The Flyingscrapyard
Member
- Joined
- 31/3/16
- Messages
- 24
- Reaction score
- 4
I have finally tried to sit down and post something in the forum and to make myself known (in a fairly inconspicuous way).
My brewing story so far. I didn't even drink beer until around 10 years ago (spirits mostly), and after being paid in XXXX for work I did for someone, I thought I would never like beer at all. Then I discovered beer OTHER than XXXX. From there, I grew a liking for UK beers, Aussie pale ales, some of the US ales, and the odd German beer when I could find them. I enjoy many of the Coopers ales, particularly Vintage Ale and Celebration Ale. Fortunately, there are more to try, so looking forward to finding others I may like to brew in future.
For me, brewing offered the opportunity to have more of the styles of beer I find hard to obtain or too expensive to drink on any regular basis.
My first brew type experience came from a nearby Brew 4 U business, and I was happy with the results, even if I did little of the brewing myself. When the business closed, I started fermenting out fresh wort kits from Craftbrewer in Capalaba, Qld. This was a bit more hands on, and there were some great kits, but there is nothing like being in control of your own destiny. Time to move to brewing from malt to finished product.
I encountered the BIAB concept, and sounded like a great place to start, so the necessary equipment was paid off on layby, and some recipes grovelled to start off with. Initial results were fairly pleasing (Rogers Ale clone from memory). I have just completed batch 14 (a Marzen / Oktoberfest), which is fermenting in the thermostatically controlled bar fridge. Out of the 14 batches, 5 would be ones I'd be proud to offer a seasoned brewer, the others were more something a parent could love. Only one was pretty ordinary, but not ordinary enough to throw out.
Valuable lessons learned from others: cleanliness & temp control. Lesson learned at home: I found I would get some bottles with a slight "mushy peas" flavour to them. The gents from Craftbrewer sampled it and concluded that it was probably an infection, and better sanitizing was needed. Up to this point, I was using a spray bottle of sanitizer, but moved to pouring some into each vessel and swirling before draining, and I haven't had the issue since. Thanks Ross & Anthony.
Another tip that has been a marked improvement was to mix up the priming solution and add it to a second fermenter before emptying the first into it. No more unevenly carbonated bottles. I will move to kegging once I have finished paying down the layby, so won't really miss the time spent scrubbing bottles, and finding places to put them all.
I would like to explore what malts give what characters to beer. Recently I brewed a Wee Heavy, and would like to make again, but reduce the "prune" flavour in it a little, as it is the dominant flavour. Fermentables were MO, Carared, Crystal (light), Munich (light), and chocolate. MO was the bulk of the grains, and also boosted with Briess LME. I'm keen to learn more on malt selection, and would welcome advice and experiences from the membership. Thanks to all who have taken the time to read my wordy introduction.
My brewing story so far. I didn't even drink beer until around 10 years ago (spirits mostly), and after being paid in XXXX for work I did for someone, I thought I would never like beer at all. Then I discovered beer OTHER than XXXX. From there, I grew a liking for UK beers, Aussie pale ales, some of the US ales, and the odd German beer when I could find them. I enjoy many of the Coopers ales, particularly Vintage Ale and Celebration Ale. Fortunately, there are more to try, so looking forward to finding others I may like to brew in future.
For me, brewing offered the opportunity to have more of the styles of beer I find hard to obtain or too expensive to drink on any regular basis.
My first brew type experience came from a nearby Brew 4 U business, and I was happy with the results, even if I did little of the brewing myself. When the business closed, I started fermenting out fresh wort kits from Craftbrewer in Capalaba, Qld. This was a bit more hands on, and there were some great kits, but there is nothing like being in control of your own destiny. Time to move to brewing from malt to finished product.
I encountered the BIAB concept, and sounded like a great place to start, so the necessary equipment was paid off on layby, and some recipes grovelled to start off with. Initial results were fairly pleasing (Rogers Ale clone from memory). I have just completed batch 14 (a Marzen / Oktoberfest), which is fermenting in the thermostatically controlled bar fridge. Out of the 14 batches, 5 would be ones I'd be proud to offer a seasoned brewer, the others were more something a parent could love. Only one was pretty ordinary, but not ordinary enough to throw out.
Valuable lessons learned from others: cleanliness & temp control. Lesson learned at home: I found I would get some bottles with a slight "mushy peas" flavour to them. The gents from Craftbrewer sampled it and concluded that it was probably an infection, and better sanitizing was needed. Up to this point, I was using a spray bottle of sanitizer, but moved to pouring some into each vessel and swirling before draining, and I haven't had the issue since. Thanks Ross & Anthony.
Another tip that has been a marked improvement was to mix up the priming solution and add it to a second fermenter before emptying the first into it. No more unevenly carbonated bottles. I will move to kegging once I have finished paying down the layby, so won't really miss the time spent scrubbing bottles, and finding places to put them all.
I would like to explore what malts give what characters to beer. Recently I brewed a Wee Heavy, and would like to make again, but reduce the "prune" flavour in it a little, as it is the dominant flavour. Fermentables were MO, Carared, Crystal (light), Munich (light), and chocolate. MO was the bulk of the grains, and also boosted with Briess LME. I'm keen to learn more on malt selection, and would welcome advice and experiences from the membership. Thanks to all who have taken the time to read my wordy introduction.
