Five Islands Brewing Co

     Located under the eastern terrace of WIN stadium Five Islands Brewing Co looks across the park to one of Wollongong's  many beaches. What could be better we thought than to try these beers in this setting.

     We should have known that it was to good to be true, for as the barman poured the first 4 beers what came out was 4 glasses of foam and the barman swearing at the taps for being crap before heading to another font for the last 2 beers. We should of asked for the first 4 beers to be replaced and next time we will.
     The first beer they offer is a Draught Ale, a very pale straw coloured wheat beer without using the wheat beer yeast that gives it, it's balanced flavour. This beer has a taste that doesn't gel with too much bitterness and nothing to back it up.
     Next is their Koelsch, a plae straw colour, this koelsch has a pleasantly hoppy grapefruity taste that screams out typical german Koelsch.
     Along comes their Wit beer, golden and cloudy don't be put off by this as it's the way that the yeast and malt work in this style with some clove and orange this spicy typical wheat beer is interesting to try.
     Now comes the Rust Amber ale with a nice hop aroma but an over powering malt (I think crystal malt) taste, your then left with a mouth puckering bitter after taste.
     The Porter comes along and has a good espresso and chocolate nose and again just seems typical porter.
     Longboard is theur seasonal ale with hints of cut grass and a bit of citrus and refreshingly lite bitterness although the wife thinks it "smells like an armpit and tastes like she washed socks in it" .
     All these beers are brewed off site and when asked all staff could say was it was somewhere in north Wollongong, It seems that rather than make a name for their beers they are riding on the back of the craft beer name and having it brewed to the middle of the style with no individuality of expression of who they are or their location.

    Steve's pick - Koelsch      Wife's pick as the runt of the litter - Longboard
  
    Tasting panels 3 200ml glasses for $7

    Contracted brewed off site No tours

Changing of the Seasons

     With summer starting to draw to a close it's time to turn from brewing the Summer Ales like Saison and fruity Pale Ales, those light tangy thirst quenchers and move to the heartier more robust Stouts, Double IPA's and Barley wines. Something to put a bit of fire in your belly and warm you up on those cold winter nights.
     It may still be February but we are gearing up to brew a big Russian Imperial Stout which should come out at about 9% and have lots of roast caramel and coffee tastes and aromas. As the alcohol content is quite high it's going to need 6 - 8 weeks in the fermenter and a good 2 months at least in the bottle, may be longer if so it will be great for next year.  We plan for this beer to be pitch black and to this end we will be using a good whack of chocolate malt and maybe some extra espresso coffee. As this is going to be a big beer we are looking for a final gravity of about 1.020, slightly high by some standards but it should leave a nice fullness to it.
  
 Our name for this beer will be Siberian Crude (black as night and twice as thick).

     After that we are looking for a good Oatmeal Stout to bring a bit more rich creamy texture with not so much alcohol as the Imperial and a shorter brewing time, something you can drink on a week night without feeling it too much the next day. We will still be brewing Hoptastic and the Meads, Hoptastic as it's such an easy drinker it never lasts long and the mead as it needs such a long lagering stage.

     Autumn is a good time to get all your brew gear clean and ready for a full winters production as the colder weather keeps brew temps down and slows the ferment a bit, both will help to keep beer nicer as it won't develope the phenol / estery taste that comes with fermenting at high tenps (above 21 - 22*c).  Now is also the time to plan out your brews and to add together the grain bills for all your recipes, this allows you to buy in bulk and save a bit of money you will just need some decent scales at home to break it back down.

Coffee Pants Launch

Don't forget that tomorrow HopDog BeerWorks is releasing it's new Stout Coffee Pants as well as the bottled version of Ham on Rye

 HopDog Beer Works Nowra
2/175 Princes Hwy
South Nowra
0428293132
 www.hopdog.com.au

In the Brew Room this Week

      This week started off full bore with the all grain Saison being brewed on saturday, 5 hours brewing plus the clean up makes for a full day. I was glad to get it in the fermenter and be done for the day. I must say I think the bilge pump cooling system worked a treat and to drop the temperature from boiling to 24*c in 20 odd minutes is great, out of 4 bags of ice we had 1/2 a bag left in the esky so I think we got right to, next time though we will move the keg off the bricks we were boiling it on to cool as I think it added to the cooling time with the bricks radiating all of their heat back to the keg.

     The Plum wine also sees it's first racking this week, and what a load of sediment it's dropped. A few more weeks and it will be crystal clear and ready to bottle.

     The batch of Hoptastic and the Strongbow clone have both served their 1 week in the house and have been moved through the mud under the house waiting their turn to be drunk.

Cheers and Beers
HBB

Brew Day Belgium Saison

    Well the day finally arrived to christen the new mash tun / wort boiler and we decided to do the last Saison of the season and were especially pleased The Brew Shop had a new Saison yeast just imported from the States WLP 566 Saison 2 Ale yeast. 

  
     The day was going to be a long one so we started at 10am heating the strike water for the grain, bringing it to 68 - 70*c. We used 20L for this and it took about 45mins to get there. Once there we readied our grain bag we were using a brew in the bag arrangement as at the moment we do it all in one keg. In went all the grain, just over 5kg worth all up and the calcium chloride (3gm) and calcium sulphate (1gm). Stabalising the temp at 63*c we left it for 80mins stirring occasionally and adding heat when needed. Next we bought the temp up to 68*c for 10min to give us full starch conversion.

      Lifting the bag out into a colander we washed the grain with 5L of hot water to get the last of the sugars out then squeezed out as much of the liquid as we could. Once this was done it was time for the boil, cranking up the heat we started the 90min boil that was required. With 60min to go we added the Hallertaurer hops and then with 10min to go we added the Saaz hops. After the boil was completed we used a wort chiller ( a piece of copper pipe coiled up to fit in the boiler that you run cool water through) hooked up to a bilge pump in an esky full of iced water. Running the pump off an old car battery it took only 20mins to bring the temp down from boiling to 24*c were we could transfer it to the fermenter and add the Styrian Golding Hops, whirlfloc, yeast nutrient and yeast and bring the volume up from 15L left after the boil to 23L.

     By now it's 3pm and we still have clean up, so as I said it's along day but quite fun even if it was one of the rare 30*c plus days we've had this summer. The full recipe and directions are on the recipe page and thanks to the ESBrewing site for the recipe.

    Cheers
Hairy Back Brewing

HopDog Beer Works

    Tim and Therese started HopDog Beer Works in Nowra last year with the goal of brewing top class Ales in their own style in their own brewery. What they have succeeded in doing is setting the east coast craft Beer scene  on fire with their Beers in demand all along the coast by bottle shops, craft Beer pubs and Beer enthusiasts. They run a true micro brewery, 200L at a time and face at the moment the question of how big to grow and how fast. Thankfully it doesn't interfere with the brewing or the releasing of new Beers.

  
     With the cellar door in front of the brewery Tim and Therese are more than happy to guide you through their range of beers and then show you through the brewery and answer any questions you may have.You can purchase stubbies and refillable growlers and kegs are available commercially, also wort kits for some of the beers are available for those who wish to replicate the beers.
 
     HopDog use an effective 3 pot all grain set up and grind their grain directly into the mash tun saving time and labour. They believe in recycling the waste were possible and now send the waste grain to Bombaderry High School and a local farmer where it is composted or turned into stock feed.

     Their beers range from Black Sunshine a delicious Stout smelling of chocolate and coffee (sold out at the moment but will be coming back) to their Horn IPA and Midgee session beer with Citra hops and very easy to drink. This is backed up by the seasonal beers such as the Belgium Lawn Mower, a great summer saison which is running out fast, Ham on Rye with less hops and an all malt taste you get a smoky bacony combination making you feel that your having a bacon sandwich. Available next weekend (25/2) will be the next in the dark and strange series Coffee Pants, made with the help of a local coffee roaster this Stout will have big coffee notes. At this release HopDog will be putting on a BBQ and along with the coffee roaster will be available to tell you all about it.

     The weekend after Coffee Pants release will see a Peach Beer being offered, with partial batch barrel aging and partial aging on the fruit this promises to be very interesting indeed. With the start of winter we will also be seeing the Autumn Ales and Barley wine seasonals.

     Tim and Therese do all the work themselves, filling, capping and labeling all the bottles, it's a nice if time consuming touch. The beers are good value at $4.50 a stubbie or $60 a case of 16 and with postage available very easily accessible.

     HopDog will be at the Canberra Craft Beer Festival on April 14,15 and Paddys Hop Harvest on the 21st of April.

      My Pick -Belgium Lawn Mower        Wifes Pick - Ham on Rye

     Brewery tours available on request  -  Free

HopDog Beer Works   www.hopdog.com.au

In the Brew Room this Week

     This week in the Brew Room has been fairly busy, the medium Mead has been racked off the sediment and is clearing nicely, The hop trails received their second dose of Bramling Cross and Boadicea 35gm each and the Plum wine is progressing nicely in the bucket and is in the fermenter now.

     The Hoptastic and Strongbow clone brews have been bottled and are serving their 1 week in the house before being put under the house. ( the 1 week allows the priming sugar to do it's work and carbonate the
brew. )

     The first batch of sweet Mead has been started, using 2kg of honey instead of 1.5kg for the medium Mead and is and incredibly dark colour thanks to the Stringy Bark Honey from Summerland Honey. The sweet Mead recipe is now on the recipes page.

Cheers

Plum Wine

     Going through our notes the other night I came across a receipe we used back in December 2000 for a bucket brewed Plum Wine. Having a bucket and brewer spare for the moment we have decided to give it a go again as we the last batch being quite explosive. Being woken up by bottles exploding under the house is no fun, even less when you realise what the noise is and see glass everywhere. So we will try again and it's off to the brew shop and then the produce market.

     The first part of this brew is to cut in half and crush the plums into a bucket adding half the sugar and a campden tablet with some boiling water to get rid of the natural yeasts on the fruit.The next day we add some Pectinese to remove the Pectin enzyme as we don't want to make jelly, then the following day we added the yeast and yeast nutrient. This stays in the bucket for 2 more days when we will strain it into the fermenter adding the rest of the sugar and more water.

    The full receipe and directions will be on the receipe page and we will update you as we go.

Murrays at Port Stephens

    What a difference, Murrays is set on rolling farmland 15 minutes outside of Port Stephens, including a vineyard, hop grove, brewery and restaurant. On a Sunday the restaurant has a live band and the atmosphere is quite friendly and relaxed, you can sit at the tables or move out on the grass under the large gum trees that dot the site.
     This is definately  the place to bring friends and family to introduce them to craft Beer. Murray himself is usually serving behind the bar and is more than willing to explain their vision and their Beers.
     Murrays is how we got started with craft and hopped Beers, a few years ago we visited the brewery and bought a mixed 4 pack from him to have in the hotel room. Tasting all 4 Beers that night we didn't like any of them finding the overly hoppy taste a real turn off. Six months later we were expanding our home brew range and our tastes and started dry hopping with Cascade and Amarillo and couldn't get enough of it. So it was back to Murrays and another tasting session, this time being able to appreciate what Murrays is doing. So thank you Murray you have another convert.
      Beers at the Brewery go for $5.50 a schooner, very reasonable and the meals are large and well priced, mains and drinks for 6 coming to just $150 and you walk away full. Remember some of Murrays Beers are quite strong so you may want to do the tour to wait off the alcohol or browse the gift shop.
 
Visit Murrays on the net at http://www.murraysbrewingco.com.au/

My Pick  - Angry Man Pale Ale    Wifes Pick  - Punch and Judy

Brewery Tours are every day at 2pm at a  cost of $5 per person this includes a full brewery tour, explanation of  the parts and processes, a tour of the hop grove and best of all a tasting session at the end. Well worth it.

Murrays range includes, Angry Man Pale Ale, Whale Ale, Angry Man Brown Ale, Icon 2IPA, Dark Knight Porter, Punch and Judy, Grand Cru, Retro Rocket, Spartacus Pale Ale, Smashing Pumkin  Ale,  Big Wednesday Pale Ale, and Murrays Porter.   Plenty to choose from and lots to try.

hop trials

     Today we have 2 new to us hop varieties to try out, Bramling Cross and Boadicea. We will be using them in a kit and kilo brew that we call our standard. This is one that we started with and know it's tastes and characters well, it starts with a can of Morgans Blue Mountain Lager and 1kg  #20 ultra blend  (500gm light malt, 250gm maltodextrine and 250gm dextrose )

    As we are trialing 2 different hops we have made up and then split this batch into 2 15L fermenters with 11L in each, this means that we are not risking having a full batch with a taste we don't like.

     With 15gm of each hop in some cheese cloth boiling in separate pans on the stove for 15min the batch is made and ready for the hops, which are poured in along with the hop bag. This short boil will give us some bittering without going over the top ( we can easily boil for longer next time we use them ). A full sachet of Morgans Yeast was used for each brewer, this will give us a very fast initial fermentation and within a week we will be able to add the second round of hops for aroma. We add the aroma hops after most of the fermentation has occurred as the vigorous bubbling drives off the aroma from the first hop addition.

     Bramling Cross : This hop was first bred in 1927 by crossing Golden Hops with a Manitoban wild male Hop. It has a distinctive strong spicy blackcurrant flavour with it's origins in the U.K and an alpha acid content of  6%.

     Boadicea : This hop is quite new to the market and also has it's origins in the U.K it has a light floral characteristics with excellent bittering as it's alpha acids are at 9 - 11%

     Let us know if you have used either of these Hops or had a Beer that uses them, alternatively let us know your favourite Hop.

cheers

Cascade Hop Harvest

     Took a close look at the hops yesterday after being smacked in the head by a drooping vine, and realised it's time to harvest. So out with the scissors and bowl for the first harvest of our Cascade Hops. These rhizomes are only 1 year old so not a lot was expected of them, most hops peak at 2 - 3 years and are dug up and divided.

 
     Total weight for the first harvest was 165gm once cleaned with probably another 20gm on the vines still. This should be enough for 1 batch of Beer as the usage rate of fresh hops needs to be about 5 times that of dried or pelletised, so we are looking at about 53gm of pellets.

     What we are using with these hops is the yellow lupulin glands which contain the essential oils which give us our alpha acids which are isomerised during the boil giving us our bitterness. ( very simply the higher the alpha acid content and longer the boil the more bitter the Beer. Big Beer companies want and develop ultra high alpha acid hops 14 - 20% so they can use less hops making cheaper but not necessary better Beer.) We will also dry hop with these to give us a nice aroma as well

Making my new Mash Tun / Wort Boiler

     Finally all the components have arrived and now I can upgrade from my old stove top stock pot to a purpose built Mash Tun / Wort boiler. It started life as an old 50L Beer keg and I've cut the top out with a 4" grinder leaving the top ring and handles.

     Next I need to use a 25mm hole saw near the base to make 2 holes one for the thermometer / thermocouple.

     And the other a bit lower for the tap and bazooka ( the wire mesh screen which goes inside the keg attached to the tap to filter out the hops after the boil.). Both of these use weldless connections making them easy to remove and clean.

     I will be using a 3 ring propane burner for heating and at the moment all brewing will need to be done under the car port providing my neighbors with a good show. With it all set up it's time for the test boil, just water the first time and with all going well it's time to buy the ingredients for the first batch in the new system.

     A Belgium Saison or Russian Imperial  Stout.  I think we'll go Belgium, as its still summer and the higher brewing temps will help. Stand by for the brew post and photos in the next week.

Cheers

Hairy Back Brewing

Murrays at Manly

     The first thing that hits you as you walk up the stairs to the first floor is that you have a spectacular view over Manly beach. The second thing you see is that they have the full range of Murrays on Tap. The third thing you see after picking yourself up off the floor is that their $10 a schooner ( happy hour has since started 5pm - 7pm 7 days $7 schooners for limited Beers )
     Murrays at Manly also has Pinchguts Black Plz, Doctors Orders Zephyr Double White Ale, Hunter Beer Co Bock and Cinnamon Girl Spiced Ale by St Peters Brewery all on tap.  Just remember as most batches are small not all may be available every day.
     Murrays uses Motueka hops from NZ ( these use to be known as B. Saaz ) in many of their different Ales, this means that you need to move past the hops to tell some of these Beers apart and with the level of hops in some of these Beers thats not an easy thing to do.
      The restaurant serves stunning food and offers a menu matched with their Beers that work quite well, the 3 mini burgers and Angry Man Pale Ale were made to go together. Alas the food was just as dear as the Beer and you really feel as is your paying way too much for the view.  Be aware that many of Murrays Beers pack a punch with many of them in the 7 - 10% alcohol range.
      All of Murrays Beers can be found on the website http://www.murraysbrewingco.com.au./
      You will need to hunt around to find Murrays in the bottle shops, Dan Murphys carries Whale Ale and Angry Man Pale Ale and Vintage Cellars carry Angry Man Brown Ale
      Shortly we will be at Murrays Brewery in Port Stephens and look forward to posting  about our experience there.

            My pick  - Grand Cru      Wifes Pick  - Punch and Judy 

Brewery tours   -   there is no brewery on site sorry

     It's on again folks, the 2nd annual Taste of the World Beer Festival in Newcastle is on February 19th at the Newcastle Harness Racing Club Turton Rd New Lambton.
Brewers and Beers featured
Monteiths brewing from NZ
White Rabbit brewery VIC - White Ale
                                                      - Dark Ale
William Bull brewery NSW - Williams Pale Ale
                                           - Williams Premium Lager
                                           - Red Angus Pilsner
Mythos brewing Greece - Mythos Lager
Little Creatures Brewing WA -  Pipsqueak Cider
                                             -  Bright Ale
                                             -  Pale Ale
Mudgee brewing NSW - Mudgee Wheat
                                     - Mudgee Pale Ale
                                     - Mudgee Porter
                                     - Mudgee Spring Ale

James Squire  - Whole Range
Sapporo Canada - Sapporo Lager
Coopers Brewing SA  - Coopers Clear
                                   - Coopers 62 Pilsner
                                   - Coopers Mild Ale
Brass Beer Belgium  - Premium Lager
                                - Pilsner  I have had this and thought it tasted exactly like James Boag Premium Lager see what you think.

Enjoy the day and let me know your opinions of the event.                                                               

INFUSION Bar and Restaurant Campbelltown

InFusion's  Brewery

     InFusion is the place to go if you want a quiet Beer with no distractions. Based in the ground floor of the Ridges Hotel in Campbelltown the bar is sterile and quiet, like the reading room of a local library.

     This leads you to sit and stare at the glass walled brewery hoping for something to happen. The brewery usually operates on a Wednesday, unfortunately the head brewer (according to staff some bloke called Al) was on holidays when we were visiting and we were not able to get much info.

InFusion brews 4 Beers in house and at $5.50 a schooner not bad value
Macarthur Wheat - A German styled wheat Beer that is pale golden, slightly sweet and spicy, very silky and leaves you wanting more. 4.8%
Appin Ale - With a low hop taste and long bitterness that stays on the tongue and a pale amber colour I think this Beer was served too cold, a bit warmer and more aroma and taste would be there. Doesn't call you for a second. 4.8%  
Fishers Ghost Lager - With a light golden colour and lots of citrusy  taste, this Lager leaves you with malty end notes and lingering bitterness. A very nice drop indeed. 4.8%
Razorback Ale - Light and watery with a malt taste at the end this dark amber brew feels like a small Beer, the second or third runnings from the mash. Disappointing.

     The food is excellent and every course bought something new and very tasty and for under $150 for 2 people and 4 courses including drinks not bad value. No food / Beer pairings were recommended.

My vote  -  Macarthur Wheat      Wifes vote - Fishers Ghost

There was no info on brewery tours but you can look through the window.

What's on the shelf

       Part of the fun of HOME BREWING is brewing all sorts of different beers. Most of our Beers are kept under the house as its considerably cooler and doesn't have big temperature changes, but we keep a selection in the brew room for ease of convenience.
   

       These include a Coffee IPA, unhopped APA, Belgium Saison (spicy), Export Pilsner, Ginger Beer, Insect Nation APA (had real insects in the bags of malts, not found till the boil), and Hoptastic. We also keep our bought stuff here, at the monent theres only (I say "only" but its bloody good stuff)  some Belgium Lawnmower from Hop Dog Beer Works. We should be getting down there for a better review within the month  

        I seem to be on a bit of a Belgium kick at the moment, I can't get enough, it's spicy, complex and constantly changing as it warms up it's a great summer brewing Beer as the yeast for this needs to work in the 25 - 29 degree Celsius range. This will be the first All Grain receipe for the new kettle (ex 50L keg photos and details to come) when it's finished next week so I can't wait.