The Homebrew Thread

[MKEB...]

Just been sorting me a APA, 75% chinook 25% Fuggle.
Will be interesting to see how this turns out. Never tried my hand at an APA before.

 

[TiggaPlease]

Just been sorting me a APA, 75% chinook 25% Fuggle.
Will be interesting to see how this turns out. Never tried my hand at an APA before.

That's a bit of a strange combo imo. Expect lots of pine and some earthiness.

I've got a 100% Chinook APA on tap at the moment and it is predominantly pine with some tropical fruit undertones. Pretty full on tbh.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Long time no brew....

A lot has happened between my last post and now. I have moved to Melbourne, but I did take most of my brewing equipment with me. Unfortunately it has been sitting and collecting dust in the various apartments I've been living in (never quite found the space to set it up). Now that I am in a house I've finally got back into it.

I'm in South Yarra, so unfortunately no dedicated garage to brew in and I've had to improvise a little. My timing was impeccable also as I decided to get back into just after lockdown started which made shopping for a ferm fridge quite difficult. I had purchased a new series 4 triple tap kegerator last year as I had given my old one to my Dad. It dawned on me that I could simply purchase another series 4 without the tower or taps for $325 - basically the cheapest fridge available right now and perfect for a fermentation chamber!

I have a Dr Smurto's with rye substituted for the wheat cold conditioning now and should be ready to serve by the weekend - initial tasting suggests I went a bit heavy on the rye as it is dry as f**k. I've also purchased ingredients to do an American Red Ale which I may do this weekend too.

It's good to be back into it!

 

[TiggaPlease]

Welcome back @Frank_Grimes !

I'm sure you'll get everything dialed in again pretty quickly.

Brewery is a well oiled machine for me now. 100L recirc single vessel with a bag. Easily pump out 2 cubes in about 4 or 5 hours. In the process of moving from Beersmith to Brewfather and it is great so far.

 

[Rhino_NQ]

Am newby so just got the 30L bett-a-brew setup. Once i manage to get a free decent ones cranking in a row without explosions ill start doing my homework and look at upgrading.

Currently got some colonial dark ale in the oven.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Welcome back @Frank_Grimes !

I'm sure you'll get everything dialed in again pretty quickly.

Brewery is a well oiled machine for me now. 100L recirc single vessel with a bag. Easily pump out 2 cubes in about 4 or 5 hours. In the process of moving from Beersmith to Brewfather and it is great so far.

Thanks! The first brew back was good, with a few old learnings popping back into my head. Thins like ensuring I have the right mash temp - the Smurto's Rye may have mashed a little too low as it fermented out to 1.006. I sampled it again last night though and it is tasty - just not the style I was going for. I'll insulate the kettle and set the mash temp a little higher than target for next time. I haven't tooled around with water profiles yet as I just wanted to get back into it, but I still have all my salts and I've read that Melbourne City water is not far away from reverse osmosis water so it should be relatively easy to grab the figures and plan around them.

100L!! That's epic. I've had a look at Brewfather. It looks slick. What are the main benefits it has over Beersmith? I did notice that it doesn't seem to have the "estimated colour" graphic on the recipe builder. It's a small thing but something that I appreciate about Beersmith.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Am newby so just got the 30L bett-a-brew setup. Once i manage to get a free decent ones cranking in a row without explosions ill start doing my homework and look at upgrading.

Currently got some colonial dark ale in the oven.

The new Robobrew (now called BrewZilla) looks pretty good value for an all in one system. I think you can get them for under $400. All grain brewing has certainly grown a lot since I got into it and there are plenty more options out there now.

Also a simple brew in a bag system will be even cheaper and provide just as good results.

 

[Rhino_NQ]

The new Robobrew (now called BrewZilla) looks pretty good value for an all in one system. I think you can get them for under $400. All grain brewing has certainly grown a lot since I got into it and there are plenty more options out there now.

Also a simple brew in a bag system will be even cheaper and provide just as good results.

Yeah the pour and fill all in 1 kit bags are what im using. Wouldnt mind trying one from scratch just to learn the ropes and get a better grasp of the chemistry but taking up very little time and space is a big positive.

When im no longer a "jobseeker" ill look into the above, sounds like it suits my situation

 

[Frank_Grimes]

My American Red Ale is ready for dry hopping. Going to go with 70g of Centennial and 70g of Columbus. I want some piney/floral aromas to go with the rich malt. It has fermented out a little lower than planned at 1.011 against a target of 1.014 so will come in at 5.7% ABV.

Tasting great out of the fermenter so I should have this on tap by the weekend.

I'm thinking about doing an ESB next to compliment the Smurtos and Red Ale. Something around 5% with some traditional English Malt and Hops.

 

[Rhino_NQ]

3 days until the new batch is ready. Did some maths and should ne around the 6.5% mark. Footy will be fun to watch this weekend lol

 

[TiggaPlease]

Here are a couple of recent efforts

a. Light Lager - 100% Best Malz Heidelberg w/ Sterling @ 60 and in the cube - Fermented with w34/70
Crisp and ultra easy drinking

b. Irish Red - Ale malt, Shepherd's delight, caramalt and roast barley w/ Northdown @ 60 and cube - Didn't have any WY1084 so used WY1450 which turned out surprisingly well

 

[Rhino_NQ]

Just cracked the first pangolin pandemic ale v2.0.

Similar to the few survivors from the first explosive attempt the first sip has a real tang to it and it then gets better after that. Anyone had this problem?

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Just cracked the first pangolin pandemic ale v2.0.

Similar to the few survivors from the first explosive attempt the first sip has a real tang to it and it then gets better after that. Anyone had this problem?

How long was it bottle conditioning? It might benefit from some cold conditioning time in the fridge to mellow out.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Here are a couple of recent efforts

a. Light Lager - 100% Best Malz Heidelberg w/ Sterling @ 60 and in the cube - Fermented with w34/70
Crisp and ultra easy drinking
View attachment 38492
b. Irish Red - Ale malt, Shepherd's delight, caramalt and roast barley w/ Northdown @ 60 and cube - Didn't have any WY1084 so used WY1450 which turned out surprisingly well
View attachment 38493

The Irish Red looks great. There's something about red ales that really appeals to me.

My American Red has finished at 1.016 (stuffed up the previous refrac reading) so bang on 5% ABV. I pulled the hops out yesterday and cold crashed. It's smelling glorious, but after ~150g of Centennial and Columbus it should...

 

[Rhino_NQ]

How long was it bottle conditioning? It might benefit from some cold conditioning time in the fridge to mellow out.

Last nights footy drinks were much better so i think you're correct

 

[Rhino_NQ]

How long was it bottle conditioning? It might benefit from some cold conditioning time in the fridge to mellow out.

After 3 days in the fridge it now tastes f@$king amazing. Another tweak to add to the process, cheers dude

 

[Frank_Grimes]

After 3 days in the fridge it now tastes f@$king amazing. Another tweak to add to the process, cheers dude

It will only get better....if you can make it last that long.