Brewing Inventions

My husband loves beer and has been a keen brewer for a number of years. Over the last few weeks he has been keeping himself busy downstairs in his 'man shed' and after becoming a bit concerned over his absence, I thought I would venture down to his workshop to investigate....

Thankfully he was doing something productive! Check out these clever brewing aids....

A kitchen sink operated bottle rinser, holding 16 bottles...

Made with garden hose irrigation tubes and sprinklers....

And keeping colour coordinated to match the bottle tree :)

And a digital temperature controlled fully insulated fermenting cupboard!

Holds not just one, but two fermenting buckets!! Perfect for summer and winter to keep those brews at the right temp throughout the fermentation process :)

Homebrew Competition

I was privileged enough to be invited to an inhouse homebrew competition organised by some enthusiastic electricians who work at the Tip Top icecream factory in Auckland. The group consisted of 6 guys and 1 girl and there were 11 brews to taste test.

This was going to be a long evening... safe drinking practices were implemented with homemade pizzas also on offer using the host's ingenius Weber bbq pizza oven. 

Nick's India pale ale had some good head, but don't waste it all!

That sure was a tasty drop, scores out of 10 for taste, aroma, appearance and the 'x' factor...

The other brews on offer were a Hoegaarden, Pilsner, Summer Ale and even an all grain experiment!

While the group were intently scoring the entries, delicious pizzas were being cooked in the Weber pizza oven...

Over the half way mark now with 4 more beers still to try... the winners are beginning to stand out... the group were competing for the new British Series pouches for first and second prize and a Dutch lager recipe kit for third...

First prize went to Brent for his delicious pear cider which had the highest score of the night - 31 out of 40! The group were blown away by this cider, many saying it was the best cider they have ever tasted from a homebrew kit!  

He won a Mangrove Jack's apple cider to try out next :)

Nick took out second with his pale ale, brewed straight from the can with no additions...

and third place went to Rich with his own take on a summer ale - manuka honey, ginger and orange zest adding to that summery flavour!


For more information about our new British Series kits - check out our website - mangrovejacks.com