New Zealand Brewers

I know its not second hand, but they LHBS has coppertun beer kits available for about $100, thats where i Started, and its taken off from there. you get all the kit except like a capper and a cane and tubing, which is a pretty good deal if you get stuck.

Pale Ale has quite a fruity Smell in the fermenter, I'm looking forward to it.

It looks like most of the used kits on Trade Me are making it close to $100 before they close anyways so I might as well just start fresh. One thing that worries me is how cold my house is and that it could stall fermentation even if I insulate it and add yeast energizer/nutrients to my brews. Anyone have a cheap alternative to a heat pad sussed out?

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I've never bothered to much with temps. Get it to pitching temp then wrap it in a blanket and put it in you hot water cupboard, if you have one. I've never had a bad batch yet from doing that.

NZLunchie said:

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I've never bothered to much with temps. Get it to pitching temp then wrap it in a blanket and put it in you hot water cupboard, if you have one. I've never had a bad batch yet from doing that.

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The flat I'm living in doesn't have access to the building's hot water cupboard unfortunately and the space heater we have barely keeps the room temperature at 16*C overnight while on full-blast. I found a much smaller space heater at work today that the boss said I could have so I'm going to insulate one of the built-in cabinets in my room. If the thermometer on the tiny space heater is sensitive enough to keep the space within a few degree of it's setting then I'll be in business.

Yeah, The Coppertun, kit is pretty standard but its gets things moving, iused a fin heater for awhile on half heat about half metre to a metre rom my brew and that maintained a nice ttemperature, its just expensive to run.

I found a decent-looking Brewcraft kit online that I'm going to pick-up over the weekend and get started. I tried the fin heater in the cabinet but the temps were all over the place so that's not going to work. I'm going to plop the fermenter down in a shallow bucket of water with a fish tank heater on the side to keep temps stable.

As requested some shots of bottling time - on the blog as well: http://manawabrew.blogspot.co.nz/

Bottling station with crate for a seat


Pretty Pale - all I can think of Export Gold. Doesn't taste anything like it though!!


Jack Daniels chips sitting inside a muslin cloth bag within the fermenter


Should be good to go in three weeks, if I can wait that long.
Has to be one of my oddest smelling beers at bottling. Smells a little like stale water, no idea why, time will tell if its from the water or something else. Taste is very warm, lots of heat in the mouth and continues to the stomach. Something I was aiming for. Watch this space, or the blog for a tasting update

Gee it does look very very pale! fingers crossed for you. the stale water situation doesnt sound good??

crusader1612 said:

Gee it does look very very pale! fingers crossed for you. the stale water situation doesnt sound good??

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Meh at the end of the day its 5.8%ish so gets the job done. If its off, it'll be my first batch since I started Time will tell.

Any of you guys going to Beervana?

I'm sure it'll be absolutely fine NZLunchie, and I actually had to look up what a smash recipe was so it's little wonder it's that colour. I might have to try that experiment myself. Speaking of which, I brewed my own experimental recipe yesterday with NO hop boil additions, nada, ziltch. Only FWH and a dry hop so it'll be interesting to see how that turns out. It certainly makes brewing easier as you're not looking at the timer constantly.

Not going to Beervana unfortunately, would love to but I'll be in Japan - hopefully there's some good beer over there, not hold out much hope though.

Probably sound like a Noob, but whats Beervana? and more to the point where is it??

Ok, so I am finishing up my cider and no longer have the need to the 23L glass carboy, along with siphon thief and bung/airlock, any takers $100.00 for the lot plus postage..... any takers?

crusader1612 said:

Probably sound like a Noob, but whats Beervana? and more to the point where is it??

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http://beervana.co.nz/

I was going to throw the Epic clone at the home brew comp. After some discussions looks like me and my brew partner are going to target next year. Have a years worth of R & D

crusader1612 said:

Probably sound like a Noob, but whats Beervana? and more to the point where is it??

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It's at the corner of beer-lightenment and li-beer-ation, in the state of beer transcendence.

SeamusMac said:

The flat I'm living in doesn't have access to the building's hot water cupboard unfortunately and the space heater we have barely keeps the room temperature at 16*C overnight while on full-blast. I found a much smaller space heater at work today that the boss said I could have so I'm going to insulate one of the built-in cabinets in my room. If the thermometer on the tiny space heater is sensitive enough to keep the space within a few degree of it's setting then I'll be in business.

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16°C is a great temperature to ferment most beers at, especially because the temperature can rise by over 5° during fermentation.

If you don't want to invest in a heating solution that's able to directly control the temperature of the beer itself (eg a temp controller with the probe measuring the actual beer temp rather than ambient temp), then fermenting in a room at 16 to 17° is the next best thing. I'd still recommend something that allows better control of beer temps, but in terms of the room temperature I'd say that's actually perfect for most beers (most Belgians obviously excepted).

I assume no takers for my glass carboy and accessories, its only been used once, and its clean too

Agreed with emjay. although the fermantation may take a tad longer?

beervana looks awesome!!! might have to check it out next year, maybe even enter ?

NZLunchie said:

Ummm, most of the Muntons LME range, a couple of Black Rock and Mangrove Jacks LME cans. I mixed it up as well by using dextrose and a second can of unhoped LME.

Made a stout with a Black Rock Miners Stout, a can of dark LME and a couple straps of Black Knight licorice. That came out really nice.

Attempted a kiwifruit beer - came out ok, but not what we thought it would come out like. Basically a wheat beer can kit with kiwifruit boiled in it. If I was to do it again, I'd freeze the fruit and rack on top for a month or so.

My first partial was a Fat Yak clone, but I used just Motueka hops, came up really good. Love Motueka hops!! I wouldn't mind doing that again with some other new hops i.e. Riwaka, Zythos, Kohatu or Rakau. It's a good base beer to throw hops at to get a pretty cheap and decent tasting beer.

My first All Grain was an Epic Pale Ale clone. Brewed especially for my 30th in May. That came out fantastic. I used NZ Cascade instead of American Cascade there, felt more Kiwi. By far my best brew. Came in at 6.9% so had some people on there ass pretty quick!

Brewed an Irish Red for my 30th as well loosely based on a recipe from here, not quite what I was looking for but very moreish. I think I'll brew it again but drop the roast malt a little, came in a little too strong for me.

I like to experiment with my brews and as such haven't brewed a beer twice yet - I think the Epic Clone I'll brew again. Has to be my favourite craft brew by far.

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I recently purchased a few ounces of NZ Cascade hops. Could you provide any tasting notes for them? From what I've gathered online, they are less piney than US Cascade and have a more lemony/spicy character. I plan to brew with them this weekend, so any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

nufad said:

I recently purchased a few ounces of NZ Cascade hops. Could you provide any tasting notes for them? From what I've gathered online, they are less piney than US Cascade and have a more lemony/spicy character. I plan to brew with them this weekend, so any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

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I'd say what you've read would be on the money. I definitely noted more citrus and passion fruit when I compared the Epic vs my clone.

NZLunchie said:

I'd say what you've read would be on the money. I definitely noted more citrus and passion fruit when I compared the Epic vs my clone.

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Agreed, for the epic anyway . great beer. any idea where I can find the hopzombie? never had it?

crusader1612 said:

Agreed, for the epic anyway . great beer. any idea where I can find the hopzombie? never had it?

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Since its seasonal, probably nowhere
If you're on Facebook follow Epic Beer and wait for the announcement. I think Zythos was this years Hop Zombie due to the US hop shortage...

That was the first beer I had at Beervana last year and spent the rest of the time trying to hunt the same experience. I failed. Spent my last tokens on it. Beautiful beer!

hey guys, im from Auckland.

was wondering if anyone here could possibly help me here.

have tried the mead forum, was helpful somewhat but am still a little confused.

i'll post what i posted on the mead forum and see what you guys think.

"hello

mead has always been an interest of mine, however i am an amatuer beer brewer (20 brews under my belt so far) but i have never made mead.
so i decided i would give it a try. however i am a bit stuck on the correct procedures as many people have many different methods it seems (youtube etc).

i plan on making 23L of mead and i have my 23L glass demijohn and a 23L fermenting keg (which i use for my beer, it has been so very thoroughly cleaned and sanitised though) and all the other equipment such as measuring jugs, siphon tube etc.


as for the ingredients, i decided to buy a winemaking kit. the kit includes:
50g potassium metabisulphite (sanitizer)
25g pectolase
5g lavlin 71B winemaking yeast
6g GO-FERM protect nutrient
7g Fermaid A nutrient
25g citric acid
1.25 tspoon of tannin

i also have 6kg of honey straight from the hive (friend is a bee keeper) so im assuming honey hasn't gone through proper "factory" pasteurising or whatever. and 20L of spring water.

how do i go about making this mead exactly? i know how to sanitise my equipment but have never made wine/mead before and am at a bit of a loss sadly. can any of you guys/girls help me at all please? some simple, direct instructions would be greatly appreciated.

having these instructions in metric system would also be great as it leaves little room for error, (my metric-imperial conversions are not that great). however not too much of a biggie.

also, i have a lemon tree at home that is laden with fruit at the moment. i thought of possibly adding some lemons to this brew, but have heard that it may a) taste like lemon honey cough syrup afterwards, B) the fruit may begin to rot after racking the mead and making it taste like lemon-ass. any suggestions about if adding lemons to mead is a good idea?

cheers "

Sup fellas,

New brewer her from the north shore! Does anyone know if there are any home brew clubs in the auckland area? Or anyone up to forming a club so we can brew together and learn for each other?

Churs

sheblom said:

Sup fellas,

New brewer her from the north shore! Does anyone know if there are any home brew clubs in the auckland area? Or anyone up to forming a club so we can brew together and learn for each other?

Churs

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auckland north shore?

wretchedgirl said:

auckland north shore?

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Yep, forest hill side

Does anyone know where to get 330ml glass bottles from that can be capped with a crown capper?
I know I could reuse bottles but not sure on how they would handle that after reading about some bottles being notoriously thin in the glass.

k-trips said:

Does anyone know where to get 330ml glass bottles from that can be capped with a crown capper?
I know I could reuse bottles but not sure on how they would handle that after reading about some bottles being notoriously thin in the glass.

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Do you specifically want to cap them or you open to pop top?

Yeah pretty keen to cap them.

I have a dozen pop top 750ml bottles already. I want to cap 6 dozen of them for a mates wedding present.

Sheesh, looks like your best best might be trademe. All the home brew shots sell,either plastic or pop top.

k-trips said:

Does anyone know where to get 330ml glass bottles from that can be capped with a crown capper?
I know I could reuse bottles but not sure on how they would handle that after reading about some bottles being notoriously thin in the glass.

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I'd say your best bet is reuse...

Ah well. Any advice on what bottles are best to use and what not to use? Last thing I want is the groom clinking a bottle and it explodes in his hand and severs fingers before he consummates the marriage. Haha

I've found Steinlager are thicker than most...
500ml bottles out of the question?

Would prefer 330 but 500 if necessary. But I drink steinys for my normal booze so that would be an easy solution.

k-trips said:

Would prefer 330 but 500 if necessary. But I drink steinys for my normal booze so that would be an easy solution.

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Marriage made in heaven

+1 for Re-used bottles, makes for a good afternooon i think . Get some mates for a session.

I use The little macs bottles, they can becapped despite the strange capping system they use. I've always been told as well that brown bottles are better than green, for light etc.
I also got some 500mls from harringtons as well they sell brand new round about 50c a bottle.

On a side note, bottled my All Extract Pale ale today. went smoothly.
And i decided to bottle my cider too leave it bottles for a few months before cracking one open.

crusader1612 said:

+1 for Re-used bottles, makes for a good afternooon i think . Get some mates for a session.

I use The little macs bottles, they can becapped despite the strange capping system they use. I've always been told as well that brown bottles are better than green, for light etc.
I also got some 500mls from harringtons as well they sell brand new round about 50c a bottle.

On a side note, bottled my All Extract Pale ale today. went smoothly.
And i decided to bottle my cider too leave it bottles for a few months before cracking one open.

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Nice man! Imam waiting form my Czech pilsner to be ready for bottling, been almost 3 weeks and it's still reading 1.020. Plus I added some finings on Wednesday past and the beer is still murky as..

Where do you guys get your brewing equipment/ingredients? I have been getting mine from ebrewcraft up in mt Eden, but going to have a look at a place up in Albany this weekend coming.

Trying to figure out what I want to do brew next! Also planing on making a brew cupboard soon to try keep my brew warm. My place is way to cold! What brews you guys on making next?

sheblom said:

Nice man! Imam waiting form my Czech pilsner to be ready for bottling, been almost 3 weeks and it's still reading 1.020. Plus I added some finings on Wednesday past and the beer is still murky as..

Where do you guys get your brewing equipment/ingredients? I have been getting mine from ebrewcraft up in mt Eden, but going to have a look at a place up in Albany this weekend coming.

Trying to figure out what I want to do brew next! Also planing on making a brew cupboard soon to try keep my brew warm. My place is way to cold! What brews you guys on making next?

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I don't have the equipment for lagering. Normally i go to LHBS in chch, but theres a good place online www.brewshop.co.nz, they have a huge selection.
You All Grain or Extract? I decided last minute i would put a Wheat beer in for 10-14 days all extract yesterday afternoon. have a squizz on here, theres alot of recipes for if your struggling.

crusader1612 said:

I don't have the equipment for lagering. Normally i go to LHBS in chch, but theres a good place online www.brewshop.co.nz, they have a huge selection.
You All Grain or Extract? I decided last minute i would put a Wheat beer in for 10-14 days all extract yesterday afternoon. have a squizz on here, theres alot of recipes for if your struggling.

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You need special equipment for lagering? I just keep it in my house, it's about 16c All the time, I have to wait for summer to do any other brew.
I am only on my second brew right now, but right now it's just extract. I would like to get into all grain, just need to save up to get the equipment. I have a pilsner going at the moment, by mangrove jacks. Been fermenting for about 3 weeks now, but still has quite a hight gravity reading of 1.020. Was going to try bottle it, but the findings did not seem to work as my brew is still quite murky. So I am going to leave it for another week or so and see how it goes.

sheblom said:

You need special equipment for lagering? I just keep it in my house, it's about 16c

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That's too warm for even FERMENTING lagers, where the typical range is 7-13°C. And that's beer temp, which can be over 5° above room temp, meaning you're fermenting at around 21°, which is on the high end for most *ales*.

And that's just fermentation. The actual LAGERING process is done around freezing temps. So yes, you need "special equipment".

emjay said:

That's too warm for even FERMENTING lagers, where the typical range is 7-13°C. And that's beer temp, which can be over 5° above room temp, meaning you're fermenting at around 21°, which is on the high end for most *ales*.

And that's just fermentation. The actual LAGERING process is done around freezing temps. So yes, you need "special equipment".

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I Thought that was the case emjay, based on what I have read on HBT.

SheBlom, given its a mangrove jacks, did the yeast packet have any information on i, my first batch was a "munich lager", which turned out when i did some research had ale yeast in it.

I've moved away from those canned kits, all extract is not much more expensive, and based on my first "proper" wort, its gonna taste awesome! after my wheat I'm probably gonna do one more all extract, to get some beer in the fridge, then move onto extract with specialty grains . Don't have AG equipment either...