What’s Brewing? – Celebration Lager

 What's Brewing?  No Responses »
Jul 242010
 

Brewing today and I’ve been asked to brew a beer for the upcoming wedding of my fiancées sister, as neither of the couple are really beer drinkers I’m thinking light, fruity, crisp, refreshing… something between a Knappstein and a Mac’s Hop Rocker.

New Zealand hops seem like a no brainer for this one – Nelson Sauvin and Riwaka flowers should do the trick.

A simple grain bill, mostly Pilsner malt with a touch of crystal malt for colour and subtle flavour.

A nice lager yeast, it just so happens I have a smack pack of Wyeast 2124 sitting in the fridge that should do nicely.

So, the recipe:

23l Batch

5kg Weyermann Pilsner
0.4kg Weyermann Carahell

Single Infusion, Batch Spage @ 68 deg C for 60 minutes

90 Minute Boil

22g Nelson Sauvin Hop Flowers (11.4%AA) @ 60min

15g Nelson Sauvin Hop Flowers (11.4%AA) @ 15min
15g Riwaka Hop Flowers (5.4%AA) @ 15min

15g Nelson Sauvin Hop Flowers (11.4%AA) @ 0min
15g Riwaka Hop Flowers (5.4%AA) @ 0min

Ferment something like:

10 days @ 10 deg C
1 day @ 14 deg C (diacetyl rest)
20 days @ 0 def C (lagering)

A bit of an experiment but on paper it looks delicious! I just hope I can resist drinking it until the wedding in October!

Hops and Dogs

 General, Homebrew  No Responses »
May 132010
 

Did you know hops can be fatal to some breeds of dogs?

This is something I already knew but it’s worth repeating for all those home brewers out there who also own dogs.

I read a post over on brewersfriend.com reminding me of this a couple of days ago and there’s also an anecdote on aussiehomebrewer.com from a home brewer who’s dog was lucky to survive getting stuck into some hops.

Personally I always dispose of my kettle trub containing the spent hops in my green “garden waste” recycling bin. That way there’s never a danger that these guys will get into it: