Country Brewer - Katoomba, NSW

Address?

Shop 2
101 Katoomba St
Katoomba, NSW, 2780

Contact?

Phone: (02) 4782-3000
Email: katoomba@countrybrewer.com.au

*NEW* Opening Hours?

Closed Mondays
Tues - Fri: 10:00am-5:30pm  Sat: 9.00am-4.00pm

Managers?

Lindsay Swift

KATOOMBA NEWS

Lithgow Show: Veni Vidi Vici!
 It was short notice to get my entries in for the Lithgow Show Home brew Comp, but I did it- and scored!
First place for Pale Ale as well as a ‘highly commended’, first place for Wheat and Grand Champion of the show.
Some of the judges’ comments on the pale Ale were “You’ve hit the nail on the head.” And “can I have a case please?”
Well, yes you can! You can make it yourself, and here’s how;

LAGUNITAS PALE ALE RECIPE
The above results speak for themselves. Lagunitas is a US brewery and the recipe is from BYO magazine’s 250 Clone recipes. It’s a well-balanced IPA that doesn’t knock you down with 650 IBUs. I reckon it’s just right. Every sip begs another. The bad news is that it will cost you a bit more than your average ‘kit-and-kilo’ brew, but so what? Even when home brew is expensive it’s still cheap.

INGREDIENTS FOR 50 litres (DIVIDE ACCORDINGLY):

4.5kg LIGHT DRY MALT EXTRACT
3kg LIGHT LIQ. MALT EXTRACT
500g PALE MALT
250g MUNICH MALT
680g MARIS OTTER MALT
50g AROMATIC MALT
120g CARA DARK MALT
80g TARGET HOPS- 60min.
70g CASCADE HOPS- 30min.
20g WILLAMETTE HOPS- 30min.
180g CASCADE HOPS-0 min.

SAFALE US yeast or WYEAST AMERICAN ALE 2 (expensive, yes, but don’t forget you can get up to 20 brews out of the yeast provided you treat it right)

NB: this recipe used the residual hops and yeast from the previous brew. This was about 750ml of, well, greenish crud which contributed to the flavour profile. For your first one use an extra 30G CASCADE HOPS for 0 minutes and an extra 10% of the other hops.

METHOD
 Steep grain for 60minutes at 68 deg. C.  I use a cylindrical eski to keep mine at the desired temp which works well.
Sparge  using about 5 or 6 litres of water @ 78 deg. C.  I use a simple strainer for this. Works for me. Just don’t buy a plastic one. All this grain soaking wet and hot tends to remind you why these things are cheap! Use a steel one.
The more sparge-water the better up to a point BUT remember you’ll need a big enough pot to boil it all AND big boil pots are great BUT just remember you’ll have to cool it down quickly (don’t just wait for the temperature to come down) before wild yeast, bacteria and other nasties ruin it for you!
Pitch yeast at below 25 deg. C Ferment at 17 deg. C.
Rack when almost finished fermentation.

The other winner was my Cellis/ Hoegaarden Clone. It will not work without Wyeast 3944 Belgian Wit yeast. It’s also rather complicated and involves several types of wheat, fruit peel, coriander and camomile flowers. Please contact me if you want the particulars of this one… just like Hoegaarden, only a fraction of the price!

Now you know my recipes, I’ll have to outdo myself for next year’s Rydall and Lithgow show competitions, but I reckon I have a couple of cards up my sleeve! Keep an eye out for comps coming up and don’t be afraid to have a go!
G’day brewers,

Ever looked at your left-over brewing supplies and thought, “Nah, there’s nothing I can make with that!”. Well, nine times out of ten there actually IS something that you can brew with those bits and pieces. You may be pleasantly surprised by the finished product.

Don’t be afraid to try making a brew with non-traditional hops for a given style for instance. Even a basic kit can be turned into something sublime if you just use a bit of imagination and flare. To see what I mean, have a go at these two brews that I threw together:

BLUE MOUNTAINS LAGER RECIPE

Here's a nice thirst-smashing lager with more than a hint of hop flavour. It's good for the 'time-poor' among us as it's only a 10 minute boil too!

NOTE: It may be just the thing to quaff on a warm arvo as we've been enjoying in Katoomba recently BUT it's better brewed at 'lower' temperatures. I did it in my brew fridge at 13 -16 deg C.

The hops bill has some unusual amounts for those used to using the 12g finishing hops sachets. What I used is just what I happened to have in the freezer at the time and this brew certainly got a lot of praise from those who tried it. See how you go and you can always alter it to your own tastes.

INGREDIENTS for 23 litres:

10g Sticklebract Hops
6g Cascade Hops
9g Willamette Hops
7g Tettnanger Hops
500g Dextrose
1kg Light Dry Malt Extract
150g Vienna Grain
1 x 1.7kg Morgans Blue Mountains Lager Kit
 
METHOD:

Steep the grain in about 1 litre of water at 66 deg C. for 10 minutes. (you can add it into the water at 70 deg. C to achieve this or heat it up in a saucepan.)
Strain the grain GENTLY through a fine strainer with 1-2 litres of water at about 80 deg. C into a larger pot which will be your “boil pot”.
(this is called "sparging". you will now have 2-3 litres of water in your boil pot which will have the sugar' from the grain. The grain itself has done its job and can be discarded...chooks love it, by the way!)
Add the contents of the Blue Mountains Lager can kit to the boil pot also.
It's called a boil pot for a reason - boil it! (All you need is a simmer actually, and keep an eye on it and keep it stirring to avoid any of the malt extract from the can being burnt on the bottom of the pot.)
Once it is simmering, add the Sticklebract and Cascade hops to the boil. These stay in for the entire 10 minutes. (Boiling hops releases more beta acids from the Lupulin, to a point, which increases aroma. You have to be careful however because it also causes alpha acids from the Lupulin to isomerise and create the bitterness in beer. The longer you boil the hop, the more bitter it can get. By boiling for 60 minutes you'll be getting BITTERNESS out of the hops. 0 up to about 3 minutes will give you AROMA and somewhere in between will give you FLAVOUR)
Add the Willamette and Tettnanger hops after 8 minutes. This means they'll be boiled for only 2 MINUTES.
When the entire 10 minutes is up, turn the heat off and let the boil pot stand for another 2 minutes.
Tip what you have just boiled into your STERILISED fermenter along with the dextrose and your light malt extract too.
Fill your fermenter to the 23 litre mark with cold water.
(I normally fill to around 20 litres, then if the temperature is Ok (below 25 deg C.) I pitch the yeast. Then I dump the last 3 litres of water onto the floating yeast. Yeast is aerobic - it loves being aerated and this will make it get to work quicker than just letting it sink.)
Put the lid on, beam with joy at the magic of home brewing and say "I MAKE BEER. YEAH!"

PILSNER URQUELL CLONE (SEMI-MASH) RECIPE: 19L
 
This is one for the chronic hopheads. It obviously has enough Saaz hops to keep the Czech Republic's farmers busy, but don't be fooled. While it's one of the most gorgeous hops strains in the world in my opinion, real Czech Saaz (None of that imitation dreck here thank you!) has a fairly low Alpha Acid count and this brew utilises it well for bitterness, flavour and weak-at-the-knees aroma.

If you want the enamel stripped off your teeth while you grimace like a bulldog chewing a wasp with every sip, then brew an IPA. We are talking sublime here, not ridiculous.

The maltiness of this brew balances perfectly with the Saaz for a fantastic “lawnmower” beer - what you drink while your missus mows the lawn. NOTE: as with the Blue Mountains Lager, this beer is meant to be brewed at LOW temperatures. I did mine in the brew fridge at 10 deg. C. Do not expect decent results from this yeast at ale-brewing temps!

True Pilsners from Pilsen rely on a very soft water as part of their make up. I'm not saying “don't brew it if you don't have soft water”. Rain water is good...well, it's wet, but if you have access to spring water then you have no excuse not to brew an outstanding clone of this great lager.

Semi-mashes require a boil pot of 9 or 10 litres capacity. You can boil the entire brew, all 19 litres, but getting it cold enough for the yeast is the tricky bit so if you don't have an immersion or counter-flow chiller, stick to a smaller boil and HAVE 2KG OF ICE HANDY.

One more thing. I will be given a blindfold and a last cigarette and be summarily executed (or worse, subjected to hip hop “music”) if I do not mention our very own WETPAK EUROPEAN PILSNER. It's malty, it's hoppy and very easy to make, certainly a lot more straightforward than this clone and it comes with a Saflager yeast, giving it a nice, crisp finish provided the right temperature (12 deg.C-ish) is observed while brewing.
 
INGREDIENTS for 19 litres:

1.5kg Pilsner Grain
57g Munich Grain
1.5kg Light Dry Malt Extract
180g Czech Saaz Hops (yes, 180g)
WYEAST 2001 URQUELL LIQUID YEAST

METHOD:

Activate the liquid yeast. (Instructions are on the packet. It is virtually a self-contained, guaranteed sterile starter. From memory this is one of the faster strains however some strains like Belgian Abbey for example take up to 24 or even 48 hours to be at their peak and ready for pitching.)
Steep the grains. 65.5 deg. C for 90 Minutes in 2-3 litres of water. (As per the Blue mountains Lager, but just more of it. With larger amounts, temperature is more critical. I find a cylindrical esky is fine for maintaining the temp for up to 90 minutes. False bottoms and the like are fine devices but if you don't have one, just pour the mash out of the esky VERY GENTLY into the strainer!)
Sparge (very gently strain through a fine strainer) the grain into a boil pot using 4-5 litres of water at 78 deg. C.
Boil it.
When it is simmering nicely, start the countdown. It's a 60 minute boil. Add 104g of Saaz hops (this boils for the entire 60 minutes).
After 45 minutes, add another 28g Saaz hops (this boils for only 15 minutes).
After another 12 minutes, add another 28g Saaz hops (this boils for only 3 minutes).
Switch heat off and let boil pot stand for two minutes.
Add your ice cubes to the fermenter and pour thr wort you've just boiled in. (Don't use big chunks of ice as they don't melt as quickly as cubes. Cool wort is fine but you do NOT want to pitch yeast onto an iceberg!)
Add the 1.6KG Light Dry Malt Extract to the hot wort. (Don't worry if the dry malt goes “clumpy” the yeast knows what to do. Do not stir it, just leave it be.)
Fill with cold water to around the 17 litre mark. (By now you'll know if the temp is too hot for the yeast (2001 Urquell should be pitched at below 20 deg. C.  If it's still too hot, add some CRUSHED ice. Remember ice is not water (yet) and yeast does not like it!)
Pitch your yeast
Top up to the 19L mark by dumping the remaining couple of litres on top of the yeast to aerate it.
Put the lid on and go and watch the missus mow the lawn from your deck chair.
BREW FRIDGES:

I have put the idea into your mind like the subliminal messages behind the music they play in the supermarket, haven't I. I came home with 25 KG of mayonnaise and 16 packets of clothes pegs last time I went shopping. Maybe I misheard it. Anyway, if you have an old fridge or freezer that can fit your fermenter/s inside it (and it works) then keep it. We stock two types of fridge controllers that can convert your ol' Kelvinator ridgy-didge into a brew fridge. One is a hard-wired one that "YOUR ELECTRICIAN" can easily wire up to the appliance. It is wired onto the flex- NOT THE THERMOMETER. You program in the temp you want to brew at and forget it. It even has two circuits so your sparky can hook-up a heat pad. You can be brewing a Grolsch clone with a Danish Lager yeast at 10 deg. C while it's 40 degrees outside (and your missus is mowing the lawn) or a heart-warming stout at 21 deg while it's the middle of winter and she's glad she's not a brass monkey pushing that old Victa around the yard. Perfect temperatures all the time!
 
The other kind simply has the fridge plugged straight into it, NO WIRING!!!
 
if you have any questions at all regarding brewing, preserving, food smoking, cheese making or anything else we sell here, please call, email or drop in…THAT'S WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR!
 

Cheers

Lindsay (Steptoe)