Friday 15 August 2014

Adding Fresh Yeast for Bottling Conditioning

Apparently I need to add yeast to my Belgian Golden Strong before bottling, as it's 9% ABV and has had an extended secondary fermentation period. Basically the yeast is almost dead, and not up to the task of carbonating the beer to the required level.

So I need to add fresh yeast before bottling.  I have no idea how to do this.  I had a poke around the internet, and this was all I could find:

I also found these resources, but they were more about bottling and ageing in general.

Saturday 2 August 2014

Honeybrau

This is the new label for my recent batch of Honeybrau, a blonde-ale made with honey.



This is the second time I have made this, and both times I've been really happy with it.  The honey really shines through. It has quite low bitterness, and it often appeals to people who don't usually drink beer.

Next time I might consider dropping the late addition hops, as I'm not sure it needs them.

Here is the recipe:

Style:  Honey and wheat blonde ale? Golden ale? I'm not sure.
Batch Size:  20L
Type:  Partial Mash

Ingredients:
  • 1.5kg liquid malt extract
  • 2kg New Zealand 2-row ale malt
  • 1kg New Zealand wheat malt
  • 500g Manuka-blend honey (or full Manuka honey if you can afford it)
  • 15g Pacific Jade hops (14% AA) boiled 60 minutes
  • 10g Pacifica hops (5.6% AA) boiled 30 minutes
  • 5g Nelson Sauvin hops (12.8% AA) boiled 10 minutes
  • 5g Pacifica hops (5.6% AA) boiled 10 minutes
  • Safale US-05 dry yeast
Note: I have poor mash efficiency (about 55%) so you may not need quite so much base malt.

Directions:
Mash at 67c for 60 minutes.
Add the honey and liquid extract at flame-out to avoid scorching.

Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol by Volume: 6%
Biterness: 20.45 IBUs
Colour: 5 SRM