Your current / planned brews

Links234

4 different variest of mead! 2 of which were recently bottled. The leftmost is the one I made from local honey, its very slightly sparkling. Center left is a plain mead. Center right is a bochet, or mead made from caramelized honey. Rightmost is a ginger mead.



These are all amazing!

Sadly, the big batch of mead I started back in september had to be poured out, somehow it went bad. Serious pity, but I'm actually not as upset as I thought I'd be, this is my first failure.

Lovely Bloke

Amber Ale today, just as the first leg of the Nationals is going on up in Belfast.

Second leg in 2 weeks in Dublin.

Anyone got anything in?

Knifey Spoony

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Amber Ale today, just as the first leg of the Nationals is going on up in Belfast.

Second leg in 2 weeks in Dublin.

Anyone got anything in?

What's going into your amber? If you don't mind sharing.

I'm thinking of putting one on next month and looking around for different recipes.

Lovely Bloke

Was supposed to be

4.5k Pale
800g Cara Amber
250 Special W

10g nugget 60m
10g Citra 30m
50g Citra 10m

But Mottley didn't have any Cara Amber, so I got Cara Bohemian instead

The beer is a little darker than I would have wanted because of the Bohemian, but it's not the end of the world

1.055 OG, which was the target. BIAB method.

Those 2015 harvest Citra smell so, so good.

Knifey Spoony

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Was supposed to be

4.5k Pale
800g Cara Amber
250 Special W

10g nugget 60m
10g Citra 30m
50g Citra 10m

But Mottley didn't have any Cara Amber, so I got Cara Bohemian instead

The beer is a little darker than I would have wanted because of the Bohemian, but it's not the end of the world

1.055 OG, which was the target. BIAB method.

Those 2015 harvest Citra smell so, so good.

That looks good. Think I'm going to aim for a hoppy amber with Cascade and Simcoe. Still debating the malts. Probably two row as the base and a bit of Munich for a bit of flavor. Was then thinking maybe a medium and dark crystal, but that Special W sounds interesting though.

loyatemu

Pale Ale today, recipe designed to use up leftover grain and hops

3kg Maris Otter
300g CaraAmber
125g Carapils
1 hour mash @ 66C

My digital scales broke and I couldn't weigh out the hops with any accuracy, but I was planning to throw them all in anyway

~30g Centennial @ 60 mins
~40g Centennial @ 10 mins
~30g Cascade @ 0 mins
& I have another ~40g of Cascade to dry hop with.

13 litres into the fermenter @ 1.054, using Mangrove Jack West Coast Ale yeast (M44).

BeardySi

Made Greg Hughes's Black IPA (extract version) a few weeks ago. Brewed to recipe except for adding about 50% more to the dry hop as I though it was a little light. Cracked open the first bottle last night after a week in the bottle and it's amazing already (partly because I like to see how a beer is changing and maturing as it conditions and partly cos I couldn't wait to taste it!) Can't wait till it's properly ready.

Just got in a batch of 2015 citra leaf hops to dry hop my own recipe Diabhalín IPA next week, should give it lots of punch!

dashcamdanny

Have a hopefully nice USA IPA in the fermenter.

5 gallon batch.

5.8kg Minch malt

30g citra start of boil
15g citra 15mins
15g simcoe 15min
45g citra end of boil
45g simcoe end of boil.

Have a bit of simcoe left.

Considering dryhopping it. Its already a bit strong.

Any opinions ?

Elemonator

Got really tired of craft brews myself. Got this Irish one in a pub not too long ago and it tasted like a monkey p*ss*d in a Hophouse. Sorry, I'll stick with my little Heineken.........

dashcamdanny

Elemonator wrote: »

Got really tired of craft brews myself. Got this Irish one in a pub not too long ago and it tasted like a monkey p*ss*d in a Hophouse. Sorry, I'll stick with my little Heineken.........

Hoppy beer is not for everyone. Sometimes I prefer a plain lager as well.

Not Heineken though. Not by a long shot.

But what is your current/planned brews.

You know you can clone Heineken for homebrewing.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/209608/heineken-lager-clone

BeerNut

Your off-topic trolling isn't welcome here, Elemonator.

masseyno9

Currently have a cider on the go. First time making anything in about 8 months. A friend of mine owns a share in a raw/unpasteurised juice company, so we got a load of apples, went in one saturday night and juiced them all. Serious machine...about an hour to juice 80 litres worth of apples.
There's 5 of us in on it, so should get about 16 litres each. made half of it extra strong with added dextrose for the craic, and half just apple juice and yeast. All 4 have kicked off and appear to be mostly fermented within 8 days. We'll rack into secondary for a week or 2 to clear out a bit and then bottle. Hopefully it'll be good and tasty in time for Summer.

Elemonator

It's my warped sense of humour, not intended to offend! Planned brews......I've seen this McIver cider stuff in my friends house and he swears its the best thing since sliced bread...........but I can't find it anywhere

BeerNut

This is the Home Brewing forum. For commercially made drinks --> B/W/S.

fobster

I'm planning a Smoked Coffee Maple stout aside from the base malt, it'll have 15% brown malt, 15% smoked malt and 7.5% chocolate malt. I've read that brown malt gives a good coffee flavour so no need for any coffee additions in the fermenter.

For anyone looking to incorporate maple syrup into a brew, looks like carbonating is a good way of doing it. I've read to get the right amount, you find out how much table sugar you'd need for your required carbonation level and add 40%, so if you were using 100g sugar, use 140g maple syrup.

oblivious

fobster wrote: »

I'm planning a Smoked Coffee Maple stout aside from the base malt, it'll have 15% brown malt, 15% smoked malt and 7.5%

If you have it, i would up your smoked malt to 20%. Give just the right level of smoke flavour , without overpowering the stout

Lovely Bloke

dashcamdanny wrote: »

Have a hopefully nice USA IPA in the fermenter.

5 gallon batch.

5.8kg Minch malt

30g citra start of boil
15g citra 15mins
15g simcoe 15min
45g citra end of boil
45g simcoe end of boil.

Have a bit of simcoe left.

Considering dryhopping it. Its already a bit strong.

Any opinions ?

40g simcoe left is it? lash it in for 4 days dry hopping.

Links234

Started off another 2 meads, a plain one for a friend who's family keeps bees and she gave me the honey, and a short mead that I'm flavouring with stat anise. Should be nice.

I should also try recreating my ginger mead, because that turned out amazing.

fobster

oblivious wrote: »

If you have it, i would up your smoked malt to 20%. Give just the right level of smoke flavour , without overpowering the stout

Cheers dude, I actually looked up your a few of your recipes, having seen mention of you using brown malt. I want a smoky presence but the emphasis on coffee stout.

BeardySi

Just racked my Diabhalín IPA for bottling - just letting it settle out for a bit and away we go.

Brewdog's Russian Imperial Stout is mashing (first time for all-grain!). I had intended a BIAB as I'm only doing a 5L but I underestimated the space needed to accomodate all that grain and enough water - my 7L stockpot just wouldn't cut it! Got my finger out and finished insulating the DIY mash tun I'd been working on for bigger brews, so now that's finished too... Ordered an 11L stockpot from amazon too - £11 and prime shipping!


edit: So all done, think I must have miscounted the water for the mash, had more than I needed and at a lower gravity at the end. I'm sure I need to refine my technique and equipment too, though was pleased with only a 4 degree drop in the temp over an hour. Brought it back up with some DME and nailed the 1.076 I was after. Couldn't get the Wyeast yeast the recipe called for, but I used what seemed like a resonable White Labs equivalent so fingers crossed. If this works it'll be the biggest beer I've done, blowing my 8.6% Belgian Dubbels out of the water.

oblivious

fobster wrote: »

Cheers dude, I actually looked up your a few of your recipes, having seen mention of you using brown malt. I want a smoky presence but the emphasis on coffee stout.

I love a bit of brown malt in my stouts and porters. It will add a coffee ish aroma but it goes well with the ranch malt

fobster

oblivious wrote: »

I love a bit of brown malt in my stouts and porters. It will add a coffee ish aroma but it goes well with the ranch malt

Good job, I'm trying to get a coffee thing going without having to add any coffee.

oblivious

fobster wrote: »

Good job, I'm trying to get a coffee thing going without having to add any coffee.

If you can find it, Fullers london porter noise is all about the brown malt

Chuppa Siopa

Thinking of doing a kit hack later but fairly new to home brewing. Any opinion on this

1.7kg Coopers IPA,
1kg beer kit enhancer
GV12 yeast,

250gm carahells, 50gm Cascade for a hop tea


Dry Hop for 4 days
25gm Cascade
25gm saaz

BeerNut

You're better off with spraymalt instead of kit enhancer.

Lovely Bloke

Treadhead wrote: »

Ordered an 11L stockpot from amazon too - £11 and prime shipping!

Would you mind linking this please, I'm about to embark on a 5l batch adventure myself and need a larger pot.

Doing a Gose this Friday as my first one.

BeerNut

Living Island on Talbot Street is good for stockpots.

Padraig Mor

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Would you mind linking this please, I'm about to embark on a 5l batch adventure myself and need a larger pot.

Doing a Gose this Friday as my first one.

Could be worth trying your local Aldi - they had 11L stockpots recently for €24; maybe they have some left.

BeardySi

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Would you mind linking this please, I'm about to embark on a 5l batch adventure myself and need a larger pot.

Doing a Gose this Friday as my first one.

Buckingham Stock Pot with Stainless Steel Lid 26 cm, 11 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0049MPIM0/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_jGy1wbYSSN0DK

Arrived yesterday, holds exactly 10L not 11, is made from a thin gauge of steel and hasn't got a proper bottom. Fine for boiling liquids, but wouldn't dream of cooking in it. Just as well I won't be! Not bad for £11 altogether I suppose.

Links234

So, I plan to make a bigger batch of my ginger mead this weekend. I bought enough honey to make a 10 litre batch in one of the beer fermenters, but what I plan to do this time is split it into 2 x 5 litre demijohns for secondary fermentation. Surprisingly, I did a single 3 month fermentation on the first ginger mead, and it turned out absolutely superb, so I'm wondering how this'll differ.