May 21 2014
I added permenant volume markings to the inside of my brew kettle using a simple electrolytic acid etching technique that I discovered on the Home Brew Talk forum. Here’s how I did it: 1. Mark 10 litre volume increments in the kettle using electrical tape. I measured the water volume accurately by weighing it (1L …
Apr 23 2012
Proper grain mills can be expensive, especially here in New Zealand so when I found out that some home brewers were having success with converting cheap pasta makers into grain mills it seemed like something worth trying and I picked up one on TradeMe for $22. The rollers on a pasta maker are smooth and …
Apr 16 2012
I’ll admit it, I’m a frugal home brewer. One of the original attractions to home-brewing for me was the cost savings aspect. But I notice a lot of home brewers get carried away by the hobby and spend a small fortune on all sorts of fancy gear. The home brewing experience for these gear obsessed …
Mar 06 2012
Hey there, this post is a collaboration post with some other home brewing bloggers to review all the different brewing software applications that we use. Links to the other reviews are at the bottom of this post. I came across BrewMate when I was looking for a free recipe calculator application. In the past I …
Feb 22 2012
I found a local guy in Nelson that sells home brewing ingredients, Bill Fennell (website – ThatBeerPlace.com). I had a look through is his lists of supplies and the bulk malt extract caught my attention because it cost a fraction of what I usually pay for malt. The only snag was that it came in …
Jan 17 2012
A toucan brew is simply one done with 2 cans of pre-hopped extract. The Coopers Stout that I brewed last year tasted nice but I felt it lacked head and body. It was a bit on the light side and I reckoned it could benefit from more concentration. So it seemed an ideal candidate for …
Dec 04 2011
I slacked off on the brewing during the winter, it seemed like I had an endless supply built up, but that ‘endless supply’ dwindled and was gone and I was spurred back into brewing action in October, brewing Batch #8. Then I brewed up Batch #9 last weekend, my first partial mash. But the thirsty …
Nov 25 2011
The next step in home brewing that I’m going to take is to do a partial mash. I’ve discovered a partial mash is actually quite similar to doing an extract brew with steeping grains. It just involves more grains soaked for longer time with a bit more attention to temperature and ratio of water to …
Oct 18 2011
I’ve documented the process of making my beers here but haven’t yet reported on how they all turned out so it’s high time for a bit of a review. Batch 1 – Kit Brew – Mangrove Jacks Munich Lager A special one because it was my first, but actually I think it was one of …
Oct 17 2011
Despite being over 6 months since I brewed an extract batch, brew night went more smoothly and efficiently than any of the previous extract brews that I’ve done (I must be getting the hang of this home brewing thing!). This time I used the blender to grind up my steeping grain (Crystal 60) – not …
Feb 22 2011
I’m calling this one ‘Nelson Amber Ale‘ because it features Nelson Sauvin hops and I’m brewing it in Nelson. I used the handy Kit & Extract Beer Designer spreadsheet to work out the recipe quantities. It’s basically in the style of an American Pale Ale or an American Amber Ale, but more towards amber than …
Feb 21 2011
The second extract batch went smoother and quicker than my first one and the brewing process was much more relaxed and enjoyable. The biggest improvement in the process was changing my sanitiser from sodium metabisulphite to iodophor. The sodium metabisulphite requires 1 hour of air drying to work, iodophor just requires 1-2 minutes of contact …
Feb 04 2011
The Coopers Stout kicks out one hell of a big foamy krausen: To deal with this mess, I pulled out the airlock cleaned and sanitised it, cleaned off the mess off the lid and stuck the airlock back in. It’s still foaming out of the airlock a little bit but under control.
Jan 14 2011
This one is going to be interesting, I’ve got my fingers crossed and hoping for the best. That’s because when I tasted the wort, it was a bit, well, scary. I totally realise this may not mean anything but the wort from my previous two batches actually tasted good but this time I tossed out …
Jan 11 2011
To make sure that I don’t miss anything important for my first extract batch and end up running around like a chicken with it’s head chopped off, I have written up my process in advance. This process is my version of the extract brewing process based on best practices that I gathered from various sources …
Jan 10 2011
I had read about it happening to others (John Palmer relays his experience freezing his lager in How To Brew), so I didn’t cry when I discovered my frozen ale as I was about to bottle it this evening. But I surely did have to abandon hope of bottling it tonight. I had all my …
Jan 06 2011
This evening I cracked open my first bottle from my first batch (Mangrove Jacks Munich Lager). All I can say is WOW, I’m impressed. This hobby is going to be with me for a long time. I’ve had some previews of what it might taste like – all those SG samples, and my mate Andy’s …
Jan 06 2011
As I wrote in my previous post, I have decided on brewing an American Pale Ale and had picked out my ingredients but I hadn’t a recipe to follow. So I turned to the forums to get help coming up with the recipe. After a lot of discussions back and forth on the forums (especially …
Jan 03 2011
I am now planning my 3rd batch with batch 1 bottled and batch 2 still in the fermentor. I have yet to taste any finished beer but it is time to get prepared to brew my next batch. (As I mentioned in the previous post, brewing beer is a bit like growing a garden). And …
Dec 27 2010
Brewing beer is a bit like growing a garden – it takes time, so you need to plan ahead and then wait patiently for the fruits of your labour. So even though I’ve just bottled 20 litres of beer, it will be weeks before it’s ready for drinking and months before it reaches it’s prime, …
{ So following on from my previous post, mashed at 75 and sparged at 82 - still extracted tannins tho, its such a light hazy any... } – Jun 17, 7:25 PM { Great stuff, just what I'm brewing although slightly different with centennial instead of Zythos, exactly the same mash temp but did do a quick sparge... } – May 29, 7:30 PM
{ I have been making toucan brews for a couple years now. Until now I have only done beers of the same family, example Pale Ale... } – Mar 06, 5:02 AM
{ What happened in the end? Was the second batch tasty? Thanks for writing this up. } – Aug 24, 3:33 AM
{ is the water additions for all of nelson water? } – Nov 05, 7:23 AM
{ my gut feeling is that you get more out of the hops by letting them go 'free range' as opposed to constraining them in a... } – Mar 15, 9:29 AM