Generally trying all grain, tried the extract a few times and it wasn’t really the same. Thanks for the site! There’s a few there that I recon i’ll be making, although still trying to find a recipe for a Balter XPA clone. Fingers crossed 
Ask and ye shall receive.
I haven’t brewed it yet but kept it as I plan to do it once I have all my competition entries scheduled for the year.
2 Likes
holy crap thank you so much!
1 Like
Went to another Modus Brew Club session again last night and there are quite a few guys with some brews fermenting at the moment that were made using Balter XPA recipes. Not sure exactly which recipe site they got them from though.
Thanks to you and @denmil for the suggestion on Saccharomyces. I’m in there now and their selection is great. $10 burgers today as well.
Having 3 Ravens’ Simcoe Juicy NEIPA there right now and it is just as good as the others in that range. Maybe better even than the stock standard Juicy (Citra Juicy was my favourite mind you).
2 Likes
Moo Brew Archie Rose Bourbon BA Imperial Stout. Outstanding.
Glad to hear. Is is busy? It used to be perpetually dead when I frequented it and there was talk of closing the doors at one point.
I was one of two people eating meals but there were plenty of people coming in for a beer or two throughout the evening. Decently busy for a Tuesday.
Concur. Tremendous.
I’ve got a bottle of the Pirate Life vs Limeburners effort in my cupboard waiting to be tried too.
So quick question with the XPA, what would you say should be the primary fermentation time, before I move into bottles. It’s been a week and it’s slowed down, but I’ve also moved it into the garage a few days ago and i’m worried I screwed it…
Also as an aside, anyone in the Northmead/Parra area, the Liquor Stax on James Ruse Drive has an amazing selection of craft and international beers. Seems like they’re constantly changing what they have on offer as well. Plus they have a good collection of beer glasses etc.
They claim to have 400+ beers
Usually around 10 to 14 days but really the only way to tell is take hydrometer samples and package once the SG is stable for a few days in a row.
If you bottle too early best case you are going to get overcarbed beer worst case you have bottle bombs.
I would prefer to leave it in primary for longer than try and rush it.
Moving it shouldn’t be a worry especially if it was mostly done. Most esters are created early on in the ferment as the yeast grow. You should be fine unless it was particularly hot in the garage. I take it you aren’t using any temperature control.
Brewing my first ginger beer on Monday. The recipe we are using calls for 1.2kg of raw ginger!
I went to Five Barrels in Wollongong today. I can highly recommend that if you get a chance to pick up some of their stuff that you do so. Always full of flavour and with a real variety of stuff they are brewing.
Anything in particular from them that you liked?
Their basic Pale Ale was really solid. Quite strong (5.3% if I remember rightly) and with some great typical Australian tropical flavours.
The real highlight was their Hoppy Amber. A beautiful strong hop flavour that didn’t overpower the malt base and made for a really good, well rounded beer. There’s more details on it here:
I’ve had their range of sours in the past too and all of them are superb. The Tripel was very authentic as well. The milk stout I had was okay but I’ve heard their other stouts are probably better.
1 Like
Sounds great. Definitely need to check them out.
Went to Rocks Brewing on the weekend. Wasn’t too impressed by their beers to tell you the truth. Only one that was a pleasant surprise was their Sour. Also swung passed Frenchies on the way home and got myself a six pack of their pale ale. My brother and a mate say it’s the best pale ale they’ve ever had, excited to try that mid week!
I got back from Europe on Sunday night. I spent most of the time in Scotland (a bit of Germany either side catching up with friends and the in-laws). I was obviously doing a fair bit of whisky and gin tasting in Scotland, but I was really surprised at how solid the craft beer scene is there. I visited 3 craft breweries, all with some great beers, but I was probably more impressed with how many fairly generic venues had some craft beers on tap.
I tried a load of beers (about 40 - not all where pints, some in smaller quantities like 1/2 pints and 1/3 pints if I didn’t want to commit to too much). I was rarely disappointed. If you’re ever in Edinburgh, make sure you go to Cold Town Beer and Fierce, both were really good on-premises breweries with some great beers. The fierce Pale Ale and IPA were among the best I’ve tried. Also tried some darker beers and some sours. My wife has developed a real taste for sours, so it’s a nice way for me to try some 
I got back from Sweden a week ago and tried a bunch of excellent local craft beers while I was over there. Mostly IPAs and Lagers. The selection of craft beers that you can pick up from even Systembolaget is pretty impressive, I was there a few years ago and I don’t remember them having much more that the standard Stark Öl/Norrlands Guld/Sofiero and a bunch of basic EU imported stuff.
2 Likes