A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….
System Wars I Not ot done e or best fo forgo gott tten en (like e anot other er prequel) uel) System Wars II Gravity ity 3 ve vessel l vs 3 ve vessel l HERMS MS vs Brew ew in a Bag System Wars III The Chiller ler St Strikes es Back: : Immersion on vs Count nterfl flow vs No chill ll System Wars IV A New ew Hop: : Ket ettle vs Whirlpool lpool vs Dry Hopping ng
System Wars V
The aim To brew an Australian Sparkling Ale using an off the shelf home brewing system Braume umeist ister er vs Robobre obrew vs Grain infa fath ther er vs Pic icobrew brew Zymat atic ic Same scaled recipe Step mashes to utilise system capabilities Use systems as close to off the shelf spec as possible
What this is not about • Absolute experimental control from start to finish • All beers post brew day were managed at home by the individual brewer (think fermentation vessel, temperature control, kegging technique, over sampling!) • A comparison of brewing methods such as chilling • A CHOICE magazine style review • All systems make beer so “good choice”!
A New Recipe Lots of recipes out there: Aussie Home Brewer forum “ Recipedb – Coopers Sparkling Ale Clone” started by AndrewQLD in 2009 BYO Magazine – Australian Pale Ale article by Tony Wheeler (an Aussie) in 2009 Modern Homebrew Recipes – Gordon Strong (2015) • References ANHC 2010 in the description • Six malts from four countries ……. Australia wasn’t one of them
So what did we land on? OG = 1.047, FG = 1.006, IBU = 35, ABV = 5.5% Pale Ale 87.5% (Joe White) Wheat 5.9% (Best Maltz) Dark Crystal 1.9% (Thomas Fawcett) Cane Sugar 4.7% (Woolworths) Pride of Ringwood hops - 60min boil addition Calcium Sulphate for crisp hop bitterness White Labs WLP009 Australian Ale (One large starter was split between brewers. More control than all brewer’s culturing Coopers yeast)
Mashing Ste tep p mash control Mash Sparge rge PicoB oBre rew Full auto/pre- Full auto Full auto Zymatic tic programmed Grainfat ather External timer Pump recirc Manual needed Robobre obrew External timer Manual recirc Manual needed Braumeist umeister Full auto/pre- Full auto Manual programmed We used a step mash: Dough in @ 39°C for 20 mins Mash 1 @ 52 °C for 15 mins Mash 2 @ 63 °C for 60 mins Mash out @ 75 °C for 5 mins
Brewday Brewday was 13 th August 2016 Video SYSTEM_WARS_FINAL_03
Chilling Picobrew Zymatic – Cooling program with the corny keg in a bucket of ice slurry Grainfather – Used included counterflow chiller Robobrew – Used included immersion chiller Braumeister – Used an immersion chiller Wort cooled to 20C before pitching yeast Top tip – Silicone hose not rated for mains water. Lots of laughs.
Did we hit our numbers? • All system OG were between 1.045 and 1.047 • All FG between 1.005 and 1.007 • Kegs were naturally carbed using cane sugar • Turns out we were too conservative and didn’t add enough sugar so kegs were connected to CO 2 at 10psi to ensure appropriate carbonation
System observations • All the systems are relatively easy to use and set up. • Manufacturer and supplier how-to videos, forums etc • Compact size of machines makes clean up simple • Hose out for Grainfather, Braumeister and Robobrew • Inbuilt cleaning program and dishwasher for PicoBrew Zymatic • How much do you want to spend?
Where to next for off the shelf systems? • Smaller – PicoBrew Pico 5L, Braumeister 10L • Focus on brewing indoors in the kitchen • Pre-packaged ingredients to attract new/casual brewers • Pico, BrewArt, WilliamsWarn
And the winner is…….
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