Have you tried WLP 037 in your previous attempts, I believe is supposed to be the Sam Smith's yeast.
I'd reckon an og of 1.048, 95% MO pale malt, 5% Simpson's med crystal, hop to approx 30-40 ibu with EKGs/Styrians would get you close to the ballpark.
I'd suggest yeast choice will be the...
It's subjective taste really, there's no right or wrong combo with food pairing though I reckon a berlinner weisse would have gone well with the sour patch kids lollies!B-)
I haven't got much of a sweet tooth, but I do like 70-80% dark chocolate with a big foreign extra or imperial stout.
Cheese and beer is more my cup of tea, a stinking blue Rochefort or Gorgonzola with a Gueuze is pretty much heaven in my eyes.
I like your blog man, entertaining!
I've done a few batches with Red Back from 5-8%, good copper/red colours, flavour is a mix of medium crystal and dry toasty notes, Gladfield make some unique malts.
I believe some NZ breweries are using this and Sheppards Delight in their Reds/Ambers, might be a good excuse for some homework...
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/post1888/
this is a great podcast about blending wine and beer yeast in mixed fermentations, I think several beer styles could work well with wine flavours, wish I had a pint of Sav Blanc Nelson Sauvin Saison right now.
The bitterness will drop off over time, 70 doesn't seem excessive to me if it's a relatively high OG you're shooting for.
If you're planning for 23L in the fermentor I'd question whether 50L of brewing liquor will be enough considering your doing a 2-3 hour boil plus approx 10L loss to grain...
Can't go wrong with 3711, I've just brewed four saison's with it, all had an OG of 1.002 or lower, no sugars added.
Keen to hear how this saison turns out, the Mandarina hops sound interesting
I read most nights, mostly brewing, chemistry, tech manuals for work. I don't get to read as much fiction as I'd like to, but I love horror, sci fi, bizarre and perverse novels, poetry and a tonne of William Burroughs.
Another trick to do is get a pedestal fan to blow air over your kettle while spraying the outside kettle surface with a water mist, helps to speed up the process, I also spray my burner stand as I find it retains a lot of heat energy.
That's pretty much my exact plan as well! I think it will provide the Bacteria a chance to build up nicely. I'm planning on attempting the same idea in another keg with a bottle dreg culture I've been propping up for a month.
That will work, I've seen a couple of different threads on it, I believe the downside is not knowing what strains of Lacto are present on the grain.
From what I've read different strains have different sweet spots temperature wise to maximize clean lactic acid production and minimize off...
I'll second Milk The Funk, lots of good info in the group and on their wiki page.
I'm kicking up two lacto starters this weekend, one from Jalna Greek yoghurt and one from probiotic capsules, both destined for berlinner's.
Hey mate, solenoids aren't really designed for flow modulation, they're either on or off, which is not good for your pump.
Modulating actuators that control a valve body might be more what you're looking for, bearing in mind you'll need a controller to operate them, a PLC, DDC etc.
I...
Best of luck to them, MG have done the hard yards and it's good to see them succeed. In regards to the doom sayers on the subject of beer quality going downhill after the takeover, I say wait and judge for yourself when you have the beer in hand.