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  • wambesi
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Originally posted by 2422272A2022372B430 link=1253188147/80#80 date=1270468835
    Originally posted by 6274787770667C150 link=1253188147/79#79 date=1270441492
    Brewing an Amarillo Ale now
    From scratch or kit and kilo?  Id be interested in seeing what you did as the last time I did an american style ale it was based around an ESB can.
    From scratch, heres the Beersmith printout:

    BeerSmith Recipe Printout
    Recipe: Amarillo Ale
    Brewer: Nick
    Asst Brewer:
    Style: American Pale Ale
    TYPE: All Grain
    Taste: (35.0)

    Recipe Specifications
    --------------------------
    Batch Size: 20.00 L      
    Boil Size: 23.65 L
    Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
    Estimated Color: 13.9 EBC
    Estimated IBU: 24.1 IBU
    Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
    Boil Time: 60 Minutes

    Ingredients:
    ------------
    Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU      
    1.80 kg       Pale Malt, Ale (Barrett Burston) Grain        42.15 %      
    1.27 kg       Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) Grain        29.74 %      
    0.80 kg       Munich, Light (Joe White) (17.7 EBC)      Grain        18.74 %      
    0.25 kg       Caramalt (Joe White) (50.0 EBC)           Grain        5.85 %        
    0.15 kg       Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) Grain        3.51 %        
    20.00 gm      Amarillo (07) [8.20 %]  (60 min)          Hops         20.1 IBU      
    20.00 gm      Amarillo (07) [8.20 %]  (5 min)           Hops         4.0 IBU      
    20.00 gm      Amarillo (07) [8.20 %]  (0 min)           Hops          -            
    0.45 items    Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)          Misc                      
    1 Pkgs        California Ale (White Labs #WLP001)


    Notes:
    ------
    0. Based on Doc Smurtos Golden Ale Recipe
    1. No Chill Recipe, Adjusted IBU should be roughly 38
    2. Zero min addition added 5mins prior to putting into cube


    The recipe has been adjusted a fair bit as I threw in bits and pieces to finish up some grains I had lying about. In the original recipe there is more wheat.

    Next weekend Im going to do either an Aussie Ale or Rosss Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale

    Leave a comment:


  • gadicath
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Originally posted by 6274787770667C150 link=1253188147/79#79 date=1270441492
    Brewing an Amarillo Ale now
    From scratch or kit and kilo? Id be interested in seeing what you did as the last time I did an american style ale it was based around an ESB can.

    Leave a comment:


  • wambesi
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Moved house last weekend with the help of some of the fellas, without me knowing they threw the keg of Coffee-Choc porter in the back of a trailer with everything else and put at the back of the garage with everything in front, one of the seals didnt hold out and the day after I could smell stale beer. All the gas had escaped and frothed out.

    All cleaned up and back on the gas in the fridge now and just tasted it, seems ok - not the same but drinkable I guess....  :-[

    Brewing an Amarillo Ale now and about to roast some coffee whilst surfing between here, AHB and eating some cheese and crackers....

    Leave a comment:


  • Dawn
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Im the coffee guru. Hubby, the beer (and spirits....ssshhh). Saw a great idea on the forum to add the coffee to the beer. He will probably try it some time. As for me Ill stick to my coffee. He does beer only in kegs after getting to sick of bottle washing and sediment. The other problem with bottles is having just a glass or two.

    Leave a comment:


  • wambesi
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Originally posted by 704057455F535C320 link=1253188147/76#76 date=1264635505
    I reckon thats the flashest esky mash tun Ive seen
    Cheers, but there is still more plans to develop.
    Priority now is a keg freezer before our fourth is born, I think after that it will be ingredients only for a while - for both my types of brewing!

    Leave a comment:


  • Brewman
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Originally posted by 46505C53544258310 link=1253188147/75#75 date=1264382234
    Ive been doing AG now for a few years, kits and extracts before that.
    Pictures of my setup at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholaswiseman/.
    I reckon thats the flashest esky mash tun Ive seen

    Leave a comment:


  • wambesi
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Ive been doing AG now for a few years, kits and extracts before that.
    Recently I decided to slightly change a honey porter I make and added a double shot of my own roasted coffee as well as some double Dutch cocoa - should be yummy, its aging in the keg at the moment.

    Pictures of my setup at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholaswiseman/.

    Leave a comment:


  • NRB
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    I confess, Im another AG brewer.

    Ive been vaguely interested in coffee for a long time, but a recent trip to Japan where I spoke to a coffesnob about bean selection, roasting, grinding, e61 group heads and the like, followed by a cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee made with a simple Kyocera hand grinder and Aeropress has me looking at coffee forums!

    Ive got a funny feeling Im going to reclaim my caffeine addiction and shell out thousands of dollars like I did when I first discovered brewing!

    Anyway, I just thought Id give a friendly wave and bump this thread.

    Nick

    Leave a comment:


  • Brewman
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Beer and motorcyclesa are two of my favorite pastimes so Ill kick this thread on

    This is an article I wrote for a magazine. Its the last in a series of four articles. I hope you find it helpful/interesting
    ---------------------
    THE BEER PAGE

    We’ve talked about all the ingredients for a beer so now it’s time to put all this knowledge into action. And the bonus is that at the end of this we’re going to have beer as good as anything you can buy, there’ll be lots of it and it’ll be cheap. The only thing that can beat that is if it’s served up by Liz Hurley naked.

    Making good beer is simple if you follow the key four points.
    1) Cleanliness.
    2) Quality ingredients.
    3) Temperature control
    4) Patience.
    Another helpful hint - a good homebrew shop is worth it’s weight in gold. They are valuable source of information, good equipment and tips.

    I’m going to focus on knocking up a beer from a homebrew kit. Making beer from barley (mash brewing) is not hard but you can write books about it, and many have been. If you really are interested in mash brewing I recommend you read one of the following; How to Brew, John Palmer, Brewers Publications; The new complete joy of homebrewing, Charlie Papzian, Associated Press; Brew Your Own Real Ae at Home, Roger Protz and Graham Wheeler, Camra Books.
    The rest of us can read on, together we’ll discover the malty goodness that kit beer has to offer the home-brewer.

    Starting from the beginning, you need the right equipment. Strictly speaking you only need a fermenter with an airlock but I highly recommend that you also buy long-handled spoon and a hydrometer. You’ll also need a bottle-capper, the cheapest type are the hand-held that you thump with a hammer.

    Next you need to sanitise it. There are all sorts of grubby little organisms that love to get at your beer if you give them a chance so you want to give the yeast the best chance you can to get a foothold before anything else takes up home in your beer. There are more cleaners, sanitisers and disinfectants than you can poke a stick at and there isn’t enough room to go through the positives and pitfalls here. Personally I use 30% hydrogen peroxide (available at your local chemist). It’s not cheap but it’s fast, you use very little of it (lasts a long time) and you don’t have to rinse it from your equipment. Pop five litres of water in your fermenter, pour in 10 ml peroxide, place on the lid, shake it all about and your done. Now while the peroxide mixture is in your fermenter, peel the lid back and throw in your hydrometer, airlocks and spoon for a quick swim and they’ll be ready to go when you get back.

    The ingredients are vital. Buy a good kit and malt, a no-name beer kit with a kilo of black and gold sugar won’t do! For this exercise I’m using the following recipe but you can use any reputable brand of kit and malt (I am not affiliated with Morgans, they are just an Aussie company that make good stuff).

    1.5kg Can Morgans Royal Oak Amber Ale Kit
    1.5Kg Can Morgans unhopped pale malt extract (LME*)
    100g light crystal malt – cracked by homebrew shop (grain)
    15g Fuggles hops (either plugs or pellets).
    *LME = liquid malt extract
    I’m aiming for a well-balanced, malty beer. If you cannot get the grain and hops or wish to start with a simple recipe just leave them out, you’ll still make a stunning brew with just the kit and LME[ch61514]

    Fill the sink up with hot water. Peel the labels from the kit and LME, remove the yeast satchel and drop the unopened cans in the water. Fill the kettle with water and put it on to boil. Now you’ve done enough work for a while, it’s time to pour yourself a beer while the water does its thing.

    Remove your spoon, airlocks and hydrometer from the fermenter, a clean dry tea towel is a good place to put them, and toss the water.
    Place your grain and hops in a coffee plunger and fill the plunger with water from the jug. The reason we have waited ten minutes is that we don’t want the water above 70 degrees or it will leach the tannins from the grain husk. If you suck a dry teabag you’ll get an idea of how nice tannins taste, which is not that good really! Leave it to sit for ten to fifteen minutes.
    Open both warm cans, the warm syrup will pour nicely, and pour it in the fermenter. Use the spoon to get every last drop of syrup. I rinse each can with about 500mL of water from the jug to ensure I get every bit. For those that are just using the kit and LME it is just a matter of throwing in another litre of hot water from the jug. Those that have the grain/hops stewing should now plunge and pour only the liquor into the fermenter.
    Fill the fermenter to your desired mark with tap water. Lots of splashing at this stage is good as it aerates the liquid which helps the yeast fire up quickly. Anywhere from 18 to 23L is fine. Less water means more flavour and body but less beer. Just remember, we need some headspace in the fermenter for when the yeast gets firing.

    Stir the mixture up. Get energetic and really work some air into it (for the yeast).
    Measure your specific gravity (SG) with the hydrometer, it should be somewhere in the range 1030-1045. This is not necessary but it is nice. This is called the original gravity (OG) and will be used to calculate our alcohol percentage.
    Pitch the yeast and give it another good stir.
    Place the lid on and fit the airlock. Check to make sure it is sealing with a gentle press on the lid.
    That should have taken you about an hour, so have another beer.

    Now is when your temperature control is critical. Remember the ideal yeast temp is 18-25oC. Above this you’ll make stuff that tastes like recycled sewerage. For most of us, room temperature brewing from April to September is perfect. If you live in Darwin, turn on the air-conditioner. Leave it on until you finish bottling. It’s a small price to pay for class beer[ch61514]
    If you’ve got it right, the yeast will be bubbling vigorously within 24 hours and you’ll see a foamy head several inches thick on top of the fermenting liquor.

    After a few days the bubbling will slow to a pace that is about a bubble every minute and the foam has disappeared. Now is the time to be patient. The beer is perfectly safe in its sealed container and although it’s not bubbling quickly, the yeast is still doing good things to your beer. Anywhere between one and two weeks after you notice that the foam has gone will be good for bottling. Timing is not critical but don’t leave it any more than three weeks.

    When bottling, use dextrose rather than white sugar. You’ve bought top-notch ingredients so lets keep the quality theme going. Before you bottle though drop in your clean hydrometer (peroxide solution) and measure the SG. This is the final gravity (FG) and should be between 1010 and 1020. This lets us know that the brew has gone well and also calculate the alcohol percentage by the following equation:

    % Alcohol = (OG – FG)/7.45

    There are a squillion different tools you can buy for bottling: siphons, bottling spigots, hand cappers, lever cappers etc. Again I’ll not go into this but be aware that the expensive gear makes it easier or faster, or both. For your first batch I recommend you buy a bottling spigot and a hand capper. This is the cheapest option, and most labour intensive, you can scale up from there when you want.

    One rounded tea-spoon of dextrose per long neck bottle will get you by. Fill the bottle to about 30mm from the top and cap. Wait at least two weeks before you drink but if you have enough self control four weeks is better.

    Happy drinking[ch61514]


    IN DAN’S BEER FRIDGE
    We’ve ventured out and now it’s time to hit the big end of town. These beers are strong in alcohol and flavour. Not for the feint hearted!
    From Australia: Murrays Wild Thing Imperial Stout, Grand Ridge Moonshine.
    International: Chimay Blue (Belgium), Rochefort 10 (Belgium), Paulaner Salvator (Germany)

    Leave a comment:


  • Brewman
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Originally posted by 2F3A33232F3434400 link=1253188147/70#70 date=1255579406
     I have several containers for brewing (cause I do wine occasionally to) so I will decant the beet into another container and let it sit as suggested.

    Cheers!

    So how did it go?

    Leave a comment:


  • Koffee_Kosmo
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Ok all you beer drinkers I have found two great beer commercials from Budweiser USA
    [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4NLvcoN58E[/media]
    [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NXlv28HYOA[/media]

    Makes me want to drink a beer
    Cheers

    KK

    Leave a comment:


  • ozscott
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    This thread is really excellent. Thanks Brewman for your kind assistance and passing on some of your knowledge! Much appreciated. I have several containers for brewing (cause I do wine occasionally to) so I will decant the beet into another container and let it sit as suggested.

    Cheers!

    Leave a comment:


  • Brewman
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Originally posted by 627477756274746263586E745865627473070 link=1253188147/68#68 date=1254994537
    Im a homebrewer as well but not nearly as advanced as you Brewman. I still do the can contents/brewing sugars method and although not as good as yours would be, I still think it kicks the arse out of any shop bought beers and at 30 odd cents per long neck you cant go wrong. Ive experimented with a green apple in a lager (dont hate me beer purists, its all in the name of science!) and a cap full of stones green ginger wine in the fermenter with interesting results. Has anyone else dabbled in this sort of thing too?
    The world is your oyster ;D
    Ive used peaches, watermelon, ginger, orange peel, cardamon, treacle, honey and of course coffee! (theyre what I can remember) in beer. Whatever floats your boat is what you should do. The beauty of home brewing is that you make what YOU like to drink

    Leave a comment:


  • espressed_is_best
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Im a homebrewer as well but not nearly as advanced as you Brewman. I still do the can contents/brewing sugars method and although not as good as yours would be, I still think it kicks the arse out of any shop bought beers and at 30 odd cents per long neck you cant go wrong. Ive experimented with a green apple in a lager (dont hate me beer purists, its all in the name of science!) and a cap full of stones green ginger wine in the fermenter with interesting results. Has anyone else dabbled in this sort of thing too?

    Leave a comment:


  • Brewman
    replied
    Re: Beer Brewers Anonymous...

    Originally posted by 624F4E455F425F522B0 link=1253188147/66#66 date=1254486083
    which homebrew competitions do you enter?
    Just the local (Hunter Valley) and the state comps. I dont put many entries in these days as Im generally judging - you cant judge a category in which you have an entry and they dont make you judge categories that you dont appreciate (for me thats wheat and smoked beers). So if I put a few entries in I limit the categories that Im free to judge. Surprisingly, its difficult to get judges so I do the right thing by the organisers (they are volunteers) and leave myself open for as many categories as possible
    On that note, Ill blow my own trumpet ;D Ive been invited to knock up a beer for the upcoming Bitter & Twisted Festival to showcase the quality of beer that can be made at home by amateurs. All up there is a dozen of us from the local homebrewing body, HAG (Hunter All Grain ) making different varieties of beer for the festival.

    Leave a comment:

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