Public Address | Cafe | Feed: Fulminating and fermenting

Jeremy Andrew

Tue, 05 Aug 2014 16:03:53 +1200

It'd be in line with giving them sparkling grape juice, or perhaps decaf coffee. They acquire the taste which makes them more likely to drink the real thing later.

Gabor Toth

Tue, 05 Aug 2014 14:10:53 +1200

Why do supermarkets refuse to sell non alcoholic beer to under eighteen year?

They also won't sell home-brew kits from the beer / wine section without I.D or after 11pm even though they contain 0% alcohol. However they don't have any issue with selling 1.5kg tins of Maltexo malt extract…

mike.t

Mon, 04 Aug 2014 13:39:27 +1200

Hi David,

The Pride brewery for Lion where Steinlager is brewed is completely self-sufficient in terms of CO2. CO2 is captured from the fermenters, cleaned of any impurities and used to carbonate where necessary.

Cheers

Mike

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 21:56:19 +1200

Although the other thing is that UK pubs just get a lot more trade. When I worked in the City, we'd go for a couple of pints pretty much every night, and so would a million other bods. Which means an average London pub pours a lot of beer.

NZ,…

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 21:51:40 +1200

Some sums:
NZ duty on a $9, 425ml, 5% ABV micro-pint = 58c ($27 / litre of pure C2H5OH)
UK duty on a $6, 568ml, 3.5% ABV proper pint = 75c (GBP18.74/litre)

Also, the UK ale will be cask conditioned (as in ~~warm~~ room temperature and flat) making it more…

Glyn

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 21:22:19 +1200

Have just realised a good place to start my research is the Brothers Brewery in town...

Glyn

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 21:05:04 +1200

Good stuff Russell. I just spent time in London. I can confirm a decent English session pint (568 ml @3.8% or thereabouts) in a Wetherspoon pub next to the Tower of London for chrissakes i.e. 'a tourist trap' is 2 pounds to 3 pounds fifty depending on the beer; it…

Geoff Lealand

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 17:14:17 +1200

Thanks, Jeremy. I was being a bit smart-arse there.

Jeremy Andrew

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 16:40:12 +1200

Geoff, once you manage to post your post in the right forum ;-)
Try the Home Brew supplies shop on Te Rapa Straight – just North of Fairview Motors. I've spoken with their people whenever I'm in there, and they are all very knowledgeable and friendly, and helpful no matter…

Gabor Toth

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 16:01:57 +1200

I think that despite our beer tastes becoming more sophisticated, in New Zealand we still expect a high pissed-ness to dollar ratio. One result is that certain styles of craft beer end up being much stronger here than they ever were traditionally. Not helping in this regard is that we…

Peter Darlington

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 09:59:56 +1200

In Wellington over the weekend, the Malthouse and Hashigo were stacked with IPA's (from the West Coast challenge), it was hard to find one under 6.5%, in fact they were advertising 6-6.4% ones as their lighter drinking beers. I get the feeling there's an expectation people should be able to…

Sofie Bribiesca

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 18:05:01 +1200

Went to hopscotch Mt Eden this arvo for my weekend top up.

Heh, went to the bowser at the breakfast bar in the kitchen. Available all day everyday. onto a new Light Ale at the mo. (chilled naturally in kegs on dirt floor in what will be the cellar someday…

Rob S

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 17:10:11 +1200

Harringtons, the brewery, make a ginger beer which if my ability to detect natural from artificial is up to scratch make a very good example of a brewed ginger beer.
Probably not wise to let the kids snarf it down on a hot summer day as it's around 5% alcohol.…

B Jones

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 16:16:31 +1200

I'm pretty sure they do this with carbonated ginger beer too. It's hard to find one in shops that gets its fizz from the fermentation rather than added gas. but without knowing much about the process beyond a few ventures into making my own, I suspect it's because natural fermentation…

David Haywood

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 12:59:13 +1200

Is it better to (re)use an effluent stream in an industrial process, or just release to the environment without making use of it, aside the from the arguments over which industries/end users should use gas as an energy supply or commodity?

Well, yes, you’re absolutely correct that it’s better to…

Fooman

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 12:12:37 +1200

Yup, most, if not all, commercial and industrial CO2 is taken from the natural gas fields – e.g. Kapuni is around 40% CO2. This is stripped out at the production station(s), and processed for industrial supply at some (e.g. Kapuni and Oaonui from memory). Otherwise would be released at the…

Tom Semmens

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 10:44:08 +1200

I drank a lot of tasty alcohol free beer

A low alcohol beer is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.

David Haywood

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 10:29:59 +1200

Russell you lucky, lucky bastard…

The penny dropped when I discovered that commercial breweries add the co2,

Yes, and unbelievably they don’t capture and re-use CO2 from the fermenting stage but they actually use fossil CO2 stripped from natural gas. I know it’s completely insignificant in terms of our CO2…

Tom Semmens

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 09:22:44 +1200

Lagers are funny things for the home brewer. For what is probably the most popular style of beer in the world and which lacks much in the way of taste (decently hopped Pilseners exempted) they are actually quite difficult to make well. Also, for a style of beer best drunk…

Russell Brown

Thu, 24 Jul 2014 18:39:43 +1200

Also, for a style of beer best drunk in hot weather, you can only really make them in winter (unless you have a way of chilling down your fermenter)

Professional brewers use heat exchangers, I learned last week.

Gabor Toth

Thu, 24 Jul 2014 18:08:06 +1200

so I can use my own honey from my own honey bees as the sugar

You have to be careful when using honey in brews; too much and it can taste pretty horrible. I learnt my lesson in this regard when I made a true ginger ale (i.e. an ale…

George Darroch

Thu, 24 Jul 2014 13:04:47 +1200

I don't mind bitterness. It's the hops that get me, being unpleasantly sedative. It is quite like mixing alcohol and marijuana, feeling utterly dazed and slightly nauseous. Body-hopped, if you will.*

It seems to have got slightly better around Wellington in recent months, but if I'm in a craft beer…

TracyMac

Thu, 24 Jul 2014 10:53:16 +1200

Sounds delicious. And just the thing to help wash down some nice whisky as well, if it's one of those sessions.

I do like hoppy IPA/APA style beers, but totally agree that some go way too far. Some people must like them.

Not fond of the bitter style in general…

Stewart

Thu, 24 Jul 2014 10:45:48 +1200

As someone who lives out in the sticks and primarily drinks at home (to avoid the drink/drive scenario) I tend to stick to the beers Russell fulminates against – the strong uber-hoppy numbers that excite my palate. Drinking at home doesn't devolve into 'sessions' so I am happy to drink…

Allan Moyle

Thu, 24 Jul 2014 10:42:10 +1200

my fave session beer, when available (at Hopsctoch etc) is Cassels Dunkel, a old style dark lager – mmm.

B Jones

Thu, 24 Jul 2014 10:29:15 +1200

A friend of mine was recently pressed to try a salt water and seaweed beer. Now that's stunt.

jasonhighet

Thu, 24 Jul 2014 10:03:48 +1200

If its any consolation Russell, I believe beer-hipsters are moving away from over-hopped IPAs, and on to sour beers now.

Tom Semmens

Thu, 24 Jul 2014 09:41:25 +1200

I have put aside a 10x10m square of land down on the farm to grow barley (and hops) to turn into beer in a paddock to pitcher experiment.

I expect some potential issues with the malting and kilning cos I don’t (yet) possess a barley roller and a kiln, but…

Julian Melville

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 22:19:56 +1200

That looks really tasty. I think you're a couple of years behind the times in terms of local session beers though, they're all over the place now. Brothers even held a sessionable beer festival early this year with about 18 beers on tap, and the strongest one there was the…

Graham Dunster

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 18:13:04 +1200

Looking forward to tasting this! In the meantime, off to Eden Park to see some real football (I hope...)

Hamish Ward

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 17:18:05 +1200

Malteurop.

Dave Waugh

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 16:55:28 +1200

Hmm I dunno, there are heaps of sesh beers around these days, pretty much every brewery (except Epic) has at least one.
Nice looking recipe though. :)
Was the NZ Ale malt Gladfeilds or Malteurope?

Jim Brown

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 16:41:43 +1200

Mmm Deep Creek Brewing, a home away from home !

Russell Brown

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 16:30:07 +1200

NB: This all seems like a while ago and I didn’t take any notes, so hopefully, I got the details right.

Also, for beer nerds, this is the recipe Hamish used:

NZ Best Bitter
OG 1.041
IBU 27

NZ Ale malt
Toffee malt
Dark Crystal
Pale Crystal
Black malt

Pacific…

Public Address

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 16:30:06 +1200

Discussion from blog post.