2586 replies to this topic

[HVB]

That looks beautiful.

[jubuttib]

Might as well make my second post here:

 

Hi there, I'm a beginning home brewer from Finland. I've been interested in it for a while now, and was finally pushed over the edge when I met a Dutchman living in Finland at my summer job last year. He showed me the ropes and I've been brewing since last October, currently have done 6 brews so far. Here they are in order of manufacture:

 

 

Niiralan Riviera CitraSMASH: A simple APA SMASH made with pale malt and Citra hops. Did not use anywhere near hops, especially late addition hops. If I had to name it today I'd name it the "It's a Beer!" Still, a success as far as brewing goes. Should work on lighting the brew better, it looks quite dark and opaque here due to the flash, but was in reality only slightly hazy and almost as light as your average lager.

 

 

Niiralan Riviera CC-IPA: A dark IPA at a higher voltage, made as a first try to see how higher OG brewing works with my gear. Ended up at over 8% ABV, made with pale and CaraPlus 150 (quite dark caramel malt) and implementing a base of Chinook for bittering, carrying the Citra giving the flavors. (You can probably see where I'm going with the naming theme...) Should really remember to wipe down the outside of my glass before taking any pictures. This was a lovely brew, still among my favorite IPAs ever, just worked out very nicely to match my palate. Only have one bottle left, which I'm saving for a friend, need to get on with making a new batch. =)

 

 

Kotipanimo Karjalainen Walko Wehnä: The first beer for my more traditional label, this was a very simple and quick hefeweißbier, made a bit lighter than normal by the use of pale malt instead of pilsner (no-one in the country had pilsner malt for sale at the time). A pretty delicious example if I say so myself, hit everything I'm looking for in a light weißbier, when doing A/B comparisons with a Franziskaner my friend and I could tell them apart, but had we blind tested them we would have struggled to say which one was which.

 

 

Kotipanimo Karjalainen Dunkkis: My first go at a dunkel weißbier, all wheat and Münich, with Spalter hops. This one was a bit of a misstep, up until this one I had been very delighted by my brews but this one wasn't quite to my liking. It was still good, and did find an audience that preferred this to all my others in some people, but this much Münich in a beer just isn't my thing. Too much grain in the flavor, essentially, too bready.

 

 

Niiralan Riviera APA? ViennAPA!: Back to my experimental label, this was an American Pale Ale made with a lot of European ingredients. All Vienna malts, with a mix of Chinook, Cascade, Columbus, Hallertauer and Spalt hops. I really like this one as well (I'm a sucker for a hoppy beer), though in hindsight the Vienna was too overpowering when used at 100% and kinda masks the hops, even though I used nearly twice as much hops in this as I did with the CC-IPA, particularly in the flavoring and dry hopping. Probably won't be making this again, the CC-IPA is better and a lot cheaper to make. A very educational experience anyway. =)

 

 

And finally my latest brew, the Kotipanimo Karjalainen å®¶éº¦é…’ (House (Wheat)Beer) é›¶å·æ©Ÿ (Zerogouki): Finally a decent picture! The first development version (named after Evangelion Unit-00) of my house brew that I intend will always be available in my fridge. My two main loves when it comes to beer are APA/IPA and wheat beers. The reason for picking a wheat beer as my go-to is simple: Very quick to make (don't have to wait for yeast to flocculate so I can get these in a bottle in just over a week and start drinking in under two), very simple recipes, and particularly low hop usage (CC-IPA costs me about 1.2-1.5€/liter to make, most wheat recipes cost about 0.6-0.8€/liter), and unlike any other style of beer I can drink wheat beer while eating. I'm one of those people who loves a beer, but thinks it will usually ruin any otherwise fine meal. I was shooting for Franziskaner Dunkel with this, but ended up with a darker Ayinger Ur-Weisse. Shogouki (the next evolution version) will have less hops, no caramel malt and will be fermented at a higher temperature (this one was at around 20C, and has almost no banana, next one will be closer to 22-23C).

 

So that's everything I've done so far. Currently I'm in a situation where I want to make some new IPA (I have plenty of chinook, cascade and columbus in the fridge, would love a CCC-IIPA), or perhaps experiment with a barleywine, but simply can't. I have no cooling equipment I can use, and because my apartment faces the sun for most of the day, even though the outside temperatures are at best around 18C my apartment hits 30-35C regularly. That's more than a bit too tropical for actually brewing. Need to figure out something soon.

[neddles]

Wow. Welcome, it looks like you jumped right into all grain brewing with both feet. Nice labels too.

 

Im curious, why do you feel beer will ruin an otherwise fine meal? What do you normally drink with food?

[jubuttib]

Wow. Welcome, it looks like you jumped right into all grain brewing with both feet. Nice labels too.

 

Im curious, why do you feel beer will ruin an otherwise fine meal? What do you normally drink with food?

Thanks. =)

 

Yeah, my "mentor" was running an all-grain BIAB setup and I made a batch with him so I was familiar with the process (plus I read up a ton in the 3 months between meeting him and finally starting brewing), and I definitely wanted to do everything myself if I was going to start making beer, didn't see any reason to go for extracts. I'm currently running a simple BIAB setup with a 25 liter kettle, which isn't quite as large as I would optimally want but is already pushing the limits of what I can fit on my stove.

 

EDIT: Dang, just noticed a typo in the original post, in the CitraSMASH description it's supposed to say "Did not use anywhere near enough hops, especially late addition hops."

 

EDIT2: Oh yeah, the food issue: I just dislike the flavor of beer with food, basically, apart from Weißbiers I've just always felt that food ruins beer and beer ruins food. I normally drink either water, milk or a diet soft drink of some description (usually either cola or lemon/lime). I also hate wine with a burning passion (all prescriptions, it's the basic essence of what makes wine taste like wine that rubs me the wrong way).

Edited by jubuttib, 10 May 2016 - 06:03 AM.

[positiveContact]

nice beers jubuttib.  do you have any problems acquiring ingredients in finland?  what are the laws like in finland regarding producing your own beer/wine/cider/mead/etc?  can you guys legally distill at home there?

 

also, what is the craft beer scene like in finland?  I have a friend in Germany and it sounds like it's starting to catch on there which I never would have expected.  Like they have AIPAs and stuff like that.

[jubuttib]

nice beers jubuttib.  do you have any problems acquiring ingredients in finland?  what are the laws like in finland regarding producing your own beer/wine/cider/mead/etc?  can you guys legally distill at home there?

 

also, what is the craft beer scene like in finland?  I have a friend in Germany and it sounds like it's starting to catch on there which I never would have expected.  Like they have AIPAs and stuff like that.

Acquiring ingredients is usually no biggie, we have several very good online shops (almost nothing in brick & mortar though) that can get you almost any malt or hop you desire if you're willing to wait, and also try to stock up on just about everything anyway. We also have Viking Malt that does the most important kinds of malt right here in Finland (well, you won't find brown and rauch malts though), and they're very accessible (homesite at https://www.vikingma.../what-we-offer/ ). Yeasts are also easy to find. Sometimes there's a gap in getting stuff though, like the "Month Of No Pilsner Malt", but usually you can get what you want or need. And if you don't, you can just order from Germany or the UK.

 

Making your own beer, sahti, wine, kilju, cider, mead etc. is perfectly fine as long as you're not selling it (you can make as much as you want AFAIK, you can give it away, etc., just can't sell it). Distillation is 100% verboten without appropriate licenses, which are very difficult to get.

 

Craft beer scene has really kickstarted in the last couple of years, people who have been homebrewing for a while are starting microbreweries all over the place, and I think we're currently up to like 200 of them, possibly more. Doesn't sound like that much but it's quite a bit for the population, makes for about 28 000 people per microbrewery, compared to something like 150-250 000 in the US (according to the best stats I could find). The vast majority still obviously drink *insert macrolager of choice*, but it's easier than ever to get access to good beer, and the selections have grown exponentially. Some of the big guys are also trying to shoulder in with what they claim are APAs and IPAs, but honestly, they should rather just send the ingredients to me, it's a waste of good hops to put them in those disgraces (they've even given APA a slightly bad name in Finland, because many people tried the shit ones made by the local macrobreweries first, and think they're all like that).

 

The situation is complicated by the alcohol regulations though. In Finland you're only allowed to sell alcoholic drinks in stores up until 4.7% ABV. This means that even the large international breweries need to make special versions of their beers for sale in normal Finnish stores, and it obviously limits many styles for craft breweries too. It's hard to make a very strong IPA when you can only use a limited amount of malts... Anything above 4.7% ABV can only be sold in special Alko stores, which are a state run monopoly. Their stores tend to be quite small and focus more on wines, so beer selections can only be described as "decent", and nothing more. Also they're fiendishly expensive, a bottle of BrewDog's Hardcore IPA costs about 17 USD per liter. They also don't seem to support Finnish craft breweries enough, they only stock the products of a couple of the bigger small fries, including Mufloni, who make one of my favorite IPAs, the CCCCC IPA, made with 5 C-hops. Apart from that they're almost only stocking foreign beer. This sucks because it essentially prevents the production and sale of non-compromised Finnish beer, because you can't even sell normal Franziskaner Weissbier in the stores (it's 5% ABV, limit still 4.7%), and the only place allowed to sell them doesn't seem to be interested, and realistically couldn't handle the hundreds of breweries anyway. The only avenue for them really are brewpubs, which are also sprouting up here and there.

[MtnBrewer]

Jussi you ever think about trying to make sahti? It's one of the styles I've never considered doing because it really doesn't sound that great to me. But if it's the shiznit I'm willing.

[jubuttib]

Jussi you ever think about trying to make sahti? It's one of the styles I've never considered doing because it really doesn't sound that great to me. But if it's the shiznit I'm willing.

I haven't actually ever tried it myself, it's quite difficult to procure because it must always be kept cold, you can't let it warm up or it'll spoil. You can get it if you order it from Alko but it's a hassle.

 

I've thought about making it, but then again I'd want to make it "properly", and that would mean having to make myself one of these:

 

 

Michael Jackson seemed to be a huge fan of Sahti, and I'm really interested in trying it, but it wouldn't quite be what it's supposed to be without making it traditionally, and that'd be a huge hassle for fairly little gain. =)

[positiveContact]

that's a lot of work to incorporate juniper twigs and some aspen wood flavoring.  why not just stick that stuff in the mash tun for a while and drain it?

[jubuttib]

Oh, and if beer from Alko is usually expensive, specifically ordering a specialty product that has very limited shelf life is much more so: The smallest batch I could order would be 3x0.75l bottles, costing 26.43€, about 13.4 USD per liter. A large part of why I started homebrewing was because I could make beer myself at 1€ per liter. =)

[jubuttib]

that's a lot of work to incorporate juniper twigs and some aspen wood flavoring.  why not just stick that stuff in the mash tun for a while and drain it?

You could, but I'd feel like I was cheating. I already kinda feel bad I'm not decocting my wheat beers. =)

 

EDIT: Sahti is sort of special in this case for me, in my mind. If I'd bother to brew an incredibly niche, almost non-existent and highly traditional beer, I'd want to do it "right". It's just a mental hang up I have.

Edited by jubuttib, 10 May 2016 - 01:07 PM.

[positiveContact]

You could, but I'd feel like I was cheating. I already kinda feel bad I'm not decocting my wheat beers. =)

 

EDIT: Sahti is sort of special in this case for me, in my mind. If I'd bother to brew an incredibly niche, almost non-existent and highly traditional beer, I'd want to do it "right". It's just a mental hang up I have.

 

pppfffftttt!  RDWHAHB as they say!

[MtnBrewer]

I already kinda feel bad I'm not decocting my wheat beers. =)

 

Don't. I've done decoction mashes and it's a lot of work for no (or little) gain. Even if they go perfectly they're a pain and when they don't it's a disaster. The only one I ever scorched was a wheat beer (trying to make something like Aventinus) which ruined both a pot and a brew day for me. And according to Denny, it really doesn't affect the flavor much if at all. So if you want to do it from a purist point of view, go right ahead but the beer won't be any better for it.

[jubuttib]

The sad thing is I know all that (the main point of decocting really was that ye old malts were crap compared to modern ones and needed all those extra rests etc. to work decently, and they're totally unnecessary these days), yet my brain is still yelling at me that I'm not doing it right... =)

 

Heck, Franziskaner hasn't bothered for about a decade, because their tasters couldn't taste a difference...

 

Oh yeah, this thread was supposed to be about pints... Well, here's what's left of mine... =/

 

Edited by jubuttib, 10 May 2016 - 01:55 PM.

[MtnBrewer]

Oh yeah....that's right.

 

[Big Nake]

More Bordertown Dark Lager... drinking it right now.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Dammit Ken. That's purdy.

[HVB]

Excellent looking beer Ken, I need to brew that one of these days.

[Bklmt2000]

My latest contribution, my classic American pils, in a Duvel glass:

 

[HVB]

30 minute Helles - kind of clear