New Zealand Brewers

[Donmega]

77 mash temp is very high!

I had an issue once, where I masheda porter at 70, and ended up at 1.028.

SO I think your doing prettywell.

So just suck it up as a low abv beer.. Maybe 4%.... New weld less thermometer being installed tonight


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[Pkrd]

Just put it down to a learning exercise. If you get something drinkable out of it, thats a bonus.

 

[Donmega]

Just put it down to a learning exercise. If you get something drinkable out of it, thats a bonus.

Oh I will drink it !! out of principal if anything !! Have got a smash brew to do so am looking forward to take 2 !!


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[ol-hazza]

is anyone on here kegging?

I did a search of the thread but it came back blank which I was surprised by.

 

[Donmega]

I don't but nzlunchie does, manawabrew is his YouTube / f book which has some videos etc


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[crusader1612]

is anyone on here kegging?



I did a search of the thread but it came back blank which I was surprised by.

I'm a kegger, what would you like to know?


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[ol-hazza]

Basically looking at utilising all of your knowledge. Firstly are kegs worth it?

 

[crusader1612]

Basically looking at utilising all of your knowledge. Firstly are kegs worth it?

Yep, Every Penny. Setup is costly, but the time you save is well worth it. I've had plenty of issue with leak etc. so make sure when you buy gear to leak test this stuff.
Kegs, manifolds taps and lines when connected, well worth it.

I have proper taps as well, Make sure you get plenty of line to for gas/beer etc.

 

[NZLunchie]

is anyone on here kegging?

I did a search of the thread but it came back blank which I was surprised by.

Yep, I do.
Ask away

 

[ol-hazza]

Equipment wise i know i need co2 bottle, regulator, gas and beer line, connectors, taps and a fridge, is there anything i have missed?

How much are the bottles to refill and roughly how many kegs do they last? (For the size you have)

 

[NZLunchie]

Yep, Every Penny. Setup is costly, but the time you save is well worth it. I've had plenty of issue with leak etc. so make sure when you buy gear to leak test this stuff.
Kegs, manifolds taps and lines when connected, well worth it.

I have proper taps as well, Make sure you get plenty of line to for gas/beer etc.

Yep, that. Totally worth the investment.

I don't have a gas bottle so use Soda Stream canisters. 1 will generally last 1 keg. I also use a picnic tap, yet to have a fridge or freezer to put the taps on.

I'd even say, save buying cheap **** and actually invest in the setup, in the long run it'll be worth it!

 

[ol-hazza]

What do you think of the set up n hauraki homebrew (http://www.haurakihomebrew.co.nz/beer-kegging/1462-complete-bf-kegging-set.html) in terms of price and equipment?

 

[crusader1612]

What do you think of the set up n hauraki homebrew (http://www.haurakihomebrew.co.nz/beer-kegging/1462-complete-bf-kegging-set.html) in terms of price and equipment?

$775 is pretty pricey, I got two taps 2 kegs line, and bottle for much less.
Use second hand kegs.
Look at kegresources.co.nz and brewshop.co.nz
for good deals on different items.

 

[ol-hazza]

I thought as much regarding price, will check out those other sites. Are you guys using corny's?

 

[ol-hazza]

Brewshop looks like a goer, $230 minus the co2 tank.

Regarding brewing, do you condition beer in the keg or in secondary? Or just drink it green but have tricks to overcome this during brewing?

Also stil, keen to know about the gas prices

 

[crusader1612]

Brewshop looks like a goer, $230 minus the co2 tank.

Regarding brewing, do you condition beer in the keg or in secondary? Or just drink it green but have tricks to overcome this during brewing?

Also stil, keen to know about the gas prices

I'm in the chur, and we have C-Test who sell re-conditioned co2 extinguishers for just under $200. Not sure what you have up your way.

I don't generally Secondary, unless I'm adding something special bourbon, oak etc. 2 weeks fermentation time, racked to keg, and stuck under gas. I generally stick it under standard gas psi, and let it condition for 10 days before taking a drink. If you want to force carb and drink straight away you can.

The Brewshop one is good, i think that might be what lunchie got.
If you get taps in the door etc. be sure to balance your lines, which takes a bit of fine tuning.

 

[ol-hazza]

I had a sneaking suspicion of your location when I saw your name.

Just had a look at balancing lines https://byo.com/stories/item/164-balancing-your-draft-system-advanced-brewing and gave myself a headache.... Looks like one of those things that I would have to sort out once I had a system running and had some actual numbers.



$200 seems to be about standard for co2 bottles, i saw this one on trade me as well http://www.trademe.co.nz/home-livin...ion-778854299.htm which seems to fit the bill

Im starting to get a bit excited about this, i like the quick turn around idea, i hate having to wait to test improvements at the moment

 

[ol-hazza]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/home-livin...nd-winemaking-equipment/auction-778854299.htm

 

[Mohanz]

Hey guys, thought id join this board given I'm also a kiwi.

Ive got some fairly n00b questions but hopefully you can point me in the right direction...
I'm currently doing BIAB, and i have a 30L pot. I have yet to hit my desired OG first time. I usually end up topping up the wort with water using a calculation to reach my desired gravity... Works sweet as, but i want to know how i can do this a bit more accurately. any tips? i.e. is there a set amount i should aim to boil, then how much to sparge with, and any additional water for a 60min boil?

 

[Jes2xu]

Hey guys, thought id join this board given I'm also a kiwi.

Ive got some fairly n00b questions but hopefully you can point me in the right direction...
I'm currently doing BIAB, and i have a 30L pot. I have yet to hit my desired OG first time. I usually end up topping up the wort with water using a calculation to reach my desired gravity... Works sweet as, but i want to know how i can do this a bit more accurately. any tips? i.e. is there a set amount i should aim to boil, then how much to sparge with, and any additional water for a 60min boil?

Welcome!

I'm a fairly new BIAB kid as well.

You want to get to know your gear basicly. Are you using any software?

And it comes down to what you want. Do you want consistent repeatable results? Do you want to be able to drink your beer, critique it and change the recipe and process? If so then you are going to want to know specifics! If you just wanna brew something half decent that will get you drunk? Neither is "right" although plenty will argue against it hahaha.

If you keep a consistent boil between brew days, you will soon figure out what your boil off is. So basicly your desired amount into the fermenter plus trub loss plus boil off is your pre boil volume.

I don't sparge, I do squeeze the bag though. The cool thing about BIAB for me is not having to have a HLT etc. So your original volume is your pre boil volume plus whatever you loose to grain ( in litres per kg of grain)

Also keep in mind that your extract percent is likely going to be different to whatever the recipe is stated in. So you want to track that and work out what your percent is so you can ulter recipes to suit


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[Jes2xu]

Sorry mash percent not extract!


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[elsphinc]

Hey. Yep previous poster leading you in right direction. Take the guess work out of it and use brewtarget. http://www.brewtarget.org
Brew a few take serious measurements using your equipment and take serious notes, i use http://www.brewblogger.net together they both work better than dads gumboots, had to throw that in being an ex-pat kiwi. i think both work on windows although i use linux and set blogger up on a localhost, but they both are free and take a lot of the guess work out and as in alot of things repeatative in nature, good notes make for better results.

 

[Iseneye]

Do you guys know where / how to get oxygen bottles? I've been to BOC and another place and they will only rent at something like 180 a year plus doesn't include a regulator and flow meter. I'm getting to the point where I'm giving up on ever getting oxygen and not being able to do lagers at proper oxygen levels.

Chur.

 

[Mohanz]

Ah awesome cheers guys, will do a bit of research and look into it.
Might try work out the boil off tomorrow actually. Looking at buying a 37L pot too, it might make things a bit easier by having extra room

 

[ol-hazza]

What efficiency are you aiming to get from your biab?
I did mine today and got 87%, which im pretty stoked with. Thats with a sparge, bag squeeze and double milled malt. My first one only achieved 65% though (single milled and no bag squeeze).

 

[Jes2xu]

I'm hitting between 70-77%.

But I'm not too sure yet weather that is accurate. I just switched to new software, and it dosnt allow me to change the water absorption of the grain, so I'm having to change things on the fly a little.


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[ol-hazza]

Using your grain bill, gravity and final volume should give you your efficiency, unless i have been doing it wrong.

Im also after some help, i just used washed yeast dor the first time, and it has taken off like a rocket. Im just wondering if there is sucha. Thing as too much yeast, and would it be possible from a second gen yeast? Considering you can pitch a wort straight back onto a yeast cake im guessing its alright but wanted a second opinion

 

[Pkrd]

You should rinse the junk out of the yeast cake and only use about a third of it.
Dump a litre of boiled and cooled water onto the cake, swirl and decant into a jug. Leave about 15minutes for the trub to settle out, the yeast stays in suspension longer so pour a third off and use that.
You can store the rest of the yeast...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-revisited-318684/

 

[crusader1612]

You should rinse the junk out of the yeast cake and only use about a third of it.
Dump a litre of boiled and cooled water onto the cake, swirl and decant into a jug. Leave about 15minutes for the trub to settle out, the yeast stays in suspension longer so pour a third off and use that.
You can store the rest of the yeast...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-revisited-318684/

It can affect the beer, but its unlikely, overpitching is much less of an issue than under-pitching.
Used the Mrmalty.com calculator for re-pitching, works wonders. I have also used the dumping on the existing yeast cake, without washing the yeast, justclean and sanitising the sides. i didn't have any issues.

 

[ol-hazza]

I used all the yeast i washed out of it, it didnt look like much but but the time it had been in a starter it had doubles so will keep that in mind for next time.
is emitting a fruity smell but hopefully that will even out by the end of fermentation.