These mini gauges are a upgrade part for KegLand's range of inline regulators and spunding valves. Check out our in depth review to see how they perform and if they're a worthwhile upgrade.
Friday, 25 February 2022
Monday, 21 February 2022
How to Dry Hop in a FermZilla All Rounder
The FermZilla All Rounder is a relatively simple, yet versatile pressure capable plastic fermenter. It's popularity is largely due to it's simple design, especially in comparison to it's more complicated brother, the FermZilla Conical.
Tuesday, 15 February 2022
Bentspoke Brewing Co - Crankshaft IPA - Beer Review
Review Date: 14/2/2022
Brewery Name: Bentspoke Brewing Co (Braddon, ACT, Australia)
Beer Name: Crankshaft IPA
"Similar to a West Coast IPA. Floral nose with notes of citrus and pine. Medium bodied with a nice punch of hops and a solid malt finish. Crankshaft won a silver medal at the 2017 International Brewing Awards. A great beer for lovers of big full flavoured brews - it cranks! Crankshaft was the highest ranked IPA in the GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers Poll for 2018, for the second year in a row."
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| Bentspoke Brewing Co - Crankshaft IPA Can |
General
Alcohol By Volume (ABV): 5.8% (Standard)
Label/Design: 8/10
Serving Style: Can
Region of Origin: Pacific (Australia, New Zealand)
Style Family: IPA
Malts/Adjuncts: Unknown
Hops: Ekuanot, Simcoe, Citra, Centennial
IBU's: 35
Appearance
Colour: Deep Gold
Clarity
| Brilliant | Clear | Slight Haze | Hazy |
Collar of Foam & Head Retention
| None |
Poor |
Moderate |
Good |
Foam Texture
| N/A | Thin | Fluffy | Mousse-Like |
Carbonation (Visible)
Alcohol Aroma
| None | Slow | Medium | Fast-Rising Bubbles |
Alcohol Aroma
| Not Detectable | Mild | Noticeable | Strong | Harsh |
Aroma & Flavour
Esters Aroma: None
Phenols: None
Alcohol Taste:
| Not Detectable | Mild | Noticeable | Strong | Harsh |
Hop Pungency:
| Mild | Moderate | Strong | Extreme |
Hop Bitterness:
Astringency:
Palate/Mouthfeel:
Palate Carbonation:
Length/Finish:
| Restrained | Moderate | Aggressive | Harsh |
Malt Sweetness:
| Low | Medium | High | Cloying (Excessive) |
Astringency:
| Low | Medium | High |
Palate/Mouthfeel:
| Light Bodied (Thin/Watery) |
Medium Bodied (Light + Full) |
Full Bodied (Round, Rich & Creamy) |
Palate Carbonation:
| Low | Medium | High |
Length/Finish:
| Short (Up to 15 seconds) |
Medium (15 to 60 seconds) |
Long (More than 60 seconds) |
Oxidative/Aged Qualities: None
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| Bentspoke Brewing Co - Crankshaft IPA in the Craftd Alpha glass |
Overall
Drinkability: 9/10
Overall Impression: 9/10
Notes
It's easy to see why this is Gabs #1 rated beer for 2021 and has won countless other awards in the past. It's just so likeable and easy to drink. Loads of hop presence, with a moderate bitterness but it doesn't linger too long or leave a lasting bitterness on the palate like a lot of other IPA's do. Medium/light mouthfeel and a decent dose of alcohol makes it a well balanced package. Fruit notes across the spectrum from citrus to tropical fruit with a really nice neutral finish. If you haven't tried this one yet then do yourself a favour and do so - you won't be disappointed.
Sunday, 13 February 2022
Nomad Brewing Co - Rollin Haze - Hazy Pale Ale - Beer Review
Review Date: 12/2/2022
Brewery Name: Nomad Brewing Co (Brookvale, NSW, Australia)
Beer Name: Rollin Haze - Hazy Pale Ale
"Get rollin' with this hazy pale ale from award-winning Nomad Brewery. Loaded with oats for the haze and left unfiltered for extra flavour and a soft creamy mouthfeel. Southern Hemisphere hops are featured in this pale with the use of Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin and a new experimental hop to give a combination of citrus, gooseberry and tropical fruit aromas."
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| Nomad Rollin Haze Hazy Pale Ale can |
General
Alcohol By Volume (ABV): 4.6% (Standard)
Label/Design: 9/10 - very cool
Serving Style: Can
Region of Origin: Pacific (Australia, New Zealand)
Style Family: Pale Ale
Malts/Adjuncts: Oats
Hops: Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin, New "experimental" hop
IBU's: Unknown
 |
| Nomad Brewing - Rollin Haze Hazy Pale Ale Can Notes |
Appearance
Colour: Pale Straw
Clarity
| Brilliant | Clear | Slight Haze | Hazy |
Collar of Foam & Head Retention
| None |
Poor |
Moderate |
Good |
Foam Texture
| N/A | Thin | Fluffy | Mousse-Like |
Carbonation (Visible)
Alcohol Aroma
| None | Slow | Medium | Fast-Rising Bubbles |
Alcohol Aroma
| Not Detectable | Mild | Noticeable | Strong | Harsh |
Aroma & Flavour
Esters Aroma: None
Phenols: None
Alcohol Taste:
| Not Detectable | Mild | Noticeable | Strong | Harsh |
Hop Pungency:
| Mild | Moderate | Strong | Extreme |
Hop Bitterness:
Astringency:
Palate/Mouthfeel:
Palate Carbonation:
Length/Finish:
| Restrained | Moderate | Aggressive | Harsh |
Malt Sweetness:
| Low | Medium | High | Cloying (Excessive) |
Astringency:
| Low | Medium | High |
Palate/Mouthfeel:
| Light Bodied (Thin/Watery) |
Medium Bodied (Light + Full) |
Full Bodied (Round, Rich & Creamy) |
Palate Carbonation:
| Low | Medium | High |
Length/Finish:
| Short (Up to 15 seconds) |
Medium (15 to 60 seconds) |
Long (More than 60 seconds) |
Oxidative/Aged Qualities: None
 |
| Nomad Rollin Haze Hazy Pale Ale in the Craftd Alpha glass |
Overall
Drinkability: 7/10
Overall Impression: 7/10
Notes
Not as hazy as the name would have you believe. The can label is very cool and demands to be seen. It practically jumps off the shelf and into your hands. Nelson Sauvin hops give such a unique flavour and mix well with Galaxy and whatever this 'experimental' hop they used as well. The body is light in colour and mouthfeel with medium fizz. A nice and welcome change from the typical tropical fruit pale ales with some unique hop flavours combining for a fairly short, yet refreshing finish. ABV is relatively low at 4.6% meaning you can put a few of these bad boys away without feeling too woozy.
Tuesday, 8 February 2022
BrewZilla Brew Day - Best American Pale Ale
Here's a rundown on our latest BrewZilla brew day, using our 35L BrewZilla 3.1.1 and Digiboil 35L sparge water heater.
This brew day was bringing to life our Best American Pale Ale Recipe.
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| All our ingredients ready for brew day |
Without going into the full recipe (check out the link above), we've got a mixture of pale, pilsner, carapils and melanoidin malt. We ended up going with the Gladfield equivalent of the last two malts (Gladiator for carapils and Aurora for melanoidin), as that's what our local home brew supply store had available. For the hops we're going with Centennial and Amarillo as they're a well known and timeless/classic combination for an American Pale Ale.
For the yeast we're using Mangrove Jacks M36 Liberty Bell dry yeast - this is our first batch using any variety of Mangrove Jacks yeast so we're excited to see how it goes.
Mashing in and the mash itself went to plan and was largely uneventful. After adding the grain, we gave it a thorough stir, then left the grain bed to settle for 10 minutes before turning on the pump to recirculate the wort. Once we switched on the pump we started our 60 minute timer for the mash.
The mash itself was quite thick, so we didn't get a particularly good flow when recirculating and had to restrict the pump flow quite a lot. It never really 'backed up' or got stuck though which is good. We also stopped the pump and stirred the grain bed 3 times during the mash (every 15-20 minutes).
We always use the BrewFather app to calculate our water chemistry and strike/sparge water volumes and it's never failed us. The built in profile for the 35L BrewZilla is great and really accurate in our experience.
At the end of our 60 minute mash we raised the temperature to 75c for the mash out step. Ramp up time was pretty decent at around 5 minutes or so (using both heating elements). We calculate grain bed temperatures using a long probe thermometer in the top of the grain bed for more accurate temperature measurement rather than relying on the temperature reading on the display of the BrewZilla.
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| Our long probe thermometer fits well through the lid to measure the grain bed temperature from the top |
We've found after a bit more practice we're getting better at dialling in and maintaining our mash temperature. Setting the BrewZilla to around 5c above the target temperature seems to be the sweet spot, which seems like a lot but it works well for us.
Sparging also went without a hitch - we suspect that the combination of a proper mash out to raise the temperature to 75c and sparging with water heated to the same temperature really helps the sparge water flow back through the grain bed. Sparging took next to no time at all and the water was flowing through faster than we could pour it in using a 1L jug.
Pre-boil gravity sample taken and it was surprisingly higher than expected at 1.052 (recipe expected 1.046)
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| Pre-Boil Gravity Reading - 1.052 - several points higher than expected |
We went with a classic 60 minute boil as that's what the original recipe (sourced from David Heath's YouTube channel) calls for. There are quite a few hop additions so we measured all these out whilst waiting for boil temperature to be reached. Planning and organisation is key on brew day!
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| Measuring out hop additions whilst waiting for the boil |
Boil was promptly reached and hop additions added at 60, 10, 5 and then again at flameout as per the recipe.
 |
| The Boil |
At the end of the boil, we had a reasonable hop addition/hop stand to be added when the wort temperature is dropped to 80c then held for 15 minutes - also known as a whirlpool addition.
This was only our second attempt at a hop stand so we adjusted our method slightly based on the lessons learnt last time we attempted. After starting the initial cooling process with the immersion chiller, we waited for the temperature to drop to around 85c before stopping the water flow through the chiller. The drop from boil to 85c was very quick, probably less than 90 seconds. During which time we adjusted the set temperature of the BrewZilla to 85c and left both heating elements on.
We had the whirlpool arm installed as well so switched the pump on to begin recirculating the wort through the whirlpool arm. The end result of all this was a rock solid 80-82c temperature throughout the entire hopstand which we were very happy with.
 |
| Whirlpool/hop stand temperature at ~80c |
After our 15 minute hop stand, we began flowing water through the immersion chiller again to finalise the chilling down to around 24c then transferred to our FermZilla fermenter using the pump and recirculation arm.
After transporting the wort home and into our fermenting fridge, we pitched the yeast and set the target temp to 20c.
Our Original Gravity was also higher than expected at 1.055-1.056 (recipe expected 1.051) which is great and means that our efficiency is improving. These numbers give us a brewhouse efficiency of 82% which is awesome.
 |
| OG Gravity Reading 1.055 but a more realistic 1.056 with temperature correction |
Pleasingly, fermentation was underway the next morning and is tracking well. This is also our first fermenting using our new Rapt Pill hydrometer/thermometer so it's been great having a more accurate insight into the fermentation that we didn't previously have.
Surprisingly, the fermentation seemed really fast for this beer. After pitching yeast on Saturday afternoon, by Sunday mid-morning, fermentation was underway (we started to see gravity movements from our RAPT Pill), and final gravity of 1.010 was reached 72 hours later on Tuesday morning at around the same time. This was our first fermentation with this kind of visibility, but it does seem pretty fast!
We'll definitely be leaving it for at least another week before transferring to our keg in order to give the yeast ample time to clean up any by products like diacetyl and let the flavours mellow/settle.
 |
| Fermentation graph from the Rapt Pill |
After 7 days in the fermenter we took a "regular" hydrometer reading and found the result pretty consistent with what our Rapt Pill was saying (1.010)
Initial tasting was very promising, still a little astringent or 'green' with alot of grainy flavours but this will no doubt start to clear up over the next week
Check out the Tasting & Review of our Best American Pale Ale
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Monday, 7 February 2022
Best American Pale Ale (All Grain) Recipe
After much research and putting together our American Pale Ale Recipe Creation Guide, we have settled on the below recipe for our Best American Pale Ale.
Vitals
Batch Volume: 23L
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Original Gravity: 1.051
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU (Tinseth): 50
BU/GU: 0.97
Colour: 9.7 EBC
Mash
Temperature: 65c - 60 minutes
Mash Out: 75c - 10 minutes
Malts
2.4kg Gladfield American Ale Malt (46%)
2.4kg Gladfield Pilsner Malt (46%)
260g Gladfield Gladiator Malt (Carapils) (5%)
160g Gladfield Aurora Malt (Melanoidin) (3%)
Hops
15g (16 IBU) - Centennial (9.8%) - Boil - 60 minutes
24g (8 IBU) - Amarillo (7.1%) - Boil - 10 minutes
17g (8 IBU) - Centennial (9.8%) - Boil - 10 minutes
27g (6 IBU) - Amarillo (7.1%) - Boil - 5 minutes
16g (5 IBU) - Centennial (9.8%) - Boil - 5 minutes
34g (3 IBU) - Amarillo (7.1%) - Whirlpool/Hopstand - 80c for 15 minutes
25g (3 IBU) - Centennial (9.8%) - Whirpool/Hopstand - 80c for 15 minutes
Yeast
Mangrove Jack's M36 Liberty Bell (Dry) - 1 packet
Fermentation
20C for 14 days
Carbonation
2.4 CO2-vol
Water Profile
Ca2+ (Calcium): 110
Mg2+ (Magnesium): 18
Na+ (Sodium): 19
Cl- (Chloride): 50
SO42- (Sulfate): 267
HCO3- (Bicarbonate): 43
Want to see how it went? Check out our Best American Pale Ale Brew Day post to find out.
You can also check out the Tasting & Review of our Best American Pale Ale for our final thoughts and the outcome of this brew and recipe.
We have taken this recipe from David Heath's YouTube video (recipe is in the video description) and have updated the values to match the grain and hop AA%'s we had available. We're big fans of David's YouTube video's so check him out!