Wheat Pils

Well, its been a month since I brewed it.
I first tried it warm, long story and it just tasted like sugar water. Looked like a bad brew. Not so. Two weeks later and wow. Hints of pine on the nose, toffee apple taste, hint of butterscotch.

Would I brew it again? Yes, but I would go for a more noble hop at bittering and perhaps more Motueka for aroma. Just not enough hop on the nose. Time will tell I guess, still got 20 odd bottles there. I'll leave them be for now.

Brian has been brewing more than me lately - he's passed on a Munich Lager, Bock and his first hit at partial mash and Irish Stout. Might post some notes on how they taste.

Chubby Highlander - Taster

SUCCESS!!

Tried the Chubby Highlander tonight with SWMBO.
Wow. I've been wanting to brew a beer like this for since AGES ago and I finally have. Will it be brewed again? Oh yes, yes it will be brewed again. Possible this could become the house ale. We'll see how the Pils Wheat or Wheat Pils turns out.

So how does she taste?
Hints of the Cascade citrus flavour in the back of the mouth, Motueka nose and wow, a decent malt back bone to compliment the hops. If SWMBO likes it then I think its a little bit of a winner. Definately moreish and would suit a hot summers day. Very refreshing. Not quite a lawnmower beer, but she's a beaut.

Will I change anything?
Honestly yes. Leaving the malt as is and playing with some other hops would be a great idea. Really want to get my hands on some Nelson Sauvin. The original recipe called for it but I used Motueka instead. Perhaps a Pacifica/Nelson Sauvin. Watch this space for more!!

Wheat Pils or Pils Wheat

Currently brewing, so in between hops I thought I'd update.
I was going to brew the Wit Friday again, but in my ordering of stuff, I thought I had some CaraPils at home, but it was just plain Pilsner. Not to worry, this one is going to be a mongrel off the cuff beer. 1.7kg specialty grains and 3kg of LME. I think I'll throw in some light brown sugar after day 2 and see what happens. Motueka and Saaz hops as well. Smells delicious at the moment :-)

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REALLY need an immersion chiller. 10L of freezing water + 10~ boiling wort = 35 degree wort. Still to hot to pitch the yeast. In the sink she goes with some cold water round the outside. Sit for 30mins, drain, repeat, drain, repeat with ice = MAYBE -10 degrees which is at the high end of the yeast, but the temp will come down more (hopefully).

Going to let this one sit for 2 days and throw 500g light brown sugar in and leave it for a further 9 days. Check the gravity on day 6 and 7, hopefully she's stopped fermenting by then and the yeast can just clean up after itself.

On a side note, I know its not near the 4 weeks required to condition, BUT I just can't wait. SWMBO and I will try it tonight.

Chubby Highlander

Chubby Highlander, a tongue in check version of a Fat Yak clone I found on Aussie Home Brewer. Chubby for the fat and Highlander refers to Highland Cattle, which my family breeds and some say look like Yaks.

The recipe called for Nelson Sauvin hops, but, outta season, so I used Motueka hops instead.
Here's some pics of the brew:

Grains all bagged up ready for steeping

1.5kg of pilsner malt

500g Munich I and 100g Pale Crystal

After sparge

First lot of Cascade and Motueka hops

Measuring out the final Motueka hops

Getting back to a boil after sparging

We have rolling

SWMBO adding the final hop addition

Ghetto chilling method

Close up of the ghetto chilling method

Leasons learned from this brew:

1. Immersion chiller maybe required. It took 12 hours to cool the wort to an acceptable range to pitch the yeast. Thats 12 hours in a cold bath.
2. Invest in some electronic scales for myself. I thought the scales we had where good enough, but nope, didn't go as low as 20g. So emergency call to the mother in law to get her electronic scales. Worked well for the steeping grains though.
3. Brewing may have to be done outside with a burner, instead of the gas stove. There was some significant carbon build up on the burner on the stove. Next brew I'll do outside and see what happens.

This one has been in the fermenter now for 11 out of the required 15 and requires 4 weeks conditioning!! So, only time will tell how good it is. The samples I've tried for gravity measurements are delicious. I think Motueka was a good choice, orange and spice. Works well with the fruits of the Cascade. Good match. The malt backbone holds up well to the amount of hops I ended up using, 20g Cascade and a total of 30g of Motueka. Watch this space for tasting notes.

Onto planning the next brew. Thoughts anyone?

Whit Friday

Well, I thought the Whit Friday was a flop. A failure. The first bad batch. Luckily I read and read and read some forums, namely www.homebrewtalk.com and pretty much got the "leave it alone for longer and see". Add an extra week onto the conditioning and shes good. Slight orange nose, slight saaz (although not enough for this hop head) nose, decent mouth and hint of coriander. All in all, I think I have got what I was ultimately aiming for, a session brew.
Here she is in all her glory

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