Some Recent Brews - Recipes And Reviews

[waggastew]

In the past I have complained that there are too many 'dead end' threads ie. ' I just brewed this, will report back in 2 months' and then nothing. So in the interest of being slightly less hypocritical than usual here are some of my most recent brews. Will begin with an extract Weizenbock

Wise Old BO'c

2 x Can Coopers Wheat Malt
800g Wheat DME
200g Special B
200g Light crystal
50g Choc wheat
100g Carafa 1
500g dex
45g Tettanger, 60min
3068, 1 cup of thick slurry from a previous weizen

Grains steeped for 1/s hr the usual way. Mini-boil (~6L) with some wheat DME to bring it up to 1040. Made upto 23L with the rest of the malt. Fermented at 17degC for 16 days then crash chilled before bottling. SG 1066, FG 1014, ABV 7.5%.

Appearance Deep golden brown with ruby highlights. Fine creamy off-white head that dissipates somewhat to a thin layer. Revives after swirling.

Aroma Caramel, bubblegum, clove and spice. Hint of banana.

Flavour and mouthfeel Medium carbonation and full body. Burnt caramel/toffee malts with a bit of raisin. Not overly cloying. Finishes with the clove/bubblegum aroma. Alcohol is warming but not over the top.

Overall A nice darker-style wheat that has Autumn written all over it. Probably lacking in the fine complexities of an AG beer but still ticks all the major style boxes. Needs a few months to settle in and let the alcohol smooth out.

 

[waggastew]

Weizen/Hibiscus Weizen

This beer was a follow up to a test-brew I did last summer. Basically I brewed an extract Weizen and then split the batch in two. One half stayed 'plain', the other got some hibiscus tea (see below). There are a few threads around on AHB that talk about that process. Technically the beer is not a true weizen as it does not have enough wheat malt but it still had all the right characteristics.

1kg Extra Light DME
1.5kg dry German wheat malt
100g carahell, steeped
25g of tettanger steeped
Yeast slurry from 2L starter of 3068

Made upto 20L. Fermented at 17degC for two weeks before crash chilling. SG 1048, FG1011, ABV ~5.5%.

'Plain' Weizen'

Appearance - Nice light golden colour with slight haze. Nice fluffy head, maybe could do with a bit more carb. I did not add to much priming sugar as I was wary of gushers. Have improved my sanitation so I am getting less carb recently in general.

Aroma - Lots of clove, some banana. Smells quite fresh with hints of bread.

Flavour and mouthfeel - Nice refreshing tart flavour. Clove comes through with only a hint of banana. Bitterness is not noticeable and beer is in balance. Yeast flavour is dominant as per style.

Overall - Very happy with this one. Might up the wheat malt next year but otherwise all good. 3068 did a great job getting the yeast character across.

Hibiscus Weizen

For this beer I steeped 45g of flowers in 1L of boiling H2O with 100g of dex for three hours. After it cooled I added it to a cube along with 9L of the weizen (1 week into the ferment). After a week I crash chilled and bottled.

Appearance - Golden, with a nice ruby tint from the hibiscus

Aroma - Floral with a hint of berry against the clove/banana of the base beer.

Flavour and mouthfeel - This combo works really well. The hibiscus brings a tartness and helps to make the weizen even more refreshing. The tannins in the tea also complement the background bitterness.

Overall - A definite winner. Everyone who has tried this beer loves it.

 

[waggastew]

West Coast PA/IPA

Intention was to brew a nice C-hop beer that was on the border of PA/IPA. Got the hop schedule loosely from Ale Smith IPA.

1 Coopers Pale Ale Tin
1 Coopers Light Malt Tin
0.5kg Wheat DME
300g crystal, steeped
500g dextrose
1tsp Calcium sulphate (gypsum)
12g each of simcoe, amarillo, cascade and chinook at 20min
10g each of simcoe, amarillo, cascade and chinook, dry hopped Day 0
10g each of simcoe, amarillo, cascade and chinook, dry hopped Day 7
US-05 at 17degC for 15 days, then crash chilled and bottled.

SG 1054, FG 1012, ABV 6.1%

Appearance Golden orange, fine carbonation, fluffy off-white head that sticks around the whole way down the glass.

Aroma American C-hops, marmalade, pine resin, slight hint of toffee

Flavour and mouthfeel Nice medium full mouthfeel with good level of carbonation. Hops are first up followed by some caramel malt. Bitterness kicks in but is well within balance. It lingers on the palate somewhat (almost a bit of aniseed about it) but its not a tongue coater.

Overall Very happy with this beer. Definitely on the border of PA/IPA. Given I have recently moved from K&B to extract I will have to try an extract equivalent.

 

[waggastew]

Gelden Ale Aybrou

A modification of Dr Smutro's famous Golden Ale using Nelson Sav and Galaxy

1 Thomas Coopers Sparkling Ale Can
1 Coopers Liquid Wheat Malt
250g caramalt light crystal, steeped
1/2 tsp gypsum
15g Galaxy, 15mins
15g NS, 10mins
15g of NS dry hop, Day0
US05 at 18degC

Usual method. Made upto 23L. SG 1050, FG 1012, ABV 5.6%

Appearance Golden.funny that. Nice tight off-white head. Fine carb.

Aroma Tropical fruit with definite pleasant grassy/herbal hop presence

Flavour and mouthfeel Nice carb, initially malty but hops quickly shine through. Some citrus almost orange juice flavours in the background. Good level of bitterness that does not overwhelm, leaving it balanced.

Overall A nice variation on Dr Smurtos classic. Not miles away from the Amarillo, but maybe a bit more bitterness from the Galaxy to step it up.

 

[waggastew]

Guinness Clone

This was an attempt at doing the Guinness thing. Used a partial mash derivative of the widely discussed simple malt bill. Soured some of the wort separately but wussed out and didnt add it.

1.5kg Coopers Light Liquid Malt
600g Dark DME
400g Pale ale malt, mini-mash
250g roast barley, mini-mash
400g flaked barley, mini-mash
60g of EKG, 60min
1/3 tsp chalk
1/4 tsp sodium bicarb
Slurry from a 1L starter of 1084 Irish Ale, fermented at 17deg, then raised to 20degC for a few days at end, before crash chill and bottle.

Made upto 21L. SG 1.032 (seemed low?), FG 1.012, ABV 3.2%

Left Original (O) Right Clone ©

Appearance Clone lacks smooth creamy head due to lack of $500 nitro setup. (Tried the pocket beer engine but the beer hastoo much carb so it just builds the head up). Colour of head is almost identical, ditto the colour of the beers.

Aroma Clone had a sweeter aroma, the original has more a roasty note.

Flavour and mouthfeel Clone obviously has adifferent mouthfeel due to afore mentioned lack of nitro. Otherwise the flavour of both beers are similar with mine suffering for coming across thinner. Mine is also a little sharper, maybe the CO2 or maybe I got a bit more of the acrid stuff out of the dark malt. Also lacks some of the graininess (a common prob with my extract/K&K beers)

Overall Although not really close enough tocall a clone my beer is definitely a lovely dry stout. I had a real true Dubliner (who was stayed with us a few weeks back) run his tastebuds over it and he thought it nice enough. Will be a basis for further tweaking in the future.

 

[The Village Idiot]

Thanks for the post waggastew, the kit and bits brewers get a bit lost in the AG mash. Good work mate

 

[warra48]

Nice series of posts, and very good follow up feedback.

Having tasted some of these brews, I can say your descriptions are pretty spot on.

From memory, I particularly liked the Golden Ale, the IPA, and the Hibiscus Weizen.

You're doing great work with kits and bits, in spite of your commitments with a growing family.

PS: I have an Alt just bottled a week ago. One or two have been set aside for you to sample when we have an opportunity to meet again.

 

[RustyT]

Nice looking beers mate, will have to try a few of those recipe's!

 

[thebeemann]

Awsome recipes , when my fermenter is free ( bloody wife and her ginger beer ) i will be doing the Westcoast .

 

[DU99]

all look good..look's like trip to LHBS to get some gear for Gelden Ale Aybrou

 

[RobboMC]

I'd don't mean to pick on your nice looking recipe, but this seems to be missing about 2kg of malt extract.

I thought guiness was a lot stronger. At first glance with the inredients list your SG feels pretty right.
Maybe the addition of a stout kit would also increase the feel and flavour.

 

[waggastew]

I'd don't mean to pick on your nice looking recipe, but this seems to be missing about 2kg of malt extract.

I thought guiness was a lot stronger. At first glance with the inredients list your SG feels pretty right.
Maybe the addition of a stout kit would also increase the feel and flavour.

Guinness draught is about 4.3%. According to the K&K spreadsheet I should have got a SG of 1.041 and an ABV in the bottle of 4.5%. I may have got that and actually made an error with the SG measurement. Other option is I did not get enough extract out of the grain.

Either way its a nice dry stout thats seems pretty balanced. Same cannot be said for the >10% ABV RIS I brewed last year. Will be waiting a while for that beer to settle down.