Any Scandinavians in the house?

[Erik the Anglophile]

Swedish brewer here, Originally from the Stockholm area but recently moved up to pretty much as far nort along the coast as you can get, about 20km away from the border to Finland. Looking to get a brewing related thread involving Scandis( Finland and Denmark, you are welcome too.) Where do you shop, what styles do you brew etc. I myself brew mostly brittish ales and when I get brewing again after getting settled in our new house I wanna start trying some more Belgian styles. Cheers!

 

[McMullan]

Try Humlegårdens Ekolager. I used to use them for things I couldn't get locally, before Norway's customs rules changed. Great stock and a very reliable service. Brewshop in Norway are very good too, by far the best stock and service in Norway, in my experience. Assuming you don't get an extortionate admin fee to add local VAT, it might be worth considering, as they deduct Norway VAT when exporting. And they're probably closer to you now than Stockholm? Definitely avoid Bryggselv, who are absolute shite and backed by parasitic investors with one aim, to screw home brewers.

 

[Tpys]

Greetings from Finland!

I mostly use Finnish homebrewshops, but I have also used the Swedish humle.se and amazon.se. Nothing bad to say about any of them - except the most prominent LHBS in Helsinki stores their hops in room temperature and their hops should be therefore avoided. They use mostly humle.se:s hops anyway.

I'm a fan of low-alcohol beers (2-3% ABV) and session beers in general (not too much anything).

I've been brewing for 8 years with big pauses in between. I recently have made multiple major upgrades to my equipment and I'm living a reneissance of my homebrewing hobby (or obsession..).

I live in a apartment without a dedicated room or even a closet for all the gear, so I have built a system that I can carry to my attic storage whenever not in use. I brew AG with Grainfather, SS fermenter in Ferminator chamber, and I just bought kegging equipment and an iTap only for bottling (to decrease ABV a little bit and reduce yeast in bottles, and to prevent oxygen contact during bottling). Also, I drink a lot less than I'd like to brew, but smaller batch sizes would feel not worth the trouble!

 

[schmurf]

I'm from Sweden as well. I think there is a few others too and I've seen other Finns, Danes and Norwegians.

Humle.se, ölbryggning.se and hembryggeriet.se are my usual online stores. Humle.se can't be beaten when it comes to the selection but hembryggeriet.se has malts from simpsons, which I like.

 

[McMullan]

I always thought smurfs were Finnish.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Glad to see we have some representation. My main suppliers are humle.se and maltmagnus. And hembryggeriet for yeast, must say I am impressed by their own line of yeast produced by Jästbolaget. At least the English strain wich has become my house yeast for anything Brittish.
And Smurfs are Belgian, you are thinking about Moomin.

 

[schmurf]

Glad to see we have some representation. My main suppliers are humle.se and maltmagnus. And hembryggeriet for yeast, must say I am impressed by their own line of yeast produced by Jästbolaget. At least the English strain wich has become my house yeast for anything Brittish.
And Smurfs are Belgian, you are thinking about Moomin.

I've never tried that yeast, what would you compare it to? S-04?

 

[McMullan]

Belgian? I didn't think it got that cold in Belgium I remember the Moomins very well, though. Read the books at school and watched the TV serious at home when I was a kid then again with my own kids. Then we moved to the mountains in Norway to live a more ecological life, a bit like Moomins. Haven't looked back since. Honest

Are Jästbolaget the yeast supplied on agar slopes Humlegårdens used to sell? I manage my own yeast bank. Mainly English strains, including a number direct from well known breweries and some seasonal rarities. My favourites are Yorkshire top-croppers, the kind that perform better when roused by recirculating actively fermenting wort, in the manner of a Yorkshire Square:

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

I've never tried that yeast, what would you compare it to? S-04?

A better S-04, it has the properties of a " true" English strain though (fast worker, high flocculation, sensitive to maltotriose), I have gotten around 74-76% AA from it when I keep the mash at 66c tops and let it sit for 75 mins or longer though. 67c or over you are looking at 70% or lower AA. Gonna try it in my house bitter when I can start brewing again.
Gives a more English profile though, subtle sweet cherry and fresh plum notes, I think it is similair to the ester profile in Adnams bitters.
I was pleasantly surprised, good price compared to the big ones, good quality and always fun to support a domestic competitor.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Belgian? I didn't think it got that cold in Belgium I remember the Moomins very well, though. Read the books at school and watched the TV serious at home when I was a kid then again with my own kids. Then we moved to the mountains in Norway to live a more ecological life, a bit like Moomins. Haven't looked back since. Honest

Are Jästbolaget the yeast supplied on agar slopes Humlegårdens used to sell? I manage my own yeast bank. Mainly English strains, including a number direct from well known breweries and some seasonal rarities. My favourites are Yorkshire top-croppers, the kind that perform better when roused by recirculating actively fermenting wort, in the manner of a Yorkshire Square:

View attachment 745953
View attachment 745954

That's a serious fermenting setup my dude.

 

[schmurf]

A better S-04, it has the properties of a " true" English strain though (fast worker, high flocculation, sensitive to maltotriose), I have gotten around 74-76% AA from it when I keep the mash at 66c tops and let it sit for 75 mins or longer though. 67c or over you are looking at 70% or lower AA. Gonna try it in my house bitter when I can start brewing again.
Gives a more English profile though, subtle sweet cherry and fresh plum notes, I think it is similair to the ester profile in Adnams bitters.
I was pleasantly surprised, good price compared to the big ones, good quality and always fun to support a domestic competitor.

Interesting, I have to give it a try. S-04 isn't a favourite so I'm glad it's not the same. Perhaps will do a side by side comparison with verdant

 

[McMullan]

That's a serious fermenting setup my dude.

It takes compatible (Yorkshire) yeast strains to another level. The yeast trough (15L pot on top) automatically harvests the best yeast for repitching, at zero cost if managed properly.

Considering pitching sufficient tip-top yeast cells is essential, but actually challenging and a costly affair for home brewers, and usually only doable if you do it yourself, it's a winner.