The Homebrew Thread

[TiggaPlease]

For the same reason Grimesy likes adding chocolate bars to his beer - because I want to.

I love making pale ales, ambers and IPA but I've been getting a bit bored with them, why not do something completely left field?

At best I'll make a superb, interesting beer, at worst tip it out and lost $20 or whatever the ingredients cost and a brew day. Seems like a pretty fair risk to take.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

But what made you chose those 3 particular ingredients. Did you just use random stuff out of the pantry?

 

[TiggaPlease]

Oh I get you.

I love southeast Asian flavours in cooking and I have a massive lemongrass bush in the backyard.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

thought so. I dare you to put a few scoops of Thai green curry in your next brew.

 

[TiggaPlease]

Not too sure I'd enjoy the garlic, shallots, shrimp paste and fish sauce in beer to be honest

I got a good score today, a 25kg sack of JW Pils and one of JW Ale malt for $40 each - $1.60 a kg - woohoo! my next 12 or so beers are gonna be cheap as.

 

[TiggaPlease]

Smashing out a sort of hybrid style at the moment - doing an English style dark mild but hopped with Columbus.

3.2kg ale
0.2kg med crystal
0.2kg dark crystal
0.1kg choc malt

Mash at 70 for 30-40 mins

8gm Columbus at 60 for about 20 ibu

Should end up 3.2 - 3.6% abv depending on efficiency.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Been a while. Freezerburn kicked and I've replaced it with a non-dry-hopped Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale that turned out really well.

Really keen to try my hand at a Czech Pilsner next...

I think I'll get two easy drinking ales like a Pacific Ale and something else on tap so that I can tie up my fermenting fridge with the lagering process for a bit longer.

 

[TiggaPlease]

Good idea about the easy drinking ales, I've been doing a fair few of those recently.

I've got a big IPA in the fermenter now with Centennial and Columbus the whole way through, a sort of homage to Ballast Point Big Eye.

The Southeast Asian ale is drinking pretty well, not too spicy or strong, but you get a bit of a zing on the tongue from the chilli and a satisfying dryness from the lemongrass. Coriander didn't really bring much to the party though, probably needed more for a longer contact period.

 

[TiggaPlease]

IPA kegged on Sunday. It is pretty boozy and bitter! I'm thinking I might keg hop this week to give it a bit of extra oomph in the aroma department as I only dry hopped in the fermenter for 3 days warm before cold crash.

Amber ale in the fermenter at the moment and a cube of rye pale ale ready to ferment whenever I can be bothered to pitch some yeast in to it.

Also building a starter of recultured Saison Dupont yeast. I'll prob split it into a couple of jars and store in the fridge til I feel like brewing a saison.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Just kegged a dr smurtos golden ale today, exactly as per the recipe. Seems like it will be a great easy drinker. It's an excellent grain bill to experiment with some single hop beers. I reckon I'll always have one on tap and change the hop each time.

My pirate life pale ale clone still tastes good after about 8 weeks in the keg. If this was bottled, I'd probably start seeing a decrease in flavour at this stage. I'm glad I started kegging. The beer tastes so much better and the hop flavours don't seem to deteriorate like they do in bottles.

Not sure what I'll do next, probably a lager, will give me enough time to save up for another keg. Not sure if I'll aim for a standard crisp dry lager or something a tad more hoppy. I have a heap of pride of Ringwood that I should get rid of, so maybe just an Australian lager or something.

 

[Amin Yashed]

I simply can't go past a Morgans Indian Canadian Pale Ale with hallertua hops. A simple brew that's never failed for me.

For the experts, I like Tooheys old. So I grabbed a Morgans dark ale wart to try. Anybody had experience with this particular brew before? Or other suggestions for a dark ale?

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

I haven't done kits for a while and only did a couple before going all grain but I'd try something like this.

1.7kg coopers stout kit
1kg Light DME
500g Dark DME
150g chocolate malt steeped.

1 packet of US-05 yeast rehydrated.

This will get you somewhere around what you are after, if you are chasing a more stout flavour, decrease the light malt and increase the dark malt.

This will come in at around 6% ABV

 

[Amin Yashed]

I haven't done kits for a while and only did a couple before going all grain but I'd try something like this.

1.7kg coopers stout kit
1kg Light DME
500g Dark DME
150g chocolate malt steeped.

1 packet of US-05 yeast rehydrated.

This will get you somewhere around what you are after, if you are chasing a more stout flavour, decrease the light malt and increase the dark malt.

This will come in at around 6% ABV

Cool, thanks mate I'll give it a go. I'm only relatively new to the beer thing, I've brewed spirits for a long time.

Could you give me an example of one of your recipes for say a nice lager?

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Lager recipes are usually very simple. Fermentation temperature control and yeast pitching temps are the key. Also it's important to leave it to ferment for
2-3 weeks.

I'd try something like this

1.7kg coopers lager/blonde/European lager kit
1.5kg light DME
250g carapils steeped

Ferment with a good lager yeast not the yeast that comes with the kit.

I'd also maybe throw in a small dry hop of cascade or another hop of your choice. But not necessary in a lager.

 

[Amin Yashed]

Lager recipes are usually very simple. Fermentation temperature control and yeast pitching temps are the key. Also it's important to leave it to ferment for
2-3 weeks.

I'd try something like this

1.7kg coopers lager/blonde/European lager kit
1.5kg light DME
250g carapils steeped

Ferment with a good lager yeast not the yeast that comes with the kit.

I'd also maybe throw in a small dry hop of cascade or another hop of your choice. But not necessary in a lager.

Cheers mate. I'm going to get a fridge to control the temp. I thought you only had to ferment for 7-10 days? Can I get the seeds from my local brew shop? Also what is a good lager yeast for NQ conditions, I've been transferred to cairns for work starting next week. Hence why I'm a little worried about what yeast to use in summer as it gets f**king hot & humid

 

[Amin Yashed]

What temp is best to ferment a nice lager?

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Depends on the yeast but 11-12 degrees should do the trick.

7-10 days fermentation you can get away with in ales (I still do 2 weeks for ales, yeast tends to clean itself up a bit if left longer), however, as lagers ferment from the bottom at a lower temperature they work a lot slower than ale yeast, so you really need that minimum of 2 weeks for a lager, and preferably 2 packets of yeast.

Any home brew shop will have a variety of yeasts to choose from. It doesn't matter what climate you live in if you have temperature control.

Check what your home brew shop has, but you can't go wrong with saflager-23 or any of the mangrove jacks lager yeasts(m76 or m54 are decent)

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

If you don't have temp control, don't even bother trying to brew a lager. It will be shit.

 

[Amin Yashed]

If you don't have temp control, don't even bother trying to brew a lager. It will be shit.

Thanks man very helpful info. That's why I'm going to run a fridge up north to regulate the temp, 22 deg good?

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

22 is too warm for lagers, I go by 12 for lagers 18 for ales