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Did an inventory check on my hops last night. Really need to get rid of some.

Upcoming brews:
- Imperial Chilli Chocolate Stout
- More house beers (pale ales, ESB etc)

The VCR (Vienna, Citra, Riwaka) and VHS (Vienna, Hallertau, Simcoe) house pale ales have not quite lived up to expectations. Very drinkable, just something missing. Planing a Betamax version based on BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde with some tweaks.

Decided I need more kegs. 2 just isn't cutting it. I find myself not brewing because the kegs are full. Not sure if that's me being lazy because I don't want to bottle or not...:D

The price for me to brew a house pale ale is stupid ($13 for grains) and the amount of hops in the freezer means I can brew more than a couple. So I figure maybe another 2 kegs, keep 3 in rotation for house beers and the 4th on for specialty beers. Does anyone else do that, or something similar?
 
NZLunchie said:
Did an inventory check on my hops last night. Really need to get rid of some.



Upcoming brews:

- Imperial Chilli Chocolate Stout

- More house beers (pale ales, ESB etc)



The VCR (Vienna, Citra, Riwaka) and VHS (Vienna, Hallertau, Simcoe) house pale ales have not quite lived up to expectations. Very drinkable, just something missing. Planing a Betamax version based on BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde with some tweaks.



Decided I need more kegs. 2 just isn't cutting it. I find myself not brewing because the kegs are full. Not sure if that's me being lazy because I don't want to bottle or not...:D



The price for me to brew a house pale ale is stupid ($13 for grains) and the amount of hops in the freezer means I can brew more than a couple. So I figure maybe another 2 kegs, keep 3 in rotation for house beers and the 4th on for specialty beers. Does anyone else do that, or something similar?
Click to expand...


Nope I don't, but dam I wish I could! I'm bottling everything still. It hasn't got too old yet, and it's kinda nice with the labels etc.

i really want a keg set up, if I get one I will do exactly what you suggest. Ideally I would have 4 taps, 2 for rotating house beers, 2 for specialties. With a extra few kegs so I can have the next waiting when one starts to get low.

I may even go 1 tap rotating through my 2 or 3 fav house beers, and the other taps with random/ specialty. But for me I actually find more fun in recipe creation and experimenting than the actual drinking lol.


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Hello winter. My fermenting fridge is struggling to keep things warm with its 25W heat pad. 10L container of 25C warmed things up from 16 to 18 this morning and got last nights brew bubbling, might have to do the same before bedtime tonight.
 
Pkrd said:
Hello winter. My fermenting fridge is struggling to keep things warm with its 25W heat pad. 10L container of 25C warmed things up from 16 to 18 this morning and got last nights brew bubbling, might have to do the same before bedtime tonight.
Click to expand...

Yeah I've got an electric blanket in the fermentation fridge. Works wonders!
 
Jes2xu said:
+1 on the electric blanket! No stress at all keeping up to temp so far this winter and it's on the lowest setting!


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Click to expand...

I usually have it on 2 and let the temp controller take care of the rest. Haven't monitored it at all but it sure keeps the temp stable +/- 1 degree when I've checked on it.
 
nzlunchie said:
i usually have it on 2 and let the temp controller take care of the rest. Haven't monitored it at all but it sure keeps the temp stable +/- 1 degree when i've checked on it.
Click to expand...

heatpad seems to be ok for me.
I've toyed with the idea of using something more robust, but until i have issue, i'm not going to bother.
 
Just wondering if anyone knows of anyone that stocks Simpsons specialty in New Zealand?


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Also wondering if anyone has a breakdown on Palmerston North water? If not I will bother who ever will listen at the council :D


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Jes2xu said:
Also wondering if anyone has a breakdown on Palmerston North water? If not I will bother who ever will listen at the council :D


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Click to expand...

I'd bee keen to hear. I understand some suburbs get it from the dam and other from bores. We often get brown water here in hokowhitu so I expect it has a healthy iron content.

You could always drive over the hill to the mighty mangatinoka :D
 
Never done anything to the water I use. Straight out the bath tap. I did use RO water once. Didn't really notice much of a difference to be honest...
 
I kicked off 3 batches of my chocolate porter over the weekend. 1 batch will be pure chocolate porter, 1 will be aged on coffee beans to make coffee chocolate porter, both of these I've done before and finally the third batch will be split and aged half on vanilla and half on cocoa nibs. Looking forward to my 4 or more new brews, I adjusted the recipe a tiny bit and I'm considering splitting the coffee batch onto two different types of coffee


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[ QUOTE=kiwirevo;6182531]I kicked off 3 batches of my chocolate porter over the weekend. 1 batch will be pure chocolate porter, 1 will be aged on coffee beans to make coffee chocolate porter, both of these I've done before and finally the third batch will be split and aged half on vanilla and half on cocoa nibs. Looking forward to my 4 or more new brews, I adjusted the recipe a tiny bit and I'm considering splitting the coffee batch onto two different types of coffee


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew[/QUOTE]

Ole I'm not a fan of coffee. It'll definitely be an interesting and fun experiment.
This weekend is a collab with my friend Oli. A Brett Trojs IPA with 100% NZ Hops. A small bittering and gigantic flameout and dry hop additions.



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Awesome, that should be interesting.
I also bottled my Motueka Alesner, which had ended up being dry hopped for just over 2 months because I forgot to take the hops out before I went away. Tasted good but we'll see when it's carbed. I used the mangrove jacks workhorse yeast for the first time and even though it stalled in primary it ended up taking it down to 1.005 in secondary. Very dry for an 8.1% Alesner, should be interesting
 
I'll jump in this group if that's okay? I'm heading there (Northern Island) in February for 10 Days. I can bring some awesome beers with me (using a hard case) and perhaps some brewing supplies (yeast which might not make customs to happy) and other brewing items. As long as it's nothing crazy heavy.....also, would love to meet up with some homebrewers while I'm out there. My wife and I are doing the Adventures New Zealand package deal, but I'm sure I can deviate or add a day in the beginning or at the end.
 
lhd7osc said:
I'll jump in this group if that's okay? I'm heading there (Northern Island) in February for 10 Days. I can bring some awesome beers with me (using a hard case) and perhaps some brewing supplies (yeast which might not make customs to happy) and other brewing items. As long as it's nothing crazy heavy.....also, would love to meet up with some homebrewers while I'm out there. My wife and I are doing the Adventures New Zealand package deal, but I'm sure I can deviate or add a day in the beginning or at the end.
Click to expand...

Enjoy yourself. Make sure you hit up Wellington for some tasty brews.



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Cool. Sounds like a nice beer. I used the wprk horse yeast in a brew. Very forgiving yeast on temperature as well. Cheets
 
lhd7osc said:
I'll jump in this group if that's okay? I'm heading there (Northern Island) in February for 10 Days. I can bring some awesome beers with me (using a hard case) and perhaps some brewing supplies (yeast which might not make customs to happy) and other brewing items. As long as it's nothing crazy heavy.....also, would love to meet up with some homebrewers while I'm out there. My wife and I are doing the Adventures New Zealand package deal, but I'm sure I can deviate or add a day in the beginning or at the end.
Click to expand...

Whats cities/towns are you heading to?
 
Jes2xu said:
It would appear that I am I muppet, and have not performed my pre-post google duties to the required standard.

Thank you good sir!


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Click to expand...

Another PNC brewer here. google duties were not easy, as I did multiple googles, many different search strings, and this only came up recetly under a search string that I had done before... go figure.

But, just to be aware, the values hutch throws out at the bottom of that thread has the conversion for calcium back to front, everything else is around the right way. Or if you use brewers friend, you can just add in the raw value straight off that PNCC chart and it will convert all of them for you.

I only add some CaCl or CaSO4. The gypsum seems to have helped the hoppyness come out compared to my earlier brews.
 
cycomiko said:
Another PNC brewer here. google duties were not easy, as I did multiple googles, many different search strings, and this only came up recetly under a search string that I had done before... go figure.



But, just to be aware, the values hutch throws out at the bottom of that thread has the conversion for calcium back to front, everything else is around the right way. Or if you use brewers friend, you can just add in the raw value straight off that PNCC chart and it will convert all of them for you.



I only add some CaCl or CaSO4. The gypsum seems to have helped the hoppyness come out compared to my earlier brews.
Click to expand...


Awesome, thanks man! Good to know.


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Hows this for some fermentation. 100% Brett C yeast in a Belgian Tripel.

20140626_102838.jpg


20140626_102858.jpg
 
Another brewer from pnc... Been going for bout 6 months or so now... Kits only to date, but am getting better ! Just brewed a Czech Pills... Larger yeast likes the cold temp that's for sure... Any palmy guys have access to creat bottles or know where to get them ? Cheers


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Further to previous post, should I be adding something to the water before brewing ! ? If yes I haven't to date so what is the main benefit ?, local home brew store have never mentioned anything re pnc water...


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Donmega said:
Another brewer from pnc... Been going for bout 6 months or so now... Kits only to date, but am getting better ! Just brewed a Czech Pills... Larger yeast likes the cold temp that's for sure... Any palmy guys have access to creat bottles or know where to get them ? Cheers


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Click to expand...

Any bottle store or Toops should sell them back to you for $5ish a crate.....they'll need a good soaking in PBW or OxyClean/Napisan to get rid of any gunk.
 
Donmega said:
Further to previous post, should I be adding something to the water before brewing ! ? If yes I haven't to date so what is the main benefit ?, local home brew store have never mentioned anything re pnc water...


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Click to expand...

If you're just kits at the moment I wouldn't worry too much. I'd get fermentation temperature under control first. That will make a big difference to your beer.
 
Awesome cheers for that, latest brew has been fermenting at about 13-15 for the last two weeks now, still slowly bubbling away.... Doing the mangrove jacks kit, with the pills enhancer, also swapped out the kit yeast for the saflager s23, some reviews I have read have bagged it so fingers crossed.... I make the mistake of reading to many reviews Etc !


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Some of the water adjustment is for mash chemistry, and with kits you have that component already done for you.

So the impact you have left is flavour related, where the base PNC water is probably ok for the most part, unless you are going hoppy, then a little gypsum will go a long way - but certainly can turn out a nice beer without. Its seasoning by that end.

Yeast pitching rate, fermentation temp control and cleanliness are more important beasts to tame.


I tend to buy bottles ready filled. Its a tough process to empty them out, but I take care of a few at a time.
 
Phoned the liquorland on Albert st, they sell empty swap a create for $5... I will just by a few of them so I can get a decent stockpile.. Thanks for the reassurance re the water, I did see pak n save have big bottles of mineral water quite cheap, is it worth while investing the extra for it ??


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Donmega said:
Any palmy guys have access to creat bottles or know where to get them ?
Click to expand...

I got quite a few 330ml bottles from "skiprat" on trademe. Moslty montheiths, clean but labelled (they come off really easy in oxyclean unlike some bottles). Message me if you want his details. He seems to sell a lot of bottles.

I've gone off the 500ml bottles, maybe because most of my brews are 7% :drunk:
 

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