Brewery Update

Things at the brewery have been on the go slow for the last month, and I have experienced a dwindling of stock to the extreme. I think I have 4 Litres left of Naked Poppy, 4 Liters of Trap Door - and I wouldn't hazard a guess with my IRA. And that's really all the stock I have remaining... apart from my half of the MMMMoMMft4CH - but thats a Kellerbier... so doesn't really count.

I pulled my socks up hard last week and quickly knocked out 2 beers - one on Wednesday, and one on Friday.

The 1st one was Winter Monster:

Original Gravity: 1.068 (1.056 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 19.6 (6.0 - 15.0)
Alcohol: 6.96% (5.5% - 7.5%)
Bitterness: 92.8 (40.0 - 70.0)

Ingredients:
5.8 kg Maris Otter Pale
.23 kg Cara Malt
.23 kg Pale Wheat Malt
.11 kg Carapils®/Carafoam®
0.11 kg British Crystal 55°L
20.0 g Nugget (11.6%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
10 g Amarillo (8.4%) - added during boil, boiled 45 min
10 g Cascade (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 45 min
10 g Simcoe (12.3%) - added during boil, boiled 45 min
15.0 g Amarillo (8.4%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
15.0 g Cascade (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
15.0 g Simcoe (12.3%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
15.0 g Amarillo (8.4%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
15.0 g Cascade (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
15.0 g Simcoe (12.3%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
20.0 g Amarillo (8.4%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
20.0 g Cascade (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
20.0 g Simcoe (12.3%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
30.0 g Amarillo (8.4%) - added during boil, boiled 0 min
30.0 g Cascade (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 0 min
30.0 g Simcoe (12.3%) - added during boil, boiled 0 min
2L Starter Wyeast 1026 - from Reviled

This 1026 is a very fast worker. The fermentation was rather violent - and it is lucky that this strain doesn't form a krausen - as yeast would have been all over Poppys floor. Attenuation was acheved in 4 days - unbelieveble stuff. I was hesitant on using this yeast, but in the end there is very little funk in the beer - it's estery in an English way, so I'm not complaining. After 7 days - I gave it a taste test, and the Maris Otter has given a distinct malt character that will need some conditioning time to tame. The beer has finished at 1.013... a few steps lower than expected - but I guess you get that when you pitch so much yeast. The hops on the palate are very very bitter - these too will need some time to chill out. Flavourwise - very angry at the moment... Grapefruit is dominant, and there is little in the way to appease the aggresiveness. The beer may or may not be a pleasant keg - time will tell.

The second beer is my go at a NZ IPA:

Original Gravity: 1.068 (1.056 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 18.87 (6.0 - 15.0)
Alcohol: 7.4% (5.5% - 7.5%)
Bitterness: 77.4 (40.0 - 70.0)

Ingredients:
6 kg Golden Promise Pale
.3 kg Caramalt 33
.3 kg Carapils®/Carafoam®
10 g Organic Pacific Gem (12.6%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
25 g Riwaka (5.1%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
25 g Nelson Sauvin (11.4%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
50 g Cascade (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
25 g Organic Pacific Gem (12.6%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
50 g Cascade (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 1 min
25 g Riwaka (5.1%) - added during boil, boiled 1 min
25.0 g Organic Pacific Gem (12.6%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
25.0 g Riwaka (5.1%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
25.0 g Cascade (5.8%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
25.0 g Nelson Sauvin (11.4%) - added dry to secondary fermenter

I havent named this beer yet, as it is just a bit of a muck around I suppose. Either one of the 2 are going to be supplied for a friends 60th birthday party. I don't know how well it'll go down with the Tui drinkers down here - but... fuckem I say. Givem a taste of some real beer!

The NZIPA is smelling suprisingly unbelieveble. Attenuation took 6 days - and I put the dry hops in yesterday arvo. I'm only planning on leaving them in there for a week - as NZ hops tend to get vegetal in quite a shorter amount of time compared to US hops. Dont ask me why - it's just a matter of experience.

The aroma is very tropical with passionfruit, lime, peaches and nectarines. The dry hop addition so far has added a definitive grassiness to these notes, as well as amplifying the citrus in a way. I had a taste of the un-dry hopped beer before I chucked the hops in, and there is definately a good amount of body to carry the flavours. There is some lovely malt notes in the order of nearly being "grainy" but not quite like that. It's difficult to describe.

On the schedule is the following:

Case Swap Beer... haven't decided yet. Probably something cheap and nasty.
US Porter... Probably be simple with a couple hundred grams of hops in there.
Blonde Ale... West Coast stylez of course for a "Baby's and Beers" night with my antinatal group
Belgian Trippel... Venturing into the dark side of bubblegummy beers.

Chur.