Brewing log


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Brewing Log

All of my brews are included in the summary table below. The brew numbers are in chronological order, so if you flick through them you can track how my brewing techniques have changed with time. You can also see how my knowledge of brewing has changed. Some of the early comments are a bit embarrassing, but its all there, warts and all. Detailed brewing and tasting notes follow in a series of individual tables. If a particular brew in the summary table takes your fancy, click on the brew number to see the log. If you want to be able to pull up all brews of a particular style, find someone who knows a lot more about web mastering and databasing to set it up for me.

Sorry about how long this page takes to load. I didnt realise how big it would get when I started it. One day I will break the log down with individual brews in different files.

If you are interested in turning your backyard lemon tree into cheap alcohol, have a look at Brews 35 and 38.

One of my favourite beers is Little Creatures Pale Ale, brewed in Fremantle, WA. If you are in Perth go there for a drink, the microbrewery has a good atmosphere, good food, and you are sitting at the base of the fermentation tanks. The Pale Ale has a strong hop flavour and an incredibly intense floral hop aroma. This hop character is hard to match without using hop flowers, but I keep trying. Early kit attempts included Brews 34 and 57. All extract versions were Brew 65 and Brew 72. Partial mash versions were Brew 77, Brew 83 and Brew 87. Full mash versions were Brew 93 and Brew 94.

Brews 1 to 65 were basically kit beers, with various grain and hop additions. Some of them were pretty good and would be worth looking at for kit recipes. Brews 66 to 89 were mostly either extract, partial mash, or Grumpys packages. From Brew 90 onwards, the beers are full mash, and in my opinion even the not so good full mash beers taste better than the previous brews.

Brew Number	Style	Cap Label	Comments
1	Mexican	MX	Bit flat – bad capper (using a hammer capper at the start)
2	Pilsener	P	Bit flat but nice
3	Munich	-	OK
4	Mexican	MXV 5/11	Nice dry Mexican
5	Mexican	MXV 7/11	Nice dry Mexican
6	Pilsener	PXV 20/11	Good beer
7	Ginger Beer	GB 20/11	Very refreshing
8	Mexican	MXV 2/12	Horrible-bad malt (Look out for out of date liquid malt)
9	Munich	MUXV 27/11	Horrible-bad malt (Because this stuff just wouldnt ferment)
10	Ginger Beer	GB 11/12	OK-high alcohol
11	India Pale Ale	IPA 21/12	Nice once aged
12	Munich	MUXV 18/12	Good but cloudy
13	Mexican	MXV 7/12	Lovely-drunk at Katanning Christmas
14	Pilsener	DHP 7/1	Very nice but cloudy
15	Mexican	MXV 4/1	Lovely dry Mexican
16	India Pale Ale	IPA 14/1	Very nice once aged
17	Draught	NZD 13/1	Initially not great but improved with age
18	Pilsener	DHP 23/3	A superb beer similar to Little Creatures Pale Ale
19	Mexican	MXV 16/3	Excellent dry Mexican
20	Guinness (like)	G4 1/4	Good but a bit syrupy- slightly different fermentation conditions to Brew 21
21	Guinness (like)	G5 1/4	Lovely smoky stout-thanks BJ
22	Ginger Beer	GB 7/4	Highly gassed and refreshing
23	Wheat Beer	WB 27/4	Low carbonation but excellent wheat flavour
24	Pilsener	DHP 12/4	Very nice but better with different hops
25	Bavarian	Bel 18/5	OK but incredibly overgassed
26	Canadian	Can	OK but incredibly overgassed
27	Kilkenny (like)	KK 27/6	Excellent malty creamy ale
28	Pilsener	DHP 25/6	Lovely dry pilsener, limited aroma
29	Wheat Beer	WB 18/8	Delicious spicy flavour
30	Kilkenny (like)	KK 25/8	Improved hop character, lovely ale
31	Pilsener	DHP 3/9	Nice flavours, aroma a bit lacking
32	Guinness (like)	G5 25/9	Lovely smoky stout, but some bottles unfortunately bleached!
33	Mexican	MXV 25/9	Ok, but slight yeast bite
34	Triple Hop Pilsener	THP 24/9	Superb, comparable to Little Creatures PA
35	Alcoholic Bitter Lemon	BL 8/10	Not easy, but good in the end
36	Coriander Lime Beer	CL 9/10	Excellent spicy summer drop
37	Fleurs Mexican	FM 18/10	Not very nice - yeast bitten
38	Alcoholic Lemonade	AL 22/10	Interesting - lemon champagne!
39	Dutch Lager	DL 25/10	Lovely - big hit with the ladies-a recipe someone posted on BJs site
40	India Pale Ale	IPA 29/10	Subtle, another big hit with the ladies
41	Kilkenney (like)	KK 8/11	Lovely
42	Honey Bavarian	HB 17/11	Drinkable - incredible head
43	English Ale	EA 22/11	Oooh, delectable
44	Guinness (like)	G4 4/12	Big improvement, very grainy, very nice
45	Cherry Kriek	CK 19/12	Lovely and fruity - recipe provided by Oliver and Geoff
46	Triple Hop Pilsener	THP 28/12	Excellent, but still want more aroma
47	Wheat Beer	WB 28/12	Always good
48	Japanese Lager	JL 11/1	Nice dry lager with floral hints - Steve put this recipe on BJs forum for me. Would have been better lagered.
49	Grainy Munich	GM 11/1	A taste explosion
50	Smugglers Ale	SA 22/1	Pretty good, but pricey and maybe not worth the money
51	Dutch Lager	DL 16/1	Even better than the previous one
52	Coriander Lime	CL 1/2	Lovely dry yet spicy lager
53	Goldings Pale Ale	GPA 27/1	Excellent refreshing ale
54	Tettnang Pale Ale	TPA 3/2	Great hop flavour in a dry ale, but that dry enzyme isnt too good
55	Green Bullet Ale	GBA 9/2	Heaps of hops - great flavour
56	Brown Ale	BA 16/2	Smooth, malty, delicious -adapted from an Oliver and Geoff recipe
57	Four Hop Pilsener	FHP 16/2	Again, comes close to Little Creatures PA
58	Cherry Kriek	CK 6/3	Based on Belgian Framboise/Kriek, very sour, not what I was aiming at.
59	English Ale	EA 5/3	Increased malt, increased hops compared to Brew 43. Hoppy!
60	Guinness	G4 27/3	Increased malt, hops, grain over Brew 44. Too much flavour!
61	Wheat Beer Light	WBL 27/3	Our standard wheat, with a bit of extra hops and bit less alcohol.
62	Ginger Beer	GB 30/4	An OK ginger beer.
63	Dutch Lager	FHDL 30/4	Very nice, getting better.
64	Engish Ale	EA 5/5	Lovely.
65	Four Hop Ale	FHA 5/5	Very nice hop flavour, would still like some more aroma.
66	Old Peculier	OP 12/7	Grumpys extract and grain kit, lovely, but very spicy/grainy
67	Kilkenny	KK 12/7	Grumpys extract and grain kit, pretty good, would like more hops and less grain
68	Green Bullet Lager	GBL 6/7 GBLL 1/8	Quite nice including apricot esters
69	Czech Lager	CZL 6/7 CZLL 1/8	Not so good because of apricot esters but improving
70	Goldings Pale Ale	GA 6/7	Lovely hoppy ale, not very pale though.

Green Bullet Lager

GBL 15/8

High IBUs, but quite drinkable, fruity esters help in this one

Cascade Pale Ale

CPA 1/8

Yet another attempt at Little Creatures, quite bitter, quite lovely!

Brown Ale

BA 12/7

More crystal grain and hops than the last version, very nice

Duvel

DV 24/7

Grumpys partial mash strong Belgian ale , lovely, but better with a liquid yeast to add some esters to balance the alcohol.

Hoegarden Wit

HW 24/7

Grumpys partial mash wheat, nice, shocking head retention

Lowenbrau

Good, but has some esters which shouldnt be there.

Cascade Pale Ale

CPA 24/8

Lovely, hops full on the first month but settling now.

Speckled Hen

Hard to pick from the commercial version

English Ale

Kit beer! But its always good!

Excelsior

Partial mash, Jury still out on the hop combination, definitely improving with age

Guinness

Partial mash, Grumpys recipe, sweetish, but pretty good

Lowenbrau

A bigger partial mash version, cleaner than previous version, no esters

Cascade Pale Ale

CPA

Partial mash version of Jayses full mash, BLOODY CLOSE TO LCPA

Porter

Partial mash chocolate porter, lovely and chocolatey

Duvel

Partial mash Grumpys kit, this time with Belgian Wyeast, pretty good, better than last version I think

Goldings Pale Ale

GA 13/12

Partial mash attempt at previous kit beer, pretty good, maybe too much wheat

Chinook Cascade Ale

CCA 13/12

Another LCPA Clone, huge hop flavour, delicious

Kilkenny

KK 13/12

Grumpys extract and grain recipe, OK but has some esters

English Ale

Excellent, bit like Fullers but less hoppy

Robust Porter

FIRST EVER ALL GRAIN - london ale yeast, pretty good

Robust Porter

Thames valley yeast pretty good

English Mild

Mid strength beer! Getting better with age but still a bit odd

Chinook Cascade Ale

CCA

First full mash LCPA attempt, American Ale II 1272 Lovely

Chinook Cascade Ale

CCA

First full mash LCPA attempt, American ale 1056 Lovely

AHB ESB

ESB1

Perth AHB brew day, ag attempt at Fullers ESB, 1275 yeast, highly hopped but good

AHB ESB

ESB2

Perth AHB brew day, ag attempt at Fullers ESB, 1968 yeast, highly hopped but good

Dry Irish Stout 1

IS1

Guinness attempt, Thames Valley yeast, pretty good

Dry Irish Stout 2

IS2

Guinness attempt, Irish ale yeast, pretty good

Bobs Brown Porter

BBP

Trialing crystal rye, dont think much of the rye

100

Barleywine

BW1

sg1.100 brew, 1056 yeast, flat, needs much longer

101

Barleywine

BW2

sg 1.100 brew, 1728 yeast, flat, needs much longer

102

Kirin lager

First attempt at an all grain lager - bit too Crown tasting

103

Little Puppy Pale Ale

LPA

Another little creatures attempt - lovely

104

ESB

ESB1

A go at Fullers ESB, 1968 yeast, not bad but need another go

105

ESB

ESB2

A go at Fullers ESB, 1275 yeast, not bad but need another go

106

Chocolate Porter

Another porter, 1968 yeast (Big Shit Porter for Christmas Case)

107

Chocolate Porter

Another porter, 1275 yeast very nice

108

Ordinary Bitter

OB1

Low alcohol beer, Marris Otter malt, S04, actually a bit dry and sulphury

109

Ordinary Bitter

OB2

Low alcohol beer, Marris Otter malt, 1968, not bad for light beer

3rd place at Bathurst 2005, Bitter Ale

110

Oatmeal Stout

OS1

Pretty good but needs some age.

111

Oatmeal Stout

OS2

Slightly different ferment temp.

112

ESB

A lighter malt attempt at an ESB with a lot of maize

Highly Commended, Bathurst 2005, Strong ale

113

Chocolate Porter

The house favourite

114

Little Puppy Pale Ale

LPA

Another LCPA clone but going for more hops and fruit

First place, Bathurst 2005, Aus and American Draft

115

Smoked mild

SM1

Another light beer attempt, 1098 yeast

First place Bathurst 2005, low alcohol

116

Smoked mild

SM2

Another light beer attempt, 1028 yeast

117

Bobs Oatmeal Stout

Similar to previous version, except we got very drunk while making it

118

ESB

Yet another go, this time in the right OG range

119

Demon Ale

Loads of amarillo hops

120

Ginger Beer

Kit plus quite a few bits

Brew Number	1
Style	Mexican MX
Ingredients	Beermakers(?) Mexican kit 1 kg light liquid malt from Welshpool Pilsener enzyme supplied with kit
Brewing notes	Kit method, kit plus sugar in hot water in fermenter, top up with cold water.
Tasting notes	Nice malty Mexican taste, quite dry. Bit under-carbonated, suspect home-made capper not sealing properly. Drunk within a month of bottling.

Brew Number	2
Style	Pilsener P
Ingredients	Black Rock (?) Pilsener kit 1 kg dextrose 12g Saaz hop pellets
Brewing notes	Kit method, kit and sugar in fermenter with hot water, top up with cold water. Chuck hops (already in flow thru bag) in fermenter with cold water.
Tasting notes	At the time we were impressed with the flavour of this beer, but looking back suspect it may have lacked body. Saaz are very effective in adding aroma despite low alpha percentage. Again lacking in carbonation. Drunk within 4 weeks of bottling.

Brew Number	3
Style	Munich MU
Ingredients	Wanderer Munich kit 1 kg dextrose
Brewing notes	Kit method. Bottle caps were unlabelled.
Tasting notes	Considering nothing extra added, surprisingly good malty flavour, quite impressive for the cost. 5 April – Nutty colour, stale on the nose, pretty much flat. Caramel flavours with banana side tastes, clean finish very slightly hoppy. Seems to have suffered from going flat/oxidising, good thing we ditched this capper. 21 August, about 10 months old. Similar to above, although slightly more carbonated, bit of a head. Nice malt flavour, not gone metallic or watery, but suffers from staleness associated with minimal carbonation.

Brew Number	4 and 5
Style	Mexican MXV 5/11 and MXV 7/11
Ingredients	Mexican kit, not sure, Black Rock? 1 kg light liquid malt from Welshpool Pilsener enzyme supplied with kit
Brewing notes	Kit method. Added 50% more sugar when bottling, still using home made capper.
Tasting notes	Definite improvement in carbonation with extra priming, didn’t lose any bottles or caps. Nice malty Mexican taste, but not quite as dry as Brew 1 from memory. Did a double batch, but still finished this brew pretty fast. 5 April – from the 5/11 batch 5 months old. Good big bubble head, continuing in glass, but cidery/winey flavour developing. Dry on the nose, but lacking in body. A somewhat characterless, easily quaffed, OK beer. 5/10 5 April – from the 7/11 batch. Dry, slightly citrus on the nose. Amber slightly cloudy in colour. Typical dry malty slightly banana taste, clean finish with subtle lemon overtones. A pretty good Mexican, 7 to 8 out of 10. 29 August – from the 7/11 batch, 9 months old. Well carbonated, reasonable head, amber colour, very clear. Good malty Mexican taste, not much fruitiness left, still a 7 to 8 out of 10.

Brew Number	6
Style	Pilsener PXV 20/11
Ingredients	Coopers Brewmaster Pilsener 1 kg light liquid malt from Welshpool No record of hops? Probably 12 g Saaz?
Brewing notes	Kit method. Pitched yeast 15 Nov, stopped bubbling after 3 days, left it to 20 Nov to bottle just in case. Slight sulphur odour at bottling, maybe due to sterilizing solution, not present in the final product. Used 50% extra sugar on some bottles.
Tasting notes	Again no loss of bottles with extra priming, but still using home made capper. Very clear beer, great aroma, good taste, good body. 5 April – 4.5 months old. No head, close to flat – old capper and single measure sugar in this bottle. Nothing on the nose, amber colour, thin body, some middle bittering hop flavour but nothing up front and no finish. Not so good, maybe no extra hops were added? 4 September – 10 months old. Moderate carbonation to a bit flat, some head, dry aroma. Reasonable middle bittering taste, nothing on the finish. Drinkable, but shows how far we have progressed.

Brew Number	7
Style	Ginger Beer GB 20/11
Ingredients	Old fashioned ginger beer kit from Welshpool 1 kg dextrose
Brewing notes	Kit method. Stirred fermenter during fermentation and during bottling. Final gravity 1.006. Pitched yest 15 Nov, bottled 20 Nov. Added 50% extra priming sugar.
Tasting notes	Nice taste with good ginger bite. Bit sweet, next time don’t put all the sweetener in. Good carbonation, didn’t lose any bottles. Might have been about here we bought a better capper. 13 April, 5 months old. Rolled bottle before pouring to get sediment. Excellent carbonation, real lively schweppervescence on the pour, no head to speak of but very lively in the glass, spicy and gingery on the nose. Refreshing ginger bite, nice cloudy old fashioned ginger beer, slightly sweet on the aftertaste. Not a huge kick in it, maybe 3 to 4% ABV? This seems to be the best ginger beer kit.

Brew Number	8
Style	Mexican MXV 2/12
Ingredients	Brewmart Mexican kit from Bayswater 1 kg amber malt in tin, from Bayswater Accidentally put the Munich yeast in (Brew 9) Left out the Pilsener enzyme (Brew 9)
Brewing notes	Pitched first yeast 21 Nov. Nothing. Pitched 2 more beer yeasts over several days, nothing. Made a bread yeast starter, and pitched that. Nothing. We were about to throw the brew out, when we finally had an idea. On 27 Nov, added 750 g dextrose. Started bubbling like crazy. Seems the tinned malt was off, and refusing to ferment. Brewed down to 1.008. Bottled on 2 Dec. 50% extra carbonation sugar, new capper.
Tasting notes	Beer was dark colour, more like a Munich than a Mexican. Poured with good head, but big bubble head which decayed rapidly and certainly didn’t leave a ring on glass. Taste was very malty up front, almost liquorice. Not typical dry Mexican. Disappointing, but drank it anyway. Slowly improved in the bottle over a month or two as the malt brewed out a bit more. Never use tinned malt from Bayswater again

Brew Number	9
Style	Munich MUXV 27/11
Ingredients	Wander Munich kit 0.5 kg tinned amber malt from Bayswater 0.5 kg dextrose Accidentally used the yeast from the Mexican (Brew 8) Used pilsener enzyme from Brew 8
Brewing notes	Pitched yeast 21 Nov and started fermenting straight away, which confirms that it was bad malt. Bottled 27 Nov, 50% extra carbonation sugar, new capper.
Tasting notes	A bad beer. If we hadn’t been short of stock it would have gone down the sink. Clean, dark colour, frothy initial head but bad flavour. Very malty with liquorice. Definite soapy taste and texture. Did improve slightly after a couple of months in bottle but not a good beer. August 2002 – thought it worth a try. Getting better, almost drinkable, but still a definite cloying syrupy taste from the unfermented malt. Very gassy, hard to pour, too much carbonation sugar for long term storage. If I had any left I would keep another 6 months before trying again.

Brew Number	10
Style	Ginger Beer GB 11/12
Ingredients	Brigalow kit from Coles 2 kg dextrose
Brewing notes	Piched yeast 3 Dec, bottled 11 December. First attempt at high alcohol brew using extra sugar. Bottled with 50% extra carbonation sugar.
Tasting notes	On 18 Dec, quite flat in bottle, not carbonating. Suspect stuck fermentation, due to too much alcohol killing the yeast. Never did develop full carbonation in the bottle, and had an aley test which did improve a little. Not as good a ginger flavour as the Welshpool one (Brew 7). However, certainly did taste like it had significantly more than 5% alcohol, so it got drunk anyway.

Brew Number	11
Style	India Pale Ale IPA 2/12
Ingredients	Coopers Brewmaster IPA 1 kg powered light liquid malt 250 g dextrose
Brewing notes	Kit method? (Started to boil kits around about now). Only brewed down to 1.015 Bottled on 2 Dec. 50% extra carbonation sugar.
Tasting notes	After 10 days, disappointing. Very malty up front, with hops only vaguely present in aftertaste. After about a month, very nice beer, strongly malty up front, hoppy at the back, with flavours more balanced. Nice beer. 4 April – 4 months old. Very clear, dark caramel colour with almost a reddish tinge. Good carbonation, lacy head on the edge of the glass. Quite dry aroma, similar to a Mexican. Strong malt flavour with caramel overtones. Subdued, lingering subtle hop taste. A nice beer, but for Simon a bit more hops next time. 5 April – different bottle. Brassy on the nose, nutty colour, gentle bubbles to flat. Caramel malty taste which is overpowering to the point of cloying, no hops flavour left. Not a good beer in fact a bad beer worth 2 to 3 out of 10. Definite variability between bottles from the same brew becoming evident. 28 August – 9 months old reasonable carbonation, not much hop flavour, cloying caramel malty taste, don’t like that malt, not a good beer. 3 September – again the malt is overpowering in a caramel/liquorice slightly gingery sort of a way. Carbonation is good to a bit excessive. Stay away from powdered malt from Bayswater shop.

Brew Number	12
Style	Munich MUXV 18/12
Ingredients	Wander Munich kit 0.5 kg light malt powder 0.5 kg dextrose Bread yeast
Brewing notes	There was no yeast in kit so we used bread yeast. Pitched on 10 Dec. Decanted into second fermenter on 17 Dec and added gelatin finings. Brewed down to 1.007. Bottled 18 Dec, using 50% extra carbonation dextrose.
Tasting notes	Contrary to advice, the bread yeast didn’t seem to affect flavour. However, despite the finings the beer was cloudy, suspect sediment was suspended yeast because it had a nasty effect on digestive system. Flavour and body were good, nice malty flavour, but cloudiness a big problem. Finally seemed to be settling in bottle after about 2 months but had drunk most of it by then.

Brew Number	13
Style	Mexican MXV 7/12
Ingredients	Brewmart Mexican kit 0.5 kg light malt powder 0.5 kg dextrose Enzyme that came with kit
Brewing notes	Pitched yeast 3 Dec, added finings after 3 days, bottled 7 Dec with 50% extra carbonation sugar.
Tasting notes	Nice typical malty Mexican, dry taste, enzyme has significantly reduced fruitiness. A bit too carbonated, had to be poured into a cold wet jug to get rid of the froth. From the pop sound as the cap was removed from the bottle, hard to believe none of them blew up. Most of this brew was drunk at the Katanning family Christmas and was very well received as a refreshing dry well carbonated beer for a hot afternoon. Persuaded a lot of people that home brew can be nice. April – now has a watery cidery taste, not nearly as good as when most of it was drunk at 2 weeks old. September – 9 months old. This one has survived very nicely, well carbonated, dry Mexican with slight remnant appley taste and aroma. For longer keeping, half malt may be better than all malt.

Brew Number	14
Style	Pilsener DHP 7/1
Ingredients	Goldrush Pilsener kit 250 g corn syrup 1 kg light malt syrup from Welshpool 30 g Hallertau hop pellets (8%) 12 g Saaz hop pellets (4%)
Brewing notes	Boil 4 L water. Add malt syrup, corn syrup, boil. Add15 g Hallertau hops, boil 10 mins. Add kit, boil 5 mins. Add 15 g Hallertau hops and steep off heat for 10 mins. Mix with 20 L cold water in fermenter. Steep Saaz hops in boiling water 10 mins, throw whole lot in fermenter. Pitch yeast on 30 Dec. 6 Jan sg was 1.010, not much bubbling. Decant to second fermenter through coarse sieve. 7 Jan sg was 1.010 still. Bulk primed with 7 oz dextrose, bottled.
Tasting notes	First use of bulk priming (which made carbonation much more even) and first proper use of hops. Beer had good colour, good head, very nice hoppy flavour and aroma. Corn syrup seemed to add body. Fine hop sediment stayed in suspension making it cloudy, but still quite drinkable. After 2 months in bottle, sediment possibly starting to settle. 5 April – 3 months old. Dark amber, citrus hops on the nose, reasonable head, giving in the glass. Good rounded hop flavour, 8 to 9 out of 10. Gift beer for Paul. 20 August – 7 months old. Good lively carbonation, head has reasonable staying power, reasonably lacy. Very clear, but lots sediment at base of bottle. Good bittering hop flavour up front and finish, with subtle spicy hallertau flavour but no aroma, not citrus anymore. Still a very nice beer, but hop character a little subdued. Body a little light – too much volume in fermenter.

Brew Number	15
Style	Mexican MXV 4/1
Ingredients	Beermakers Mexican kit 1 kg light liquid malt from Welshpool 250 g corn syrup
Brewing notes	Boil 4 l water, add malt, corn syrup, boil 10 mins, add kit, boil 5 mins. Tip into fermenter with 20 L cold water. Pitch yeast 30 Dec, along with enzyme supplied. 4 Jan, decant, bulk prime with 7 oz dextrose, bottle.
Tasting notes	Typical dry, slightly fruity Mexican, good beer, quite carbonated but OK. 4 April – 3 months old. Golden sort of colour, bit dark for a Mexican. Good carbonation, long lived lacy head, continues to stream bubbles in glass, reasonable body. No fruitiness left. Typical dry Mexican flavour, possibly very slightly too malty, but a very satisfying beer. We made that! 19August -7 months old. Good lively carbonation, nice rounded malt flavour, no fruitiness, no cidery flavours, nice dry aroma. Very good beer. Lacyhead.

Brew Number	16
Style	India Pale Ale IPA 14/1
Ingredients	Black Rock IPA kit 0.5 kg light liquid malt from Welshpool 600 g dextrose 200g corn syrup 15 g Hallertau hops pellets (8%)
Brewing notes	Boil 4 L water, add malt, corn syrup, dextrose, bring to boil, add kit, boil 10 mins. Remove from heat, add 15 g Hallertau hop pellets, steep 10 mins. Add to 20 L cold water. Rapid start to fermentation. Added finings 11 Jan. 14 Jan decanted through fine plastic coffee filter. Bulk primed with 7 oz dextrose, bottled.
Tasting notes	Took at least 1 month in bottle to be drinkable (hops to subside). Good carbonation and head. Eventually reached a nice balance of malt and hops, but from memory not as good as Coopers. 5 April – nearly 3 months old. Light amber/golden colour and slightly cloudy. Over-carbonated, big hiss when opened, a bit ice creamy on the pour, with bubbling only gentle in the glass. Some malt flavour up-front, but dominated by flowery/citrus hops which have now reduced to a strong but quite pleasant tangy type aftertaste, very long on the palate. Flowery hop aroma. A very nice beer, perfect for hot Summers day, very refreshing, 8/10. For Simon, maybe try same hops but 1 kg of liquid malt to balance, or even half light malt half dark malt. 7 Oct – 9 months old. Golden colour, very clear, good carbonation, lacy head. Dry aroma, small malt up front, long lasting citrusy tang/aftertaste. Very nice beer, eminently drinkable.

Brew Number	17
Style	Draught NZD 13/1
Ingredients	Black Rock NZ Draft kit 0.5 kg light liquid malt from Welshpool 0.6 kg dextrose 200 g corn syrup 30 g hallertau hop pellets (8%)
Brewing notes	Boil 4 L water, add malt, sugar, corn syrup, bring to boil, add kit, bring to boil. Add 15 g Hallertau hop pellets, boil 15 mins, take off heat, add 15 g Hallertau hop pellets, steep 15 minutes. Add to 20 L cold water. Added finings on 11 Jan. Decanted through coffee filter on 13 Jan, bulk primed with 7 oz dextrose, bottled.
Tasting notes	Took a while for the hops to even out, but had a muddy taste which never really improved. Not a great beer. 2 April – Caramel colour, clear, good carbonation with long lived lacy head, continuing to bubble in glass. Muddy flavour reducing, flavour dominated by hops, quite tangy, reasonably rounded and long lived on the palate. Spicy sort of aroma. Not too bad, and probably better with age. August – no muddy flavour, good hop finish, has become a nice beer.

Brew Number	18
Style	Pilsener DHP 23/3
Ingredients	Coopers Brewmaster Pilsener kit 1.25 kg bag brew booster 25 g Cascade hop pellets (6%) 12 g Saaz hop pellets (4%)
Brewing notes	Boil 4 L water, add brew booster, bring to boil. Add 15 g Cascade hop pellets in flow thru bag which split. Boil 10 mins, remove remains of bag, add kit. Boil 10 mins. Take off heat, add 10 g Cascade hops in stocking bag. Steep 10 mins, remove bag. Add to 20 L cold water, chuck in 12 g Saaz pellets in stocking bag. Pitched yeast on 13 March. Fermented slowly, decanted on 23 March through coffee filter, bulk primed with 7 oz dextrose, bottled.
Tasting notes	Looked cloudy on 1 April. 7 April –still a bit young, lacking in carbonation, slightly yeasty, bit cloudy, but an excellent floral and citrus rounded hop flavour which is very reminiscent of the Little Creatures Pale Ale. June – a stunning beer, full flavoured, very similar to Little Creatures, unfortunately all drunk. 28 August – found 1 left! Very clear, nice colour, well carbonated, very nice rounded tangy hop flavour. Not so much floral and citrus flavour any more, not as much like Little Creatures, but still an excellent beer. Definitely a 9 if not a 10.

Brew Number	19
Style	Mexican MXV 16/3
Ingredients	Beermakers Mexican kit 1 kg light liquid malt from Osb Park Pilsener enzyme supplied with kit
Brewing notes	Boil 4 L water, add liquid malt, boil, add kit, boil 10 mins, add to 20L cold water. Pitch yeast 13 March, add Pilsener enzyme supplied with kit. Decanted through coffee filter 16 March, bulk primed 7 oz dextrose, bottled.
Tasting notes	1 April – well carbonated, good head, keeps gassing in the glass, slightly fruity on the nose (apple type aroma), but typical dry malty Mexican. Still a bit green, slightly yeasty, also not completely clear, but already an excellent beer. Beermakers is probably the best Mexican kit. 22 August – well carbonated, good Mexican beer.

Brew Number

20 and 21

Style

Guinness G4 1/4 and G5 1/4

Ingredients

100g chocolate grain from Osborne Park

100 g malted barley from Osb Park

3 kg dark liquid malt from Osb Park

500 g brown suga