Article on the american hop growing scene. Some interesting history.
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MmmmâŚmoon beer: Five quick questions answered about finding water on the Moon - ABC News
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Knocked out 4 beers this weekend. A West Coast IPA with Idaho 7 hash, a dark mild with fenugreek (aiming for a maple-y flavor), a higher ABV version of my gose (which will get cranberries), and an imperial stout. Three of those were done on Saturday. Could have done all 4, but I needed to go out that evening.
Also kegged a hazy with NZ hops.
Holy shit! That is an amazing effort. 2 beers each day?
Three on Saturday. Or more correctly, 2.5. I mashed and did a short boil on the sour then pitched my lacto and set it aside for a couple days. Boiled it with hops yesterday.
Iâve done 4 in one day several times and as long as I start the day early and organized, its not so hard. The worst was one day that I decided that doing 3 brews (turned into 4) with two getting decoctions (triple decocted dunkel bock and single decoction heffeweizen). Started at 6AM and didnât finish until about 1AM the next day.
Got a summer beer planned for brewing this weekend. Hazy + tropical.
Brewed this on the weekend, had a bit of leftover flaked wheat + barley so I made a banana smoothie out of it. This one is going to be interesting to taste. The wort, whilst not overly sweet - had something else going on that I would guess would be from the 2kg of flaked additions. That nice creaminess was there already.
I have another beer on tap that I mentioned I was going to make previously out of my bits of hops lying around. Unfortunately it came out a lot more bitter than I had hoped. I am guessing this was because of the âwhirlpoolâ addition of my hops. So I add my hops into my cube when the wort from the robobrew gets down to 80c, because of the warmer temperature at the moment I am guessing it took a bit longer than usual to cool down and exposing those hops to the higher temp for longer. It wasnât my best beer, but I am still drinking it.
Next up⌠I donât know, something different and am looking into the Philly Sour yeast.
Here is the end result of the above beer. Really nice and easy drinking - it is however quite sweeter than I would like.
The next beer is on the way. I pitched my Philly Sour yeast yesterday and hopefully the fermentation will go well. I am going for a Raspberry Berliner Weisse. A bit nervous about it all, but hopefully i can come out with something that is a tasty treat for hot days.
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So Iâm looking at having more time post-renovations and wanted to give home brew a try.
Iâd like to take a stab at a hazy neipa style beer - is there any âstarterâ kit kinda thing out there for this? Ideally, with a minimal amount of equipment required?
Donât
Sort of/not really. You can start with a âCoopers Kitâ which will give you all the basic stuff to use with a can of liquid malt extract - itâs how most home brewers start, but if youâre wanting a NEIPA, then youâre out of luck and youâre probably looking more forâŚ
Brew in a bag (BIAB), but it will cost significantly more as youâll need an electric urn or a really big pot and propane burner. Youâll also need a recipe and ingredients - might sound obvious, but you donât really need much stuff with a can of malt extract. TBH this is where I would have liked to start, but I also would have liked someone guiding me through it.
Here in Mexico, Grain and Grape do fresh wort kits, which is kind of like the cans of malt extract but not condensed and more, er, contemporary beer styles. Might be worth a look if anyone up there is doing something similar. Hereâs a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICY9j1cV_Ek&feature=emb_logo
Like everything itâs a balancing act between cost and expectations. If you enjoy the process youâll probably be adding/upgrading equipment in no time.
Triple Dishwasher Lager.
Try these guys for extract recipe kits. However, I would probably steer away from a NEIPA style first off as they arenât too straight forward if you are starting out. Maybe an Aussie Pale Ale or Topical Pale Ale will work.
The biggest advice I can give is pay attention to your cleaning and sanitising - be over the top with it. As well as fermentation temperature control, especially as we move into summer. A constant 19-21c is desirable.
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Triple Dishwasher Ale.
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Creamy Bucket Lager.
Triple Jelly Sour Ale.
+1
NEIPA is not a good place to start. Way too touchy and hard to do correctly without a fair bit of equipment and technique.
You can make perfectly good beer with extracts, but only if youâre using them in lieu of base malt and not using pre-hopped cans. Adding some malt in a mesh sack to soak while your water comes to boil can be a good way to add complexity that straight extract cannot provide.
If you want to start with the bare minimum equipment you will need:
A large pot, at least 15L (for a 10L batch)
Something to ferment in, ideally with a spigot (a good sealing bucket works, but a cheap fermenter with from KegLand would be better)
Mesh bag for steeping malts, or a large fine laundry bag if you have a Daiso nearby and want to do Brew in a Bag now or later
Bottles
Capper
Length of vinyl or silicone hose
Gram accurate scale
No rinse sanitizer
Nice but not necessary:
Bottling wand (will keep you from needing to turn the spigot on and off all the time when bottling)
Good digital thermometer
25-30L pot
Propane burner
Countless other accessories
If I did homebrew again I would probably still do BIAB, but would be much keener on a âkeezerâ with some small kegs, and may spend more time on water profiles. Cleaning, sanitising, and bottling (even in longnecks) was the worst part for me.
So my sour went well - it did stall for a few days and it had me stressing as I had already started the thawing of the fruit. I waited a few more days and ramped the temp up in the fermenter. It was a couple points off when I added the fruit and three days later it was bang on.
All in all, I am very impressed with the beer. 3.5% and very drinkable - I used 1.5kg of frozen raspberries, next time I will reign that in a bit as it does get a bit too sweet after 3 or so schooners 
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Nice label