Beach Brew

I’m sick of people going on about the decision of the referee at the end of the Australia Italy game. It was a foul. I admit it was a soft foul but a foul inside the penalty area none the less. He should never have left his feet in the penalty area. It just sucks the way that it happened. What a way to lose a game. I really feel sorry for Lucas Neill too. He had a fantastic tournament, arguably Australia’s best. We did really well regardless and should be happy with what we achieved. I think the next round is viable for the next world cup and this gives us a good launching pad into the Asian Cup.

The wheat beer is fermenting away very nicely. The 3068 yeast is a real top cropper. The fermentation is going very hard and the krausen keeps climbing out of the fermenter. There are wonderful aromas coming from it too. Mostly a mild banana early on but also some great bubblegum and even cloves aromas. The ferment should be finished by the end of the week. I am planning on bottling this weekend. Should be drinking it a week later. The two lagers are still fermenting away and will be racked and set for a diacetyl rest. Then I will get them down for lagering.

Made a wheat today. I didn’t even do the recipe until this morning. Knocked it up in about five minutes. The only thing I had decided in advance wast that I was using the Wyeast 3068. The brew day went pretty well. No issues at all really. Except that I don’t have yeast. I have to pick that up tomorrow and pitch tomorrow night. Not an ideal situation but the best I could do in the circumstances. It is sealed away in a fermenter so it should be ok.

The recipe was pretty close to a standard Deutschland weizen. The recipe was basically 50% wheat malt, 46% pils malt and 4% CarraMunich2. Bittered with Hallertau and Tettnang and then finished with a little Saaz at five minutes. It was a fairly low mash at about 65-66C so it should come out fairly dry too. I’m not a big wheat beer drinker but I wanted something quickly. I will get around to posting this recipe and my other soon.

On another note my English style bitter is tasting excellent. I am very happy with this beer. I think I will be brewing many more of that beer.

I can’t believe it. Australia has made it to the second round of the world cup. I was stoked that we had made it to the world cup. I was hoping that we wouldn’t be disgraced but didn’t really expect very much. To win one game, look good against Brazil and pull off a craw to clinch it against Croatia was just fantastic. We have Italy in the second round. It would seem unlikely we would get any further but after recent results who knows what could happen. More info here:

The World Game

In brewing news, I will be brewing today. I am doing a wheat beer of some sort. I have not finished the recipe yet so I should go and do that. Really it will be a toss up between American and German hops. I’m not sure what I want to do yet. I probably won’t make another wheat beer for a while so I really should have given it some thought.

Back again. My “Flat tyre lager” and “World Cup Shwarz” are fermenting away nicely. The lag time on them was a bit longer than I would have liked but it has to be expected with lagers. I don’t brew them very often so I can get a little nervous when I do. They are fermenting away nicely though. They are pumping out a fair whack of sulphur too. Every time I open the fermentation fridge I get a good whiff of it. I have not had a taste yet but will have a sample soon.

I have also decided to do a wheat beer. The lagers are going to take around eight weeks to be ready so I have decided to do something that can be ready in just a couple of weeks. Another brewer suggested it to me. I have never made one before so it should be interesting. I will probably do for something similar to the Schneider Edidel Weiss. It has a very interesting combination of hops that appeal to me.

The next brew on the schedule will be a Biere de Garde. I have only had one commercial example. However, it was one of my favourite beers. If you get the opportunity I highly recommend trying a 3 Monts.

I have to go. Time to watch Australia play Brazil.

The yeast did finally take off and I brewed my lagers. Pretty ordinary brew day though with many problems. Probably shouldn’t have tried a double brew day of two lagers for my first brew at the new brewery. Still time will tell if they turn out very well. The pils is not really a pils any more due to the two plus hour mash, got a flat while making a trip to the shops.

I am back online too. I picked up a hsdpa/gprs card tonight. This will keep me going until I can get back online with proper broadband.

I couldn’t get my hands on any lager yeast and te one that I have just refuses to get going. The local brew shop had no lager yeasts in stock. So all I have is a US56 and a Nottingham dried yeast. I guess that means a American or British beer. Neither of which I had immediate plans to make. I may try another bitter but I’m not sure at themoment. I think I will have a look at some style guides and make a decision. I was reall looking forward to making the lagers. The only other brews I have had in mind are a Bière de Garde and a Saison which I also don’t have yeast for.