Black Rock Riwaka Pale Ale

[Gingerbrews]

Grabbed this kit last time I was at shop.
Went to start it today, and on reading instructions, it says " Combine this can with 1.7kg of Black Rock Ultra light"
Ok should have checked this when in the shop, but my query is:
I have 1kg of Spraymalt Medium, could I just use this or would I be better waiting and getting hold of the Ultra Light as recommended?

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

all depends on what kind of beer you want to brew, personally I would chuck in spray malt medium as its got to be used sometime; but ultimately its down to you.

 

[clibit]

I'd use the DME. You might need a bit more though.

 

[Brewser]

Not sure if you have already made this kit up...
But I managed to get really impressive results with this kit.
I only made some slight deviations from the can instructions.
When I purchased the kit, opted (for budget reasons) to buy a pouch of Mangrove Jack's light-reinheitsgebot-enhancer-1-2kg, and also 50 grams of Riwaka hops (palletised).

The hops I used 25 grams, using the coffee plunger and soaking for 5-10 minutes. Then adding to the wort prior to making up with water.

Pitched the kit supplied yeast into the wort with a temp of 20 deg C.
Set the fermenting temp to 18 deg C.
waited for the fermentation to (almost) come to complete end then dry hoped the remaining 25 grams for another 5 days (using a sterilised hop bag weighed down a bit with a sterilised marble.

bottled into 750 ml bottles with 1 slightly heaped teaspoon of sugar each, they were ok to drink from three weeks, but best from 4 weeks after bottling.

this batch was so good, that my boss has since commissioned me to brew a batch for the office!
(gave him a sample, then he burst out saying "that's the best home brew I've ever had!")

Best of luck, looking fwd to how it went for you!

 

[clibit]

Where will you get the Riwaka hops from? I've not seen them on sale for a long time.

 

[Brewser]

Sorry I forgot to mention, I live in New Zealand!

I'd say, check out there two local hbs:
http://www.haurakihomebrew.co.nz
Or,
http://www.brewerscoop.co.nz

I have no idea if they can ship internationally, but really worth a go!

 

[clibit]

Now you tell us!

Post me some Riwaka! ;-)

 

[Brewser]

might be worth looking into similar hops.
perhaps motueka.
write up here:
http://www.nzhops.co.nz/varieties/aroma_hops.html

availability, possibly better(?)

 

[clibit]

I use motueka quite a bit, love it, but they are different. I may even buy the black rock kit to see how it delivers in a Riwaka sense. But will look at cost of postage of some Riwaka hops from NZ. What are they like now, I read somewhere that the Riwaka crop has not been fairing well?

 

[Brewser]

this is the first experience ive had with these.
I've only done extract brewing so far, and the Black Rock Riwaka Pale Ale kit was my fourth brew.

prior to making the brew up i read the write up i linked above, was incredibly sceptical of all of the flavours they are renowned for... Then was really surprised at how accurate the flavour explanation was. there was definite passion fruit and others imparted into the beer.
This brew is by far the best yet for me, light, crisp and well balanced flavours.

as for cropping aspects of the hops, i'm not sure. However i don know that my local HBS mentioned that they were only allowed to purchase 5 kg of it this year... So perhaps you're correct to suspect the season was unfavourable..

(have just found this article...)
I'll blame those bloody craft brewers! ;-P
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/10054460/Lack-of-hops-has-brewers-ailing

 

[clibit]

That's generally true of the in demand hops, and especially NZ varieties, but I read somewhere that thetes a specific problem with the develop.ent of the Riwaka crop. No idea how reliable that was.