Brewday - Deuchars 18/01/2013

Having sorted through the hops in the freezer and having looked at what I’ve got sitting in kegs and bottles, I’ve decided my next brew is going to be something akin to a Deuchars IPA.

After a porter and a few strong beers, a light, easy-drinking, yet hoppy beer seems the perfect call.

British drinkers will no doubt be familiar with a pint of Deuchars, having won plenty of awards including the Champion Beer Of Britain. It’s also a favourite of Rebus, the fictional detective created by Ian Rankin.

Pale, fruity, with a citrusy nose and very sessionable at 3.8% abv

From the gravity, it’s not an IPA in the traditional sense, but a decent enough pale ale when it’s on song. 

My recipe is not intended to be a clone. Using grist made up simply of Pale Malt and a touch of wheat, I’m upping the gravity to about 1.046, but using what I believe is a similar combination of hops (although substituting Fuggles for Progress, as it’s what I have in stock).

Providing outside temperatures don't drop too low, I've pencilled in Friday as the brewday.

Deuchars 10G

Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Type: All Grain	Date: 18/01/2013
Batch Size (fermenter): 50.00 l	Brewer: Mark
Boil Size: 61.39 l	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 75 min	Equipment: Elite Brewery
End of Boil Volume 55.12 l	Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 50.00 l	Est Mash Efficiency 77.4 %
Fermentation: My Aging Profile	Taste Rating(out of 50):
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 9500.00 g Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 95.0 % 500.00 g Wheat Malt, Bel (3.9 EBC) Grain 2 5.0 % 28.00 g Aurora [4.90 %] - Boil 75.0 min Hop 3 6.8 IBUs 18.00 g Progress [6.00 %] - Boil 75.0 min Hop 4 5.4 IBUs 145.00 g Celeia [2.60 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 9.8 IBUs 50.00 g Williamette [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 7.1 IBUs 0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 7 - 2.0 pkg Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand #-) Yeast 8 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.046 SG	Measured Original Gravity:
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG	Measured Final Gravity:
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol:
Bitterness: 29.1 IBUs
Est Color: 8.4 EBC

Old London Boozers

With homebrew stocks still quite high, even after the Christmas festivities, it might yet be a week of two before I fire up the brewery for the first brew of 2013. I also need to do a proper stock-take of all the hops I've got sitting in the freezer, so I can plan ahead.

Anyhow, before all of this, I took some time out to visit a few old pubs and thought it might be good to do a quick post of those I visited.

The journey centered around the City of London, the financial heartland of the capital. The first port of call was the Counting House.

Counting House

Formerly occupied as a bank, the Grade II Listed building has been considerately converted with the main banking hall now a modern bar. The conversion won the City Heritage Award for being one of the finest examples of building refurbishment in the City.

Owned by Fuller's, all the usual suspects were available, plus their Black Cab Sout and Jack Frost. The beers were in good shape and the stout was my first beer of the morning.

A large glass dome formed part of the ceiling. We returned here for more beer and pies later in the day.

The Jamaica Wine House

Our next watering hole was The Jamaica Wine House, which is also known as the Jampot.

The history of this pub dates back to 1652. I understand that shares were traded here long before the stock market was set up. It's also understood to have been the market place for slave transactions too.

Once again, the beers were good, allowing for the fact it's now owned by Shephed Neame. I've had many a bottle of Spitfire in the past, but never on draught, so that was my beer of choice on this visit.

Of all the pubs we visited during the day, this one felt the most 'comfortable'. Whether it was the size, the partitioning, or the fact that it was just very old, it made for a good drink.

From here we moved on to one of the smallest pubs in the City. The Swan Tavern. And what you see is what you get. The inside shot of the narrow bar is all there is.

The Swan Tavern

Lamb Tavern

Visually, the Lamb Tavern which followed was very impressive. Shame the beer wasn't equally as good. Tired and lifeless - with the majority of these pubs catering for the City trade, they tend to close at weekends and I'm wondering whether on the Tuesday, we were drinking last Friday's beer?

A few doors along was the next pub on our list, The New Moon. The beer here was better. I downed a nice pint of Old Speckled Hen.

The last hostelry before departing homeward was a Weatherspoons, the Crosse Keys.

A Massive building, with huge marble pillars, this was also a former bank. Built in 1912 for the Hong Kong & Shangai Bank it was apparently named after a nearby Inn which was lost in the Great Fire of London.

Crosse Keys

As a 'spoons pub, the beer was cheap and I opted for a pint of Salopian Oracle. Full of American hops, perhaps a tad bitter for my palate, but a nice enough pint to end the day with.

So there you have it. Six old London pubs with a bit of history. I'm off now to do that stock-take of the freezer to see what hops need using up. All this talk of beer has got the brewing juices flowing again.

Happy New Year to you all.

Brewday - Best Bitter 11/12/2012

Weather permitting, I'm planning to brew tomorrow. After some dark beers and a couple of big ones, it's time to brew something a bit more sessionable. My plan is for a standard English bitter.

I'm having another crack at my best bitter recipe as the last few attempts were not the best, as they came at a time when some form of infection was ailing my brews. As I've appear to have turned a corner on that front, I reckon it's worth another go.

A variation of this beer, was one of the first recipes I put together after leaving kit brewing behind, so it's kind of special to me. A very simple grist of 95% Pale and 5% Crystal malts, with a combination of Progress and WGV hops for bittering, plus a late addition of Celeia.

Although temperatures are likely to be below freezing when mashing in, I'll take steps to try and ensure the outside water supply isn't completely frozen, for what will be my last brew of 2012.

Best (Celeia)

Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Type: All Grain	Date: 11/12/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 50.00 l	Brewer: Mark
Boil Size: 61.39 l	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 75 min	Equipment: Elite Brewery
End of Boil Volume 55.12 l	Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 50.00 l	Est Mash Efficiency 77.4 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage	Taste Rating(out of 50):
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 8700.00 g Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 95.0 % 460.00 g Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (236.4 EBC) Grain 2 5.0 % 30.00 g Progress [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 12.1 IBUs 30.00 g Whitbread Golding Variety (WGV) [6.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 11.0 IBUs 30.00 g Celeia [4.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 3.2 IBUs 0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 6 - 2.0 pkg Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand #-)  Yeast 7 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.042 SG	Measured Original Gravity:
Est Final Gravity: 1.009 SG	Measured Final Gravity:
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.3 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol:
Bitterness: 26.4 IBUs
Est Color: 16.9 EBC

Brewday - Porter 20/11/2012

Porter is not a style I've brewed before. In fact, it wasn't until recently that I started to enjoy the darker British beers, so I thought it was definitely time to have a crack at brewing one.

I've based the recipe on something which I believe is not dissimilar to that used by Fuller's and brought the gravity down a tad. As I'm short on Fuggles, I'm going to try Williamette as the hop. As the beer style is more about the malts than the hop, this hopefully shouldn't detract from what should be a decent pint.

In fact, it wasn't until after I put the recipe together that I read in Beersmith that Williamette is used in Sierra Nevada Porter. I've not had the opportunity to try the American beer, but it's encouraging that my thought of using Williamette as a substitute wasn't wide of the mark - although whether the American interpretation of a porter is the same as ours, I'm not sure.

Oakhurst Porter

Brown Porter

Type: All Grain	Date: 20/11/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 50.00 l	Brewer: Mark
Boil Size: 62.65 l	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min	Equipment: Elite Brewery
End of Boil Volume 55.12 l	Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 50.00 l	Est Mash Efficiency 77.4 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage	Taste Rating(out of 50):
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 8200.00 g Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 78.0 % 1050.00 g Brown Malt (150.0 EBC) Grain 2 10.0 % 1050.00 g Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (236.4 EBC) Grain 3 10.0 % 210.00 g Chocolate Malt (1000.0 EBC) Grain 4 2.0 % 78.00 g Willamette [6.30 %] - Boil 75.0 min Hop 5 26.8 IBUs 0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 6 - 2.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 7 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.047 SG	Measured Original Gravity:
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG	Measured Final Gravity:
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.5 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol:
Bitterness: 26.8 IBUs