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SSBrew - 728
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cycomiko said:
I have been brewing, and slowly saving some pocket money to buy some more stuff. Got the STC1000 a couple of weeks ago, and once i get enough aside I will get a larger fridge, or get a mini fridge and make a cold box. Then I can maintain some temperatures. Then the next step is to improve my hotside, and then chilling. Was contemplating a grainfather, but its a reasonable investment with other family members to work with. So might take the low road and get a cooler, a burner and a immersion cooler.



Brewing wise I have made four blonde ales since christmas, refining and working with different hops. Latest one I mashed much higher, and chucked riwaka at the end of the boil - I tasted it a little green and was "eh", but as it aged a little, it came together far nicer.
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Yeah, Riwaka can take some time to come together.
My adventures are on my blog. A sour beer along the lines of RR TEMPTATION. I'm working on a system upgrade too. Other than that I'm refining recipes for my wedding.
Current is Belgian IPA 3
 
Finally got some brewing done this weekend for the first time this year and the first time in our new house, it was also the first time I brewed with fresh hops!

I did an IPA called The Fresh Prince of Nelson and an IIPA called Its always wet in Nelson. So as you can probably guess, they were completely hopped with Nelson Sauvin (pellets for bittering, fresh hops for the rest).
With both of them I tried a new technique that I've called a Hop Bottle, details here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/hop-bottle-521228/

They both smelling pretty amazing so hopefully everything goes to plan and I spend up with some delicious brews.
 
you will have to update on the hop bottle technique, I have recently done a hop tea and looking forward to trying it. My first attempt at it went into a badly fermented batch so hopefully this one works out.
 
I certainly will.
If it does work I might try doing an entirely lazy batch of beer. Just DME and a hop bottle. could be interesting.
 
ol-hazza said:
Speaking of riwaka what are your thoughts on using it to dry hop?
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Brilliant if you have enough of it. Dry hopped a pils with it and was the best pilsner I had!!!

Also, got some fresh hops from a fellow brewer here in Palmerston North to brew with in the next couple of days. 1.35kg worth going in the mash tun as a hop back. No idea on the variety, but man it smells skunky and dank! Planning an IPA with Cascade and Centennial. Depending on how the hop back goes, it'll get a dose of Citra as well.
 
Yeh i have an unidentified hop strain growing but doesnt look like im getting a harvest from it this year.

As for the riwaka im gonna have to chuck it in something eventually, got a lager in the chamber at the moment though so may have to wait a couple of weeks
 
Had one of those homebrew days that's just no fun.
Firstly I had to open and reyeast every bottle of one of my Fresh Hopped brews because the yeast had flocced too well and none had carbed
Then i decided to bottle the Super Lazy IIPA 5L brew I had needed to bottle for a while. The beers turned out well, just a little sweet thanks to the DME, but the technique of using the hop bottle has provided some good bitterness and excellent aroma and flavour. This was good but then it just wasn't going my way when bottling. Firstly had issues with the bottling tube trapping air bubbles which it's never done before but that went away eventually. Then, since it was only 5L I was using carbonation drops, but they're new ones I'd never used before and they don't actually fit in the neck of the bottle so I had to push them hard and ended up with sugar all over the bottles and bench and even one bottle has it completely stuck in the neck so I'll have to leave the bottle upside down until it dissolves. Then just to cap it all off (pun intended) when I was capping the bottles one of them decided to do this!

View attachment 1430634975320.jpg
 
Managed to finally get around to buying a decent kettle! 60L capacity with temperature gauge and ball valve. Still doing BIAB but my brews are way more consistent and controlled now which is great. Also just put together a temperature controlled fridge to help as well, this will be my first brew in there so hopefully it goes well :)

I brewed this on Saturday:

Mohanz Citra Bomb
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 8.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 44.3 IBUs
Estimated ABV: 4.7%

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name
3.75 kg Gladfield Ale Malt (3.0 SRM)
0.48 kg Gladfield Medium Crystal Malt (56.3 SRM)
0.48 kg Gladfield Munich Malt (7.9 SRM)
10.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Mash 30.0 min
10.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
20.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min
0.50 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
30.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min
200.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 m

1.0 pkg U.S. West Coast (Mangrove Jack's #M44)

70.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days
 
Lol yeah my beers just never get to the same level of hop flavour as the breweries... So just experimenting with late additions! It's all caught in a hop spider so the hop material doesn't end up in my final beer.

Anyways I usually get my stuff from Baylands brewery in Petone. Otherwise brewtopia in central Wellington if I'm after more hard to find equipment or grain. Both do online shopping etc, but I'd highly recommend brewtopia
 
Never heard of these two bre shops, they look good, I like their prices!

Personally I usually use thebrewhouse.co.nz who are based in wellington and have always had great service, Hauraki homebrew is also great but their base malts do tend to be more expensive when buying / kg. And Brewshop.co.nz has the cheapest reconditioned kegs that i have seen. We really should start a database of all of these
 
Cool. Yea, I'm pretty limited to just buying online. I'm pretty much right in the middle of the North Island, and there's no brew shop in my town. Closest ones are about an hour away. ( Hamilton, Rotorua and Taupo)
 
Yeah the guys at the brew house are excellent. They used to be my regular brewshop but since moving out of the city they are too far away for me now. Great range and always good advice.
 
I just checked out their site. And brewtopia. Both have a good range and prices seem similar. Probably give them both a go later o when I'm ready to brew. First I gota try some craft beer. See what styles I like. Then I'll sort out a recipe to make.
 
Mohanz said:
Managed to finally get around to buying a decent kettle! 60L capacity with temperature gauge and ball valve. Still doing BIAB but my brews are way more consistent and controlled now which is great. Also just put together a temperature controlled fridge to help as well, this will be my first brew in there so hopefully it goes well :)

I brewed this on Saturday:

Mohanz Citra Bomb
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 8.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 44.3 IBUs
Estimated ABV: 4.7%

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name
3.75 kg Gladfield Ale Malt (3.0 SRM)
0.48 kg Gladfield Medium Crystal Malt (56.3 SRM)
0.48 kg Gladfield Munich Malt (7.9 SRM)
10.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Mash 30.0 min
10.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
20.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min
0.50 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
30.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min
200.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 m

1.0 pkg U.S. West Coast (Mangrove Jack's #M44)

70.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days
Click to expand...

Enjoy the cat wee!!!! LOVE Citra!!! Can't get enough of it. Be interested to see how that comes out!!

As for brew shops, I stick to 3 usually. Baylands is my go to. Craft Brewing are good as well and for any gear related stuff I use Brew Shop
 
Just checked out Baylands website. I think that may become my go to as well. Able to order part kilos and the option right there to have it milled is handy.
 
NZLunchie said:
Enjoy the cat wee!!!!]
Click to expand...

Haha I hope it doesn't have notes like that!! I'm interested to see how it comes out too, never actually used citra before so may have over cooked it :p

I actually got some good advice from one of the brewers at Baylands for this recipe.. so if it sucks ill blame them lol.

I have noticed that my fermentation is not particularly strong though :( last time i used M44 yeast it nearly blew the lid off my fermenter - this time it is not even bubbling, only has like 5mm krousen on it. hopefully its ok and just taking its time.
 
Last night I updated all my grain, hop and yeast prices in beer smith, using Baylands prices. Man, what a task that was. Haha.
 
Mohanz said:
Haha I hope it doesn't have notes like that!! I'm interested to see how it comes out too, never actually used citra before so may have over cooked it :p

I actually got some good advice from one of the brewers at Baylands for this recipe.. so if it sucks ill blame them lol.

I have noticed that my fermentation is not particularly strong though :( last time i used M44 yeast it nearly blew the lid off my fermenter - this time it is not even bubbling, only has like 5mm krousen on it. hopefully its ok and just taking its time.
Click to expand...

She'll be right mate. I've use 176g of Citra in my IIPA and it sings loudly!!
I've stopped using M44 for that reason and gone back to US-05.
 
NZ Lunchie, just saw someone posted in Huttbrewer about your Feijoa Sour? sounds awesome man! are sours hard to make? is it on your blog somewhere?
 
Mohanz said:
NZ Lunchie, just saw someone posted in Huttbrewer about your Feijoa Sour? sounds awesome man! are sours hard to make? is it on your blog somewhere?
Click to expand...

Funnily enough sour beers are no harder than standard beers, the waiting time is the issue. I'm kegging my Flanders red on Saturday, which has been in a carboy for 15months. so they're all about patience. Jason, how long was your feijoa beer in for?

Second is a golden sour, which is 3 months in. that'll probably get to where I want in at around 8-9 months.
 
Mohanz said:
NZ Lunchie, just saw someone posted in Huttbrewer about your Feijoa Sour? sounds awesome man! are sours hard to make? is it on your blog somewhere?
Click to expand...

Heheheh yep, like Rob said no different than a normal beer. Depending on the type of beer it may just take longer for fermentation to finish. This year's version of it will be sitting for at least a year before being bottled.

Nah I haven't touched the blog for ages, so isn't on there. Recipe was a basic pale ale that I used some wold yeast I caught in. Turned out to be funky so I added feijoas and let it sit for a while. Pellicle formed and I knew I has something awesome :) Happy to share the recipe if you want it.....
 
Awesome, id love to make a sour but I have no idea how/where to get the type of yeast from. Plus I might concentrate on getting the basic Pale ale/IPA nailed down first!
 
Mohanz said:
Awesome, id love to make a sour but I have no idea how/where to get the type of yeast from. Plus I might concentrate on getting the basic Pale ale/IPA nailed down first!
Click to expand...

I've been brewing for 4 years and sours scared the **** out of me when I first started. Infection was all I saw.....now I'm loving the complexity sour/wild/brett/lambic etc beers offer.

An awesome place to start would be the Mad Fermentationist. I learned a bucket load off there and if you can, get his book as well!
 
Mohanz said:
Awesome, id love to make a sour but I have no idea how/where to get the type of yeast from. Plus I might concentrate on getting the basic Pale ale/IPA nailed down first!
Click to expand...

Use Liquid yeast and get it from somewhere like bayland or allgrain, seeing as your in wellington. they've got a good range of yeasts forthese beers.
If your in the chur, go see finney. thats where i get mine from.
Lovethose sour beers.

BTW Jase, I'd love to get a bottle of your next feijoa if i could? when it's ready i'll send a sampling of my sours up there.
 
BTW Jase, I'd love to get a bottle of your next feijoa if i could? when it's ready i'll send a sampling of my sours up there.
Click to expand...

Yeah mate. I'm planning a send out in a couple weeks. I'll add ya to the list :) Next feijoa will be ages away. Got a wee stash of bottles from last year
 

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