What are you drinking in 2023?

[Malter White]

1 hour ago, ozdevil said:

@Malter White  do you use the Puratap  for your extract  brewing and have you tested this with  a brew that has been done with normal  tap water     to see what difference it has made?    

Hi Oz.
Yes I use Puratap for my extracts. I've never bothered using regular Adelaide tap water because, as you'd probably know, it has bones in it.  Puratap water is clearer and has no "flavour" so I've never felt the need to do a comparison. 

[Kegory]

5 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

Love the glass  

Maiden are coming next September but I think I have 189 reasons times two not to go, unfortunately. Currently, my pain threshold is $150 for concert tickets. 

My pain threshold is significantly lower than that. I was quite tempted to go see Nile Rogers but $89 dissuaded me.

[Kegory]

It was meant to be a semi regular catch up tonight with some friends. We've enjoyed a few Mountain Goats Steam Ales at recent catch ups and tonight I was planning to introduce them to my Steam Beer. I have used them as test subjects for some of my variously primed brews on previous occasions.

Instead I'm at home doing a Taste Test Challenge: 011, Steam Beer, bottled 24/9/23, conditioned 18 days, lagered 26 days, vs Mountain Goat Organic Steam Ale, Best Before/After/etc date not found (label says see bottle shoulder but I can't find anything).

A note on the style. Steam Beer is also known as California Common. This is because Anchor Brewing trademarked "Steam Beer" so nobody else can use that title. Well, commercial Brewers can't, home brewers can call their beers whatever they want. Steam Beer/California Common is a lager brewed at ale temperatures.

011, poured 2nd, had a slightly bigger head and much better retention. Neither left any lacing.

MG had a sweet, fruity/citrusy aroma. 011 had more of a spicy aroma. MG was more carbonated. 011 would probably be better with a bit more fizz.

The MG tastes more like an XPA or Pacific Ale. Time for a little research. It's the Citra & Galaxy hops I'm tasting most. I can't determine the Hallertau or the wheat, well, maybe the wheat a little, barely. Mountain Goat Organic Steam Ale is a reimagining of Steam Beer, an ale brewed at lager temperatures with (possibly) a more contemporary blend of hops.

These are pretty different beers. I can taste the Dark Crystal Malt influence, I think, and looking up the Northern Brewer hops (herbal, wood, peppery), yes, those words do have their place in the flavour and aroma.

011 also had a nice head on top up and decent retention. MG all went into one glass.

Well, I like the MG Steam Ale, but I don't think it's a California Common. I also like 011. It's not a bad beer, interesting, fairly crisp. I'd like to try another California Common. I know someone who's brewing one so I must wrangle a taste.

Here are the brew notes:

[Shamus O'Sean]

9 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

Love the glass  

Maiden are coming next September but I think I have 189 reasons times two not to go, unfortunately. Currently, my pain threshold is $150 for concert tickets. 

I love the glass too @Red devil 44.

@Aussiekraut, no pain no gain.  I went for the 2 x 189 (actually $200+ for the collector tickets).  Especially given that, in the morning when I first logged in to get tickets, the General Admission Floor allocation was exhausted.  If I could not get the Floor, I was not going.  After dinner that night I was stewing about not going.  SWMBO mentioned about people from country areas having to get interstate to see shows.  It made me think, I wonder if they still have Floor tickets elsewhere (Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, etc).  So I checked and blow me down if all the other capitals still had tickets.  Then on a whim, I checked Melbourne again for tickets and blow me down even further, if there were Floor tickets showing as available at Rod Laver.  Having nearly missed out, I endured the pain and nabbed a couple.  I have no idea why earlier in the day, Ticketek were showing no Floor tickets in Melbourne.  But I am not complaining now.

[Aussiekraut]

9 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I love the glass too @Red devil 44.

@Aussiekraut, no pain no gain.  I went for the 2 x 189 (actually $200+ for the collector tickets).  Especially given that, in the morning when I first logged in to get tickets, the General Admission Floor allocation was exhausted.  If I could not get the Floor, I was not going.  After dinner that night I was stewing about not going.  SWMBO mentioned about people from country areas having to get interstate to see shows.  It made me think, I wonder if they still have Floor tickets elsewhere (Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, etc).  So I checked and blow me down if all the other capitals still had tickets.  Then on a whim, I checked Melbourne again for tickets and blow me down even further, if there were Floor tickets showing as available at Rod Laver.  Having nearly missed out, I endured the pain and nabbed a couple.  I have no idea why earlier in the day, Ticketek were showing no Floor tickets in Melbourne.  But I am not complaining now.

Yeah, I was seriously considering it but when SWMBO said no, not for that price, I decided not to go. Plus the Entertainment Centre here in Brisbane is so far out of town, it is a joke. It's not far off 70km from here, in the middle of nowhere. No idea who thought it would be a great location. 

So I ended up getting single tickets for the Kreator + In Flames doubleheader and Sepultura. They cost less combined than a single Maiden ticket would have been. It's a shame because I have the sneaking suspicion it is their last tour down here but I've seen them 4 times, so it isn't that bad a thing. I still have unused tickets somewhere for the last show that got cancelled because of Covid. Does that count?

[DavidM]

17 hours ago, Malter White said:

Yes I use Puratap for my extracts. I've never bothered using regular Adelaide tap water because, as you'd probably know, it has bones in it. 

I use Tap water, my brews must be crap! 

But I'm happy with them

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, DavidM said:

I use Tap water, my brews must be crap! 

But I'm happy with them

You would notice a big difference even with just a Puratap.

[Kegory]

24 minutes ago, DavidM said:

I use Tap water, my brews must be crap! 

But I'm happy with them

None of my friends or family could taste the chloramine twang in my earlier beers. They said they tasted good. Then, after I removed the chloramine (I'd already been evaporating off the chlorine), they were very aware of it's absence. Now they think my beers taste really good.

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

This Draught tastes really good now after a couple of weeks in the keg, the only problem is everyone else thinks so too 

[Cheap Charlie]

@Classic Brewing Co nice clarity, good colour

[Classic Brewing Co]

2 minutes ago, Cheap Charlie said:

@Classic Brewing Co nice clarity, good colour

Cheers, it is a good drop too.

[Cheap Charlie]

My basic pils, only 1 week in the keg, I would describe it as clean, crisp, slight malt flavour, (but not too much) accentuated by the saaz hop aroma. I used a small amount of ella for bittering then 45g of saaz pellets at flameout. This was brewed with Coopers Pale Malt which gives a more golden colour than say BB or Simpsons. Fortunately I can get Ellerslie Coopers malt quite cheap and to be honest whislt still pale it gives a better colour than the aforementioned competitors. I get the Coopers malt at a great price from my LHBS so will continue buying it - $65 is very fair imo and a lot cheaper than other malts, so please Ellerslie, don't raise your prices! All are good malts by the way, no complaints here Some comments from my megaswill buddies included "There's nothing wrong with that", "Very smooth", and "You could sell this no problem". I will take that as a win! But to be perfectly honest, she ain't perfect, some more brews and experimentation required to perfect this brew, but I would have to say I think I'm on the right path and very happy with this one as an amatuer home brewer.

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

23 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I love the glass too @Red devil 44.

@Aussiekraut, I have no idea why earlier in the day, Ticketek were showing no Floor tickets in Melbourne.  But I am not complaining now.

I believe this is because people trying to buy tickets have a time limit on purchase. So X amount of people could have been on before you looking at those tickets. Whether or not on there basket or just browsing deciding if would pay the money or not. 

Some people probably wanted them but just plain unlucky by the time they log onto account or create account they time out. Then it leaves them available to someone else searching again like yourself. 

I know this because many ticket sites use the same principle for sporting events and seating. So they can't sell a double seat or more than what they have available. 

I have in the past timed out to then find someone else looking at the seats or area and they are unavailable. 

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

scooner of swill waiting for  a pizza mmmmmm  and only $5.50

Edited November 10, 2023 by Uhtred Of Beddanburg

[Cheap Charlie]

A rainy Saturday morning here, a good excuse to do some domestic drearies - but nothing dreary about this pils, it's coming along quite nicely. Dreading that empty keg sound, but I won't think about that now - I will just pretend that this brew will last forever

 

[Kegory]

A sneak peek at my Irish Red Ale

Well, I reckon it looks like a red ale.

It smells like a red ale.

And I reckon it tastes pretty much like a red ale.

So far so good. I'll pull them out of the conditioning cave and let the aging process begin. Tomorrow, I think, I'll just watch cricket and drink beer for the rest of the day.

@DavidM, this was brewed to recipe except for the steep (30 minutes from 66-63 degrees) and I used a packet of Wyeast 1084 liquid yeast.

 

[Kegory]

1 hour ago, Kegory said:

 

@DavidM, this was brewed to recipe except for the steep (30 minutes from 66-63 degrees) and I used a packet of Wyeast 1084 liquid yeast.

 

Correction, I also brewed it a few degrees lower than the recipe recommends to fit in with the yeast's temperature range. I'll post the brew notes at a later stage.

[Brauhaus Fritz]

What can be better than an AG Hefeweizen and live Brazilian Football, go Palmeiras. The Weizen turned out very nice, lacking a bit of cloves, but otherwise I am very happy. Still brewed without a brewing fridge, so the next one might be better. Had a few of this one before, but this is the first out of a proper glass, yum

[Brauhaus Fritz]

13 days in the bottle and the "Nanook's Real Ale" does not disappoint, nice earthy, piney and citrussy aromas and flavors. It could have a bit more body, but maybe that's the can of Real Ale. Might do it again with a Coopers Pale Ale as I still have some Zappa hops left. I have to confess that I had a few already after a week of bottle conditioning and as nice as it was it just got better from there. Will have another one now, ha ha. And no, it really does not taste like yellow snow (any Zappa fans here)

Edited November 13, 2023 by Brauhaus Fritz

[Brauhaus Fritz]

Had one of 'Fritz's Extra Stouts" last night. Great drop

[ben 10]

All grain saison

 

[Kegory]

2 hours ago, Brauhaus Fritz said:

What can be better than an AG Hefeweizen and live Brazilian Football, go Palmeiras. The Weizen turned out very nice, lacking a bit of cloves, but otherwise I am very happy. Still brewed without a brewing fridge, so the next one might be better. Had a few of this one before, but this is the first out of a proper glass, yum

Ooooo, I'm jealous of that glass.

[Brauhaus Fritz]

26 minutes ago, Kegory said:

Ooooo, I'm jealous of that glass.

St Vinnies 

[Kegory]

You're joking.

1 minute ago, Brauhaus Fritz said:

St Vinnies 

 

[Kegory]

This is a taste test but not a Taste Test Challenge. The first and last bottled bottles of 013, Irish Red Ale, bottled 22/10/23, conditioned 22 days. First is on the left, last on the right.

I had a few reasons to be nervous about this one. It was the first time I'd used liquid yeast and the packet didn't swell up as much as I'd expected it to. It also sat around longer than anticipated after I activated it. And when I finally did pitch it into the wort I discovered that the little nutrient pack inside was actually a two parter and one half was still in tact.

Don't worry about it, she'll be right, right? That's what I thought, too. I cut the other nutrient pack and poured it in. It wasn't until the next day that I started getting nervous.

The next morning there was no sign of fermentation. +24 hours nothing, not even condensation. +36 hours, is that a little condensation? +48 hours, this is not looking good.

It was somewhere during that day that I realized my brilliant idea of keeping the liquid yeast in the bottom of my lagering fridge had not been quite as brilliant as I thought. Every time I'd put a batch in the fridge for lagering it had raised the temperature inside the fridge quite a bit for quite a while. That's probably not good.

The next day there was a little patchy krausen and not much but a bit of condensation. The gravity has dropped.

The gravity finished a little higher than I expected and I batch primed for the first time. I also dosed the first ten bottles with what I calculated to be 7ppm of potassium metabisulphite.

Potassium metabisulphite is one of those wonderful substances with many uses that could also quite easily kill you. Apart from dechlorinating brewing water it can also be used to prevent oxidization among other things. Apparently you can even make up a no rinse sanitizer with it.

The Irish Red Ale recipe says it's a good candidate for aging. So I'm gonna age some. Mainly the bottles with 7pom KMS but also a few without so I can compare them.

So, before I consign them to a long term aging exbeeriment I need to make sure the KMS addition hasn't ruined the beer.

They both have a lovely reddish hue. The last had a slightly bigger head and slightly better retention. I put that down to the vagaries of the priming (some of the beer already in the tap probably didn't mix with the priming mixture).

Both are nicely carbonated. There is something toffee like in the aroma, a slightly malty and is that caramel or toffee flavour with a pleasant bitterness. The mouthfeel is satisfying but maybe a smidgen more body would be better.

I cannot detect any difference attributable to the KMS.

I am extremely happy with this beer it is very nice. I blame the yeast. And it's still pretty young. If 013 improves with age it will become a very good beer. Here are the brew notes: