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I can't find any Magnum hops in NZ as they're all out of stock apparently until the next harvest :( Bravo is also hard to source. I might try Warrior.

I know this is anything but authentic, but I would like to buy a high AA bittering hop for my 60 minute additions for various styles including porters, pale ales, wheat beers, and more. I can't really afford to have many different varieties stored in the freezer for each beer style. I'm not...

With the days getting shorter and colder, I need a way to keep my bottles warm. An entire batch just about fits into 2 crates (12x 745mL (25oz) bottles per crate). These crates are common in bottle stores in NZ. They come filled with cheap beer and are returnable with a refundable deposit. That...

Sweet, I'll skip the sparge next time. Saves me from having a dough in a thick mash which is something I really hate! I'm planning on making an American wheat beer for my next brew. Now, have you ever tried a really high gravity small batch with the Robobrew? I'd eventually like to make a...

I've recently bought a RoboBrew which I'm really happy with, and I've done about 3 batches in it so far. My batches are usually around 25L in size (6.6 US gallons). I would like to start experimenting with the occasional half batch - 12.5L (fermenter volume). For doing small batches with the...

It's a real pain to open my brew fridge and remove the fermenter to take gravity readings as the fermenter is a VERY tight fit inside the fridge and there's a whole bunch of stuff in front of the fridge that I have to move away. Is there any decent cheaper alternative to the Tilt hydrometer...

At the LHBS I saw some boxed all grain clone kits that include everything required to brew including the yeast. The grains are pre-crushed and vacuum sealed along with the hops. I'm a bit worried about the freshness of this and it's also stored at ambient room temperature. Anyone here have any...

I was just reading a few articles where lagers were fermented warm with no apparent off flavours, but I guess I should just ferment at lager temperatures... What would be a better style to begin with for my first lager? Something a bit more forgiving than a pilsner? I was thinking of the recipe...

I've only ever fermented ales before and I would like to try a lager. I'm intending to make a pilsner. I have a fridge for my fermenter so temperature control is not an issue in that regard, however, I don't have a fridge big enough to store more than a few bottles so once bottled they will have...

I quite like the Boundary Road Hoppleganger (it's a small NZ brewery that got bought out by a big brewery so I doubt they will be keen to share recipes). It's a 7% ABV IPA. It's quite a bit darker than most other IPAs and it has quite a strong malty taste for an IPA. I would like to make...

I have tried using a calculator to figure out my water volumes, but I find that the mash is so thick it appears to look more like a solid mass than a liquid and I think the water doesn't effectively mix with the grains in that case.

I'm new to BIAB having done only 2 brews. I have a 50L pot with a stainless basket and a bag inside the basket. I tried making a 23L (final fermenter volume) batch with 25L of strike water, but the mash was extremely thick so I added about 8L of water to thin it out thinking I could do a no...

I did a full volume BIAB brew for the first time with a 50L pot I borrowed. It's a high gravity IPA with about 150g whirlpool hop addition. I added Irish moss 10 minutes before the end of the boil and then used a wort chiller to bring the temperature down as quickly as I could After cooling the...

Thanks, that was very helpful! I'm wondering what will happen with the 1KG of dextrose I added. I know that will thin it significantly as that's a big gravity increase with just dextrose. Maybe I should double my dry hop amount to try and somewhat hide all that dextrose. Or should I buy some...

I've done a few partial mash kits that have turned out OK but today I did my first BIAB with a DIPA kit that included 7kg of grain. The recipe called for 17L strike water and 17L sparge water. I had to use about 30L of strike water as there were lumps due to how thick the mash was. I thought I...

I'm about to do my first non-extract brew, a BIAB clone kit (Garage Project Pernicious Weed) from a brew shop. The water report is as follows: pH 7.8 Sulphate 5.0 g/m³ Chloride 5.0 g/m³ Calcium 12.0 g/m³ Sodium 6.1...

I've done a few partial mash stovetop extract brews, but I've managed to borrow a gas burner, 50L pot, and basket to go in the pot. I would like to do my first BIAB, but I'd like something at least 6% ABV. I LOVE IPAs especially, and I also really like a good porter. Basically the only styles I...

Interesting idea about doing a cold crash in-between dry hop additions, although this one is very slow to ferment. 14 days since pitching and the gravity is still at 1.022. I wasn't planning on adding all 340g of hops - I'm aiming for no more than 200g, but I'm not sure how much of each of...

I got a partial mash extract IPA kit from a brew shop that I modified by adding oats, wheat, and more LME so the OG was 1.082. For dry hopping, the kit comes with 35g Amarillo and 35g Simcoe. I plan on adding these hops that came with the kit as well as adding additional dry hops. I also have...

Thanks for the advice! Now I understand that this beer will take longer for the yeast to "clean up" and condition than a lower gravity beer, but because it's summer here in NZ and I can only fit 1 brew in my fridge at a time, I'm keen to get my fridge space back for my next batch... I usually...