Tuesday 27 December 2011

Bright Ale - Drinking

Well I've polished off the Bright Ale.  It wasn't too bad, although of late I've been getting a bit of a sorghum sour flavour coming through.  I don't know if it's down to fermenting or if the hops brought that out.

I'm trying the 1kg at the start and 1.8kg sorghum at the end of the boil.  See if that's the issue.  I've recently rebrewed this beer as well with WB-06 yeast and honey in place of the demerara sugar.

The Cascade IPA is now in bottles, so expect an update on that one in about four weeks.  Hoping it survives long enough to get some feedback from the brew club.  No promises though.

This is a photo of the Bright Ale (excuse the crappy iPhone camera).

Monday 12 December 2011

Something a little different - Food

Hi All,

I wanted to share a link to a blog I've started following.  This lady used to make lots of gluten free goodies to sell at our local farmers markets but has since moved away.  She has decided to share her recipes and I can assure you they are excellent recipes.

Here is a link:  http://chantelcorless.blogspot.com/

I made cookies from the almond paste recipe and they didn't last very long.

Sunday 4 December 2011

All Cascade IPA - Brewday

Yesterday I put down a Cascade IPA I've been looking forward to brewing for a while.  I picked up some cheap Cascade hops from Niko Brew which has allowed me to go a little hop crazy.  I know from my experience with the Centennial IPA that continual hopping is great for an IPA.  I'll also be dry hopping this to bring out the Cascade aroma.

All Cascade IPA
---------------------------------
1Kg Sorghum Syrup @ 60 minutes
126g Maltodextrine @ 60 minutes
330g Demerara Sugar @ 60 minutes
28 Cascade Hops 5.5%AA @ 60 minutes
28 Cascade Hops @ 45
28 Cascade Hops @ 30
28 Cascade Hops @ 15
28 Cascade Hops @ Flameout
1tsp Yeast Nutrient @ Flameout
1.8Kg Sorghum Syrup @ Flameout
*** Cold Crash ***
US-05 Fermentis American Ale Yeast

Monday 28 November 2011

Sierra Nevada Inspired Pale Ale - Drinking

The SNPA GF variant was good.  It had a nice level of hoppiness, not too bitter and quite a well balanced beer.  I'll be rebrewing this in the near future.  Might become a regular summer beer.  This also rated well with one of my regular beer testers.

If you give it a try be sure to let me know what you think.

Please excuse my crappy photo.  It was a little clearer than the photo portrays.

Sugar Trials 2 Update

So I've tested the SNPA clone bottles carbonated with the Demerara Sugar.  I'd say this doesn't help the taste much and as more demerara sugar goes in, the head retention gets worse.  So back to the drawing board.

Might need to try some other carbonation sugars.

Saturday 12 November 2011

All Things Brewing - Update

The Sierra Nevada Pale Ale GF clone is going well.  Had a taste of a bottle to see how it's going and it tastes great.  Should be ready in another two to three weeks.  I'll take a bottle into the homebrew meeting for some feed back.

The Little Creatures Bright Ale GF clone is still in the fermenter for another week.  Taste tests for this are really good, wife says it tastes like normal beer, moreso than others I've made.  I'll be using this base for a Bright Ale No-Wheat Wheat beer.

Today I finished off a gluten free ginger beer brew.  This is my first trial batch, so if the results are good I'll be sure to share the recipe.  The aim is to have something light to drink during summer.  Also ginger is quite good for Celiacs.

Monday 31 October 2011

Sierra Nevada Inspired Pale Ale - Update

This beer has now been bottled and is sitting in a warm cupboard carbing up.  Keeping on with my trials, two 330ml bottles received 3mL's of espresso and some other bottles were carbed with demerara sugar.

  • 100% Cane sugar (control)
  • 75% Cane sugar, 25% Demerara sugar
  • 50% Cane sugar, 50% Demerara sugar
  • 25% Cane sugar, 75% Demerara sugar
  • 100% Demerara sugar
Should have results back from the trials in four to five weeks.

Friday 28 October 2011

Little Creatures Bright Ale Clone

This is a gluten free variant of Little Creatures Bright Ale clone created by "Tony" on Aussie HomeBrewers Forum.


IBU: 
OG:  1049
FG:  ?
Brew date:  29/10/2011
Estimated ABV:  5.5%
Actual ABV:  ?
Batch size:  21.5L

Recipe:
4.5oz Maltodextrine @ 45 minutes
2.8 Kg Sorghum Syrup @ 45 mins
375g Demerara Sugar @ 45 mins
10g Cascade 5.5%AA @ 45 mins
10g Saaz B (NZ) 7.2%AA @ 45 mins
15g Cascade Hops @ 20 mins
15g Saaz B Hops @ 20 mins
1/2 Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 mins
1tsp Yeast nutrient @ 10 mins
28g Cascade @ 0 mins
28g Saaz B @ 0 mins
*** Cold Crash ***
1 x US-05 Yeast

Sunday 16 October 2011

Sugar Carbonation Trials 1

I bottled some beer for trials with different carbonating sugar in 330ml bottles.  I wanted to see how it would affect flavour and if it would be good or bad.  These are the results.  Please keep in mind this is carbonating my All Amarillo IPA with a Sorghum base, so some of the off flavours might not be apparent in barley beer.  Feel free to share any other carbonating sugars you have tried and recommend.

T1 – Plain Sugar – This was the control beer.

T2 – Demerara Sugar – In America this is called Brown Sugar, looks a lot like raw sugar and is used in candy production.  This added a great depth of flavour, not apparent in the plain sugar.  It also took away the sweetness/sourness of the sorghum.  Not great head retention or effervescent like the plain sugar.

T3 – Dark Brown Sugar – Refined sugar with molasses added back in.  This gave off a metallic aroma, however it wasn’t apparent or noticeable in the taste of the beer.

T4 – Maple Syrup (Queen Brand) – This didn’t add a maple flavour to the beer, but it was quite pleasant like the Demerara sugar.  Also the same carbonation properties of the Demerara sugar.  Due to its cost in Australia, it would not be suitable for carbonating beer.

T5 – CSR Golden Syrup – This had an overwhelming metallic flavour which was horrible.  Definitely not using that again.


What I’ve learnt from these trials is that I should experiment more with Demerara sugar.  I’m planning to try a future brew with five different sugar combos.
100% Plain Sugar
100% Demerara sugar
25% Plain Sugar, 75% Demerara Sugar
50% Plain Sugar, 50% Demerara Sugar
75% Plain,  25% Demerara Sugar

Saturday 8 October 2011

Sierra Nevada Inspired Pale Ale

I used the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for the skeleton for this recipe.  I've added more Cascade hops, and thrown in some Citra Hops at 15 minutes.  I was hoping to use Amber Candy Syrup but the delivery didn't arrive in time.



Code name:  Sierra Nevada Twist

OG:  1049

Recipe:
2.8Kg Sorghum Syrup @ 60 minutes
4.5 oz Maltodextrine @ 60 minutes
375g Demerara Sugar @ 60 minutes
5g Magnum Hops 13% AA @ 60 minutes
20g Perle Hops ?AA @ 60 minutes
28g Cascade Hops 5.5% AA @ 15 minutes
8g Citra Hops 13.4% AA @ 15 minutes
28g Cascade Hops 5.5% AA @ 10 minutes
1tsp Yeast Nutrient @ 10 minutes
28g Cascade Hops 5.5% AA @ 0 minutes
*** Cold Crash ***
1 x US-05 American Ale Yeast

Update:
I have tried a sample from the fermenter.  Damn it tastes good.  Hoping to have this in bottles within a week or so.  This could become a regular house brew.

Tangelo Orange and Coriander Hefeweizen - Update

This has been a big success.  Still room for improvement but the yeast delivers some great flavour.  The feedback from the local brew club, is that the flavour is great, however it was lacking on the malt flavour.  Which is understandable because I'm not using any type of malt yet.

I'd really like to use this as a basis for a blueberry wheat style beer.

Friday 19 August 2011

All Amarillo IPA

I've been meaning to do an all Amarillo Beer for a while, I think the aroma is great.  So following the hopping schedule for my Centennial IPA I decided to brew this.  I would like to try making a 10 minute IPA in the future, but for now I'll stick with the basic IPA recipe.

Amarillo IPA

2.8Kg Sorghum Syrup @ 60 minutes
400g Raw Sugar @ 60 minutes
4oz Tapioca Based Maltodextrine @ 60 minutes
15g Amarillo Hops @ 60 minutes
15g Amarillo Hops @ 45 minutes
15g Amarillo Hops @ 30 minutes
15g Amarillo Hops @ 15 minutes
1 x whirlfloc tablet @ 15 minutes
30g Amarillo Hops @ 0 minutes (I wanted heaps of aroma)
1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient @ 0 minutes
*** Cold crash ***
2 packets of Fermentis US-05 American Ale Yeast
Filled the fermenter to 21.5L

Original Gravity was 1047

Edit:  After talking with Doc from Doctors Orders Brewing, I doubt I'd do a hop burst / 10 minute IPA in the future.  As he said it really misses that bittering component.  Which I really think makes an IPA.  Might be good for a Pale Ale though.

Update:

Had a preview sample of this beer from the fermenter.  This is looking like one of my best so far, it tastes fantastic.  I'm getting orange and stonefruit flavours through.  Can't wait till it's ready to drink.

Tangelo Orange and Coriander Hefeweizen

With two days off from work, what better to do than brew some gluten free beer.

I missed the supply of Blood Oranges in Brisbane (I saw them for one weekend at the markets).  So with Tangelo Oranges well in season and their skins smelling fantastic when pierced, I decided to re-do my orange and coriander beer.  If using normal oranges in place of Tangelos, peel an extra two Orange skins.

Tangelo Orange and Coriander Hefeweizen (without wheat)

2.8Kg Sorghum Syrup @ 60 minutes
112g Tapioca based maltodextrine @ 60 minutes
400g Cane sugar (invert syrup would be better) at 60 minutes
15g Hallertaur Hops @ 60 minutes
15g Tettanager Hops @ 20 minutes
20g cracked coriander seeds @ 20 minutes
6 Tangelo peels @ 20 minutes
15g Tettanager Hops @ 0 minutes
1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient @ 0 minutes
*** Cold crash for 30 minutes ***
2 packets of Fermentis WB-06 wheat beer yeast
Filled the fermenter to 21.5L

Original Gravity for this was 1049

Centennial IPA Bottling

My Centennial Hopped IPA is now in bottles carbonating.  I tried clearing up the suspended yeast and hops with gelatine without success.  Sadly some bottles were contaminated with floaties, which sucks but oh well.  It was very tasty the first time around so hopefully it is again.

Tuesday 9 August 2011

Centennial IPA - Belgian Triple

Just over a week ago I bottled my third attempt at the Belgian Triple.  Just waiting now for it to bottle carbonate.  The sample tastings all the way through have been fantastic, so I'm hoping this really delivers.

I also re-brewed the Centennial IPA which I really enjoyed last time.  The original recipe can be found here Centennial IPA .  I did make some changes with the re-brew, 3oz of Tapioca Maltodextrine @ 60 minutes, 250g Demerara sugar @ 60 minutes  and few extra grams of hops at flame out.  I think it was a mistake filling the fermenter to 22L, should have stopped at around 21L total volume.  I dry hopped twice with 10g instead of once with 10g so this should have more aroma than the last batch.  If this beer is successful, I'm hoping to follow the lead of the great brewers (brewdog and mikkeller) and produce some more single hop IPA's.

Upcoming brews:
LCasanova's Blood Orange Hefeweizen (might have to sub for Cara-Cara or Rosy Red oranges)
All Amarillo IPA

Tuesday 12 July 2011

Centennial IPA - Drinking

Possibly one of my best beers.  I really liked this one.  With an IBU of approximately 66 it's nice and bitter without ripping your face off.  I tasted caramel coming through from the hops.  Good bottles from this batch poured with a head and left lacing in the glass.  This beer wasn't without fault, had a hard time getting the US-05 to drop and some bottles ended up with yeast floating in them.

A fellow brewer has given me some additional Centennial Hops so I'll be doing another batch of this soon.  I have given a bottle to someone for review and entered another bottle into a competition.  Hoping for some unbiased feedback.

Changes for a future brew are, adding Demerara sugar and gluten free maltodextrine.

Jaggery and Saffron - Drinking

Not a fan of this beer.  For it's appearance it's almost perfect.  It pours with a lovely head and retains it for a long time (15 to 30 minutes).  I'd say probably the biggest fault is that it ended too dry, could do with being sweeter.

Also the suggestion from Randy Mosher was adding the saffron to the secondary, which I didn't do.  And I should have put some orange peel and pepper (or grain of paradise) in the boil.

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Belgian Beers - Having a crack

I think what really attracts me to Belgian Beers is there is no real retrictions on their styles.  Having read "Brew like a monk" and "Belgian Ale" I've been tempted to get my hands dirty.

Over the long weekend I've put down two different Belgian Inspired beers.  A Belgian Spiced and another of Dkershner's Belgian Tripels.  They're already bubbling away really well, and although the temperature in Brisbane is currently very cold (9 - 20 degrees celcius) the fermentation is keeping the wort above 16 degrees during the cold nights and early mornings.

For the Belgian Spiced Ale I used the "Delirium Tremens clone" as the basis for my beer.  You'll find the recipe here http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f73/pink-elephant-delirium-tremens-clone-112957/  Although I wound back the grains of paradise as I was concerned the spice may dominate.  I used the T-58 Fermentis yeast on this one.

The first time I brewed Dkershner's Blone Tripel, my only complaint was that it was a bit too easy to drink and missing some complexity.  At the end of the boil I added a teaspoon of crack coriander to the boil.  Hoping that it will add something to the beer, but not be enough that it can easily be picked out.  The original recipe from Dkershner can be found here http://brew.dkershner.com/2009/gluten-free-tripel-blonde/

The Spiced Ale is kept in a tub with some ice packs during the day so that it doesn't get too warm.  The Tripel is not being as closely controlled for temperature so I'll see how  the S-33 yeast handles getting up around 24 degrees (wort temperature not ambient).

First time using whirlfloc with these yeasts, hopefully it helps to clear them up a bit.


Centennial IPA update

This had a bit of yeast hanging around and some floaties made it into the bottles, some more than others.  If I can find a bottle with low floaties content I'll submit it to the local IPA competition for feedback.  If this beer turns out as good as I expect it could become a regular.



Saffron & Jaggery Ale

This beer has been bottled last weekend.  Will give an update on it's status in about 4 weeks.  Once it has had time to carbonate and age a little.  I used gelatine to clear up the suspended jaggery in this, it may have effected the end result.  Have to wait and see.

Sunday 5 June 2011

Honey Ale Drinking - Centennial IPA bottling

The Honey Ale has finished carbing up.  Very nice flavour, not overly sweet and a good balance of honey flavour and hop bitterness.  Deceptively easy to drink.

Yesterday I also bottled up the Centennial IPA "The Ex".  I think this will be a cracker of a brew.  Sadly some yeast got into some of the bottles as I kept this vegan friendly by omitting the finings.  I made up 6 bottles in the 330ml Schnitzerbrau bottles for some friends to try. I'm sure they'll go down a treat.  The aroma from the Centennial hops is quite strong as is the bitterness, although I think the bitterness might drop a little as it carbs up.  I hope to put this beer into a local brewing competition to get some unreserved feedback and to put it against gluten based beers.

<space reserved for a picture of the honey ale>

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Jaggery and Saffron Belgian Triple - Update

This beer has been in the fermenter for about 6 days now.  A bit concerned that fermentation has stopped or slowed too much.  I've got a current gravity reading of 1020 last night, so I pitched an aditional sachet of S-04 Yeast.  Will see how that comes out.  In future I'll be using whirlfloc with these belgian style triples.

Flavour isn't impressing me at the moment but I'll wait till it's in the bottle before I decide.

Edit 27/05/11:
I'm happy to report that this beer still seems to be fermenting.  Now at 1017, so I'll leave it alone for another two weeks before getting it in the bottle.

Edit 30/05/11
Looks like I might have been too quick to be excited.  I think this beer might be stuck at 1017.  Will give it time to clear up, treat with gelatine and bottle in two weeks time.  But I think this might be another failure.
I don't think the Jaggery was as fermentable as I was expecting and I think I should have used whirlfloc in the boil.  Will be using whirlfloc in all future brews.

Saturday 21 May 2011

Jaggery and Saffron Belgian Triple

Edit:  This looks like a failure at this point.  I do not encourage anyone to replicate this.

I got the idea for this beer from Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing and combining that with DKershner's Triple Blonde as the base.

For those who haven't seen these spices before:
Saffron
Jaggery
If you are looking to copy this recipe, please use cane sugar based version of Jaggery, not the palm sugar variant.  My original recipe had the Jaggery at 500grams but I decided to roll it back a bit as I was brewing.

Now to the recipe

Jaggery and Saffron Belgian Triple - aka "The Darjeeling Limited"

1.4Kg Sorghum Syrup @ 60 minutes
250g Jaggery @ 60 min
250g Glucose Syrup (corn based) @ 60 min
21g Pearle Hops @ 60 min
7g Pearle Hops @ 30 min
30g Saaz Hops @ 15 min
1tsp Yeast Nutrient @ 15 min
1g Saffron (that has been soaking) @ 15 min
1.4Kg Sorghum Syrup @ 60 min
*** Cold Crash ***
Top up in fermenter to 21L
1 x S-33 Fermentis Belgian Yeast

OG:  1050
FG:
Est ABV:  5 - 5.5%


IPA update:
Yesterday I dry hopped the Centennial IPA with 10g of Centennial Hops.  Very much looking forward to this beer.

Honey Ale update:
I tried one of the Honey Ale bottles yesterday.  Still has more carbonation to happen but the initial taste on this is great.  It is sweet with a strong flavour of honey, but I expect both of these features to reduce as the bottle fermentation takes place.

Sunday 15 May 2011

Centennial Hopped IPA - Brewing

Busy day today, bottled the Honey Beer which required pasteurised honey and brewed a Centennial Hopped IPA.  The original recipe for the Centennial hopped ale is pulled from page 50 of the "250 Clone Brews" magazine.
The recipe is

Centennial Hopped IPA aka "The Ex"

1.4Kg Sorghum Syrup @ 60 minutes
14g Centennial Hops @ 60 minutes
14g Centennial Hops @ 45 minutes
14g Centennial Hops @ 30 minutes
14g Centennial Hops @ 15 minutes
1 x whirlfloc tablet @ 15 minutes
10g Centennial Hops @ 0 minutes
1.4Kg Sorghum syrup @ 0 minutes

*** Cold Crash ***

1 x packet of Yeast nutrient
2 x packets of US-05 yeast

Dry hopping with 10g Centennial Hops @ 7 days

OG: 1041 - Total volume 21L

The original recipe has this beer finishing at 5%, I think this will finish around 4%.  This is my first heavily hopped beer and will be my first dry hopped beer.  The Centennial Hops are 9.2% AA.

Big thanks to my wife for helping me clean up the malt extract I managed to get it all over the kitchen.

Wednesday 11 May 2011

APA - Drinking

The Australian Pale Ale (APA) is going down very easily.  I was hoping the extra hops and more sugar would take away some of that sweet wine like flavours that were coming through before.  The beer is definitely dryer which is just great. If I was to re-brew this, I'd probably add green tea (to add complexity) and maybe dry hop with the Australian Cluster hops.

Will update with a picture once I get around to taking one.

Edit:  As promised, here is a picture.  Sorry the flash didn't go off, but as you can see it is still quite clear.

Tuesday 26 April 2011

Honey Beer - Brewday

Starting to get quicker and little better organised with the brewing.  Also making slightly less mess now, which the wife loves.  The honey beer recipe I'm using is very simple, I used Iron Bark honey.  Iron Bark honey is not as sweet as the regular Australian honey and has hints of cinnamon.

The recipe is originally posted here http://gfhomebrewing.com.au/ but at the time of writing their website is down.   I'll update with credit to the brewer who made the recipe when it is restored.

Stingless Honey Beer

1Kg Sorghum Syrup @ 60 mins
14g Magnum Hops @ 60 mins
7g Saaz Hops @ 15 mins
1 x whirlfloc tablet @ 15 mins
7g Saaz Hops @ 0 mins
650g Honey @ 0 mins
1.8Kg Sorghum Syrup @ 0 mins

*** Cold Crash ***

1 packet of Yeast nutrient
2 packets of US-05 yeast

The original gravity was 1049

APA - Bottling

I ran into an issue with the APA, the yeast was sticking around on top.  I put in some gelatin from the local home brew store to clear it up. It took about 2 to 3 days for it to mostly clear up, some debris was still stuck on the top.

The beer is now sitting there carbing up.

Sunday 3 April 2011

Australian Pale Ale - Brew day

Yesterday I spent a few hours putting together another Australian Pale Ale.  The base recipe I used is from here Oz Pale Ale plus an extra 5 grams of Cluster @ 15 minutes and 375 grams of demerara sugar @ 15 minutes.  I'm hoping a little extra sugar should dry it out a bit more (was a little sweet the first time) and bump up the ABV a bit as well.  O.G. was 1047.

The blonde belgian triple is carbing up very quickly, hoping to try it at the end of this week.

N.B. I don't have authority to repost the Brewers Choice recipe for Oz Pale Ale, hence why I've linked to it.
Also the cluster hops I use are the Australian variety.

Sunday 20 March 2011

Orange Peel and Coriander Hefe Style Beer – Drinking

Well I'm down to just one bottle of the Orange Peel and Coriander Hefe.  It was very tasty, and only slightly sweet.  The orange is more of a hint and the coriander leaves a hint of spice on the back of your throat.  I've already been advised by the wife that we are doing this one again.

Might do it with amber candi sugar next time.

Here is a picture of the brew

Gluten-free Tripel Blonde - Brewday

This recipe has been provided by DKershner.  Hoping this makes a nice light coloured beer with a bit of a kick.

Brew day went well.  Due to my previous failure I was very thorough with the sterilisation, just to make sure no bugs ended up in the brew.

This is the recipe I used;

Gluten Free Tripel Blonde
1.4kg Sorghum Syrup @ 60 minutes
21g of Pearle @ 60 mins
7g of Pearle @ 30 mins
30g Saaz @ 15 mins
750g Sugar @ 15 mins
1.4kg Sorghum Syrup @ 60 mins
***Cold Crash***
4g packet of yeast nutrient
S-33 Safbrew yeast

This is a slight variation on the original recipe, which you will find here.  http://brew.dkershner.com/2009/gluten-free-tripel-blonde/

Saturday 12 March 2011

Coffee Chocolate Porter - Failure

This is my first brewing failure.  I can only think that the cause of my issues was the rice malt.  This brew smelled fantastic fermenting, but the taste is just horrible.  Hopefully when I learn more about brewing I can work out what went wrong here.

Friday 4 March 2011

Chocolate and Coffee Porter - Brewday

Edit:  This recipe was a failure.

This recipe is a month or so in the making.  Using information from both Home brew talk and Beer Smith I've combined recipes to make what I hope will be a half decent beer.

Ingredients and timings

1.4kg of sorghum syrup (150grams of that is dark candi syrup) @ 60 mins
2.5kg's of rice malt @ 60 mins
1kg of honey @ 60 mins
112 grams of corn based maltodextrine @ 60 mins
100 grams of cocoa @ 60 mins
21 grams of Perle hops @ 60 mins
21 grams of Saaz hops @ 15 mins
Cold pressed coffee @ 5 mins
*** Cold crash ***
Yeast nutrient
2 x packets of T-58 fermentis yeast

Starting gravity is 1068.  With all of the sugars in this brew, I'm expecting a very high alcohol content.

Thursday 3 March 2011

Orange Peel and Coriander Hefe Style Beer – Bottling Day

Big thanks to LCassanova from http://www.homebrewtalk.com/ for the base recipe for this beer.  His original recipe is here http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f75/gluten-free-blood-orange-hefe-181144/

My modified version of the recipe is
2.5 Kg's of Sorghum with dark Belgian candi syrup (approximately 300grams) @ 60 Mins
500 grams Glucose Syrup @ 60 mins
500 grams Dark Belgian candi sugar @ 60 mins
15 grams hallertauer hops @ 60 mins
12 grams of tettnang + some hallertauer hops (about 2grams) @ 20mins
8 orange peels @ 20 mins
20 grams of cracked coriander @ 20 mins
12 grams of tettnang + some hallertauer hops (about 2 grams) @ 0 mins
***cold crash***
Yeast nutrient and Fermentis WB-06 Wheat beer yeast.
As you can see from the photo it has a very dark colour similar to a Belgian dubbel.

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Review: Brewer's Choice Gluten Free Pale Ale Kit

Over the Christmas break I purchased a Gluten free pale ale kit from Brewers choice www.brewerschoice.com.au With hopes of making a beer that I would enjoy drinking I went about brewing up a batch.

All the ingredients you require are included in the kit, yeast, malt, hops, yeast nutrient, whirlfloc tablet and finings.  N.B. If you are brewing vegetarian/vegan beer omit the finings as they contain gelatine.

The instructions were easy to follow, clearly detailing each step in the brewing process. The wort was boiled, cold crashed and put into the fermenter.  Fermentation time was around two weeks.  The beer was transferred to some sterilised bottles and left for a few weeks to carbonate.

This was a fantastic beer after carbonation.  The hops made for a very fruity beer that was very easy to drink.  We had no trouble getting through the amount we had brewed.  The kit was a very good way to learn the basics of extract brewing and has given me the confidence to try different recipes.

Brewers Choice distribute these kits direct to the public in Queensland, and are carried by other stores in Australia and New Zealand.  Contact Brewers Choice for your local distributor.