I had not had this beer previously. The only Geueze I have had in the past was a Timmerman’s which I am told is not a great example. This beer was fantastic. Not as sour as I was expecting. However, the sourness and tarness made the beer really refreshing. To me it had fruity characters of green apple and lemon. Some of the funkiness you would expect from a lambic but I didn’t get the strong farm yard characters from it. Surprisingly easy to drink for this style of beer and the level of sourness.

I can’t wait to find some more of this as it was sensational. I really didn’t think it would be the kind of beer I could drink a lot of but I could easily do a session on this beer.

0605 Here is the recipe I am brewing today:

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (14.0 EBC) Grain 90.91 %
0.25 kg Carapils (Hoepfner) (3.9 EBC) Grain 4.55 %
0.25 kg Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) (3.6 EBGrain 4.55 %
20.00 gm Magnum [12.00 %] (60 min) Hops 25.6 IBU
15.00 gm Columbus (Tomahawk) [13.00 %] (Dry Hop 14Hops –
20.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.00 %] (20 min) Hops 10.3 IBU
15.00 gm Columbus (Tomahawk) [13.00 %] (10 min) Hops 7.5 IBU
15.00 gm Columbus (Tomahawk) [13.00 %] (1 min) Hops 0.9 IBU
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs London Ale III (Wyeast Labs #1318) [StarteYeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 5.50 kg
—————————-
My Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Step Add 16.50 L of water at 71.6 C 66.0 C

0645 Mash is finished and the kettle is on the flame heating up. Have grabbed a few photos but won’t get them up until after I’m done. All going well so far. I didn’t do any accurate measurements of the kettle before I started so volumes could be a little out today.

0655 Came to the boil very quickly. Time to add some hops.

0745 New kettle is good. Seems to be much easier to keep a consistent boil with the stainless kettle than with the previous aluminium one.

0850 Brew done. All chilled and in the fermenter. Even got some work done in the backyard during the brew. Just a little cleaning up left to do. Photos in a couple of hours.

The biggest change I made was water chemistry. I got Palmer’s spreadsheet and used it to build water appropriate for the style. Also used the nomagraphs to ensure the ph would be ok for the style. didn’t measure ph this time. Can’t do everything at once and I don’t have any acid to adjust it if it is wrong. My calculations indicated it should be ok. It was pretty easy to adjust the water to what I wanted. Given I was making a very bitter beer I went for a profile close to Burton. I left the water out for 12 hours to burn off the chlorine then once it was heated I added a little gypsum and epsom salts.

Other than that the big difference was slowing everything down and focusing a lot more. I only did a single brew too so I wasn’t rushed through the brewing process. I really focused on making everything run smoothly and noting everything I was doing. This was really a return to how I used to do things and how I want to work in the future.

The beer is a pretty big IPA. Lots of Simcoe and Amarillo in it. This is going to be my beer for a Christmas case. I will have to give up about half of it. Simple grain bill of all base malts. Using 1007 German ale yeast because it is good at chewing through big beers nd even quite complex sugars.

I used the PBW for the first time today. This was from the free samples that John from Five Star handed out at ANHC. The stuff works great. I used it to clean some stuff I had cleaned with plenty of other products and it removed a bunch of crap the others had not. I really like it. Once I use up the freebies I will be buying more. I didn’t try out the starsan today but will in the near future. In particular the PBW removed a bunch of crap from all the copped tubing in pick up tubes etc.

More soon…….

I am currently drinking an experimental pale ale that has turned out very nice. Fairly plain malt bill, bittered with Magnum. I then added some NZ Saaz B at ten minutes and Hallertau at five and one. Has come out as a very nice and easy drinking beer. It is very approachable whilst still having some interesting flavour. The other beer I have on at the moment is my Foreign Extra stout. I make this beer every winter and it is one of my favorites. I use a significant amount of dark brown sugar in it which I think gives it a great flavor. The hops are not really detectable and are just there to provide bitterness and balance. If I have some of this beer left I may enter some competitions with it.

In progress I have two lagers at the moment. The first is a Schwarz beer. This recipe is very similar to the one that took gold at SABSOSA a couple of years ago. Had to make a change to the yeast though as Wyeast discontinued the North American lager yeast. I also made a Bohemian style Pilsener. Used German pils malt and a little German carrapils. Was bittered with Magnum and has lots of Czech Saaz in the finish. Both these beers have been made with Wyeast 2001, Urquell lager. Should produce a good result for both beers. Unfortunately I did not have time to do a decoction when making the pilsener.

Both of these beers are currently being lagered at 4C. This is as low as I can get with my setup. Though with the winter weather the way it is they may be getting cooler. I am planning to bottle both batches next weekend. Given the extended lagering they will probably need a reasonable amount of time to bottle condition so probably won’t get to drink for another four weeks. In time to be coming out of winter.

Next up is an American pale and something else I have not decided on yet.

The first will be a pils. I have been wanting to do a pils for a while but haven’t gotten around to it and haven’t had the beer stocks high enough to allow for lager brewing time. It will be a very simple recipe. Malt will just be German pils malt and possibly a little carrapils for some extra body. If I can do a single brew day I will do a double or triple decoction. If I don’t have the time for that it will have to be single infusion. I did a single infusion last time and it came out very well. Last time I made it with NZ SaazB hops so it wasn’t quite authentic. This time I may use the to bitter, but will probably use Magnum, and will use Czech Saaz for late additions.

The second beer will be a Schwarz. Will stick pretty close to the recipe I made in the past. A very simple recipe with pils malt and caraffa. I don’t remember which hops were used but it will be something neutral with possibly a little Hallertau as a late addition. No decoctions or similar for this. Just a very simple beer.

Now to find the time between everything else.