Brewing Down Under
Aussies have always loved beer. When I was growing up in Australia in the 1980s it was just a simple beverage: A thirst-quenching lager of about 5% alcohol. In my state of New South Wales, two mass-produced lagers dominated: Tooheys and Victoria Bitter.
A quick aside: Interestingly, Fosters is not popular in Australia. It might be “Australian for beer” in the United States, but for the last decade much of it has been brewed in Fort Worth, Texas.
Like their equivalents in the U.S., the taste profile of the Aussie mass market beers aren’t very complex. When I was younger, however, any content these beers lacked in the drinking experience was made up for in their television advertising. These provided a vision of the great Aussie male — sports heroes, farmers, and blokes just mowing their lawns. The images, melodies, and lyrics from 1980s beer ads haunt me to this day.
Victoria Bitter pitched their beer advertisements at farmers accompanied by the “How the West Was Won” soundtrack. You’d see a dairy farmer emerge from under a cow. He’d stand, wipe his brow, and glance upwards looking thirsty. The narrator crowed: “You can get it milking a cow. Matter of fact I’ve got it now.” It signifying being thirsty for a beer.
The Tooheys TV ads were less poetic, but arguably more moving. They’d feature a group of blokes singing together after winning their football game: “I feel like a Tooheys! I feel like a Tooheys! I feel like a Tooheys, draught brew!” The last two words were shouted loudly so you got a tune out of that string of exclamations.
How things have changed. But only recently. According to Australia’s Independent Brewers Association (IBA) there are now more than 600 independent brewers, the majority of which have opened in the past decade.
A Growing Trend of Craft Brewers
A local Aussie beer expert, Justin Lill, agrees that the nation’s beer landscape is quickly evolving. Lill is the owner of Wine and Beer in the beautiful tourist town of Berry, a couple of hours south of Sydney and ten minutes from the beach. He dates the beginning of Australia’s current craft beer craze — and his own — at less than ten years ago.
It really started with foreign brews and, early on at least, Lill’s popular craft beers drew in the customers with their packaging rather than taste. The first craft beer to really take off in his liquor store was Italian: Birra del Borgo. “I suppose it was about eight years ago now. We were already doing a small amount of craft beer by then. When they came in, these Italian beers were good, but the packaging of the Italians was exceptional. They went berserk (Australian for ‘sold very quickly’) and that was the beginning of it all.”
Lill was actually more of a wine guy (Australia has historically been known more for its wines), but he considers himself a beer convert these days and his rationale for loving craft beer offers an insight into a typical Australian’s beer psyche.
“You start to sample some of these craft beers, and you go, wow! These are as good as the best wines in the world when they’re made right and they’re a lot more affordable.”
These days, Lill’s shop is known for its craft beer. Some people travel hours to sample his range that includes about 500 different beers from all over the world. About half of his selection are brewed in Australia, many of which are limited releases.
And while his shop is apt to feature a blueberry milkshake beer from a brewery that got its hands on some fresh blueberries, or a small batch coffee porter, Lill laments that the Aussie beer market is still largely dominated by the big commercial brewers.
In the U.S. there are more than 8,000 craft brewers who together have about 25% market share. In Australia, the IBA states that more than 4% of the total volume of beer is produced by independent brewers. Much like in the U.S., most craft beer drinkers are in urban areas.
“They’re just starting to take to craft beer in the bush (rural areas). So hopefully more people’s taste buds will end up doing the talking for their brains,” Lill says.
Also similar to other countries with a developing craft beer scene, the strategy of some big commercial brewers in Australia is to stop the popular craft brewers by buying them up. That isn’t new. Thirty years ago a craft beer called Redback was the first one in Australia to take significant market share, somewhere between 2 and 8%.
“When Redback first came out it was a lovely wheat beer. I think a commercial brewery still brews it today and if you had it, it doesn’t tastes anything like the original,” Lill says.
Another of Australia’s popular craft brews, Little Creatures, was bought by the Japanese Kirin Company (which also owns the Tooheys brand). The beer went from being brewed in Freemantle, Western Australia, to the other side of the country, in Geelong, Victoria.
“That’s why this craft beer thing is so exciting because there’s so many new start-ups, the big companies can’t stop them,” Lill says.
Popular Styles
Lill has noticed a few trends in today’s Aussie craft brewing market. One recent trend is sweeter beers, such as the chocolate stouts brewed by Daynton in Melbourne, which offers many variations including ones with peanut butter and vanilla.
Sours are also a big thing in Australia at the moment. Lill says there are two very different styles, one a lighter, lower-alcohol version with a more subdued sourness and overall flavor. The other version bursts with taste and texture while sporting a higher ABV. In Lill’s opinion, the two leading sour makers in Australia are Hope Brewery, located in the Hunter Valley, one of Australia’s leading wine regions, and One Drop Brewing Co. in Sydney.
Like brewers everywhere, many Aussie craft brewers are elbows deep in hops, constantly experimenting with hop combinations to create new flavor and aroma profiles. Many of the hops are grown in Australia, including American varieties and those with Australian fame such as GalaxyTM and Vic SecretTM.
Rowan Florence is an accomplished homebrewer and Social Media Manager for Brewmart Bayswater, a brewing supplies store in Perth, Western Australia. (While Justin Lill and Rowan Florence are separated by a column or two in this story, Berry and Perth are as far apart geographically as San Francisco and New York City. By getting a second opinion here, I’ve really done the hard yards.)
“As always, necessity is the mother of invention and we have hop growers with great breeding programs here in Australia that are keeping up to date with the latest and greatest hops,” says Florence.
Given the relatively small spectrum of hop varieties grown in Australia and New Zealand, Aussies still source a lot of hops from overseas.
“We are very lucky that GalaxyTM is grown here as it is up there with one of the most popular hops used in Australia,” he says. “We love supporting local business and will always do so when possible. A few different U.S. hops are grown here but the overwhelming majority aren’t, so we do import a lot of hops from the U.S. There are a number of great hops grown in New Zealand too that us Aussies love to get our hands on,” he says.
So what are they brewing with all of those hops? Well, it shouldn’t be a surprise when Florence says that hazy IPAs have taken Australia by storm.
“It’s not uncommon to see a handful of different ones on tap in any bar you go into,” he says. “Pale ales have always been, and always will be, a firm favorite for many beer drinkers and the sheer number of varieties now available means that they never get boring.”
John Preston, from brewing and winemaking supplies store Grain and Grape in Melbourne, Victoria agrees that hazy IPAs are a big thing, having become hugely popular in the past five or six years.
“Australian beer lovers are quickly drawn to new flavors and the hazy beer craze where the magic of biotransformation happens is no exception. All Aussie craft breweries have their own version of a NEIPA, many have more than one, and I have to say that Ben’s Lefty Juicy NEIPA is one of our best selling fresh wort kits,” says Preston.
Florence also says easy drinking sour beers, like the ones Lill referred to, are a fairly new addition to the Aussie tap list and quickly gaining widespread appreciation. Florence says that could be a result of Australia’s thirst-provoking hot summers.
The Brewmart Social Media Manager says Aussie craft brewers are very innovative and always coming out with new beers. For example, lighter sour beers with different fruit, and extra pale ales (XPAs) with new hops are two that spring to mind. “But as always, it is difficult to say what will be a temporary trend or a style that will stick with us.”
Barrel-aged beers are growing in popularity in Australia as well, but still tend to be the domain of more hardcore brewers.
“With more and more commercial breweries releasing beers that have been aged on wood it is slowly increasing in popularity with homebrewers,” adds Florence. “The summers are hot in Australia, which doesn’t lend itself well to heavy barrel-aged stouts but there is still a huge amount of room for more sour and funky beers to be aged on wood and innovation in other styles as well.”
Hawkers in Melbourne: Lebanese Airline Owner to Aussie Brewmaster
The owner of one of Lill’s favorite Melbourne craft breweries, Hawkers, has lived a few lives. Lebanese-Australian, Mazen Hajjar was a war photographer, an investment banker, and, he says, started two airlines, but was always “obsessed” by food production and flavor. He considered starting a winery, but says his former homeland, Lebanon, is saturated with wineries. Then he had a eureka moment.
“I was sitting with my Danish best friend having dinner and he said, ‘You keep complaining about corporate life, what do you want to do?’ and I said, ‘I want to make beer.’”
Hajjar was partly inspired by watching Heineken muscle into the Lebanese beer industry, buy out two local breweries and, he says, force Guinness to pull out of the country.
“I hated the fact that I didn’t have any choice any more in what I could drink. So, I decided to make my own stuff, never having been to a brewery in my life.”
So, what do you do when you want to start a brewery, but you know absolutely nothing about brewing beer? You subscribe to the world’s leading homebrew magazine, of course!
“My first subscription to Brew Your Own was, I think, in 2004. I couldn’t understand what the **** I was looking at. But I had a full year’s subscription and I thought it would be useful at some point.”
Hajjar took those issues of BYO with him to Canada where he studied to become a brewmaster. On his return home to Beirut, Hajjar says he founded the Middle East’s first craft brewery during the 2006 Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah. He called it 961, named after the country code.
Eight years later, he was exporting to 26 countries, one of them Australia.
“I was with my distributor in Sydney and we were knocking on doors trying to sell the beer — because he didn’t know anyone. He said, ‘You’ve gone back to your roots, you’re a hawker!’”
Hajjar says he didn’t know what that meant but learned that the first Lebanese immigrants to Australia in the 1800s were hawkers and street vendors. In 2014 he migrated to Australia and started his craft brewing operation in Melbourne.
“And that’s how Hawkers started, with four people and the capacity to make 600,000 liters (5,000 barrels). We were brewing once or twice a week,” he says.
Hawkers now employs 50 people, makes over 4 million liters (34,000 barrels) of beer a year and brews 4 to 6 times a day.
“Our approach to making beer is we make whatever the hell we want to drink. We’re very finicky about our quality. We have a massive lab at the back where we do a lot of measurements and instrumentation to make sure everything is right.”
The core range of beers includes a Pilsner, a pale ale, an IPA, a hazy pale ale, a West Coast IPA, and a stout.
“We’ve also got two sours, one of them is a 4-percenter with wild berries, the other is 7% with yuzu and plums, and then we have semi-annual releases, our Double IPA, and our Double West Coast.”
Hawkers also does lots of limited release beers and, according to Hajjar, has one of the biggest barrel programs in the country.
“Every year we release multiple new stouts, including many barrel-aged variants,” he says.
Hawkers also produces a whisky called Feedback Loop by making a wash from a barrel-aged imperial stout, which is then aged in the barrels. At Hawkers they describe it, in a somewhat Monty Python style, as: Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout Barrel Aged Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout Whisky.
Hajjar has brewed hazy IPAs on limited release but he’s planning a permanent one given the style’s increasing popularity.
“Our hazy will have some Australian and some New Zealand hops in it. We’re not just going for the traditional big, American hops, we’re trying as much as possible to use farmers that we know and like and to engage with those farmers to try and give a better expression of those hops in our beer.”
Their award-winning West Coast IPA is made with Southern Cross, a New Zealand hop variety that Hajjar says many craft brewers have forgotten about (find the clone recipe, below).
“Our approach to using hops isn’t necessarily using all the newest and coolest hops that are trendy but more to do with a real understanding of the hop itself and what imparts what flavor and approaching the use of hops with a very open mind,” he says.
One Drop in Sydney: Freedom, Love, and Beer
In Melbourne’s rival city, Sydney, the man behind another of Australia’s heralded breweries started off as a curious homebrewer.
“A former BP marine engineer I was living with at the time found a neglected homebrew kit in the back garage,” says Nick Calder-Scholes, Head of Production at One Drop Brewing Co.
“With his engineering skills and my crazy ideas we made a great team to explore this new hobby, that hobby turned into passion, and that passion turned into our own breweries.” (That roommate was John Taylor, who went on to co-found Drop Project Brewing in London, UK.)
In his homebrewing days, Calder-Scholes tried to replicate his favorite beers, like Little Creatures, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Three Floyds Zombie Dust.
One Drop Brewing Co. opened in 2019. and brewed about 2,000 HL (52,834 gallons) of beer last year. Calder-Scholes says the brewery is inspired by the same foundational ideals as reggae music with its signature one drop drum beat.
“The same ideas of community, humanity, one love, free thinking, and unique creative self-expression inspire us,” he says. “One Drop is all about freedom, love, and going with the flow; with great tunes, tasty food, and amazing beers, all perfect to chill with and take in the vibes.”
Their first beers included an XPA, a Bohemian lager, and a passion fruit kettle sour. All three are still regulars in their taproom.
“We make a lot of fruited sours, pastry stouts, traditional lagers, nitro beers, and experimental ales. We are always looking out for what’s new in the industry and regularly collaborating with suppliers to test new yeasts, hops, malts, and equipment,” says Calder-Scholes.
And of course, hoppy beers are some of the best sellers. He says they’ve experimented with a range of late hopping techniques.
“We are always researching and asking industry folk about this. We’ve played with recirculation for 2, 4, 8, 24, and even 48 hours! Dropping into the top and capping. Adding start, middle, end of fermentation — or a mix of all three. Right now we are having success with adding into the top of the fermenter and rousing from the bottom.”
Calder-Scholes uses a lot of both Australian and New Zealand hops, often from the New Zealand hop-growing region Nelson.
“I prefer Vic SecretTM over GalaxyTM, to be honest. I find it has all the same qualities, maybe even more passion fruit, without any harshness. GalaxyTM we will use on the hot side in the kettle, but prefer Vic SecretTM for dry hopping.”
A couple of other hops One Drop likes to use a lot that haven’t caught on to the same degree worldwide are AstraTM and MelbaTM, which they source from the state of Victoria.
“I love the characters of sweet tropical fruit flavors and New World characteristics in AstraTM and MelbaTM’s clean spicy bitterness with aromas of passion fruit, grapefruit, and citrus.”
Calder-Scholes says Eclipse®, released last season, is a new Aussie hop that he really likes and there are a few others in the breeding pipeline that he’s heard great things about.
In addition to these styles, One Drop has a budding barrel program featuring a range of sours, stouts, and saisons. “We use a mix of used barrels – white wine, red wine, Bourbon, Australian rum, mead, and custom saturated barrels — think Frangelico, Coca-Cola, crème de cacao.”
They’ve also used some pretty unusual ingredients.
“We’re always exploring and evolving. We’ve used a range of out-there stuff. Recently, blue spirulina powder, malted milk, cascara, liquid smoke, and Shiraz grapes.”
A decade or two behind the United States, it was just within the past 10 years that the Aussie craft brew scene really began to take off. Before that, local craft brews barely existed Down Under. Today, the variety of beers being brewed, together with the passion and commitment of the brewers, has catapulted the Aussie version of this craft onto the world stage.
The Brit Who Became an Aussie Homebrewer (Sidebar)
Homebrewing is quite popular in Australia, but it’s hard to judge just how popular. A 2017 survey by the Aussie Beer Cartel, a Sydney beer shop with a popular blog, received responses from 2,500 homebrewers. The study found that the homebrew industry grew 3% during the previous year and the most popular beers to brew were pale ales and IPAs. About a quarter of Aussie brewers who responded entered competitions or were members of brewing clubs. A quarter of responders also stated they continue to use the brew-in-a-bag (BIAB) method made popular Down Under years ago.
Aussie homebrewers, like Paul Haines — an intensive care paramedic and clinical nurse, from the country town of Yass, in New South Wales — are very serious about their art.
“I work with some people that are heavily into homebrewing and have semi-professional setups with some serious equipment. Some of these guys produce some of the best beers I’ve ever tasted and can easily emulate what commercial craft brewers are making,” he says.
Haines grew up in England where, he says, the wide variety of well-priced, high-quality beers meant homebrewing never really crossed his mind. When Haines married an Australian and moved Down Under about a decade ago, his beer world changed.
“I found the quality and variety of the beer (at that time) to be poor. I also found the cost of what craft beer was available inhibitive,” he says.
Haines’ Aussie brother-in-law suggested he try homebrewing.
“It turned out to be far easier than I realized as well as self-fulfilling and saved me a lot of money,” he says.
Using two 6-gallon (23-L) fermenters Haines brews about 36 gallons (136 L) per year. His favorite style is IPA, particularly those brewed with Australian GalaxyTM hops.
“I’ve never tasted a beer I didn’t like with GalaxyTM hops. I’m also a big fan of American Amarillo® and American Chinook hops, which I find go well with GalaxyTM.”
He also grows his own hops, which are mainly Cascade. For Haines, homebrewing is much more than a creative experience.
“The actual making of the beer is therapeutic in a mindful sense. It’s also very satisfying sharing a homebrew with friends who appreciate your beer and are keen to learn more about your brewing techniques and ingredients.”
Q&A with Aussie Brewing Experts (Sidebar)
Rowan Florence is a veteran homebrewer who works at Brewmart Bayswater, a homebrew supplies store in Perth, Western Australia.
John Preston owns Grain and Grape, a beer and winemaking supply store in Melbourne. He opened his first brewery and homebrew supplies shop in 1990. Preston is involved in the Australian National Homebrewing Conference with conferences held every other year since 2008.
When and why did you get into homebrewing?
Rowan: I originally started brewing when I was about 20. It didn’t take long to be bitten by the bug and I haven’t looked back since. I have always been a fan of cooking and everything DIY so, coupled with a healthy enthusiasm for beer, it seemed that brewing my own beer was the next natural progression. The satisfaction of coming up with an idea, working on the recipe, and brewing a great beer is immense and with new ingredients and styles appearing all the time the options are limitless.
John: There was a brewpub in Melbourne in the 1980s called The Loaded Dog. A mate and I used to really enjoy some of the beers they sold there (remember that this was well before the craft beer movement came to Australia) and we decided that if they could do it, why couldn’t we? That led to lots of homebrewed beer and, ultimately, Grain and Grape.
How much beer do you make, roughly?
Rowan: Generally, I brew two or three times a month, usually 23-L (6-gallon) batches if I am trying a new recipe or tweaking one I am working on. I almost always have my favorite pale ale and kettle sour on tap so for those I will usually brew 46 L (12 gallons) and mix it up with different dry hops or fruit additions for a bit of variety.
John: Having a family and a business to run means I don’t get to brew as much as I would like, but I do usually manage to get five or six brews a year done. So, maybe a hundred liters (27 gallons) a year. Unless you count the fresh wort kits we produce at the shop, in which case it is about 8,000 liters (2,114 gallons) a month.
Can you describe your homebrewing setup/process?
Rowan: I brew all my beer at home and now am lucky enough to have an electric system as well as my bigger gas-fired system so come rain or shine, I am able to brew regardless of the weather. In terms of hot-side equipment my setup is quite basic — I use a Brewzilla 65 liter (17 gallon) all-in-one electric system that makes life very easy. Mashing and boiling in the same vessel is very convenient and cleanup is a breeze.
When it comes to fermentation my setup is a bit more involved. I don’t think that there is anything more important when making beer than making sure the yeast are happy and in the best environment to do their job so temperature control as well as pressure fermenting have both become important steps in my process. I ramp up the temperature towards the end of fermentation for a diacetyl rest and cold-crash at the end to drop as much sediment out of the beer as I can. Oxidation is a problem that has bugged me in the past, so about three days into fermentation I attach a spunding valve and let the rest of the ferment finish under pressure to minimize oxygen ingress. Transferring under pressure to a purged keg has really helped eliminate the risk of oxidation in my beers.
John: Living in inner city Melbourne, I don’t have too much space to dedicate to brewing, so it happens outside where the aromas don’t interfere with family life. I brewed for many years on a Speidel Braumeister and over the years I have brewed on electric and gas 3-vessel systems and built my own HERMS (heat exchange recirculation mash system). I have recently moved to a small brew-in-a-bag system. I’m enjoying the sheer simplicity and the “hands on” nature of brewing this way. A converted fridge maintains fermentation temperature and I keg my beer (like an adult should), serving with a Pluto Beverage Gun.
When it comes to hoppy beers, what late hopping techniques do you use?
Rowan: I am an avid reader of anything brewing related so whenever I see a new technique that I can incorporate I have to give it a try. For most of my hoppy beers these days I give them a bittering charge at the beginning of the boil then save most of the kettle hops for the last ten minutes of the boil. For extra punch I often add a whirlpool hop addition for 20 minutes at about 80 °C (176 °F) and then a healthy dose of dry hops. The grassy hop flavor from over dry hopping is a pet peeve of mine so I always make sure to limit the amount of hops or the time that the hops are in contact with the beer when dry hopping.
What are some of your favorite Australian hops?
John: We have used many Australian hops over the years. GalaxyTM is an all-time fave. Vic SecretTM is one we have enjoyed recently with a tropical fruity flavor and just a touch of dankness. Eclipse® is the newest of them I think. It came out last year with an awesome mandarin flavor and aroma.
What can you tell us about the popularity of the Australian brewing invention brew-in-a-bag (BIAB)?
Rowan: The brew-in-a-bag method was a big development from some innovative Aussies and was how I first started when I got into all-grain brewing. BIAB definitely helped simplify the brewing process and cut down the cost of equipment required to get into brewing for new brewers. It still is a popular brewing method in Australia and I think it has really paved the way for the all-in-one systems that are flooding the market now, which essentially work in the same way but with a metal malt pipe instead of the bag.
John: While it is true to say that BIAB is an Australian brewing invention, it is important to understand that we all stand on the shoulders of others. Homebrewers in the UK and elsewhere were mashing grains in a fabric bag in a pot to make wort for years beforehand. The thing that people like Patrick Hollingdale and the crowd on the AussieHomeBrewer internet forum did was to package, describe, and document the process to make it truly accessible to brewers wanting to move into all-grain brewing.
Fundamentally, it is a single-vessel, full-volume mashing technique that requires minimally a big pot, a bag made of resilient porous fabric (originally a curtain material called Swiss Voile, but any polyester-based fabric will do) and a heat source. You both mash the grain and boil the sweet liquor in the same pot. When you pair the BIAB technique with another process called no-chill, where you hot-pack the wort into a HDPE cube and let it cool down naturally, you have a very simple and effective way to make wort ready to pitch yeast into.
Patrick (now deceased) really got the ball rolling on BIAB in 2005–2006. One of our customers was an early adopter of the combined technique and he would rant about it whenever he came in. He was making quite passable beers with it and opened our eyes to the concept. Before long, (Grain and Grape staffers) Geoff Hammond and Dan Walker were running regular BIAB/no-chill demos in front of good crowds out the back of the shop and we have ever since, right up to when the Coronavirus pandemic messed everything up.
What is the Homebrew club scene like in Australia?
Rowan: Homebrewing clubs have taken an interesting progression from face-to-face meetings at the dawn of homebrewing, to internet forums, to social media-based groups, and now a mix of them all. In Australia we have a number of great clubs who get together, share their beer, plan joint brew days, and generally have a good time. The amount of information that can be learned from trawling through online groups and pages is astounding and in general people are more than happy to help with any questions or queries.
John: I’m not a member of any clubs at the moment. I was involved in the beginnings of two of the original clubs in Melbourne and still support them through the business. The scene in Melbourne is very strong though.
A few of my staff are keen club members and we always support competitions and are a sponsor and drop-off point for competition entries for club, state, and the national competition. I have been involved in the Australian National Homebrewing Conference. We have run conferences every second year since 2008. We’ve had a range of speakers from the pro and amateur brewing world from Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., and Europe.
How closely do pro brewers reflect homebrewers in Australia?
Rowan: An interesting phenomenon is the symbiotic nature of the relationship between commercial brewers and homebrewers. Many great styles were born out of homebrewers playing with new ingredients and equipment in their garages and are now big players in the world of commercial beer. On the flip side of that, the need for commercial brewers to stay ahead of the trends and keep breaking boundaries has provided us with new styles and ideas for homebrewers to try to emulate. Personally, any beer I try or idea I hear that sparks interest I am going to try brewing for myself, and I think that is pretty universal for homebrewers.
John: We see plenty of homebrewers who like to emulate professional craft brews they tried at the brewery or local pub, and a strong cohort like to brew strictly to style.
Most of the professional craft brewers I can think of started out brewing at home. Many of them still do, playing with new ingredients or flavor combinations before scaling them up for their clients. I don’t think too many Australian craft brewers would mind me saying that to some degree, homebrewers lead and pro brewers follow.
Australian Clone Recipes
Hawkers’ West Coast IPA clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.065 FG = 1.010
IBU = 65 SRM = 6 ABV = 7.2%
Ingredients
9.9 lbs. (4.5 kg) North American pale ale malt
2.7 lbs. (1.2 kg) Golden Promise pale ale malt
0.3 lb. (0.14 kg) light Munich malt
0.3 lb. (0.14 kg) Weyermann Carafoam® malt
2.4 AAU Simcoe® hops (60 min.) (0.18 oz./5 g at 13.2% alpha acids)
13.2 AAU Simcoe® hops (0 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 13.2% alpha acids)
11.3 AAU Mosaic® hops (0 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 11.3% alpha acids)
13 AAU Southern Cross hops (0 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 13% alpha acids)
2.7 oz. (76 g) Simcoe® hops (dry hop)
2.7 oz. (76 g) Mosaic® hops (dry hop)
1.4 oz. (40 g) GalaxyTM hops (dry hop)
½ Whirlfloc tablet (10 min.)
½ tsp. yeast nutrient (10 min.)
SafAle US-05, Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Use soft or low mineral content water to help accentuate the malty aspects of this beer. With a 1.5 qts./lb. (3.1 L/kg) water-to-grist ratio, target a mash temperature of 147 °F (64 °C). Perform a single infusion mash for 60 minutes or until proper enzymatic conversion has occurred. Sparge with 170 °F (76 °C) water to collect 6.5 gallons (24.6 L) of wort.
Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops and fining agents as indicated. At flameout, add the hops then give the wort a long stir to create a whirlpool and let settle. After about 20 minutes chill the wort to 70 °F (21°C) and transfer to the primary fermenter. Aerate thoroughly and pitch plenty of healthy yeast. Ferment at 70 °F (21 °C) until reaching a gravity of 1.024 and then allow temperature to rise to 75 °F (24 °C) until terminal gravity of 1.010 is reached, usually within 7 to 10 days.
Transfer off dead yeast/trub and add dry hops. After 48 hours drop beer temperature to 33 °F (1 °C) and lager for a minimum of 5 days. Keg or bottle, targeting 2.6 volumes of CO2.
Hawkers’ West Coast IPA clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.065 FG = 1.010
IBU = 65 SRM = 6 ABV = 7.2%
Ingredients
6.6 lbs. (3 kg) Maris Otter liquid malt extract
0.3 lb. (0.14 kg) Weyermann Carafoam® malt
1.8 lbs. (0.82 kg) cane sugar
2.4 AAU Simcoe® hops (60 min.) (0.18 oz./5 g at 13.2% alpha acids)
13.2 AAU Simcoe® hops (0 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 13.2% alpha acids)
11.3 AAU Mosaic® hops (0 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 11.3% alpha acids)
13 AAU Southern Cross hops (0 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 13% alpha acids)
2.7 oz. (76 g) Simcoe® hops (dry hop)
2.7 oz. (76 g) Mosaic® hops (dry hop)
1.4 oz. (40 g) GalaxyTM hops (dry hop)
½ Whirlfloc tablet (10 min.)
½ tsp. yeast nutrient (10 min.)
SafAle US-05, Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
You could try to do a partial mash and use some of the pale ale and light Munich malt, but with this recipe we opted to start with Maris Otter liquid malt extract and make sure the beer will properly dry out by adding 20% cane sugar.
Starting with 4 gallons (15 L) of soft brewing water, steep the crushed grains as the temperature warms up to 165 °F (74 °C). Remove from heat and add the liquid malt extract. Return to heat once the extract is fully dissolved. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops, yeast nutrients, and fining agents as indicated (do not skip yeast nutrients!). At flameout, add the hops and sugar, then give the wort a long stir to create a whirlpool and let settle. After about 20 minutes chill the wort to 70 °F (21 °C) and transfer to the primary fermenter, then top up to 5 gallons (19 L). Aerate thoroughly and pitch plenty of healthy yeast.
Ferment at 70 °F (21 °C) until reaching a gravity of 1.024 and then allow temperature to rise to 75 °F (24 °C) until terminal gravity of 1.010 is reached, usually within 7 to 10 days.
Transfer off dead yeast/trub and add dry hops. After 48 hours drop beer temperature to 33 °F (1 °C) and lager for a minimum of 5 days. Keg or bottle, targeting 2.6 volumes of CO2.
One Drop Brewing Co’s Double Mango Passionfruit Sorbet
(7 gallons/26.5 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.074 (pre-souring) FG = 1.025
IBU = 5 ABV = 7%
A full-bodied and thick imperial smoothie style sour showcasing two of the best tropical fruits grown in Australia — mango and passion fruit.
Ingredients
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) American pale ale malt
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) wheat malt
1.3 lbs. (0.6 kg) flaked wheat
1.3 lbs. (0.6 kg) malted maize
1.3 lbs. (0.6 kg) Simpsons Golden Naked Oats® malt
0.66 lb. (0.3 kg) Carapils® malt
0.66 lb. (0.3 kg) acidulated malt
5 oz. (150 g) light crystal malt
2.2 lbs. (1 kg) dextrose (10 min.)
½ Whirlfloc tablet (10 min.)
5 g yeast nutrient (10 min.)
2 sachets Lallemand WildBrew Helveticus Pitch or favorite souring strain
Post-souring ingredients
2.2 lbs. (1 kg) lactose
1.1 lbs. (0.5 kg) wheat dried malt extract
0.88 oz. (25 g) Vic SecretTM hops
8.8. lbs. (4 kg) mango puree
8.8 lbs. (4 kg) passion fruit puree
½ Whirlfloc tablet
5 g yeast nutrient
Lalbrew Voss Kveik Ale, Omega Yeast OYL061 (Voss), Imperial Yeast A43 (Loki), or The Yeast Bay WLP4045 (Sigmund’s Voss Kveik) yeast
Step by Step
Please note: This recipe calls for the addition of over 2 gallons (7.6 L) of fruit puree after souring and primary, meaning you will need to account for the extra volume. This recipe uses reverse osmosis (RO) water. Adjust all brewing water to 100 ppm each of chloride and sulfate, a high sodium level of 50 ppm minimum, and medium calcium.
This recipe uses a single infusion mash. Use enough water to target just over 1 qt. per pound of grain or 2.4 L/kg. Target a mash temperature of 149 °F (65 °C) for 60 minutes or until proper enzymatic conversion has occurred. Sparge with water no hotter than 167 °F (75 °C).
Collect enough wort for a 60-minute boil, adding dextrose, nutrient, and finings as indicated. After boil is complete, cool wort to 113 °F (45 °C). Rack into a bucket or another stock pot to get off the break material at the bottom of kettle. Pitch two sachets of Lactobacillus helveticus. Cover and seal kettle or bucket. Aim to maintain a temperature of 104–113 °F (40–45 °C) for 72 hours. Insulate fermenter with blankets if needed.
After 72 hours bring your kettle to a boil for 15 minutes to pasteurize. Add lactose, wheat extract, Whirlfloc, and yeast nutrient and mix thoroughly. After pasteurization step add Vic SecretTM hops and whirlpool for 20 minutes.
Rapidly chill the wort to 95 °F (35 °C) and transfer to the primary fermenter. Aerate thoroughly and pitch plenty of healthy kveik Voss yeast. Ferment at 100 °F (37.5 °C). After 36 hours ramp temperature up to 104 °F (40 °C) and add fruit purees. Spund fermenter to 15 psi if possible. After two days rouse/shake/mix fermenter to mix fruit up. Allow another five days for full fermentation to complete.
Drop to 50 °F (10 °C) and hold for five days. Then drop temperature to 32 °F (0 °C) for two days.
Keg this beer targeting 2.3 vol-umes of CO2. It is not recommended to bottle condition this beer due to the potential dangers caused by yeast fermenting the fruit and causing bottle bombs.
Tips for Success:
Make sure your kettle and cooling equipment is very, very clean before starting the souring process. Trust the process.
Nick says homebrewers can use rice hulls in place of malted maize if they would prefer as they act similarly, however he likes how the malted maize will contribute some extract as well.
If you can, use fresh fruit and puree with seeds/skins removed, freeze, then defrost up to room temperature. There is no need for a “kill step” as there is enough alcohol, acid, and aggressive yeast to ward off any nasties. Soft carbonation will give a creaminess. If you’re feeling adventurous, keep flat and serve with a nitro tap.
Cupitt’s Estate’s Eclipse Hazy Pale Ale clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.048 FG = 1.010
IBU = 30 SRM = 4 ABV = 5%
Ingredients
7.8 lbs. (3.5 kg) 2-row pale malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) wheat malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked oats
0.3 lb. (136 g) acidulated malt
3 AAU Eclipse® hops (15 min.) (0.17 oz./5 g at 16.5% alpha acids)
5.5 AAU Eclipse® hops (0 min.) (0.33 oz./10 g at 16.5% alpha acids)
1.33 oz. (38 g) Eclipse® hops (end of whirlpool)
0.67 oz. (19 g) Eclipse® hops (dry hop #1)
1.33 oz. (38 g) Eclipse® hops (dry hop #2)
2 oz. (57 g) Eclipse® hops (dry hop #3)
White Labs WLP066 (London Fog), Wyeast 1318 (London Ale III),
Imperial Yeast A38 (Juice), or LalBrew Verdant IPA yeast
Step by Step
Aim for 3:1 calcium chloride:calcium sulfate. For this sized batch, around 6 g:2 g (8 g total) will be ballpark, but this will depend on your water supply.
The recipe employs a single infusion mash. Mash at 151 °F (66 °C) for one hour before beginning your lautering process. Collect enough wort in your brew kettle for a 60-minute boil. Boil wort for 60 minutes, adding your first hop addition after 45 minutes and the second hop addition at flameout. Give the wort a long stir then let settle for 20 minutes. Add the third hop addition then begin chilling process.
Cool wort to 66 °F (19 °C), aerate the wort well (if using a liquid yeast strain), then pitch the yeast. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) until the gravity reaches 1.024 and then raise the temperature to 72 °F (22 °C).
Add first dry hop addition at 30% apparent attenuation (e.g. day 2 or 3 of fermentation). When the beer nears terminal gravity, more specifically an SG of 1.012, add the second dry hop addition. Add the third dry hop addition when the fermentation is finished and clean (no diacetyl). Chill 24 to 48 hours later, depending on taste. Feel free to add more hops to last dry hop addition if aroma is lacking.
After your usual cold conditioning process, bottle/keg and carbonate to 2.7 volumes of CO2.
Cupitt’s Estate’s Eclipse Hazy Pale Ale clone
(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.048 FG = 1.010
IBU = 30 SRM = 4 ABV = 5%
Ingredients
4.33 lbs. (2 kg) extra light dried malt extract
1 lb. (0.45 kg) wheat malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked oats
1 tsp. lactic acid, 88%
3 AAU Eclipse® hops (15 min.) (0.17 oz./5 g at 16.5% alpha acids)
5.5 AAU Eclipse® hops (0 min.) (0.33 oz./10 g at 16.5% alpha acids)
1.33 oz. (38 g) Eclipse® hops (end of whirlpool)
0.67 oz. (19 g) Eclipse® hops (dry hop #1)
1.33 oz. (38 g) Eclipse® hops (dry hop #2)
2 oz. (57 g) Eclipse® hops (dry hop #3)
White Labs WLP066 (London Fog), Wyeast 1318 (London Ale III),
Imperial Yeast A38 (Juice), or LalBrew Verdant IPA yeast
Step by Step
Aim for 3:1 calcium chloride:calcium sulfate. For this sized batch, around 6 g:2 g (8 g total) will be ballpark, but this will depend on your water supply.
Place the crushed wheat malt and flaked oats in a large muslin bag and submerge in 3 qts. (2.8 L) of your brewing water. Try to maintain a mash temperature of 151 °F (66 °C) and hold for 45 minutes. Place grain back in large colander and wash with 1 gallon (4 L) of hot water. Top off kettle to 3 gallons (11.5 L) and stir in the lactic acid and dried malt extract. Once extract is fully dissolved bring wort up to a boil. Boil wort for 15 minutes, adding your first hop addition at the start of the boil and the second hop addition at flameout. Give the wort a long stir then let settle for 20 minutes. Add the third hop addition then begin chilling process.
Cool wort to 66 °F (19 °C), top up to 5 gallons (19 L), aerate the wort well (if using a liquid yeast strain), then pitch the yeast.
Follow the fermentation, dry hopping, and packaging instructions in the all-grain recipe.
