Brewday - 09/08/2020 - Lockdown Lager

The session hazy beer I brewed last month turned out rather well.  I'll post a review of the beer and the recipe soon. 

Today I'm brewing a lager. I'm a bit late to the party with summer on the wane, but hopefully September will be nice and I'll still be craving a pint of something cold, wet and refreshing.

As is the norm for me it's going to be a small beer, so I guess if it had to be shoehorned into a category, it'll be a light American Lager. The mash is already underway at 63c

So the recipe for this brew looks like this;

92% Pilsen malt 
4% Carahell
4% Aromatic malt

Mash for 55 mins @ 63c / 20 mins @ 67c 

80 minute boil with 10g Centennial for 60 minutes

Yeast will be Saflager W-34/70

I'm thinking of pitching @ 15c for a couple of days to ensure the yeast takes off then reducing to 12c for 2 weeks and then lagering as low as I can get for a further 2 weeks. 

I'll update on how things went in due course. Have a great brewday if you're brewing this weekend. 

Brewday - 18/07/2020 - John Wayne Is Big Leggy

My first attempt at a Haysi. Sorry hazy...

I hadn't really thought about it before. But after chatting with someone they commented 'oh you like traditional beers then'. I wouldn't have though of myself as a traditionalist in any form, but maybe that's just the part of my brain that still thinks I'm an 18 year-old punk, when we thought we could change the world.

Brewing wise though, I do like bitters, pale ales, golden ales, IPA's, porters and stouts. Of course not all these beers have to have British hops. American and New World varieties do make it into some of them. However, shoving fruit and lactose into an IPA and calling it a milkshake isn't my idea of beer. So maybe I am a traditionalist. 

But I'm out of my comfort zone today. I'm brewing a hazy beer with lots of hops. I guess this makes it a NEIPA. Yes, I've knocked a couple back before, but I've never brewed the style. When homebrewing I like to have a beer that I can return to, time and time again, especially when sharing with friends. I don't want a keg full of a beer that's so in your face you only have one, maybe two before your palate disintegrates and you need to seek out something different. I guess that's why I like session ales. 

So why an NEIPA today? Well there's a competition run in conjunction with The Malt Miller so I thought I'd give it a crack. Details here; https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/blog/verdant-ipa-yeast-home-brewing-competition/

There's sure to be loads of brewers out there that regularly brew NEIPA's so I doubt I'll even get close to winning, but it's an opportunity to brew a different style, so heck, I'm giving it a go. 

However, so it fits in with my preference for 'sessionability' I'm not going all out to create a massive 6.5% beast with half a ton of hops. I'm looking for a 4.6% number that's still juicy, fresh and hoppy. Again, that might mean it's not exactly the style required to win, but hey - it's me that's got to drink it, so I'll brew it how I damn well like. 

If it comes out well I'll post the exact recipe later. As for the title, those of a certain age may remember a song by Haysi Fantayzee called John Wayne Is Big Leggy. 

Showdown!

Brewday - 24/06/2020 - Play it again Sam...

... just slightly different.

So the next brew is very similar to the last. In fact, the grist will be identical and I'm swapping hops from the original European hops to a combination of American and New World. Simcoe and Galaxy to be exact. 

So the recipe for this brew looks like this;

3350g Maris Otter
300g Cara-Pils
180g Dark Crystal

Mash for 75 mins @ 67c

Hops during a 75 minute boil;

Galaxy 15g @ 50 mins

Galaxy 15g @ 7 mins
Simcoe 15g @ 7 mins

Galaxy 5g @ 2 mins

Simcoe 20g @ 2 mins

The hops have a higher alpha than the last brew so the quantities/timings are reduced but the intention is to hit  an OG of around 1.036 with around 30 units of bitterness again.

Yeast this time will be Lallemand BRY-97

Brewday is pencilled in for Wednesday June 24th. As usual I'll update this post on the day to report if things went to plan. 

EDIT: The day was hot, but drama free. It tool a while to cool the wort, but got it to 20.5c before pitching and put it in the temperature controlled fermenting fridge, where it dropped a bit more and when the yeast krausen started to form it was sitting nicely at 18c.

Homebrew Review - Ordinary Ale

Ordinary by name, ordinary by nature. 

Maybe that's  little harsh because this beer is exactly what I set out to achieve. A nice everyday pint you can enjoy all evening, without consequences. It's like a friend you can while away the hours with, without any aggro. No needle, no falling out, just a pleasant time. But then again, nothing too memorable either. 

That's not to say I'm not pleased. It's clear as a bell with a nice tight white head (this was from the keg). The earlier pints were slightly hazy, but as always the last few out were stunning to look at. The head dissipated quite quickly but continued to lace the glass on the way down.  

The beer is nicely balanced, the body and the colour are ideal, but if I'm being particularly picky, the beer lacks a bit of bite. I was hoping for bit more hoppiness (which can't be a word as I've got a red line beneath that one) to give the impression it's punching above its weight. In reality it's the lightweight that's good in it's division but has no pretensions about stepping it up and mixing it at a different level. 

To be fair I did overshoot the gravity, the thin mash in the Braumeister made the extraction very efficient and the beer ended up at 3.9% rather than the expected 3.6%.

There's nothing wrong with a small beer and I'm tempted to brew this again. Maybe with some American or New World hops, but keeping the grist the same, to see if the more feisty hops make a significant difference. 

I served this about 8c and it hit really hit the spot after a few garden jobs in the sun. I might make it my next brew with the hops I mentioned substituted - maybe  Galaxy and Simcoe.... Until then Cheers!

Brewday - Ordinary Ale - 03/05/2020

Nothing in this world is ordinary at the moment. My next brew, however, is an ordinary ale.

To be honest I wouldn't usually brew so frequently these days, but it passes the time nicely during lockdown. And as the last brew is going to sit a while before being consumed, I thought I'd jump straight back in and brew a low-gravity, easy-drinker, that I'll be able to get on tap real quick.

The recipe is based on a brew I first enjoyed after moving to my current town of residence. The missus and I had been on a 7 mile hike through the countryside on the outskirts of town and the weather was glorious. Conveniently the walk started and ended at a pub and after exerting myself in the afternoon warmth, I was in need of a pint of something nice and refreshing.

Being new to the area, I didn't know at the time that the beer I had chosen to enjoy was brewed locally, a few miles down the road. The beer was Archers Village - 3.6%

Many years have passed since that first taste and sadly the brewery is no more. Come to think of it, neither is that pub we ended up at. Sadly, that's closed too.

A recipe for this beer appears in one of the newer editions of Graham Wheeler's book 'Brew Your Own British Real Ale'. Described by the author as 'a dry, well-balanced beer with a full body for its gravity. Malty and fruity on the nose, then a fresh, hoppy favour with balancing malt and a hoppy, fruity finish'.

The recipe in the book calls for just pale and crystal malt, but in my version I've also included some Cara-Pils to boost the body and help with head retention. I'm also using a slightly different combination of bittering hops (Wheeler suggests Progress and WGV) but I'm using what I have in stock which is Progress and Aurora.

The full breakdown of the malt and hops I'm using is shown below. The brew is pencilled in for Sunday May 3rd when I'll update this post with how the brewday panned out.

3350g Maris Otter
300g Cara-Pils
180g Dark Crystal

Mash for 75 mins @ 67c

Hops during a 75 minute boil;

Progress 26g @ 60 mins

Aurora 16g @ 60 mins
Styrian Goldings 20g @10 mins
Styrian Goldings 20g @ 2 mins

OG should be 1.036 with around 30 units of bitterness. 

Yeast will be whatever I have available, which is likely to be dried Muntons Premium Gold.

As for the old Archers brewery, I happen to have one of their promotional bar runners from back in the day, with some quite scary looking west-country folk on. Cheers!

EDIT:

The day went fine, although I overshot the gravity despite the volumes being spot-on. SG is 1.040 instead of 1.036, so not quite the beer I was aiming for, but I decided not to liquor back and just go with it.

During the boil I did notice a dark twig-like object caught on the immersion chiller at one point. It looked darker than a bine, but thought no more about it until I had transferred the beer into the fermenter and then went back to deal with the clean-up. There, sitting on top of the trub was this fella. The same thing, but not a piece of hop bine. A caterpillar. Jeez.

On the plus side he was intact and hadn't ruptured. His insides only came out when I squeezed him after retrieval. Not sure how I feel about this brew now, but I doubt any damage has been done. Here's hoping and at least the wort is crystal clear above the cold break. 

Homebrew review - Brexit Beer

This beer was brewed at the end of January this year; brewday post here.

I bottled half the brew and put the other half in a 9L keg. First impressions are inviting. It looks good - pours clear with a nice amount of carbonation (this was a bottled conditioned example).

The head didn't dissipate too quickly and continued to lace the glass all through to the end. But looks aren't everything.

The hops are slightly underwhelming - I was expecting more from the late addition of Citra and being a beer I've done many times before, this was slightly lacking in hop flavour compared to earlier versions. Maybe the hops for this particular harvest weren't as pungent as previously.

Also, despite this bottle being okay, other bottles I've sampled have a definite phenolic character. It isn't present in the kegged version, so I'm guessing there may have been some cleaning residue on some of the bottles.

And although the keg beer doesn't have the pehnolic characteristics of some of the bottles, there is a hint of oxidation, so that beer is far from being perfect too.

Overall not a bad brew, but nowhere as clean as I would like. I'll have to review the bottle cleaning process and also the keg transfer, as that's the most likely cause of the oxidisation I guess. Hopefully the next brew will be better in that respect.

Brewday - Brave New World - 14/04/2020

Whoever and wherever you are, I hope you remain healthy and are surviving the virus that continues to devastate the planet.

This brew is the one I mentioned in my previous post, something along the lines of the old Brakspear Triple. For those unfamiliar with the original brew, this is not to be confused with a Belgian Tripel, but a strong traditional English ale.

The 20l Braumeister I now use will struggle to cope with the grain bill required for a starting gravity of around 1.063 / 1.064 unless I reduce the final volume, but I've decided to go for it, with 10% of the grain bill being Golden Syrup to help me achieve the gravity required. So the grist for this one (23l) is;

4800g Maris Otter
500g Dark Crystal
400g Malted Oats
150g Black Malt
650g Golden Syrup

Mash for 90 mins @ 68c for a target SG of 1.064

Hops during a 90 minute boil;

Target 22g (14%) @ 80 mins
Target 15g (14%) @ 20 mins

Target 30g (14%) @ 10 mins
Target 35g (14%) @ 1 min

Yeast will be Mangrove Jacks, New World Strong Ale Yeast

The yeast also gave me the inspiration for naming this brew. In view of what's going on around us at the moment, reference to 'New World', reminded me of the song 'Brave New World' from Jeff Wayne's musical interpretation of the War Of The Worlds. Ironically that story ends when a virus becomes the downfall of the alien invaders.

Hopefully I'll still be around to taste this brew once it's done. I'll probably age it in the keg for a bit, but I'll review it on here as soon as it's ready.

Take care all.

EDIT: The brewday was shifted to Tuesday as I took a chunk out of my finger in the garden the week before and wanted time for it to heal a bit, before dealing with lots of heat and cleaning. The wort was an incredible colour.

The day went smoothly and I adjusted the hop schedule from my original plan to lower the IBUs a bit and the revised details are shown in the main post above.

I drew off some boiling wort into a pan, to dissolve the golden syrup on the stove and thus avoid having sticky goo burning on the elements.



The starting gravity was bang on as predicted and the yeast is making good headway when I checked the fermenter this morning. My hydrometer reads slightly strong (2 pts) so although this looks like 1.066 it's actually 1.064.

Thoughts for the next brew...

My last brew has been bottled and kegged so while I wait for that condition, it's time to muse over what to brew next.

I've got in mind a small beer I'd like to do at some stage, but as the last brew wouldn't be too dissimilar, I'll put that one on the back-burner for now and go with something a bit more robust.

I might go with a homage to Brakspear Triple. It's been discontinued but used to be a nice drop. In the book '300 beers to try before you die' by Roger Protz, Roger describes it thus; 'Triple is one of the best new beers to appear in Britain in many years - it's a glass of the Old Stunning, as Charles Dickens was want to say.'

The recipe did change over the years, with the label on the last few bottles that I acquired stating the hops were Northdown and Cascade. My preference was for the earlier version which was hopped solely with Target.

Descriptions of the two different versions can be found here;

https://www.ratebeer.com/Ratings/Beer/Beer-Ratings.asp?BeerID=173826

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/brakspear-triple-72/46132/

With a starting gravity of around 1.065 it will push my 20l Braumeister to the limit but I'll see what I can come up with. Time to get to work putting a recipe together...
-

Brexit Brewday - 31/01/2020

Friday January 31st 2020. The day that the UK leaves the European Union. Am I brewing because of this historic event? TBH I couldn't give too hoots. It just so happens I have a day off and I'm going to brew beer.

It's not a special recipe to mark the day, just a pale ale. Probably the beer I've brewed most, so you could possibly regard this as my 'house ale', although that may suggest it's always on tap and sadly I don't brew regularly enough for that to be the case these days.

It's always turned out well in the past and hopefully this batch will be no different.

The grist for this one (23l) is;

4450g Golden Promise
68g Pale Crystal
68g Wheat Malt
10g Chocolate Malt

Mash for 90 mins @ 68c for a target SG of 1.044

Hops during a 90 minute boil;

Savinjski Goldings 40g @ 75 mins

Aurora 15g @ 75 mins

Progress 11g @ 75 mins

Citra 11g @ 15mins

Citra 11g  steeped at 50c while chillling

Yeast will be Safale US-05

The coloured malts are simply to add a small depth of colour, the wheat is for head retention and the use of Golden Promise rather than Maris Otter is to let the late hops shine.

Porter

As the years pass I'm mellowing in many ways. For longevity someone once said 'Sit loosely in the saddle of life'. Despite never being the most relaxed of people, age has tought me to slow down, not to sweat the small stuff and to drink dark beer.

That last bit might not be entirely true, but I am enjoying the odd darker brew from time to time and with that in mind I decided to brew a Porter toward the end of last year. It's my most recent brew and I have to say it turned out rather well.

To be fair the recipe's not entirely mine - I took it from an old home-brew publication by Marc Ollossen. The edition I have was printed in 1997 and is an ex-library book which cost pence to purchase, although I believe the book may still be about having been republished at some stage. I've only done a small handful of recipes from the book, but I can't remember a bad one so Marc has done his job well.

There's several Porter recipes within its pages and I narrowed the choice down largely based on ingredients I already had in stock. It's based on a commercial recipe but as far as I'm aware the brewery quoted (Marston Moor) is no longer around, unless it was swallowed up by one of the bigger boys.

The grist I came up with for a 23l batch was made up of;

4000g Maris Otter
155 g CaraPils
380g Roasted Barley
120g Dark Crystal
120g Wheat Malt

For an OG of 1.046

Hops were;

Challenger 43g @ 60mins
Savinjski Goldings 20g @ 15mins
plus
Savinjski Goldings 10g steeped at 80c during chillling.

The yeast I used for this one was Muntons Premium Gold. Not the most popular of dried yeasts among the brewers I know, but I find it works very well for beers with a malty profile;  https://www.muntons.com/home_brewing/muntons-premium-yeast/

These days I'm brewing with a 20L Braumeister and the brewday for this one was a bit of a mare. The mash schedule I intended was;

80mins @ 68c
5mins @ 78c

but I suffered a power outage - having left the German piece of kit to do it's thing unattended - this was the first time I hadn't sat like a nursemaid by its side while mashing (I'd nipped back to bed for an extra half-hours kip and a subsequent shower) - I returned to find the power dead due to a faulty extension lead.

I had no idea how long the power had been out, (I can't recall now what the temperature was when I returned to the mash either) so I decided to start the process over, so the upshot was a very long mash.

This may have contributed to a slightly thinner than anticipated body, but at the end of the day it didn't really detract from what was a damn fine pint. The recipe's a keeper.

It's been a while

Five and a half years to be precise. I've not brewed much in the intervening time and I've sold my old 10 gallon brewery pictured on the right.

But all is not lost. The hiatus is over and I'm finally brewing once more. Maybe only 3 or 4 times a year, but I'm enjoying it again and I'll bring you up to speed with details of the new set-up very soon.

I rediscovered this old blog and found it a useful resource to remind me what went well and what didn't. I also find it therapeutic to write (even if no else reads it but me) so here we go again...

Oh and apologies for any images missing on the old posts - there's nothing I can do to recover these.