Chubby Highlander

Chubby Highlander, a tongue in check version of a Fat Yak clone I found on Aussie Home Brewer. Chubby for the fat and Highlander refers to Highland Cattle, which my family breeds and some say look like Yaks.

The recipe called for Nelson Sauvin hops, but, outta season, so I used Motueka hops instead.
Here's some pics of the brew:

Grains all bagged up ready for steeping

1.5kg of pilsner malt

500g Munich I and 100g Pale Crystal

After sparge

First lot of Cascade and Motueka hops

Measuring out the final Motueka hops

Getting back to a boil after sparging

We have rolling

SWMBO adding the final hop addition

Ghetto chilling method

Close up of the ghetto chilling method

Leasons learned from this brew:

1. Immersion chiller maybe required. It took 12 hours to cool the wort to an acceptable range to pitch the yeast. Thats 12 hours in a cold bath.
2. Invest in some electronic scales for myself. I thought the scales we had where good enough, but nope, didn't go as low as 20g. So emergency call to the mother in law to get her electronic scales. Worked well for the steeping grains though.
3. Brewing may have to be done outside with a burner, instead of the gas stove. There was some significant carbon build up on the burner on the stove. Next brew I'll do outside and see what happens.

This one has been in the fermenter now for 11 out of the required 15 and requires 4 weeks conditioning!! So, only time will tell how good it is. The samples I've tried for gravity measurements are delicious. I think Motueka was a good choice, orange and spice. Works well with the fruits of the Cascade. Good match. The malt backbone holds up well to the amount of hops I ended up using, 20g Cascade and a total of 30g of Motueka. Watch this space for tasting notes.

Onto planning the next brew. Thoughts anyone?