I love beer, I love brewing beer. That is not to say that I am a big drinker. Quite the opposite. I love the artistry of it, the simple joy of creating something. I love taking those raw ingredients, water, grain, hops and yeast and turning them into something new, an exciting and complex blend of flavour and texture. It's more than home-brewing. It is a craft. It is craft brewing, and it is an art.
I have been brewing all-grain beers for about four years now and I've brewed a lot of different beers in a number of different styles. There are very few beers that I have produced more than once. This is mainly because I am enjoying trying new malts, new hops and yeasts as well as the added complexity of water chemistry. But I have developed a goal. The search for a series of beers developed solely for my environment. The ultimate Australian craft beer. Not a carbon copy of craft beers from around the world. Something new, something different.
I live in South Australia, the summers are very hot, making temperature control difficult without additional equipment, and the winters are mild. Winters are a great time for producing beer because the temperatures are low, but not too low. I want to work with my climate and what I can obtain locally to produce a beer that is quintessentially South Australian without the need for too much intervention - primarily through the use of suitable yeasts.
As part of the search for the quintessential South Australian brew I will provide some reviews of the different malts that I use, details of any 'home toasting' I do and a review of the yeasts I've used.
The hops I want to use are the ones I can grow myself with the occasional addition of genuine Australian varieties that I am not growing. I have a number of different types in my back yard, mostly American at this stage, but they differ from the original reasonably significantly because of the climate differences. I'd love to breed my own Australian hop but I don't have the space at the moment. I'll leave that to the experts. For me, that is one for the future.
I will update my search for the ultimate series of South Australian beers in my blog 'the search for the ultimate Australian beer' along with other brewing adventures and the growth of my brewery. Hopefully it will provide some guidance for you on how to brew your own beer as well. I will also provide details on my hop growing through my hop growing blog including flavour comparisons along with some other gardening bits and pieces. I love to garden as well so growing hops is that combination of two great hobbies, gardening and beer.
Do you want free detailed reviews hops to save you the risk of buying a hop you won't like? Well I have also recently added another blog reviewing hop varieties.I will provide as much detail as possible about the type of beer I have put the hop in and my view on the bitterness, harshness, flavour, aroma and subtlety in an easy to read format
