Next Brew

Decided on a Fat Yak clone for the next brew. All accounts its a tasty brew. Should be done in 5 weeks from brew day. Recipe will be up soon as long as I can get some Nelson Sauvin hops.

Wit Friday Belgium Amber Ale

Well, we took the plunge and had a go at an actual extract recipe. Not the pre-hopped malt cans but a real extract with steeping grains recipe.

Recipe is not our own, was stolen from HomeBrewTalk specifically here

We've been around HomeBrewTalk for some time just reading and learning. It was time to actually do something and may we say, actually brew a beer, not just add malt, sugar and water together, add some yeast and call it beer.

Here's some pics:

Ingredients ready to go

Brew pot and lil pot to warm the extract

Grains steeping

Extract warming

Stirring the wort

In the fermenter awaiting the yeast

Fermenter full with the lid on and the airlock full

OG sample ready for a taste

Between the two of us, there was a fair bit of beer comsumed and a new tradition of a hot scotchy - basically hot wort prior to yeast and a shot of your favourite whisky or in this case Jack Daniels Silver Series whiskey.

Its so far been a week in the fermenter not much noise from the airlock, but with the two tests I've done, wow. It smells devine and tastes even better. Should be bottling it tomorrow after a FG reading.

Bottling time

Ready to bottle

30 745ml bottles ready to fill

FG sample sitting next to an ESB

Trub left in the fermenter

Label on the bottle

ManawaBrew

Well, here it is. ManawaBrew. The combination of the province of Manawatu in New Zealand and brewing - mainly beer at the moment.

It's a story of a bloke who got a home brew kit for Christmas in 2010 and another bloke who got the same home brew kit on St Paddy's day in 2011. From there it has been a magical tour around the internet looking and learning about home brew. Learning to ditch some things and pick up in others. Learning about the difference in hops - flavours, aromas, bitterness vs nose, the difference in liquid malt extract (LME) and dried malt extract (DME), the difference in malt only brew vs malt and dextrose brews.

The movement from home brew to actual scale brewing hasn't happened just yet. we've only been playing for a year and its still a massive learning curve. Both of us are yet to have a bad batch, both of us are yet to catch a bug. A year with successful brewing is a hit in anyone's books. I've read some forums with people getting bad batches every couple of months. The one most important fact I have read EVERYWHERE I have visited is SANITISE!!

We both have supportive partners who are more than happy to be our test subjects, albeit not really liking what we brew for us. Although it does have its merits. If we move into a commercial scene, perhaps their palate will help us...

My current brew is a Licorice Stout. Recipe section to follow once we figure out what to do.