# Amber Ale style Anzac beer thoughts



## madpierre06 (18/2/15)

I've put together a recipe based on a couple different ideas I've seen around, making adjustments from extract as well so would appreciate any feedback on what could probably be best fitted in the amber ale range. I'm looking for something along the Anzac biscuit flavour line so it really is a swing and see effort.

*Mash*

Maris Otter (Th.Fawcett Fl. Malted) 1.520kg
Munich I (Weyer.)  1.110kg 15L
Pilsner Pale (B.B.) 0.750kg
Biscuit (Dingemans) 0.230kg 23L
Rolled Oats 0.230kg
Roasted Coconut 0.115kg


*Steeped*

Caraamber Malt (Weyer.) 0.430kg 60L
Crystal Malt Pale (Bairds) 0.230kg 101L

*Hops*

Challenger UK 60mins 23gm

Challenger UK 15mins 12gm
Fuggles NZ 15mins 12gm

Challenger UK 5mins 12gms 
Fuggles NZ 5mins 12gms

*Yeast*

Safale S-04


*Extras*

Lyles Golden Syrup 15min boil 280gm
Lactose 15min boil 280gm

Vanilla Bean 15min boil 1 only
Cinnamon Stick 15min boil 1 only

Mixed spice 15min boil 7gm

O.G. 1046
F.G. 1012

IBU 28

ABV 4.5%


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## verysupple (18/2/15)

Wow, that's got everything except the kitchen sink. Unless I misunderstood you, this is your first AG batch? I'd be keeping it nice and simple until you work your system out. But if you're going ahead with this batch then I have a couple of tips.

If you're doing a mash just stick your crystal malts in with the rest. There's no need to steep them separately.

With all those malts and adjuncts - and a lot of them are quite strongly flavoured - you probably won't be able to even tell some things are in there. As an example, I don't think it's worth putting in 750 g of Pils malt. Every ingredient should be there to add something. If you can't tell it's there, why over complicate things?


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## Midnight Brew (18/2/15)

As very supple mentioned, there is far too much going on in that beer to be able to identify each of the ingredients. 

I think the best approach would be to decide what your goal is. Eg do you want a beer that tastes likes ANZAC biscuits, an ANZAC beer where most if your ingredients that build the recipe are Australian/New Zealand. Personally I like the idea but as a first all grain I think it's too complicated and is going to turn out brownish in taste.

Don't fall for the kitchen sink trap.


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## Milk-lizard84 (18/2/15)

I have just bottled pretty much the exact same beer. Got the recipe from a home brew calendar I got for Christmas. 
Good luck with it Madpierre.


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## jimmy86 (18/2/15)

As mentioned swap the pils malt for more marris otter.
Also I'd look at dropping the late hops also, you will lose them to the spices.
While your toasting the coconut toast the oats as well, that will add I nice nutty flavour to go with the mouthfeel they add.
Five minutes for the spices is plenty of time.

Happy brewing


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## TheWiggman (18/2/15)

Huge fan of Anzac bikkies (who isn't?) and if you could somehow get that character then you're on a winner. Adventurous brewing though.

For mine, Anzac biscuits are all about the toasted oats and sweetness of the caramelised golden syrup. I'd focus on those.

I'd toast the rolled oats prior to get some of the cooked flavour from them. I'd bump it up to 500g to push that flavour.

Cocount in the mash, can't see it doing much. I'd consider pre-toasting it and using it in the secondary.

Golden syrup - yes yes yes. Maybe consider adding this during primary fermentation as boiling may lose some flavour/aroma (though I'm sure people could argue it won't do anything for taste because of how fermentable it is). Again, I'd cook it to caramelise it somewhat as this is a distinct flavour in Anzac biscuits.

Wouldn't bother with the vanilla bean or cinnamon stick, I think they'll detract from the burnt biscuit and caramel goodness. I'd leave the lactose and spices out too.

S-04 sounds good. I think an English yeast (005?) would be well suited and push the right flavours.

Godspeed my man.


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## crowmanz (18/2/15)

Milk-lizard84 said:


> I have just bottled pretty much the exact same beer. Got the recipe from a home brew calendar I got for Christmas.
> Good luck with it Madpierre.


that extract recipe is the april recipe

http://blog.browntrout.com.au/home-brew-beer/
*Ingredients:*
*Fermentables*
Dingemans Biscuit Malt (Mout Roost 50 – Crushed) – 0.2 kg
Briess Caramel Malt 60 L (Crushed) – 0.2 kg
Simpsons Crystal Malt (Crushed) – 0.2 kg
Roasted Rolled Oats – 0.2 kg
Roasted Desiccated Coconut – 0.1 kg
Briess Munich Liquid Malt Extract – 1.0 kg
Briess Sparkling Amber Light Malt Extract – 1.0 kg
Briess Sparkling Amber Dry Malt Extract – 0.3 kg
Lyle’s Golden Syrup 0.25 kg
Lactose 0.25 kg
*Hops*
Challenger (UK) – 40 grams
New Zealand Fuggles – 20 grams
*Yeast*
Safale S-04 – 1 pkt
*Extras*
Vanilla Beans – 1 piece
Cinnamon Sticks – 1 piece
Mixed Spiced – 7 grams


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## Blind Dog (18/2/15)

I'm with the keep it simple crowd. Every ingredient should serve a purpose and you should know what that purpose is.

The original recipe (post 7) almost looks like someone had a list of ingredients for Anzac biscuits and tried to convert it to a beer recipe and then added even more ingredients just for the sake of it. If you look at the classic beer styles they are generally really simple in terms of ingredients, and that helps each ingredient to shine; its really easy to make a muddled mess (and yes I have, many times which is why I now advocate simplicity first).

Personally, I'd go with MO, biscuit, and a medium to dark crystal/cara malt (probably at 90/5/5), and question if you need oats as (in my experience) they don't add any 'oatiness' to beer. I'd also ditch the golden syrup and simply take about 3L of unhopped wort post mash and boil it hard to a syrup (about 250ml) taking care not to burn it and add that back towards the end of the boil.

I'd also ditch the spices, or maybe think about splitting the batch so half is spiced and half not.

Challenger is a great hop. NZ Fuggles I've never used but hopefully they're at the fruity/spicy Willamette/Styrian Golding end of the Fuggle spectrum rather than the earthy UK end?


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## madpierre06 (18/2/15)

Thanks for the feedback fellas. Yes, the original base for this was an extract recipe I found trolling and did some research to convert the extract components to AG. I new there was an Anzac beer recipe in the calender but hadn't checked it out, interesting looking at it now that it is identical to the recipe I found which I have used as the basis for the one I've put together. Wonder who had it first...the calender or the original poster elsewhere, and why there was no acknowledgement made. Just checked, the one which I found online was done in mid 2012. Just double checked, appropriate acknowledgement made.

Anyways, the concern I did have was as already posted here there is a kitchen sink factor and this is one of the reasons I was looking for feedback. The large and mixed grain bill is resultng from the grains which were used to put together the extracts in the first place (as I've found in my research). I have done a handful of AG brews and this was my first go at finding recipes and tweaking them in order tyo start building my own knowledge base with the end result being building my own recipes from scratch. There've been a couple of good points here already which will go towards putting the final brew together and certainly helpful for me personally.




Milk-lizard84 said:


> I have just bottled pretty much the exact same beer. Got the recipe from a home brew calendar I got for Christmas.
> Good luck with it Madpierre.


Pleas elet me know how it goes mate.


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## Milk-lizard84 (18/2/15)

No worries Madpierre. I only just bottled it. I didnt get any coconut taste from just a mash addition so I add 100g in a hop sock with a vanilla pod post fermenting and let it sit for a week.
Seemed to over power other flavours when I tasted the sample but I'm sure it will settle abit. 
This was my grain bill if it helps. Kind cobbled it together from spec grains from original recipe and an amber ale recipe from brewing classic styles


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## Samuel Adams (20/2/15)

I did an ANZAC beer last year with all Australian malt, Aus & NZ hops, golden syrup, toasted oats & re-cultured coopers yeast. 
It turned out ok but seeing this thread has inspired me to have another go & get it better.
I won't restrict myself to 100% Aus malt this time so I can use Dingemans biscuit malt (hey the Belgians were allies at least) & maybe some UK crystal.
I added the golden syrup to the boil & you could taste it in the beer even though most of the sugar would've fermented out. This time I'll add it after a few days of fermentation & possibly bulk prime with it too.
Not sure where to incorporate the coconut, maybe the boil @ 10 mins ? or secondary as TheWiggman suggested.

Here's another couple of threads on ANZAC beers;
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/76870-oats-and-golden-syrup-anzac-biscuit-beer/
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/53091-anzac-biscuit-beer-whos-got-the-recipe/


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## madpierre06 (20/2/15)

After going through the varying and all very helpful suggestions, I've come up with a probable goer:

*Bushman's Rifles Amber Ale*

Maris Otter (Th. Fawcett Fl. Malted) 3.800kg 80%

Biscuit (Dingemans) 0.275kg 5%

Crystal Malt Pale 101L 0.275kg 5%

Rolled Oats (roasted) 0.500kg 10%


3L wort + 280gm Golden Syrup - Boil down separately them mixed back in with boil


*Hops*


Challenger UK 60mins 23gm

Challenger UK 15mins 12gm
Williamette 15mins 12gm

Challenger UK 5mins 12gms 
Williamette 5mins 12gms


*Yeast*


WLP-005


Mash @70C/70mins

Boil 60mins

23L batch

O.G. 1049

F.G. 1012

IBU 28.6

ABV 4.8%



I'm gonna be a few weeks at least off doing this one now due to circumstances here but once done and tasted will put up some feedback. I really appreciate any and all of the comments posted in the thread as they have all given me different aspects of the thought processes I have to apply to build my own recipes.

Milk-lizard84 - please feel free to post your tasting results back here when you've given your brew time to condition.

Likewise Samuel Adams.


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## Milk-lizard84 (15/3/15)

So after about 2 weeks in the bottle I cracked one. I think it turned out pretty good. I cubed this beer and the bitterness is spot on. Seems quite balanced even with the added extras and lactose. Coconut flavours are there but in the background.
Only problem I had with it was I didn't crash chill enough and am left with desiccated coconut floaties in the brew so that's the only downfall.
Interested to see how yours came out Madpierre.


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## madpierre06 (16/3/15)

Milk-lizard84 said:


> So after about 2 weeks in the bottle I cracked one. I think it turned out pretty good. I cubed this beer and the bitterness is spot on. Seems quite balanced even with the added extras and lactose. Coconut flavours are there but in the background.
> Only problem I had with it was I didn't crash chill enough and am left with desiccated coconut floaties in the brew so that's the only downfall.
> Interested to see how yours came out Madpierre.


Love the colour of that mate, and nice to hear it turned out well. As I alluded to few weeks ago, circumstances were delaying putting mine down and it looks like I'll be able to get the grain bill and put it down late this week/early next. Really looking to try this one out based on your results, eh. Shame you're not in Brissie, woulda been nice to swap and get a good idea on what the different recipes do. 

Again, nice looking drop there, eh.


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## takai (23/3/15)

Im just about to brew something in this vein. This is my current recipe, with liberal inspiration from madpierre:


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 5.35%
IBU (tinseth): 34.29
SRM (morey): 9.21

FERMENTABLES:
3.8 kg - American - Pale 2-Row (78.8%)
0.275 kg - Belgian - Biscuit (5.7%)
0.2 kg - American - Caramel / Crystal 20L (4.1%)
0.5 kg - Rolled Oats (10.4%)
0.05 kg - American - Chocolate (1%)

HOPS:
20 g - Pride of Ringwood, Type: Pellet, AA: 10, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 26.81
25 g - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 7.48

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
200 g - Toasted Dessicated Coconut, Time: 90 min, Type: Other, Use: Mash
280 g - Golden Syrup, Time: 15 min, Type: Other, Use: Boil
1 each - Cinnamon Stick, Time: 0 min, Type: Spice, Use: Primary

YEAST:
Mangrove Jack - British Ale Yeast

Debating on when i put the coconut in. Some recipes have it in the mash, others in the boil and others in at secondary.

Thoughts on the recipe? Ideas?


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## Milk-lizard84 (23/3/15)

I used it in the mash but didn't really get much flavour from it. So I added 100g post ferment in a hop bag for about 5 days. Aroma and taste was abit intense tasting samples but it did mellow out in the bottle


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## takai (23/3/15)

Perhaps ill do both then  Impart some of the toasty coconut goodness via the mash and then 50g in the fermenter. Same question goes for the Cinnamon i guess too, should i infuse that at secondary?


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## fcmcg (24/3/15)

I made an ANZAC beer on the weekend....
I'll post my recipe when i get home...
also added half a pack of actual biccy's to the masg and the other half to the boil....
Also inverted half my golden syrup , with some lemon juice...


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## gap (24/3/15)

I thought Golden Syrup was already inverted.


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## fcmcg (24/3/15)

might well be....


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## fcmcg (24/3/15)

gap said:


> I thought Golden Syrup was already inverted.


yeah it is...just found out..lol...


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## takai (24/3/15)

Yeah, Golden Syrup is an inverted sugar syrup, so no need for the lemon to convert the sucrose.

Look forward to the recipe, will be interesting to compare.


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## madpierre06 (24/3/15)

Looking forward to hear how these go, got my grain bill a couple days ago, probably putting down on thursday evening, bottled out should be ready for the 25th April which is when we are also celebrating my daughter's 21st. Double whammy :chug: :super:


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## Samuel Adams (25/3/15)

Pitched the yeast on my mine today, it's got exactly 1 month to ferment & bottle condition for drinking on ANZAC day.
I added some coconut to the mash & it smelt great. Not that fussed whether it is apparent in the final beer.
I will be bulk priming with golden syrup.

My recipe;

23 L
OG - 1.060
IBU - 27

5kg Ale malt
300g Biscuit
300g Dark crystal
300g Oats (toasted)
300g Golden syrup (added during fermentation)
100g Coconut (desiccated) 

10g Topaz @ 60
90g Wai-iti @ Cube

1272 @ 18*c

Tasting notes in 1 month !


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## madpierre06 (25/3/15)

Good to hear mate, look forward to hear how she goes. Don't know if I'll be posting that night though, although will have to behave.


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## takai (3/4/15)

Put mine down today, will be a bit shorter on the ferment and condition time than ideal, but it shoudl be ok. Pretty much the same recipe as the previous page, but with Moteuka rather than Fuggles.


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## takai (4/4/15)




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## indica86 (4/4/15)

Looks interestin mate


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## madpierre06 (4/4/15)

Yeah, am in a bit of a quandary with mine. Put down early in week, initially had some light bubbling then stopped dead so aerated it with no luck. Added another batch of yeast two days later, same again with small amount of bubbling then nothing again. Just got a sample this morning to do a reading, waiting for all the floaties to settle to take it..

UPDATE: Damn, that is crazy Reading is at 1.012, it must hve fermented out super quick, no krausen to speak of, no gas 'bubble' with the plastic wrap.


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## fcmcg (4/4/15)

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com

Recipe: Westgate ANZAC final

Brewer:

Asst Brewer:

Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)

TYPE: All Grain

Taste: (30.0)


Recipe Specifications

--------------------------

Boil Size: 67.41 l

Post Boil Volume: 65.52 l

Batch Size (fermenter): 60.00 l 

Bottling Volume: 60.00 l

Estimated OG: 1.053 SG

Estimated Color: 17.7 EBC

Estimated IBU: 

Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %

Est Mash Efficiency: 79.1 %

Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Ingredients:

------------

Amt Name Type # %/IBU 

7.00 kg Gladfield Ale Malt (6.0 EBC) Grain 1 51.5 % 

1.50 kg Gladfield Light Crystal Malt (54.0 EBC) Grain 2 11.0 % 

1.50 kg Gladfield Wheat Malt (4.2 EBC) Grain 3 11.0 % 

1.00 kg Gladfield Biscuit Crystal Malt (62.0 EBC Grain 4 7.4 % 

0.75 kg Gladfield shephards delighjt(5.9 EBC) Grain 5 5.5 % 

0.50 kg Gladfield Toffee Malt (11.0 EBC) Grain 6 3.7 % 

0.50 kg Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC) Grain 7 3.7 % 

0.85 kg Corn Syrup (2.0 EBC) Sugar 8 6.3 % 

100.00 g Pride of Ringwood [9.00 %] - Boil 60.0 m Hop 9 

10.00 g bsaaz - Boil 60.0 min Hop 10 

20.00 g bsaaz - Boil 10.0 min Hop 11 

10.00 g bsaaz[15.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 12 

150.00 g Pacifica [5.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 Hop 13 0.0 IBUs 

2.0 pkg Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand #-) [23.66 m Yeast 14 - 



Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out

Total Grain Weight: 13.59 kg

----------------------------

Name  Description Step Temperat Step Time 

Mash In Add 34.23 l of water at 71.7 C 65.6 C 75 min 


Sparge: Fly sparge with 46.94 l water at 75.6 C

Notes:

------

This beer started at 1.058 and finished at 1.012
I also added a packet of ANZAC biscuits for shits and giggles....
I also orig planned on using Vic secret but I decided to use some bsaaz I had instead


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## DU99 (4/4/15)

All New Zealand Malt..Ferg


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## takai (4/4/15)

20h in the MJ British Ale yeast is going great guns, will see what happens soon. No huge krausen though, but i suspect the oil from the Coconut might have something to do with that.


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## indica86 (4/4/15)

takai said:


> 20h in the MJ British Ale yeast is going great guns,


LOVE that yeast


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## madpierre06 (5/4/15)

Second day reading still sitting on 1.012, still trying to get my head around how quick it must have fermented out. Tastes reasonable, I don't have much of a palate to speak of but there seems to be some syrupy oat'ie taste there. Looking forward to getting tyhis up and running, would ordinarily let it sit on the cake for a few days but in this case want to get it bottled and carbed up in time to have it mature in time for the 25th.


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## takai (6/4/15)

Well <72hrs later mine is down at 1.012/1.011 depending on the line on the refractometer.  the MJ yeast works quickly.

Mine tastes quite nice, oaty and syrupy taste.

Debating at the moment whether i want to secondary on coconut and cinnamon. Will have until tomorrow evening to decide... Help me AHBers!


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## Milk-lizard84 (6/4/15)

takai said:


> Well <72hrs later mine is down at 1.012/1.011 depending on the line on the refractometer.  the MJ yeast works quickly.
> 
> Mine tastes quite nice, oaty and syrupy taste.
> 
> Debating at the moment whether i want to secondary on coconut and cinnamon. Will have until tomorrow evening to decide... Help me AHBers!


I added about 100g of descicated coconut to mine and it added a nice touch. Was quite prominent at the start but it did mellow out. Also added a quill of cinnamon but I found that it didn't add much.


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## takai (7/4/15)

Righto then, will rack onto 80g of coconut and a cinnamon quill.


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## Milk-lizard84 (7/4/15)

I forgot to add I did add these in a hop sock.


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## takai (8/4/15)

Yeah, i just racked ontop of them,a nd praying that my filter works...


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## takai (17/4/15)

Mine is in the keg now, and while it is cold conditioning and carbing up i poured myself a pint. My palette is still getting over a cold, but it has a rich mouth feel, and a coconut hit at first. Certainly a nice amber, but i think the coconut inhibits it a bit, and almost gives it a diacetyl type taste (its not, but close)


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## Samuel Adams (25/4/15)

Lest we forget 100 years on.





This is tasting pretty good although could use some more time to carb & clear up.
It has a syrupy caramel taste from the golden syrup & a slight hint of coconut (but that could be because I know it's in there. 200g in the mash & it would be noticeable I reckon). The biscuit malt adds the biscuit taste perfectly (shocker).
The Wai-iti hops are beautiful, fruity & smooth. I love these low alpha NZ hops for no chilling.


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## kane85 (1/5/15)

Im doing one this sunday. Pretty much the exact one as from the calender and i cant wait to try it. Will be tweaking it slightly as couldnt get all the exact same ingredients without ordering from 3 different shops so substituted them for others from my local brew store. will be kegging most of it but will put some in bottles for a local beer comp if it comes out well. Im salivating just reading the posts.


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## kane85 (1/5/15)

Im doing one this sunday. Pretty much the exact one as from the calender and i cant wait to try it. Will be tweaking it slightly as couldnt get all the exact same ingredients without ordering from 3 different shops so substituted them for others from my local brew store. will be kegging most of it but will put some in bottles for a local beer comp if it comes out well. Im salivating just reading the posts.


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## fcmcg (2/5/15)

Well mine came third in the westgate brewers ANZAC beer people's choice competition.
Everyone had to use coconut , oats and golden syrup , nz or Aust malt and hops and Nottingham yeast...
I took a keg to the family ANZAC day reunion and the family vb drinkers smashed it lol


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## madpierre06 (2/5/15)

Don't k ow what happened with mine, tried one yesterday at a week and a half in the bottle just to get an idea...damn thing was dead flat, no life in it at all.


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## madpierre06 (6/5/15)

Ok, 4 days later and carbonation has picked up markedly in a bottle which I had given another double invert, having one later tonight which hasn't been inverted to determine whether or not it was time factor or the sugar had not been mixed in sufficiently. There had been quite a few colder days post-bottling which may also have had an impact. The beer itself was still very green, but seems as if there is a nice smooth richness dying to show itself.


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## wide eyed and legless (6/5/15)

Glad it seems to be working out for you, been following the thread but it doesn't seem like my cup of tea. (with ANZAC biscuit to dip}


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## madpierre06 (13/5/15)

wide eyed and legless said:


> Glad it seems to be working out for you, been following the thread but it doesn't seem like my cup of tea. (with ANZAC biscuit to dip}


I do like a nice cup of tea, Lapsang Souchong is my preference with a 'anything' and golden syrup.

I'm thinking, and I was a little more aware as time went on that the ferment happened super quick as I saw very little action in the fermenter yet the F.G. was down to the low reading very quickly. I am concerned as I am getting a taste through which is most unpleasant and very similar to the bloody 'twang' I've experienced in the past when brewing without temp control. I am thinking that possibly if the ferment has happened too quick before getting down to 18 (pitched at 24 then put fermenter in wine/fermenter fridge) some little side effects may have been released into the brew. I've read about esters coming through if the temp is too high, but I couldn't tell an ester from a arsehole.


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## madpierre06 (15/8/15)

Not sure what happened here, for the short period of time this beer was absolutely perfect. Recently ( a few weeks ago), I had tried a couple which when opened turned into lava overflows, losing at least half the contents to said overflow, and stirring up heaps of crud off the bottom. Same result for bottles either from chilled or ambient temps. I opened a couple others just to check for effect....same result.

Then a fellow AHB'er has one from the same batch a couple days ago and says it was perfect.


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## Milk-lizard84 (15/8/15)

Did you bulk prime Madpierre?


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## madpierre06 (15/8/15)

All bottles individually primed, Lizard....and I'm very particular with my measuring


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## Danscraftbeer (15/8/15)

The concept of this beer is something that I will have to try. Is this a recognized or legitimate style?


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## madpierre06 (15/8/15)

From my understanding the amber ale is unless its an american peculiarity i'm certainly no expert on styles eh


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## TheWiggman (17/8/15)

So the original beer as per recipe on page 1 madpierre - do you rate it? Did it taste like Anzac bickies or at least was close to what you were after? I'm talking about the non-gushers of course. 
If it was I would very much like to try this brew.


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## madpierre06 (17/8/15)

TheWiggman said:


> So the original beer as per recipe on page 1 madpierre - do you rate it? Did it taste like Anzac bickies or at least was close to what you were after? I'm talking about the non-gushers of course.
> If it was I would very much like to try this brew.


Hey Wiggman

Yep, post #12 obviously. I will be doing this'un agin, there were some nice smooth flavours. I liked the oaty biscuit/syrup notes which were sitting nicely at the back and there was a nice little bitter edge alongside these.

Be sure to keep us updated, eh.


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## technobabble66 (18/8/15)

madpierre06 said:


> Not sure what happened here, for the short period of time this beer was absolutely perfect. Recently ( a few weeks ago), I had tried a couple which when opened turned into lava overflows, losing at least half the contents to said overflow, and stirring up heaps of crud off the bottom. Same result for bottles either from chilled or ambient temps. I opened a couple others just to check for effect....same result.
> 
> Then a fellow AHB'er has one from the same batch a couple days ago and says it was perfect.


Hey MP06, any chance of an infection? Namely in some bottles but not others (i.e.: rather than the whole batch)?

I had a batch that got acetobacter into it several months ago. Being an aerobic bug, it sat on the top, and the rest of the beer seemed ok; so i bottled it apart from the last few litres. Now months later, it all still tastes ok - so the infection only seems to had a minor impact on flavour - but it's very noticeable that the last few i've opened in the past ~3 months have become instant gushers. They still taste ok. However, (given i know gushers can be a result of certain infections) it's been interesting that these taste ~ok & were fine for the first 3-4 months, but definitely come from an infected batch, and now have become gushers only recently. 
Coincidently it was also an Amber ... Maybe God just doesn't like Ambers.


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## madpierre06 (18/8/15)

technobabble66 said:


> Hey MP06, any chance of an infection? Namely in some bottles but not others (i.e.: rather than the whole batch)?
> 
> I had a batch that got acetobacter into it several months ago. Being an aerobic bug, it sat on the top, and the rest of the beer seemed ok; so i bottled it apart from the last few litres. Now months later, it all still tastes ok - so the infection only seems to had a minor impact on flavour - but it's very noticeable that the last few i've opened in the past ~3 months have become instant gushers. They still taste ok. However, (given i know gushers can be a result of certain infections) it's been interesting that these taste ~ok & were fine for the first 3-4 months, but definitely come from an infected batch, and now have become gushers only recently.
> Coincidently it was also an Amber ... Maybe God just doesn't like Ambers.


I'm not sure techno, my knowledge on these things is limited to observations ie. if I see mould, then I know it's infected. All of the remaining bottles in the batch were gushers ( I opened 'em all to tip as I was concerned about bombs), and I noticed that there had been a lot of little black flakes in the stirred up crap when she started to blow. I did try and strain out the remnants of a bottle which had gushed and stirred and it still tasted pretty reasonable. I'm not sure how/if I may have gotten an infection, the beer looked ok in the FV. And I'm pretty anal about my cleaning and sterilising. But what you describe of your experience sounds pretty much identical to mine. I might have to do some reading up on these things when I get back to Brissie.


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## technobabble66 (18/8/15)

Yeah. Could be lots of reasons really. I'm a bit of a noob with this stuff. 
I was just wondering if maybe somehow some particular bottles got an acetobacter infection - it makes vinegar out of alcohol so it's safe, just it'll screw the beer if it has enough oxygen. Given there's v little O2 in a bottle, maybe it had enough live a little, but not enough to impact the flavour. Somehow that was enough to cause the gushers? Caused the faintest film across the (top) liquid surface of my bottles - a bit like a sprinkle of dust across the beer. 
Maybe there were just too many hops fragments or other bits that got into the bottles?


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## madpierre06 (23/8/15)

technobabble66 said:


> Yeah. Could be lots of reasons really. I'm a bit of a noob with this stuff.
> I was just wondering if maybe somehow some particular bottles got an acetobacter infection - it makes vinegar out of alcohol so it's safe, just it'll screw the beer if it has enough oxygen. Given there's v little O2 in a bottle, maybe it had enough live a little, but not enough to impact the flavour. Somehow that was enough to cause the gushers? Caused the faintest film across the (top) liquid surface of my bottles - a bit like a sprinkle of dust across the beer.
> Maybe there were just too many hops fragments or other bits that got into the bottles?


Just got back yesterday evening, plan on doing some research into this stuff, and you've got me thinking about things like the films and such that you mention there and keep an eye out for 'em. Thing that got my attentionw as tyhe gushers weren't instantaneous, there was a second or so pause, then the lava started to flow rather than just an explosion of CO2 and beer upon opening.


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