I pull the bag out the 'mashtun', put it in my fermentation bucket, pour the wort through the bag, then 'sparge' with hotter water while holding the bag out of the bucket. Requires 2 people, or a hoist if you've got one to hold the bag while you pour hotter water through the bag/grains.
Once I hit boil volume into the kettle it goes.
 
NZLunchie said:
I pull the bag out the 'mashtun', put it in my fermentation bucket, pour the wort through the bag, then 'sparge' with hotter water while holding the bag out of the bucket. Requires 2 people, or a hoist if you've got one to hold the bag while you pour hotter water through the bag/grains.
Once I hit boil volume into the kettle it goes.
Click to expand...

Cool, i might have to try it, i normally pour hotter water through the bag as a mini sparge, tried just laying it in hot water and "poking it" for 10 mins while I bring it up to the boil.

Just to clarify, you put you bag in a bucket pour your wort through it add back to kettle, and add hot water to the grains while bringing it to the boil? Or am I way wrong?
 
crusader1612 said:
Cool, i might have to try it, i normally pour hotter water through the bag as a mini sparge, tried just laying it in hot water and "poking it" for 10 mins while I bring it up to the boil.

Just to clarify, you put you bag in a bucket pour your wort through it add back to kettle, and add hot water to the grains while bringing it to the boil? Or am I way wrong?
Click to expand...

Nah I keep it all in the bucket until I have my boil volume then transfer to the kettle.

So I let the grains soak for an hour or however long the mash is for.
Left out the bag, sit it in the bucket, pour the wort through the grains.
Lift the bag slightly, then sparge the water through the top of the bag and let it drain through into the bucket, collecting X litres for boil.

Check out the pics here: http://manawabrew.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/brew-day-done/ Look for the recirculating the cheats way photo - thats pouring the wort already gathered through the grains, before 'sparging'

I did try and just let the bag soak in the hotter water for a while, but it didn't have the same effect as how I do it now.
 
NZLunchie said:
Nah I keep it all in the bucket until I have my boil volume then transfer to the kettle.

So I let the grains soak for an hour or however long the mash is for.
Left out the bag, sit it in the bucket, pour the wort through the grains.
Lift the bag slightly, then sparge the water through the top of the bag and let it drain through into the bucket, collecting X litres for boil.

Check out the pics here: http://manawabrew.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/brew-day-done/ Look for the recirculating the cheats way photo - thats pouring the wort already gathered through the grains, before 'sparging'

I did try and just let the bag soak in the hotter water for a while, but it didn't have the same effect as how I do it now.
Click to expand...

Yeah soaking it, gave me my gravity at 75% efficiency for my IIPA, which I was hoping for higher, but I'm ok with that.

I'll give that way a go next brew I do, sounds like a good idea.

My first recipe post on here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/code-brown-brown-saison-391822/#post4927288
 
crusader1612 said:
Yeah soaking it, gave me my gravity at 75% efficiency for my IIPA, which I was hoping for higher, but I'm ok with that.

I'll give that way a go next brew I do, sounds like a good idea.

My first recipe post on here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/code-brown-brown-saison-391822/#post4927288
Click to expand...

Grats on the recipe. I think I'll need to brew another Saison. The rhubarb is bust unless you dam near freeze it - waaay over carbed. Hot garage + fermentation/carbonation = bottle bombs

sockmerchant said:
You need a tulip glass you heathen
Click to expand...

LoL, I tend to use a wine glass for most of the beers I drink. Wide nose, full glass. Usually get all the right notes.
 
I use wine glasses for my initial tasting of my brews. After that, my belgian beers (90% of what i brew) go into tulip glasses. Tends to be either Duvel glasses:

IMG_4903-e1361181358679.jpg


Or Leffe glasses:

saison-e1360302480264.jpg
 
Managed to get a deal on some hops.
Thoughts on this for an IIPA, calculates to 134 IBU:

29g Citra (FWH)
29g Simcoe (45 min)
29g Sauvin (30 min)
35g Cascade (15 min)
29g Sauvin (10 min)
29g Cascade (10 min)
29g Motueka (10 min)

64g Citra (Dry Hop)
35g Cascade (Dry Hop)
35g Motueka (Dry Hop)
 
Personally, I think you have too much going on there. I'd ditch one variety. Just looking at what you have, I'd probably say citra (one of my fave's!) as it seems the odd one out.

If it were me, I'd do one with Sauvin, Simcoe during the boil and citra for dry hop.

Up to you of course. In my own experience, I have found using too much tends muddy up the hop character.
 
Kind oif agree with Sock, Personally I'd ditch the motueka though. and maybe move the simcoe to the first addition? and put your citra at 10 mins. the other thing I'd do is not bother withthe 45min addition.
Stick with Sauvin, citra and cascade, they all tend to meld together quite well from what I've read. Like I said in a previous post, big late additions give that great IIPA Flavour, cos its basically a big hop Bomb. What about a double dryhop as well?
 
sockmerchant said:
Personally, I think you have too much going on there. I'd ditch one variety. Just looking at what you have, I'd probably say citra (one of my fave's!) as it seems the odd one out.

If it were me, I'd do one with Sauvin, Simcoe during the boil and citra for dry hop.

Up to you of course. In my own experience, I have found using too much tends muddy up the hop character.
Click to expand...

Cheers - I might end up doing a couple of brews. and just have a play. Same malt back bone, different hops. I REALLY wanna play with Citra. I've heard good and bad (cat piss) so wanna see what all the fuss is about.

crusader1612 said:
Kind oif agree with Sock, Personally I'd ditch the motueka though. and maybe move the simcoe to the first addition? and put your citra at 10 mins. the other thing I'd do is not bother withthe 45min addition.
Stick with Sauvin, citra and cascade, they all tend to meld together quite well from what I've read. Like I said in a previous post, big late additions give that great IIPA Flavour, cos its basically a big hop Bomb. What about a double dryhop as well?
Click to expand...

Motueka has to be one of my all time favourite hops, so might do an APA with it instead...

Thanks for the input lads, I"ll keep you posted with how it turns out, when its brewed :)
 
NZLunchie said:
Cheers - I might end up doing a couple of brews. and just have a play. Same malt back bone, different hops. I REALLY wanna play with Citra. I've heard good and bad (cat piss) so wanna see what all the fuss is about.

Motueka has to be one of my all time favourite hops, so might do an APA with it instead...

Thanks for the input lads, I"ll keep you posted with how it turns out, when its brewed :)
Click to expand...

Well once your IIPA is done we'll do a swap of that and maybe another beer? That way I won't steal all your stocks lol.
 
Man... I dont know the hell gets catpiss from Citra. Go get yourself a C!tra by Liberty Brewing. Freakin awesome beer!

I reckon to get the best idea of what a hop has to offer, do a single hop beer.

As crusader said, the middle additions are a waste of hops. My most recent APA's first addition was at 30mins, then i dumped another 150is g of hops over the last 15 mins to flameout. Its hoptastic. For more IBU's, bump up the 60mins, then dont do anything till you get to 15.
 
sockmerchant said:
Man... I dont know the hell gets catpiss from Citra. Go get yourself a C!tra by Liberty Brewing. Freakin awesome beer!

I reckon to get the best idea of what a hop has to offer, do a single hop beer.

As crusader said, the middle additions are a waste of hops. My most recent APA's first addition was at 30mins, then i dumped another 150is g of hops over the last 15 mins to flameout. Its hoptastic. For more IBU's, bump up the 60mins, then dont do anything till you get to 15.
Click to expand...

Yeah I got the Citra, because of C!tra. 10/10 from me on that! Beautiful beer!
Cheers for the advice on the additions, good to get it sorted before I brew it right :)

I have done a couple of SMaSH beers and I was thinking about a couple (more maybe now) single hop beers just to see how they roll before brewing.
 
NZLunchie said:
Yeah I got the Citra, because of C!tra. 10/10 from me on that! Beautiful beer!
Cheers for the advice on the additions, good to get it sorted before I brew it right :)

I have done a couple of SMaSH beers and I was thinking about a couple (more maybe now) single hop beers just to see how they roll before brewing.
Click to expand...

Yeah the Liberty citra is amazing! Had it for the first time at Kiwi Beerfest last weekend. great day, great beer. I'd love to get my hands on a recipe for it.....

I've got some citra and scored some amarillo too. Cascade and Mot IPa this week sometime hopefully, need to cold crash my IIPA tomorrow.
 
Brewed my first (intentional) sour beer today. An Oud Bruin.

Guess we'll see how it went in 6 months to 2 years :)
 
Since I don't have to much Sauvin or Simcoe to play with, I revised the hop schedule to be something like this 90min boil:

28 g Cascade @ 75min
7.0 g Cascade @ 30min
7.0g Citra @ 30min
17g Cascade @ 10min
17g Citra @ 10min
22 g Cascade @ 5min
22 g Citra @ 5min
57.0 g Cascade @ 1 Minute
57.0 g Citra @ 0 Minute
29.0 g Cascade @ 5 Days (Dry Hop)
29.0 g Citra @ 5 Days (Dry Hop)
29.0 g Citra @ 10 Days (Dry Hop)

Reckon that'll work?
 
Looks fine, though I would halve the flameout additions. Cascade in particular can get way too vegetal and grassy with huge amounts
 
NZLunchie said:
Since I don't have to much Sauvin or Simcoe to play with, I revised the hop schedule to be something like this 90min boil:

28 g Cascade @ 75min
7.0 g Cascade @ 30min
7.0g Citra @ 30min
17g Cascade @ 10min
17g Citra @ 10min
22 g Cascade @ 5min
22 g Citra @ 5min
57.0 g Cascade @ 1 Minute
57.0 g Citra @ 0 Minute
29.0 g Cascade @ 5 Days (Dry Hop)
29.0 g Citra @ 5 Days (Dry Hop)
29.0 g Citra @ 10 Days (Dry Hop)

Reckon that'll work?
Click to expand...

Looks Nice! :)
 
I brewed a Rye Saison today. Mostly pils, around 20 % rye, a touch of dark wheat, and some candi syrup to give it colour. Pitched WLP670, which is a saison yeast and brett. No idea which either of the strains are, but its reviewed positively. Its about 30IBUs, mostly styrian goldings with a bit of amarillo at 5mins.

Been meaning to do a mixed fermenation saison for a while, so I hope it turns out well.

I will be doing a 100% brett saison in the next month or so using Brett C.
 
Pkrd said:
Brewed up a Vienna/Simcoe smash tonight. Mashed for two hours (somehow I thought I could pick up kids and make/eat dinner within 60 minutes). :drunk:
Click to expand...

Ha! thats a big ask for anyone!

On a separate note I'm doing a smoked porter, for the Twisted Hop Local Competition in the next month.
1kg maris otter
1kg smoked malt (not peated)
0.5kg brown malt
0.2kg med crystal
0.15 pale choc
0.15 torrified wheat
50g black patent
trying the malts from craftbrewing.co.nz this time, see if theres an difference.
apart from smoked, which i got from brewshop.co.nz
columbus for bittering and willamette @ 30 and FO
43IBU, aiming for 70% efficiency 1.056ish.
only an 11 litre batch
1028 for yeast i think?!:rockin:
 
Pkrd said:
Brewed up a Vienna/Simcoe smash tonight. Mashed for two hours (somehow I thought I could pick up kids and make/eat dinner within 60 minutes). :drunk:
Click to expand...

Woulda got more sugars out of it surely :) I did a 90min mash with Vienna on my Orbital SMaSH, come out nicely.
 
NZLunchie said:
Woulda got more sugars out of it surely :) I did a 90min mash with Vienna on my Orbital SMaSH, come out nicely.
Click to expand...

Got 1.058, was expecting 1.052.
To make up for it I brewed a light blonde this afternoon: 1.026
 
Just started the boil on my Smoke-screen Porter, so farso good, although a small mishap spilling some grain into the water, without bag, filtered it through the bag again, following lunchies BIAB advice, to use a small sparging step, to increase efficiency.

Last night was a case swap with the local christchurch guys, some good beers were drunk which was good.
 
crusader1612 said:
Just started the boil on my Smoke-screen Porter, so farso good, although a small mishap spilling some grain into the water, without bag, filtered it through the bag again, following lunchies BIAB advice, to use a small sparging step, to increase efficiency.

Last night was a case swap with the local christchurch guys, some good beers were drunk which was good.
Click to expand...

Nice work. How'd your efficiency come out?
 
NZLunchie said:
Nice work. How'd your efficiency come out?
Click to expand...

Came out really good like 75% for BIAB. I struggle to get that with standard mashing.

Only mishap I had was my 1028 wyeast was infected so had to use s-04, which I didn't wanna do. Nevermind
 
Brewed a flanders red yesterday. Went pretty smoothly. Sucks that the feedback loop on these beers is 6 months - 2 years. So, wont know if i screwed up for ages :)

Fermenting it in a plastic bucket for a few months. Hoping to get a fairly sour flanders red. I didnt pitch any additional yeast with the rosealare. It was cracking by this morning though.
 
NZLunchie said:
Nice work. How'd your efficiency come out?
Click to expand...

Oh and I used craftbrewing.co.nz. Man their crush is pretty damn good! I had brewshop Marias otter left over from another brew see the difference in crush. Definitely use them again for malts and hops. All the hard to get stuff from brewshop

image-1761310772.jpg
 
Bottled my Simcoe/Vienna smash last night. Think this will be pretty good.
Also bottled my light centennial blonde, dry hopped with a little Simcoe. 3.1%, bit higher than I wanted.

Fermenters are now all empty so I might get going with the craftbrewing Epic clone.
 

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