Light and Dark

Batch #010: Brewcraft Czech Pilsener

2009-08-19T22:36:00.003+12:00

This is a Brewcraft premium imported kit, but when you read the fine print, the malt is made by Muntons. I prepared the boiled water on Saturday 8 August 2009, and let it cool overnight. Then I prepared the wort on Sunday evening using the kit and 1kg of Beer Enhancer #62

OG = 1.034
SG = 1.012

I'm bottling this after 10 days of fermentation. It smells delicious! (a bit like Hineken or Stella Artois)

30/08/2009: I tasted my first bottle of this batch tonight. It's really nice. This tastes pure. It is the best batch I have brewed to date. The yeast has settled leaving a very clear beer with good secondary fermentation. I think the trick is using the enhancer.

Brew #009: Export Stout

2009-08-19T22:24:00.003+12:00

I enjoyed the first batch of export stout so much I decided that I should brew some more and get it ageing as soon as possible. So on 19 July 2009, I prepared another 23 litres using a Munton's kit and Brewcraft's 1kg Irish Stout #74 Brew Enhancer.

OG = 1.036 Sunday 19/07/2009
SG = 1.014 Sunday 26/07/2009
which makes it about 3.5% which doesn't seem right.

I've tasted a few bottles last week after only 2.5 weeks and it tastes nice, but a bit young.
At least I've still got plenty of Wheat Beer to enjoy, which is now 10 weeks old.

Brew #008: Munton's Wheat Beer

2009-06-02T00:54:00.003+12:00

I've run out of lager style beer to drink, so I decided to brew another batch of Wheat Beer. This time I used Brew Blend No15 which is a mixture of dry malt extract and dextrose. This is supposed to improve the mouthfeel and head retention of the beer.

It has been fermenting at 20C, and the bubbling slowed down after a week, but kept on going slowly, so I decided to be patient and let it stay in the fermenter longer than any other batch I've made to date.

I finally bottled it on Sunday 31 May, 19 days from pitching day. It's OG=1.038 and the SG=1.012 which makes the alc% =4.1%

Brew #007: Munton's Export Stout

2009-06-02T00:35:00.005+12:00

I am really pleased I decided to try brewing a dark beer.

The photo on the pack looks delicious and I think this is my best tasting result so far.

I got a special Brewcraft 1kg pack of No38 blend which is a combination of dry malt extract, dextrose and corn sugar. You steep it in boiling water for 10 minutes and add it to the wort to make it taste like Guiness.

Brew #006: Low Alcohol Ginger Beer

2009-06-02T00:18:00.004+12:00

I bought this Brewcraft kit from the local Brew Shed for $22.00 and also picked up some raw ginger root to grate and soak in brandy so I could add it to the mix. I decided to not add any extra dextrose or the artificial sweetner as I want this to be a low alcohol version, so that our boys could drink it. Fermetation took 7 days
OG=1.018
SG=1.006
Alc 2.1% (not as low as I thought it would be)

This tastes very dry, but is crystal clear and is pale yellow. We're enjoying this. Ewan doesn't like it but Jordan likes it. Next time I would make the alcoholic ginger beer and hopefully it would taste slightly sweeter.

Brew #005: Muntons Export Pilsner

2009-06-02T00:09:00.002+12:00

This brew tasted very nice. I'd recommend this one. It had an OG=1.038 and after 6 days of fermentation at 24-25C it stopped at an SG=1.006, so I used an online calculator to estimate the alcohol content as 4.9%.

I decided to buy a decent fermetation barrel from the Brew Shed. It cost me about $45 and came with an air lock, a tap and a stick on thermometer. It was worth it. The lid seals on easily and I could actually see CO2 bubbling through the airlock during the fermentation process.

I've decided to keep the fermenter in our lounge, as it's warmer there than the garage, which cools down at night. Keeping the temperature at 22C seems to work well.

I bottled this into 2 crates (24 x 750ml) and 10 stubbies (330ml) on 4 March and there is none left now.

Brew #004: Brewtec Premium Draught

2009-06-01T23:53:00.004+12:00

Well I thought I would try a kit which I found at our local supermarket. This one cost $10 and unfortunately the beer tasted like $10 beer. I took all the care during the preparation of this batch. It's OG was 1.036 and pitched a sachet of Munton's Premium Gold yeast at 25C.

The flavour was disappointing and I won't be buying this brand again. It did improve slightly after 3 months in the bottle, but the beer is over carbonated, it is difficult to pour it without getting way too much head.

I'm contemplating dumping the rest of this batch so I can use the bottles for nice beer.

Brew #003: Muntons Continental Lager

2009-06-01T23:02:00.006+12:00

I boiled the water for this batch. It's original gravity OG = 1.040
and after 6 days of fermentation at 28C it stopped at 1.010 which means that it's alcohol content is calculated at 4.7%.

This batch turned out fine and very drinkable. It was a bit darker than the Wheat Beer.

Munton's kit $22.00
Coopers Brewing Sugar $6.00
carbonation drops $4.00
caps $1.00

Total of $33 per 23L which makes about 69 x 330ml stubbies (5.8 dozen). If you pay around $18 per dozen for commercial beer, this would cost $103.

So, once I had aquired all the necessary equipment, it's costing me about a third the price of the of commercial beer.

$0.50 per 330ml stubbie vs $1.50 for commercial beer.

Brew #002: SAAZ Pale Ale (double malt)

2009-06-01T21:37:00.006+12:00

I rushed this batch in an effort to get it fermenting over the Christmas New Year break, and learnt a valuable lesson. Don't cut corners!

I decided to follow the advice of the local brew shop. ie it's okay to use cold water straight from the tap. This was a double malt beer.

1 x 1.7 kg of Malt Extract tin (Mac's SAAZ Pale Ale)
1 x 1.8 kg of Munton's Light Malt Extract

I pitched the yeast when the wort temperature was 24C and it's specific gravity was 44.

When I got back from holiday it smelled bad. I had left the fermenter warming in a chillybin waterbath with an aquarium heater set to 22C and I suspect that dirty water had seeped in through the tap.

I didn't give up immediately and let this ferment for 30 days. It still smelled off, so reluctantly poured it down the drain, then focused on starting brew #003...boiling the brew water to make sure it was clean and chlorine free.

Brew #001: Wheat Beer

2009-06-01T17:23:00.006+12:00

This is my first attempt at home brewing beer in 20 years. We have a shopping mall just five minutes away from home and conveniently there is a home brew shop there!

I already had a plastic fermenting barrel, and a large stainless steel pot, so all I needed was a plastic fermetation lock, a liquid malt extract kit, some bottles, caps and a capper.

After reading up about it on the internet, I decided to buy a Muntons home brew kit. Muntons is imported from the UK and has a good reputation for producing good flavoured beer.

I decided to boil the 18L of water a few days before I needed it, so I could let it cool down to room temperature. Boiling it helps remove the chlorine and improve the flavour of the finished beer.

I boiled 2L of water, added the pre-warmed tin of LME (liquid malt extract) and then let this simmer for 10 minutes, before dissolving 1kg of brewers dextrose into the pot. I have also bought a long plastic spoon which is good for keeping this mixture moving in the pot, to avoid the sugar from burning on the cooktop element.

I poured this mixture into the 15L of water already in the fermenting barrel and gave it a good stir.

The last ingredient was the sachet of yeast which came with the kit. I decided to pre-activate this by adding it to 100ml of boiled water which was warmed in the microwave to about 40C. Adding 2 teaspoons of dextrose to the yeast helps it get a headstart. After 20 minutes you can see the activity of the yeast. It froths up and smells great. I poured this into the fermeter and closed the lid with the air lock filled with boiled water.

The next morning, I could see through the translucent barrel, that lots of froth had formed on the top of the wort. The airlock wasn't bubbling and later on I discovered that the gasket on the lid wasn't forming an airtight seal.

Six days later, I tested the wort with a hydrometer and it was ready to bottle. Fortunately I had 15 x 750ml glass 'quart' bottles, a dozen glass 330ml bottles and some 2.5 litre Coke bottles, so I bottled it, added 2 carbonation drops to each bottle and then capped them with a handheld capper.

After two weeks of storage, I chilled a few of the bottles and tasted them. I was pleasantly surprised! It was quite drinkable.

After two more weeks it certainly tasted okay. I enjoyed the work involved and the satisfaction of being able to drink my own beer. I'd definately be trying another brew.

Dual Purpose

2009-06-01T15:48:00.001+12:00

I've decided to set up a blog to see how Blogger compares with Wordpress. I'm planning to write about my home brewing of beer and to my digital photography.

I started brewing beer in November 2008 and since then, I've made about one brew per month, which has kept me supplied. I have only bought commercial beer a few times in the last 7 months, when we were away from home, so it seems to be a good hobby. I'll figure out what it's cost me so far and write about it in another posting.

I'm now 41 and have a wife and two young boys to keep me busy and happy.

My wife has started blogging about her sewing creations and she uses Wordpress. I'll be comparing it's features with Blogger's.