Posts Tagged ‘homebrewer’
AG#100 – Altitudinous Cable
Posted on: May 18, 2013
- In: Brewing
- 2 Comments
Altitudinous Cable – I’m hoping for a ‘MagicRockBrewing Highwire / PartizanBrewing Columbus Chinook Cascade IPA‘ type of thing, bags of flavour and seriously dry hopped.
My 100th All-Grain Brewday was supposed to be an all-Fuggle Double IPA with a great big Fuggle Dry Hop, have beery mates round and cook food / drink beer / forget the Protafloc etc We’ll have to plan that for another time as I wanted something that will be distinctly hoppy with in-yer-face dry hopping, so what beer to try imitate than MagicRock’s Highwire, a beauty of a beer at only 5.5%.
Fermentables:
Lager Malt – 82.5%
Caramalt – 8%
Vienna Malt – 5%
Munich Type I (Weyermann) – 4.5%
Hops:
Magnum – 12.7 % @ 60 mins – 27g (FWH)
Magnum – 12.7 % @ 30 mins – 27g
Chinook – 12.5 % @ 0 mins – 43g (30min Steep)
Cascade – 7.9 % @ 0 mins – 43g (30min Steep)
Columbus – 16.5 % @ 0 mins – 43g (30min Steep)
Dry Hops:
Chinook Pellets
Cascade Pellets
Columbus Pellets
Final Volume: 25 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.055
Final Gravity: 1.013
Alcohol Content: 5.5% ABV
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 55 EBU
Colour: 10 EBC
Mash: 69c for 60mins
Yeast: Safale us-05
The malts, and a Teaspoon of Calcium Chloride (rough arse stylee):
First Wort Hops:
A healthy amount of flameout hops:
The OG before liquoring back to 1055:
Easy brewday, did a bit of a Garage tidy while I was at it.
I only gave the mash 1 Tsp of Calcium Chloride as I’ve had some comment on the dryness of my homebrew, so no other liquor salts for this brew just as an experiment.
The Double IPA, Hmmm
Posted on: May 5, 2013
- In: Brewing
- 8 Comments
I’m a little confused over the matter of brewing Big IPA’s, in regard to getting bitterness and some dryness into these high strength Imperial or Double IPA.
Consider my AG#92 Klaatu Verata Nictu its an all malt DIPA but the residual sweetness after fermentation is far too high, time in bottle is s-l-o-w-l-y drying it out and its a nice beer, but much more of an American Barleywine than displaying the bitterness characteristics I was aiming for… It would seem that my predicted 200 IBU could have been doubled to 400 IBU to help cut through the sweetness.
This is theoretically where a Sugar addition comes into play to help dry the beer out…
Now consider this AG#85 HopZilla IPA which did have a sugar addition for the purpose of drying the beer out, yet I still got an annoyingly high level of residual sweetness after fermentation, this did eventually dry up and display its proper character in bottle but it took blooming ages! I think I have 1 bottle of this left which I assume will be the dogs bollocks by the time I crack into it.
There is nothing wrong with either of the above beers apart from me not getting what I was aiming for, for my next experiment I will be trying a 10% addition of Dextrose, and a long cool Mash with less malts that could be adding Dextrins to the wort.
The following questions arise:
- Mash Temp?
- Liquor to Malt Ratio?
- Mash Duration?
- Amount & Type of Copper Sugars?
- Malt selection?
- Liquor Treatment additions?
I feel a MASSIVE dry hop is needed on these higher gravity beers, done in two stages.. i.e. Once in the FV, then transfer to Conditioning/Secondary for a while before doing a Second or even Third Heavy dry hop.
We brewed Kala BIPA, 6.2% @SaltaireBrewery a short time ago, I know the ABV is considerably different but we used a sugar addition of almost 10% to great effect in this beer making an amazingly easy drinking beer that went down like a 4% session ale.
Its all fun 
I’d be really interested in how other homebrewers / brewers get their level of bitterness & Dryness in their DIPAs.
Cheers
AG#98 – Robust Wheat Porter
Posted on: March 24, 2013
- In: Brewing
- 8 Comments
Robust Wheat Porter – The Pancake Day of Homebrews! I’m using up a load of bag-ends, so my base malts (Lager & Wheat) are now totally depleted.
I’m not too fussed if its something odd-ball, it should hopefully be entertaining and I can start from fresh malts for subsequent brews.
Fermentables:
Wheat Malt – 44.9%
Lager Malt – 26.6%
Munich Malt – 5.9%
Jaggery (Cane) – 5.5%
Brown Malt – 3.7%
Chocolate Malt – 3.7%
Rauch Malt (Weyermann) – 3.2%
Amber Malt – 2.6%
Peat Smoked Medium – 1.8%
Munich Type II (Weyermann) – 1.4%
Roasted Barley – 0.7%
Oat Husks – 3% (This works out at 103%, added after calculating recipe)
Hops:
Bobek – 4.5 % @ 60 mins – 408g
Saaz – 4.15 % @ 0 mins – 48g
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.077
Final Gravity: 1.016
Alcohol Content: 8.1% ABV
Mash Efficiency: 70 %
Bitterness: 181 EBU – (This is going to be bogus, the hops are old and like confetti)
Colour: 148 EBC
Mash: 90mins @ 67°c
Yeast: Safale US-05 skimmed from last weeks brew before I dry hopped it
Liquor Treatment: General Purpose copied from AG#55
The Malts, I added a few Oat Husks as a precaution:
408g of Bobek Hops in the copper:
Recirculating the first few jugs from the mash tun until it runs clear:
Jaggery Goor, or Unrefined Cane sugar:
In go the late Saaz hops:
Quite a lot of spent hops left in the copper:
I ended up with 1079 so liquored back 0.54L to 1077, I feel a few things worked in my favor to get the right OG and 21.46Litres:
- Predicted Mash efficiency be set low.
- The 3.7L bellow the Mash Tun’s false bottom which I usually deduct from the first sparge.
- 80c second (technically first) sparge, I normally go for 78°c, and 15min rest before running off.
All cleaned up and yeast pitched, I expect it to kick off quite soon and spew all over the kitchen floor, the fermentation fridge is still full of Brown Ceas which I just dry hopped.
*25th Mar ’13 – The fresh yeast has taken off well, still in the bucket… just!
*31st Mar ’13 – Gravity at 1018 so this has been pretty fast at fermenting, and it tastes rather good with quite a bit of smoke and the Brown/Amber/Choc malts definitely playing their parts, bitterness is coming through but not overly
*7th Apr ’13 – Gravity at 1018 still so chilling it down before bottling sometime next week.
*Bottled 10th Apr ’13 – with 76g White Sugar, tastes bloody good too
- In: Brewing
- 11 Comments
On Saturday 15th of September the UK’s National Homebrew Competition took place (Hashtag #uknhc for Twitter).
163 Homebrewers had entered 460 beers and Ali-Kocho and the guys from Bristol Homebrew did the amazing job of making it all come together, this was their second year running this National event which was held in St. Werburghs Community Center this year.
Here come the photos… I’d love some help in putting some names to photos (Real name or Forum / Twitter etc), leave me a comment or Tweet me. I’m generally crap with names and the few that have stuck in my head I’ve either met before or have talked to on Twitter, so I totally apologise in advance for not remembering.
Ali & @Quadrangularus1 in the background, @stevewright1976 inspecting his beer, Light blue shirt, 2nd in is Paul Henderson, Simon Ashdown is front corner.
Moustache and pinny is @_Michael_Palmer (top food! “Bastard Hot Wings”), Bed Fields @Alsothings middle front with white T-shirt.
@NeilRimmer1005 over the back in the Blue/grey top and next to him is Mr Lard from JBK/THBF in the stripy t-shirt, the guy in the purple shirt sitting and bent over bottles is Paul Spearman the LAB chairman.
@Des De Moor & @Marisotter then at the top right the middle beard wearer is Capn Ahab (JBK)/@zymurgeeza – also part of the food team!
@TheMaltMiller with the red striped sleeve
Steve Syson & SteveWright’s head, @BrettJEllis of forthcoming brewery Wild Beer
Tony Barnsley/Aleman (From JBK / THBF) in the dark blue top and cap, Chairman of the Craft Brewers Association don’t ya know
White haired judge with Glasses in bottom left is Mike Carter from LAB
@BrettJEllis with the funky facial hair opposite brown baseball cap is Pete Hughes @SwaziPete (pokerswazi from JBK) I’d spotted a crate with Swazi written on it and half made a connection with the accent, I should have said hi
White haired judge with Glasses in bottom left is Mike Carter from LAB
Just some of the entries Mmmm Beer
Steve & Tom
To the right is one of the Justin’s from @DrinkMoorBeer
Stephen Sykes standing and @GraemeCoates judging, Graeme is going to Norway for his Best in Show! @SamTait to Graeme’s right.
In the red top, the other Justin from @DrinkMoorBeer
Paul (Vacant on JBK) far left, Middle is Barney (JBK) Wayne then Stephen (Alix101 on JBK) on the right
Ali and Tom
Best in Show judging getting set up, standing behind Steve in grey shirt is Roger @trunky_bristol
Steve (in the red shirt) is doing his PHD on beer judging some proceedings were recorded on multiple media!
We arrived at the venue just after the Stewards briefing, slapped wrists, and I was sent to help with the Belgian Ales and I spent the morning being a bit of a spare part but got to try a fair few Belgian & Strong Ales. After a lunch of BBQ Sausage sandwiches it was back to work and Ali got me to steward for the German Bock category and English Brown Ales, this was interesting listening to Steve Syson & Steve Wright doing the judging, I got to try all the beers and some of those in the Smoked & Spice/Veg category too which were being judged on the same table.
The judging finally finished with the raffle and prize giving after 9pm, a long but enjoyable day.
In case I missed copy/pasting any of the code from Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdtnc/sets/72157631555793596/
Congratulations to everyone that won a prize and all the Honorable Mentions.
Results – UK National Homebrew Competition
Best of Show
Place Brewer(s) Entry Name Style Club
1st Graeme Coates Cauchy – Schwarz Inequality 4C: Schwarzbier Oxford Brewers
2nd Steve Syson Debaser 14C: Imperial IPA Midlands Craft Brewers
3rd Dave Halse Mystrawraspb 20A: Fruit Beer London Amateur Brewers
Categories:
Porter (26 entries)
1st Jacob Griffin Zombier Baltic Porter -
2nd Chris Lewis Rigor Porteris Robust Porter
3rd Steve Crawshaw Waggoner Porter Robust Porter Bristol Craft Brewers
Stout (43 entries)
1st Ben Hislop Big Black Imperial Stout Scottish Craft Brewers
2nd Tim Daly Oatmeal Sweet Stout Sweet Stout Oxford Brewers
3rd Bryan Spooner Sadako Imperial Stout Imperial Stout London Amature Brewers (lab)
HM David Budd Heacham Russian Imperial Stout Imperial Stout North Devon Craft Brewers
Specialty Beer (27 entries)
1st Ali Kocho-williams Indian Ink Specialty Beer Bristol Brewing Circle/bristol Craft Brewers/pembrokeshire Union Of Brewers
2nd Ben Hislop Long Black Cloud Specialty Beer Scottish Craft Brewers
3rd Jacob Griffin Black Tiger Rye Pa Specialty Beer -
Strong Ales (14 entries)
1st Ross Harper Backbreaker Barleywine American Barleywine Red Earth Brewers
2nd Dave Halse Mybarleywine English Barleywine London Amateur Brewers
3rd Andrew Jardine Cave Adsum American Barleywine Boohs
Belgian And French Ales (45 entries)
1st Matthew Barker Disconnecty Belgian Ipa Belgian Specialty Ale London Amateur Brewers
2nd Robert Petterson Robert Petterson Witbier
3rd Ali Kocho-williams Black Monk Belgian Specialty Ale Bristol Brewing Circle/bristol Craft Brewers/pembrokeshire Union Of Brewers
HM Matt Bunn Duckfight 2012 Belgian Specialty Ale
Belgian Strong Ales (28 entries)
1st Ken Winter Velvet Tankard Belgian Dark Strong Ale
2nd Steve Syson Tripel Trubbel Belgian Tripel Midlands Craft Brewers
3rd Ron Allison Kiwi Dubbel Belgian Dubbel Midlands Craft Brewers
HM Daniel Van Der Zee 055 DSA Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Light Hybrids (16 entries)
1st Ali Kocho-williams Amarillo Wheat American Wheat or Rye Beer Bristol Brewing Circle/bristol Craft Brewers/pembrokeshire Union Of Brewers
2nd Stephen Sykes Stephen Sykes Kolsch Northern Craft Brewers
3rd Mark Grundy Eau De Cologne Kolsch Bristol Brewing Circle
HM Shane O’beirne Bruntsfield Blonde Blonde Ale
English Pale Ales (57 entries)
1st Steve Osborne English Pale Ale Special/Best/Premium Bitter Midland Craft Brewers
2nd Ron Allison Golden Bitter Standard/Ordinary Bitter Midlands Craft Brewers
3rd Richard Pearce Strong Bitter Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale) London Amateur Brewers
HM Rob Marchington Croft Hsb Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale) Cambridge Craft Brewers
American Ales (37 entries)
1st David Barker Citra Amber Ale American Amber Ale None
2nd Matthew Barker Prodigal American Pale Ale American Pale Ale London Amateur Brewers
3rd Tom Greasley The Red Scare American Amber Ale London Amateur Brewers
IPA (58 entries)
1st Steve Syson Debaser Imperial IPA Midlands Craft Brewers
2nd Steve Syson Stoned IPA American IPA Midlands Craft Brewers
3rd Ron Allison Classic Pale Ale English IPA Midlands Craft Brewers
HM Graeme Coates Emerald American IPA Oxford Brewers
Bock (5 entries)
1st Vladimir Kaznakov Bock Traditional Bock
2nd Rob Marchington Bob’s Your Dunkel Traditional Bock Cambridge Craft Brewers
3rd Richard Caller Bona Dea Maibock/Helles Bock Northern Craft Brewers
Scottish and Irish Ale (7 entries)
1st Karl Clark Claymore Strong Scotch Ale Northern Craft Brewers Association
2nd Aled Murphy Aittin 80/- Scottish Export 80/- Scottish Craft Brewers
3rd Steven Crump Start A War Strong Scotch Ale
German Wheat And Rye Beer (15 entries)
1st Graeme Coates Vital Signs Weizenbock Oxford Brewers
2nd Steve Wright KiWi-zen Weizen/Weissbier Northern Craft Brewer’s Assoication
3rd Ben Hislop Hefe Schwartz Dunkelweizen Scottish Craft Brewers
HM Richard Poole Druid Fluid Weizen/Weissbier Bristol Craft Brewers
Smoke And Wood Aged Beer (16 entries)
1st Paul Mills Butt-head Wood-Aged Beer Primary Fermenters Brewers And Vintners Of Minnesota (eastern League)
2nd Mike Tonks Saxon Smokey Porter Other Smoked Beer Bristol Brewing Circle
3rd Dave Halse Mysmokedporter Other Smoked Beer London Amateur Brewers
HM Bryan Spooner Sadako Imperial Stout – Oaked Wood-Aged Beer London Amature Brewers (lab)
New Zealand Pale Ale (11 entries)
1st Steve Syson Kiwi Pale Ale New Zealand Pale Ale Midlands Craft Brewers
2nd Mark Charlwood Summer Pale New Zealand Pale Ale London Amateur Brewers
3rd Ron Allison Kiwi Gold New Zealand Pale Ale Midlands Craft Brewers
Spice Herb And Vegetable Beer (17 entries)
1st Ken Bazley Kulao Porter Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer London Amateur Brewers
2nd Matt Bunn Snapdragon Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
3rd Andrew Jardine Bandit Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Boohs
HM Kieran Wall Thackrey Stout Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
Amber Hybrids (8 entries)
1st Matthew Hicks Ardley Easter California Common Beer
2nd Tony Milner Alt Northern German Altbier Boohs
3rd Ken Bazley Altbier Northern German Altbier London Amateur Brewers
Sour Ale, Fruit Beer (10 entries)
1st Dave Halse Mystrawraspb Fruit Beer London Amateur Brewers
2nd Brett Ellis Lambic Straight (Unblended) Lambic
3rd Richard Caller Rode Koe With Raspberry Fruit Beer Northern Craft Brewers
HM Richard Caller White Walls Raspberry Fruit Beer Northern Craft Brewers
Light Lager, Pilsner, European Amber Lager, Dark Lager (15 entries)
1st Graeme Coates Cauchy – Schwarz Inequality Schwarzbier Oxford Brewers
2nd Graeme Coates Notfest Oktoberfest/Marzen Oxford Brewers
3rd Steve Syson Goodnight Vienna Vienna Lager Midlands Craft Brewers
HM Steve Syson Schwarze Engel Schwarzbier Midlands Craft Brewers
English Brown Ale (5 entries)
1st Christopher Eyett Andersons’ Brown Northern English Brown Ale
2nd Ian Ross-bain Three Rivers Northern English Brown Ale Midlands Craft Brewers
3rd Steve Crawshaw Ask Jon Mild Mild Bristol Craft Brewers
HM Paul Dodd Pd’s Nut Brown Ale Northern English Brown Ale
Here’s a brief breakdown of what was entered in the following categories and how they were boiled down:
IPA:
EIPA – 13
AIPA – 30
IIPA – 15
Stout:
Dry Stout – 16
Sweet Stout – 4
Oatmeal Stout – 5
Foreign Stout -2
American Stout -2
Imperial Stout – 14
American Ales:
Pale – 14
Amber – 16
Brown – 7
Bock:
Maibock – 2
Traditional Bock – 3
AG#86 – Ta Moko II
Posted on: August 4, 2012
- In: Brewing
- 5 Comments
Ta Moko II – A re-brew with minor tweaks for hop Alphas and added 5% Flaked Oats. The last version of this beer is here. If this beer is as good as the last brew it won’t last long and is as good a reason as any to think about investing in a bigger copper boiler / 50 Litre Keg-boiler 
Fermentables:
Lager Malt – 75%
Carapils (Weyermann) – 10%
Wheat Malt – 8%
Flaked Oats – 5%
Cara Munich Type III (Weyermann) – 2%
Hops:
Pacific Gem – 17 % @ 60 mins – 15g
Pacific Gem – 17 % @ 15 mins – 10g
Nelson Sauvin – 12.1 % @ 10 mins – 41g
Nelson Sauvin – 12.1 % @ 0 mins – 51g
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 3.9% ABV
Total Liquor: 31.5 Litres
Mash Liquor: 10.1 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 52 EBU
Colour: 8 EBC
Mash: 60-90mins @ 67°c
Boil: 60mins
Liquor Treatment: as previous Ta Moko Brew / GW Calc ‘General Purpose’.
Yeast: Safale US-05
Malts are, Lager, Carapils, Wheat, CaraMunich III, and Flaked Oats, I put the Gypsum in the mash and the other salts went in the boil:
Hops from @TheMaltMiller:
Fairly reserved on the hopping, all but 15g of FWH are in the last 15mins of the boil:
Filling the Mash Tun with hot Liquor, I use about 83°c and leave it to pre-heat the tun allowing it to cool down to my Strike Temperature before mashing in, I mashed in at 74°c:
Full copper heating with the FWH:
Half a protafloc tablet into a 23L brew @ 5mins left:
The 50g of 80°c Steep hops:
I liquored back 1.6 litres to get OG 1040 and near as damn it to my required volume:
This is FV1 full of Ta Moko wort with US-05 dry sprinkled, I may skim and re-pitch for next weekends Chinook Blonde Brew:
Mashed in just after 8am and finished before 2pm with a brief trip to town to get a strip-light for the kitchen, 2nd breakfast was had in-between batch sparges and lunch while running wort to the FV
*Bottled 18th Aug ’12 – with 80g of white sugar
AG#77 – UK Cascade
Posted on: April 7, 2012
UK Cascade – Trying out a Single Hop UK-grown Cascade brew. Using up the end of a sack of Lager Malt and thought I’d throw in some nice German Munich and give it some body with the Carapils, and I’d just got some Melanoidin malt so in went some of that
The UK Cascade hops were bought from Charles Farams as a 5kg Freshpak, so I’ve got a few spare & Vac-packed if anyone wants some.
Fermentables:
Lager Malt – 67.5%
Munich Malt II (Weyermann) – 10.5%
Carapils (Weyermann) – 9.3%
Munich Malt I (Weyermann) – 7%
Melanoidin Malt – 5.6%
Hops:
UK Cascade – 5.7 % 60 mins – 50g (First Wort Hopped)
UK Cascade – 5.7 % 15 mins – 40g
UK Cascade – 5.7 % 0 mins – 40g (20-30min steep)
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.041
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 4% ABV
Total Liquor: 32.6 Litres
Mash Liquor: 10.3 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 39 EBU
Colour: 13 EBC
Yeast: Safale us-05
Mashed at 67°c (actually aimed for 68°c but what the hey) mash duration was well passed 90mins as I was out with the dogs, and i ended up with over 87% Mash Efficiency.
The Mash, you can really smell the Melanoidin Malt:
Sparging Temp in the HLT:
First Wort Hops and first runnings, I used the Sweet Pale Ale profile in the GW Calc for my Liquor Treatment:
A goodly amount of UK Cascade @ 15mins:
Steeping, Hop soup, a fair amount of seeds in these uk Cascade:
Near as damn it, think the Refractometer said 10.4 brix so OG 1040:
Ran off to FV in quick-sticks, lovely clear wort (why I didn’t make a mesh hop-stopper sooner I don’t know!) and pitched US-05:
Easy brewday, I bottled AG#76 after brewing Yeast pitched at 20°c and put in fermentation Fridge set at 20°c
*13th Apr ’12 – Had a little trial jar taste, Gravity down to 1010-ish, some flavour a bit like what I got in my Revolutions Comp Brew that I didn’t enter, I feel this may be either the Re-packaged yeast I used (most probable) or the fermenting bucket is contaminated.
*14th Apr ’12 – Had another taste in a glass rather than a trial jar, I was maybe a bit quick to judge though there is something underlying. I shall stick to original packaged Safale us-05 from now on I think, maybe it had been in my fridge too long before pitching.
*Bottled 21st Apr ’12 – with 80g of white sugar, I actually wonder if the flavour I’m getting is the Melanoidin Malt… I’ll have to get someone in the know to have a taste and tell me its pants!
AG#67 – Amber Motueka
Posted on: November 6, 2011
- In: Brewing
- 3 Comments
Amber Motueka – I should really be brewing for a Twitter #BlackIPAoff beer swap with @Broadfordbrewer & @BrotherLogic but I decided to use up the end of a sack of Lager Malt and use some of the wonderful Motueka hops I have stashed in the Hop-Freezer. Motueka works rather well as a dry-hop so I’ll be using up the remainder of the bag once initial fermentation has died down.
This will ‘hopefully’ be a nice Amber coloured Hoppy IPA-like beer with a nice malt presence and a firm smooth bitterness.
Fermentables:
Vienna Malt (Weyermann) – 40%
Lager Malt – 37.2%
Wheat Malt – 16%
Cara Aroma (Weyermann) – 3.7%
Cara Munich Type III (Wey – 3%
Hops:
Motueka (B Saaz) – 13.8 % @ 60 mins – 20g (FWH)
Magnum – 14.5 % @ 60 mins – 10g (FWH)
Motueka (B Saaz) – 13.8 % @ 15 mins – 20g
Motueka (B Saaz) – 13.8 % @ 0 mins – 40g
Dry Hops:
Motueka (B Saaz) – 20g (or whatever is left from the 100g packet)
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.049
Final Gravity: 1.012
Alcohol Content: 4.8% ABV
Total Liquor: 33.3 Litres
Mash Liquor: 12 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 55 EBU (Utilisation set to 25%)
Colour: 39 EBC
Mash: 60mins @ 66c
Boil: 60mins
Yeast: Safale US-05
Liquor Treatment: Burton Pale Ale using the Graham Wheeler treatment calculator
HLT temperature:
Some of the malts:
Gypsum (Calcium Sulphate) being weighed out:
First Wort Hops and a small Sodium Chloride (Salt) addition in the Copper:
Flameout hops and half a Protafloc tab, it ran off pretty clear so 1/2 is all you really need for 5 gallons:
Hops steeped for 20-30mins with an occasional stir:
Target of 1049, near enough:
Wort dropping from copper into fermenting vessel, given a good thrash with a paddle and dry sprinkled the yeast:
A wide shot of running to fermenter, the all important clock in the background:
A no fuss brewday, everything works, hit gravity, yeast pitched, put to bed in the fermentation fridge for the first time!
Safale us-05 has a temperature range of 15-24c so I’ve set the cooling to come on at 24c and left the heating turned off so it can increase in temperature naturally.
*12 Nov ’11 FG 1012 reached, loose Dry Hopped with 20g of Motueka and set the fermentation fridge to cool to 17c.
*Bottled 18th Nov ’11 with 75g white sugar, tasting nice, nothing over-powering just nice.
*23rd Nov ’11 – About 1 week bottled taster, fruity with sweet malty bits, good mid-to-light-amber colour (Just been eating chocolate so maybe not the best pallet cleanser), maybe not the IPA-esque beer I was after but tasty, bitterness is smooth and pallet-coating. This beer would make a very nice Belgian ale with the appropriate yeast.
*1st Dec ’11 – now its had a bit more time in the bottle its drying out and the bitterness is coming through, its a lovely smooth bitterness. I’m happy with the results.
*17th Jan ’12 – This is a bloody good beer now
- In: Brewing | Random
- 7 Comments
These are my personal thoughts on the new rates of Beer Duty, I’ve sent this letter to both my MP and a slightly modified version to our MEPs. I sincerely urge you to spend 5-10 minutes and put your own thoughts to your own MPs and MEPs, the worlds brewers and beer lovers need you to keep a free and open market in all that is good about beer, brewing and drinking.
Click this, Write To Them
And also Sign the E-petition
thanks.
“Dear Sirs,
Re: New rates of duty on high and lower strength beers
(http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/news/news-120911.htm)I am at a loss to see where these changes to Taxation will tackle the area of ‘Problem Drinking’ and instead I feel they are just another way for the Government to make more revenue.
I work for Saltaire Brewery in Shipley and am a very keen Homebrewer and avid beer enthusiast, I buy and drink a wide range of beers which vary in strength from breweries all around the UK and abroad. I drink responsibly, mostly in the comfort of my own home, I see this as the exploration of Flavour Experiences that the worlds brewers are able to offer.
Frankly these Taxation changes do nothing for me, they will limit the range of beers sold, at UK retailers and Pubs, that must have a knock-on effect on the importing of strong foreign beers from Europe and stifle trade in the European community and effect industry.
I hope I have given you some food for thought and I dearly hope you can have some influence in regard to this issue.
Thank you very much for your time
Yours sincerely”
I’m going to add this www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15265317 because its the most common sense article on Alcohol & Drinking I have ever read, Author: Kate Fox – www.sirc.org/about/kate_fox Government would do well to learn from things like this as its very far reaching.
Some other blogs about the subject…
http://broadfordbrewer.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/point-break-duty-on-high-strength-beers/
http://hardknott.blogspot.com/2011/10/low-abv-low-duty-low-iq.html
http://www.magicrockbrewing.com/blog/new-tax-on-high-strength-beers/
http://ghostdrinker.blogspot.com/2011/09/1-week-till-judgement-day.html
http://beermerchants.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/today-my-job-changed/
http://beersay.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/7point5/
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/10/07/beer-the-bitter-taste-of-bad-legislation/
http://thebeerboy.blogspot.com/2011/10/higher-strength-beer-duty-my-view.html
http://raisethebeerbar.blogspot.com/2011/10/high-strength-beer-duty-why-government.html
http://thebeercast.com/2011/10/big-beer-month.html
http://wortnall.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-high-strength-beer-duty-actually.html
http://real-ale-reviews.com/high-strength-beer-idiotry/2011/10/
http://moorbeer.co.uk/news/you-can-make-a-difference
http://moorbeer.co.uk/news/the-rudest-4-letters-hsbd
http://gaddsbeershop.blogspot.com/2011/10/brewing-betrayed.html
http://www.jamesclay.co.uk/beer-suppliers/news/562-highabv
http://blog.buntingfordbrewery.co.uk/?p=202
http://www.camrgb.org/7point5/
http://www.chromosphere.co.uk/2011/10/26/high-strength-beer-duty-some-thoughts/
http://www.davelozman.co.uk/beer/october-beer-duty-increase/
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*One reply so far Godfrey Bloom UKIP MEP for Yorkshire & North Linconshire says:
I entirely agree, please visit the my website ‘pub policy’ and I feel sure
you will be pleased.http://www.godfreybloommep.co.uk/pubs.html
Kind regards
Godfrey Bloom
*And another:
Thank you for your email and comments regarding new rates of duty on high and lower strength beers.
I agree that the problems of binge drinking are complex, but do feel pricing does come into it.
In relation to influence, decisions about tax rates on alcohol are decided by the UK government so you may wish to address your concerns to your local MP Kris Hopkins at kris.hopkins.mp@parliament.uk
Yours sincerely
Linda McAvan MEP
*And another:
Many thanks for your thoughtful e-mail which I read with interest.
I have passed a copy to George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with a request for a response.
I will send this on to you upon receipt.
Thank you again for getting in touch.
Best wishes
Kris Hopkins
*And another:
Many thanks for your email. These taxes are set by the UK government and not the European Parliament, and Mr Brons therefore does not have any power directly influence such legislation.
He thanks you nevertheless for bringing this to his attention as he too completely opposes the UK government’s fleecing if its citizens.
best wishes,
Chris Beverley
Assistant to Andrew Brons MEP
*And this helpful one:
Thank you for your email on new rates of duty on high and low strength
beers. Being in Brussels too I imagine that is something the Belgians
would be very much against should it ever be imposed on them…I am familiar with Saltaire Brewery and enjoy some of its produce!
I am not sure at the moment whether something can be done on this as a
European level but I can look into it. Although these are goods,
taxation is usually a member state competence. Have you also contacted
your local MP on this and got in touch with HM Revenue and Customs
themselves?Since it has come from a British decision I would urge you to contact
Kris Hopkins, your local MP.Kind Regards,
Timothy Kirkhope MEP
Chris Hopkins MP was good enough to send this reply from Chloe Smith MP (Economic Secretary) Scanned Letter PDF
Its all a bit vague and cover-all and the last sentence is the clincher for me!
