The American Revolution - Porter Style

Howdy everyone.
Sunday was a brew day for me, and it was a good one, couldn't have gone any better.
I hit all my numbers; Pre boil O.G, Mash temps and Even got an additional 1 litre out of it for my troubles.
Had a great time doing it too, Got up bright and early at 6:30am and was finished by 11:30-12, 20 hours after pitching the Mangrove Jacks M.44 West Coat yeast its beginning to bubble and has a small ring of krausen forming.

The brew is a Porter, Loosely based on Jamil's Robust Porter. With some minor changes.
As per my last Post, it has been dubbed The Sons of Liberty Porter. As its a mix of an English style beer, with american Hops and yeast. Th hop schedule, is more to the English style of schedule. I'm hoping for a good solid porter, with a little hop kick from the Beautiful Amarillo Hops used.

Now for a small Plug for my brew mate Paul Finney, who has just opened a Home brew-shop. Sourcing Local ingredients from Gladfields, along with Liquid yeast and Imported and Local Hops.
Its in Bishopdale Mall, and is called Finney's Homebrew Emporium.

Secondly, Bottled the Zombie King IPA with Alan yesterday afternoon. This is an amazing beer already, and although its pretty hazy, it's going to taste damn awesome. The aroma was like Fresh Fruit, which for some would be too much. But not for me the big hop head I am.

Now, I have concerns about my BIAB techniques:
#1 is Beer Clarity - The Zombie King is pretty cloudy, This is Hop Haze, but it almost seemed like there was something else too it, a protein of some sort floating around...
Could be chill Haze, from a poor cold break? For those who read this: Is this something that happens when Inputting Flame-out hops and leaving for 10-20 mins to lock in that aroma?
I reckon its something also to do with the BIAB technique. As there is no Grain Bed to filter and Vorlauf the Wort accordingly. Something to think about.

and #2 is Trub - The Porter has a pretty solid amount of Trub even though I whirl-pooled (sort of) and let things settle out as well. This is a BIAB issue I'm pretty sure, I also used a Sieve to get rid of some of this stuff. which should eliminate some of this. this is based on the visual I had this morning when I checked it. It may settle out, so watch this space to see what happens.
I may have to secondary this one, as its my first beer for NHC2013.
Leave comments below regarding the possible solutions using the BIAB techniques on clarity and Trub in the fermenter, would be very interesting to see what others do.
:-)

Welcome Back to Brewing!!

After a Much needed Holiday I was actually able to brew a beer.
It felt pretty damn good to brew. with the help my a mate. Al was really helpful, and has a bit of an interest in brewing himself. We are splittingthe beer in half after bottling.
Heres the recipe on brew toad: Its a variation on the Three Floyd IPA available on Homebrewtalk.com.
ZOMBIE KING IPA

I hit 1.064 on Post Boil, which is 1 Point away from where I was hoping to be. and Hit Volume perfectly, after saving some wort from the 3 odd litres of trub after putting in the fridge for a few hours. It something Jo from Liberty has done in the past as well.

Fingers crossed it turns out, due to the issues (probably my own fault) with the S-04. It was going like a machine gun, and I've been away with work for a couple of days and ramped up to 21 now. hoping for 1.016 FG.I'll ramp to 22 in another couple of days to make sure its finished, and dry hop on Monday night... After an FG check of course. :)

With the NHC only 2-3 months away, its time to ramp up the brewing again, got 4 planned for the NHC 2013, a Porter, Blonde ale, American Amber and American Pale ale.
1st is the Porter Dubbed "Sons of Liberty". The reason I've called it is this:
The Sons of Liberty were and organisation of American Patriots, who originated i nthe Pre-Independence North American British Colonies. they were formed to Protect the rights of Colonists and take the streets against the abuses of the British Government. Where as the English Porter brewed in the 18th Century. It is a well hopped Dark beer.
So I kinda figured that the two would be good together... American Porter is the Style, using a British Porter recipe, and American hops and yeast, not heavily late hopped, more of an english hop schedule.
I'm excited.

Another Tasting Night...

Yet another night Spent at Pomeroys on Monday Night! This was a one I was looking forward to as well.
LIBERTY BREWING, Joseph Wood.


On the cards 9 Beers, and a Bonus Beer, which was still in the conditioning tanks.
Most ofthese were Hop Bombs, includingthe new one Sauvignon Bomb, an IPA Made exclusively with Nelson Sauvin Hops. Based off the Website, this was a simple Grain Bill of base plus Pale Crystal.
The few non Hop Bombs were Dark Stouts, and the Bonus Beer a california Steam Beer, made with one of the girls from Beer NZ.

Theres something else I'll say as well. He's a definite Fly by the seat of your pants kinda guy, if he wants to do something he'll do it, many collaborations etc. and confirmation there will be no Yeastie/Liberty Collab this year, a bit disappointing, but hey, they're all pretty busy doin their thing. Jo has a great sense of humour, and had plenty of stories about his mishaps and people he had met along the way, some beer was talked about as well.

Onto the beers:
Top Beer: had to be Citra!, at 9% and 99 IBU, it was always going to be the beer of the night. Overly Hoppedwith Citra, and funnily enough he actually revealed, its not a single hop brew, despite the misleading name. No Information was given on which hop it was... Something big and American no doubt.
Worst Beer: This is a hard one, as they were all actually very good, but if I had to choose, it'd be the Darkest Days Stout, it didn't quite hit the Creamy stout flavour for me, but still an awesome beer.
With only 9 beers on tap, it was a much shorter night at Pom's than normal, so pints were had.

All in all a good night, with some good beers, most of which I had tried already, including the Monster! Love that beer. I actually have a recipe of 2 for a couple of these beers, Scarlet and Monster, Not sure how accurate they are, but still worth a crack.

There will be no update for a couple of weeks from here, as I'm away on Holiday and there's not alot to talk about, but plenty going on behind the scenes.

Then it's onto Brewery Talk, Brew Rig building and NHC 2013, I'm still on the fence on what to make. I have a massive choice of recipes to choose from.

Oh and I'll be starting up a Brewtoad Page too! Posting my recipes for all who wish to try, as I believe in open source brewing, if people like drinking my beer, why shouldn't they be able to attempt to make it themselves...
Here is the Brewtoad Page: http://www.brewtoad.com/brewers/39840/recipes

CHCH Homebrew Club Collaboration

Last weekend I took part in one of the most ambitious brew days ever, two big imperial style beers and a partigyle.
A total of 120 Litres of beer brewed in one day.
A big thanks to the guys who showed up at Oli's place and contributed gear and ingredients.
The recipes decided on were:

the CYBI iStout by 8wired: OG 1.102

A Belgian Stout, Loosely based on the iStout, with some lowering of the grain bill and Some Dark Candi sugar: OG 1.090 Plus belgian sugar later

And a bits and Pieces Partigyle, using some of the runnings from the Grains. OG 1.057
Early indication, of these were good, the yeast were US-05 for the iStouts.
3522 for the Belgian stout, and was split between 2 the other half used the New Mangrove Jacks Belgian Ale, and lastly, they tried out the Newcastle dark ale by mangrove jacks and the /US mangrove jacks yeast.
Will be interesting to see how these turn out.
we did the Beglian stout BIAB, and brewed up 40 odd litres of it, heres some pictures to show you.
Heavy lifting involved. of which I couldn't do any of.

Dunedin and Emersons Brewery

Second weekend away, and the last one for awhile.
We went to dunedin, and watched the Crusaders vs Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium.

afterthe game we were able to catch the Lions game, and got to try the new "Brewers Reserve" Oreti Red Red IPA. all I can say is Wow! Huge aroma, fat malty chewiness, without being cloying, with a high hop flavour, a tad light for a red ale, but I'll let them away with it.
Beer details:
OG 1.063
NZ Pale, Munich, CaraMunich, and Cara-Red
Hops were US Centennial, and a high Alpha NZ Hop (I'm not )
With a standard american Yeast I'm guessing 001.
Worth a try if you can get hold of it. But its Tap only.

If anone has any ideas on recipes, please let me know.

also had the good old Bookbinder, a good stalwart for the Ermersons guys, and I'd go as far to say it was their flagship beer these days. and at 3.7% It's a beer you can have more than one or two of. I've got a recipe designed to meet the need of the ABV and the general idea behind it. more to come on that soon. enough.

On a seaparate note, I'm still not brewing, but I hasve had another bottle or two of the Bad Wolf.  Great beer, now in its prime at 5-6 weeks bottled, bigger hop presence, but the presence wont last long, and smells distinctly of banana bread as well, clear when warm, so some chill haze, but im ok with the, Will re-make with Mosaic, as theres no Amarillo anywhere, mosaic seems a good hop. and readily available.
I'll also swap the yeast for 3522, and add a flameout addition. maybe remove the willamette dryhop.

Great beer, highly recommended recipe.

The Garage Project

Welcome to Wellington!
We went to Wellington for the weekend, to see some friends and made a point of doing the whole Craft Beer Thing.
First up was lunch at The Malthouse, for the "Darkest Day". Had an EpIC Repocalypse. a Black IPA Collaboration with Fork and Brewer at 8.5%. All I can say is wow, Super Hop Flavour, with the patented Epic Late Hop additions. Pours Inkly black with REd hue.

Now onto the main Event, we spent the afternoon, at The garage Project, a brewery, who like to make very unique beers, they really push the boundaries of style.

The beers we tasted were:
California Uber Alles: Based off the Anchor Steam Beer with a Garage project difference, more hops etc.
Lil' Red Rye:  A Hoppy Red Ale, with Spicy Rye Malt

Sauvin Nauveau: A Grape Harvest Imperial Pilsner, using White wine grape Juice from this years grape harvest.
Pils 'n' Thrills: An American Hopped Pilsner, Big American Citrus Hops.
Aro Noir: A more hoppy version of a Stout.
Bourbon Barrel Aged Baltic Porter: A 10.5% Baltic Porter aged in Bourbon Barrels
Great beers with a twist.
Bought a Trip Hop, a new world bitter/Pale ale with Bold NZ Hops, Motueka, Pacifica, and Riwaka.

Sunday after some standard wellington Sight seeing, we took a trip to Goldings Free dive, for the Garage Project Tap take over, for one reason to drink this:

Heres my full review:
AROMA: American Citrus Hops. big bold and hoppy, with hints of Grapefruit etc. I get small hints of Mint and Chilli, but its very small.
APPEARANCE: Orange/Amber Colouyr with small lacing off white Head, Cealr to Brilliant, With some minor hop Haze
FLAVOUR: Major hops, Hint of Malt Background Complexity. Followed by a minty freshness, and Heated chilli. that reimains, a the bakc of the throat is some minty freshness and heat from the chillies.
OVERALL: WOW! What an amazing Beer, hoppy Spicy Minty, just wow, They only servied in Half Pints, because there was such a small amount.
if they ever make this again, I'll be buying in bulk..... lol.

Manawabrew WCIPA

Well, I thought I'd Post some notes from the brew he sent me. He sent me the recipe as well, which was interesting to note, so I could try and pick out the individual flavours.
Drank it on Sunday aftergetting back from a weekend away.
MANAWABREW WCIPA

APPEARANCE: Murky, Hazy Golden Brown, with small off White Head, plenty of Fizz for the Style. Murkiness, could be from the large hopping schedule, and Chill Haze. I think some kettle finings would have helped with the clarity.

AROMA: BOOM!!!!!!! Huge Citrus, passionfruit Aroma from the Citra Hops used. Just plain massive!! Cascade backs it up nicely.

FLAVOUR: Good Hop Flavour, especially when the beer warmed up to a better temperature. a tad boozy, but that'll be the high gravity and brown sugar. Minor Malt Background minimal caramel sweetness. Mainly Hops coming through.

OVERALL: Good Solid Beer. Hoppy and big, just like a WCIPA should be.
 for me , and this is only my opinion, as everyone has different tastes. My changes would be that I'd Keep the malt bill similar, swap the quantities of carapils and munich around.
hops wise, its pretty good, I'd add more late hops, from from 10  to 0, really smash the palate to pieces.

Check him out on manawabrew.wordpress.com some great information, recipes, and a general idea of what goes on in this guys brewing head. Cheers dude.