Recent content by Bitches Brew

This hop isn't widely available in Oz so I thought that I would post some observations about my first shot at using it in an American pale ale. I am not a hop-head. I enjoy a bit of a bitter bite to balance my American pale ales and love a heady aroma of hops, but I don't aim for 50+ IBU in this...

I was thinking about putting on an APA with Wai-iti hops. The descriptions of the flavour and aroma profile (having mandarin, lemon and lime zest) sounds pretty cool. I was interested to hear from folks who have used them to find out: 1) whether a little goes a long way (I don't want a hop bomb...

Remi, I haven't worked with this strain before, but I find that a number of the belgian strains go gang-busters for the first 3-7 days and then do their work slowly over the next few weeks. With my BGSAs and trippels I often go from 1.070ish to 1.020 in the first 5-6 days and then it takes...

+1 for rice hulls. I use them whenever my recipes contains significant amounts of wheat or rolled oats. I have used some pretty sticky mashes, but I've never had a stuck sparge. The underlying problem is hard to address without seeing your milled grain. I have my own mill and set the rollers to...

Mardoo, I spoke to 2 LHBS and no dice. I have also spoken to most of the online sites in Oz and a number of US sites. Basically, there isn't enough interest from brewers here to warrant the cost and effort of ordering it from Gambrinus. djar007 and Judanaro, thanks for the info. I brew on a...

I don't try to clone Duvel per se, but my BGSA comes out fairly similar is style. Duvel is hard to clone because they use a variety of Pilsner malts to add complexity and a mash and fermentation schedule that would make most homebrewers cry. To me BGSA is all about the yeast. The key is to...

Cheers. I tried a number of local and foreign brew supply sites, but I didn't try Bintani. I will give them a go.

Thanks for the response. Melanoidin is similar in that a little goes a long way in a brew but it tends to be maltier and it doesn't really give that strong honey flavour. I've also played around with belgian aromatic malt which is proposed as a substitute. Real honey tends to lighten the body of...

I have just returned to Australia after living in the US for the past 6 years. I have had trouble finding Gambrinus honey malt which I use in a number of brews. Does anyone know a source of this specialty malt in Australia? I have previously tested a variety of substitutes but nothing truly...