New Zealand and Australian marriage... Need recipe/brew advice!

[nitzm]

Hi all,

I'm looking to make a beer for my sisters wedding to an Australian and I am hoping that I might be able to get some seasoned pro advice from, well, a seasoned pro.

The skinny:

• I can only do extract w/ specialty grains at the moment, no all grain and no BIAB as I don't have a big enough pot.
• The wedding is in 6 weeks in Australia, I plan to take 6-12 bottles over for them. I'm not supplying the whole wedding, this is purely just a gift to the happy couple and an excuse for me to play with my new equipment.
• I'm planning to brew 21L and have an option to split the brew in to two for fermentation (got two 12L carboys)... Potential to dry hop one with NZ hops and one with Aussie hops?
• I want to have some sort of "marriage" of Australia and NZ in the beer. This can be achieved as mentioned above, or another way that I don't yet know about.

Soon to be brother-in-law prefers lagers and pilsners but I don't have the capability to ferment any lower than 17degC. He also doesn't like wheat beers or stouts/porters. So I'm limited as to what I can brew but I think there's something out there that will match my requirements!

So if anyone has any ideas or suggestions on recipes I'd love to hear them. I'm liking the sound of Galaxy hops for the Australian influence and perhaps Pacific Jade for NZ?

Cheers!
Anita

 

[bierhaus15]

How about a Galaxy and Nelson Sauvin pale ale? The hop combo of these two is absolutely amazing (huge tropical fruit aroma/flavor) and it would be pretty easy to do with extract and steeping grains. If I were brewing this, I'd use the palest DME/LME you can find and add maybe a 1/4-1/2lb of a light crystal malt (25 or 40L). Target O.G of 1.050-55.

For hopping, a simple 60/15/flameout would be fine, use something neutral for bittering and then do a 2:1 ratio of Galaxy-Nelson for the rest, around 1.5 oz of hops per addition. Aim for 35 IBU, with most of the bitterness coming from late hopping. And then for dry hopping, one carboy gets Galaxy and the other Nelson. Simple and delicious. US-05 or MJ44 for the yeast. Good luck!

 

[unionrdr]

Another thing to concider is whether you can get them through customs down there. they're pretty tight about what gets in & out.

 

[nitzm]

How about a Galaxy and Nelson Sauvin pale ale? The hop combo of these two is absolutely amazing (huge tropical fruit aroma/flavor) and it would be pretty easy to do with extract and steeping grains. If I were brewing this, I'd use the palest DME/LME you can find and add maybe a 1/4-1/2lb of a light crystal malt (25 or 40L). Target O.G of 1.050-55.

For hopping, a simple 60/15/flameout would be fine, use something neutral for bittering and then do a 2:1 ratio of Galaxy-Nelson for the rest, around 1.5 oz of hops per addition. Aim for 35 IBU, with most of the bitterness coming from late hopping. And then for dry hopping, one carboy gets Galaxy and the other Nelson. Simple and delicious. US-05 or MJ44 for the yeast. Good luck!

Ok that's pretty much exactly what I worked out last night so I'm glad I am on the right track! I'm going to go with Pacific Jade for bittering and then Nelson/Galaxy for aroma. Expected IBUs are 38.

Cheers for your advice!

 

[nitzm]

Another thing to concider is whether you can get them through customs down there. they're pretty tight about what gets in & out.

Should be fine. I'm in NZ and taking them to Australia. Only taking 6-12 bottles in check in luggage.

Originally I was thinking of putting Manuka Honey in the NZ beer but that could have set off many customs alerts!

Thanks!

 

[unionrdr]

Guys from the states talked about things taken away going in & hops & such they bought taken away going out. Always sounded a little tight-fisted to me.
I brewed a 2nd batch of my Maori IPA I'll be checking @ 3 week mark tomorrow. Fresher hops this time with pacific gem for bittering,motueka,pacifica,& wakatu for flavor & dry hop.