First New Zealand brew bottled

[ziggy]

I bottled my first batch since being in NZ. It cost me a grand total of 44 USD for the equipment and ingredients. I fermented it in a diaper bucket that I picked up at the warehouse (sort of like wal mart) for 5 USD. There was no temperature control other than the generally moderate climate as I have no air conditioning or central heat. My brew kettle is a cheap, thin stainless steel pot from the same place. It's a 17 liter and it cost me 9 USD. I sanitized with sodium metabisulphite as it was all they had at the LHBS. I skipped buying a capper and bottled in plastic soda bottles. Hops come in 100g packets which is about 3.5 ounces and I just guessed how much to put in.

I have a couple pictures from bottling but I can't seem to figure out how to post them here.

[iloman]

diaper bucket????

[Nate Diggler]

Did you use any of those newer NZ hop varieties? I've only tried Nelson Sauvin, so I'm interested to hear what flavors some of the others give... I've heard NZ Hallertau is like Cascade, so what does NZ Cascade taste like then?

[ziggy]

I used this hop called green bullet. It is supposed to be a bittering hop at 12% aa but i used it for bittering and aroma. It has quite a distinct flavor. It's a little raisin-like in flavor and floral in aroma. It's not citrusy like cascade. You can tell that a lot of NZ lagers get their taste from this hop variety. There are a bunch of varieties that I had never heard of before like Riwaka, Motueka, Pacifica, Nelson Sauvin, Green Bullet, Pacific Gem, Pacific Jade, and Southern Cross.


The reason I used the diaper bucket is because it was a 20 liter bucket with volume marks on the side and a lid that seals. And when you first buy it it hasn't been used for diapers yet.

[Nate Diggler]

Yeah, I got some really great info here: http://www.nzhops.co.nz/ on the varieties available, and the other data to add them to my ProMash hops data file... I just wanted to hear about what they actually taste like before I try and get some more... I haven't seen Nelson Sauvin at my LHBS in about a year, but they do have NZ Cascade.

[TapItGood]

I have a couple pictures from bottling but I can't seem to figure out how to post them here.

To use pictures you need to upload them onto a album site like http://www.photobucket.com and then copy and paste the IMG url into your post and then they will show up.

Hope this helped

Let us know how the beer turned out!

[iloman]

The reason I used the diaper bucket is because it was a 20 liter bucket with volume marks on the side and a lid that seals. And when you first buy it it hasn't been used for diapers yet.

I find it funny a diaper bucket comes with volume marks

However I do have to ask, is it a food grade plastic?

[ziggy]

However I do have to ask, is it a food grade plastic?

I don't know if it is or not. It didn't impart any plastic flavors. How necessary is it really to have food grade plastic?