I'm well overdue for a new brew and now that I've cleared some space in the garage, I mean MoltenHops brewery, I can finally get some beer on the go - just in time for the barbecue season. This time it's another Coopers extract; Wheat Beer from the Thomas Coopers Brewmaster Selection. This is the same range as the Pilsener that became my successful "Juborg".
I've plumped for a wheat beer this time to see how close it can be to the gorgeous ales I used quaff when I worked in Belgium all those years ago.
Here's the brewing notes:
2/5/2009
Extract BBE: 4/6/10
Yeast: Coopers 14008W
External temperature: 10 degrees
Fermenter temperature: 24 degrees
OG: 1035
3/5/2009
8am - Bubbling every 15 seconds. I was expecting better than this so I give it a shake .
Fermenter temperature: dropped to 22 degrees. I drop the brew belt a little.
10am - Bubbling every 6 seconds. That's better.
11:30am - Every 3 seconds!
1pm - 2 seconds!
4:30pm - Woohoo! Every second!
10pm - Every second. Still going strong!
4/5/2009
7:40am - Slowed to every 3 seconds.
Fermenter temperature: 22 degrees still. I drop the brew belt a little more to the 10 litre line.
3pm - Sorting and rinsing bottles. Bubbling slowed right down. Not much krausen.
5/5/2009
8pm - Hardly any bubbling. SG: 1014 so I guess that it's now reached secondary fermentation time.
6/5/2009
7pm - SG: 1012
9/5/2009
Sterilized all bottles - 20 x 740ml PET, 24 x 450ml Grolsch, 8 x 330ml Cobra and 3 x 500ml Buccaneer. SG still 1012 so that's stable for 3 days now.
Monday, 4 May 2009
Friday, 24 October 2008
Betty Stogs and Andrew Ridgeley. It can only be...
...Falmouth Beer Festival 2008!
Last night I died and went to heaven. Well, Falmouth actually. It was the "sponsors night" of the 2008 Falmouth Beer Festival and my mate (Graham who happens to run my local) and myself were guests of Skinners Brewery, one of the sponsors. Even better than that the owner himself, Steve Skinner, very kindly picked us up, gave us unlimited beer tokens to sample as many ales as possible, and took us home again afterwards! Result!
After picking up the larger-than-life-itself Betty Stogs on the way, (the great Fred Thomas in drag - top bloke, er, bird, er...) we headed towards the Falmouth Princess Pavillion - venue for the best annual beer fest in the county.
It was hugely busy and we just gaped at the vast amount of ales surrounding us. Beer heaven. Tasting glasses and programmes in hand we steadily, and then not-so-steadliy made our way around the different regional sections (Cornish ales, Up North ales, Down South ales, Celtic beers etc).
Sophie, Graham's Skinners account manager, kept us topped up with beer tokens. Whilst sampling the lovely Scotts 1816 from Copper Dragon I seem to remember that Andrew Ridgeley (for it is he, a keen CAMRA member apparently) did try to jokingly blag some of our tokens from Sophie but to no avail - she was far too loyal to us!
In the table below I've listed most of the beers we tried with the official ale festival description followed by our own comments made on the night. I think that we've created a new beer rating scale as you'll see. The late, great beer writer Michael Jackson would turn in his grave!
By the way, big thanks to Steve Skinner for a great evening!
Last night I died and went to heaven. Well, Falmouth actually. It was the "sponsors night" of the 2008 Falmouth Beer Festival and my mate (Graham who happens to run my local) and myself were guests of Skinners Brewery, one of the sponsors. Even better than that the owner himself, Steve Skinner, very kindly picked us up, gave us unlimited beer tokens to sample as many ales as possible, and took us home again afterwards! Result!
After picking up the larger-than-life-itself Betty Stogs on the way, (the great Fred Thomas in drag - top bloke, er, bird, er...) we headed towards the Falmouth Princess Pavillion - venue for the best annual beer fest in the county.
It was hugely busy and we just gaped at the vast amount of ales surrounding us. Beer heaven. Tasting glasses and programmes in hand we steadily, and then not-so-steadliy made our way around the different regional sections (Cornish ales, Up North ales, Down South ales, Celtic beers etc).
Sophie, Graham's Skinners account manager, kept us topped up with beer tokens. Whilst sampling the lovely Scotts 1816 from Copper Dragon I seem to remember that Andrew Ridgeley (for it is he, a keen CAMRA member apparently) did try to jokingly blag some of our tokens from Sophie but to no avail - she was far too loyal to us!
In the table below I've listed most of the beers we tried with the official ale festival description followed by our own comments made on the night. I think that we've created a new beer rating scale as you'll see. The late, great beer writer Michael Jackson would turn in his grave!
By the way, big thanks to Steve Skinner for a great evening!
| Beer Name | Official Tasting Note | My Tasting Note |
|---|---|---|
| Blackawton Cornish Gold (4.1) | Light golden ale fruity with a hint of vanilla. | Gold, bit bland. |
| Coastal - Golden Hind (4.3) | Classic style of India Pale Ale using four different varieties ofhop. | Ace! |
| Penzance Brewing Co - Gopher Gold (4.9) | Light golden hoppy ale brewed with lager hops. | Good. |
| Ventnor - Pistol Night (4.4) | Flowery hoppy bitter. | Shite! |
| Church End - Vicar's Ruin (4.4) | Straw coloured with initial bitterness softening to a delicate maltfinish. | Bit farmy. |
| Copper Dragon - Scotts 1816 (4.1) | Well-balanced copper coloured bitter with a dry hoppy finish. | V nice. Andrew Ridgley! |
| Kelham Island - Pale Rider (5.2) | Full bodied straw coloured pale ale fruity hoppy with a wellbalanced finish. | Little bitter. Nice though. |
| Woodlands - Bees Knees (4.5) | Light coloured beer laced with honey. | Honey. Got better. |
| Purple Moose - Snowdonia Ale (3.6) | Golden refreshing bitter with citrus fruit hoppiness in aroma andtaste. | Ace! |
| Barum - Breakfast (5.0) | Smooth tasting premium ale. | Nutty shite. |
| O'Hanlons - Port Stout (4.8) | A black stout with added port. Winner of many medals. | Lovely Jubbly. |
Sunday, 5 October 2008
First taste of Juborg
Right. First taste of my new brew. I suppose I could call these my "tasting notes" but that seems a bit strong. "Observations" maybe.
It wasn't stored cold though but I don't know if this will make a difference. Opened up and slight "Psst!" and poured pretty damn clear.
I just had a Grolsch so it's interesting to compare. My Juborg has that "fuller" flavour that's could be described as "fruity" I suppose (if I had half a clue about these things which I don't). This is an attribute that's not normally associated with lagers but since I prefer fruity and flowery beers like Skinners Ales then I'm very happy with the outcome.
Poured the second half of the bottle into a frosted glass which gave it a nice little white head which didn't last too long but it is a lager after all.
Tasted cold it loses a bit of its fruity taste but keeps its bitter aftertaste. That's bitter as in hops and not as in a bad way. Not too disimilar to the Grolsch I've just had actually. Oooh. Get me.
All-in-all I'm pretty damn happy with my second lager homebrew. Job's on.
It wasn't stored cold though but I don't know if this will make a difference. Opened up and slight "Psst!" and poured pretty damn clear.
I just had a Grolsch so it's interesting to compare. My Juborg has that "fuller" flavour that's could be described as "fruity" I suppose (if I had half a clue about these things which I don't). This is an attribute that's not normally associated with lagers but since I prefer fruity and flowery beers like Skinners Ales then I'm very happy with the outcome.
Poured the second half of the bottle into a frosted glass which gave it a nice little white head which didn't last too long but it is a lager after all.
Tasted cold it loses a bit of its fruity taste but keeps its bitter aftertaste. That's bitter as in hops and not as in a bad way. Not too disimilar to the Grolsch I've just had actually. Oooh. Get me.
All-in-all I'm pretty damn happy with my second lager homebrew. Job's on.
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Brew 3 - Coopers Pilsener (Juborg)
Seeing as I'm not having so much luck with the Woodfordes Wherry I decide to give another Coopers extract a go. This one is Coopers Pilsener, one of the Thomas Coopers Brewmaster Selection range. I chose this mainly because it uses a real bottom-fermenting lager yeast which doesn't need such a high temperature in the fermenter. This means I can brew it in the garage without having to use the brewbelt.
I shall call this brew "Juborg" in remembrance of the thousands of bottles of Tuborg Gold we drank growing up in Newquay back in the eighties. Everyone used to call it "Steam" which was a bit confusing really as around that time Newquay Steam Lager was released and quite popular I seem to remember. Still, the real "steam" to a local back then was always the little brown bottle of Tuborg Gold.
Here's the brewing notes:
04/09/2008 20:30 Sanitized equipment
04/09/2008 21:45 - OG: 1.034
Air temp 16/17 degrees so no brew belt as this is a true lager yeast.
05/09/2008 21:00ish SG: 1.030
06/09/2008 20:00ish SG: 1.027 - No bubbling still so I screwed the top on a little tighter and it immediately started bubbling every 10 secs!
07/09/2008 20:00ish SG: 1.022
08/09/2008 SG: 1.019
09/09/2008 21:00 SG: 1.015
10/09/2008 21:00 SG: 1.012
11/09/2008 21:00 SG: 1.011
12/09/2008 20:30 SG: 1.009
14/09/2008 SG: 1.008
15/09/2008 - Bottling Day! SG: 1.008 - added 1 teaspoon of dextrose to each bottle.
I love the Coopers kits. They seem to ferment really well and the Coopers fermenter with tap means that I can take a daily SG reading with opening it up and risking infection. Beauty! (as the Aussies might say.)
I shall call this brew "Juborg" in remembrance of the thousands of bottles of Tuborg Gold we drank growing up in Newquay back in the eighties. Everyone used to call it "Steam" which was a bit confusing really as around that time Newquay Steam Lager was released and quite popular I seem to remember. Still, the real "steam" to a local back then was always the little brown bottle of Tuborg Gold.
Here's the brewing notes:
04/09/2008 20:30 Sanitized equipment
04/09/2008 21:45 - OG: 1.034
Air temp 16/17 degrees so no brew belt as this is a true lager yeast.
05/09/2008 21:00ish SG: 1.030
06/09/2008 20:00ish SG: 1.027 - No bubbling still so I screwed the top on a little tighter and it immediately started bubbling every 10 secs!
07/09/2008 20:00ish SG: 1.022
08/09/2008 SG: 1.019
09/09/2008 21:00 SG: 1.015
10/09/2008 21:00 SG: 1.012
11/09/2008 21:00 SG: 1.011
12/09/2008 20:30 SG: 1.009
14/09/2008 SG: 1.008
15/09/2008 - Bottling Day! SG: 1.008 - added 1 teaspoon of dextrose to each bottle.
I love the Coopers kits. They seem to ferment really well and the Coopers fermenter with tap means that I can take a daily SG reading with opening it up and risking infection. Beauty! (as the Aussies might say.)
Brew 2 - Houston, we have a problem
Because this second brew kit says to brew it in the pressure keg supplied (odd I know but I decided to do what it says) I can't take sample everyday for a SG reading as it would lose pressure. I decide to take a sample every few days. Here's my brewing notes:
Specific Gravity (SG) Readings
30/08/2008: 1018
04/09/2008: 1016 - stuck? Still plenty of pressure though.
09/09/2008: 1016 - shook it!
11/09/2008: 1015 - Took off brew belt - still good pressure
12/09/2008: 15 degrees - I put the keg on the floor
I took off 2 litres into a 2 litre PET bottle and added 1 tablespoon of brewing sugar (dextrose).
19/09/08: Pulled a pint from the keg. Very cloudy and yeasty - very bitter aftertaste!
I'm pretty disappointed by now. I decide to add some more malt and re-pitch some more yeast just in case it's stuck. Remember, I'm flying blind here and am clutching at straws. (These are all metaphors, I cannot fly. I do have straws though albeit not at hand.)
21/09/08: Cleaned but did not sanitize my Coopers fermenter although I did a couple of days ago - alcohol already in it so may not matter? (I know, I know, hindsight and all that but sod it.)
Added 1kg of Munton's Beerkit Enhancer to 2 litres hot water.
Poored the beer from keg to fermenter using tap then out of the top. This made it up to the 20 litre mark. Temp of 25 degrees . added brew belt. The SG is now 1.028
Added Young's Ale Yeast.
22/09/08: 1015 and bubbling well!
23/09/08: 1014 and hardly bubbling! Sample really cloudy.
25/09/08: 101227/09/08: 1010 - Time to bottle.
Didn't put into king keg because as there's only 20 litres I though that there would be too much headspace and therefore too much oxygen so I decided to bottle into 11 1.5 litre bottles. Added 2 teaspoons of dextrose. It was still very cloudy.
Strength Calculations
First ferment
1034 - 1015 = 19
Second ferment
1028 - 1010 = 18
Does that mean it's effectively 37 altogther?
If so, ABV = 37 / 7.46 = 4.959 + .5 = 5.459
So, by my (probably very wrong) calculations 5.5% ABV is what I can expect. But will it clear and taste any better? I'll have to wait.
Specific Gravity (SG) Readings
30/08/2008: 1018
04/09/2008: 1016 - stuck? Still plenty of pressure though.
09/09/2008: 1016 - shook it!
11/09/2008: 1015 - Took off brew belt - still good pressure
12/09/2008: 15 degrees - I put the keg on the floor
I took off 2 litres into a 2 litre PET bottle and added 1 tablespoon of brewing sugar (dextrose).
19/09/08: Pulled a pint from the keg. Very cloudy and yeasty - very bitter aftertaste!
I'm pretty disappointed by now. I decide to add some more malt and re-pitch some more yeast just in case it's stuck. Remember, I'm flying blind here and am clutching at straws. (These are all metaphors, I cannot fly. I do have straws though albeit not at hand.)
21/09/08: Cleaned but did not sanitize my Coopers fermenter although I did a couple of days ago - alcohol already in it so may not matter? (I know, I know, hindsight and all that but sod it.)
Added 1kg of Munton's Beerkit Enhancer to 2 litres hot water.
Poored the beer from keg to fermenter using tap then out of the top. This made it up to the 20 litre mark. Temp of 25 degrees . added brew belt. The SG is now 1.028
Added Young's Ale Yeast.
22/09/08: 1015 and bubbling well!
23/09/08: 1014 and hardly bubbling! Sample really cloudy.
25/09/08: 101227/09/08: 1010 - Time to bottle.
Didn't put into king keg because as there's only 20 litres I though that there would be too much headspace and therefore too much oxygen so I decided to bottle into 11 1.5 litre bottles. Added 2 teaspoons of dextrose. It was still very cloudy.
Strength Calculations
First ferment
1034 - 1015 = 19
Second ferment
1028 - 1010 = 18
Does that mean it's effectively 37 altogther?
If so, ABV = 37 / 7.46 = 4.959 + .5 = 5.459
So, by my (probably very wrong) calculations 5.5% ABV is what I can expect. But will it clear and taste any better? I'll have to wait.
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Brew 2 - Woodfordes Wherry
Right. Here we go with brew number two. This time it's a bitter, Woodfordes Wherry, and my mate is helping me as he's interested in what I'm up to.
We sanitize the King Keg pressure barrel, including its float system, with the supplied sterilizing solution. Unfortunately whilst tipping the water away down the toilet* the float system follows it and lands in the loo. Ah. Not too sterile then? I start again with a new bowl of sanitizing solution to clean the float system.
I follow the brewing instructions and add the extract and water in a similar way to the last brew. This time though there's nothing said about adding any sugar. Apparently it's already in the extract which is probably why there's two cans of it supplied.
Once again I add the yeast before I take the gravity reading just as I did with my first brew. Muppet. I quickly take a reading. The Original Gravity (OG) is 1034 which I think is pretty low but what do I know?
The barrel temperature reads 27 degrees. The ambient temperature in the garage is 20. I wrap my brewbelt around the barrel to try and maintain a steady temperature of around 24.
And that's it for brew number two. Fingers crossed.
*Yes, I have a toilet in the garage. Look. I didn't put it there and it's not used for number 1's or 2's anymore anyway. Still, it is pretty weird I agree. Useful though.
We sanitize the King Keg pressure barrel, including its float system, with the supplied sterilizing solution. Unfortunately whilst tipping the water away down the toilet* the float system follows it and lands in the loo. Ah. Not too sterile then? I start again with a new bowl of sanitizing solution to clean the float system.
I follow the brewing instructions and add the extract and water in a similar way to the last brew. This time though there's nothing said about adding any sugar. Apparently it's already in the extract which is probably why there's two cans of it supplied.
Once again I add the yeast before I take the gravity reading just as I did with my first brew. Muppet. I quickly take a reading. The Original Gravity (OG) is 1034 which I think is pretty low but what do I know?
The barrel temperature reads 27 degrees. The ambient temperature in the garage is 20. I wrap my brewbelt around the barrel to try and maintain a steady temperature of around 24.
And that's it for brew number two. Fingers crossed.
*Yes, I have a toilet in the garage. Look. I didn't put it there and it's not used for number 1's or 2's anymore anyway. Still, it is pretty weird I agree. Useful though.
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Muntons Micro Brewery System
Now I've been bitten by the brewing bug I thought I'd try another kit and this one was an easy decision. You may remember that my first brew was a choice between the lager-based Coopers Micro-Brew Kit and the bitter-based Muntons Micro Brewery System where I eventually chose the former. Now it's time to check out the latter.
I noticed that the homebrew section in my local market house hardware store had one of the Muntons Micro Brewery Systems for sale with an extra tenner off so I handed over my £49.99 and walked out of the store with my second everything-you-need-to-brew-tasty-beer-at-home-in-a-box-job.
Here's a quick run-down on what's in the box:
1 x 5 gallon "top tap" King Keg pressure barrel with dispenser tap
1 x screwtop barrel lid (with pressure release valve)
1 x top float plus tube
2 x tins premium hopped brewers malt extract (Woodforde's Wherry Bitter)
1 x steriliser powder
1 x Co2 bulb
1 x Co2 dispensing unit
Here's a photo of the kit borrowed from Muntons site, complete with blonde woman. Sadly my kit did not include this woman. I intend to complain to Muntons about this. I know my rights.
The full article for the kit's launch can be found here.
Unlike the Coopers offering this kit does not come with any bottles as everything is brewed and dispensed in the pressure barrel so you can just pull a pint ready for drinking straight from the tap.
What I did notice is that the instructions provided (an A4 sheet supplied along with a badly photocopied diagram or two) were no way near as professional and comprehensive as the Coopers kit. It's quite obvious that this kit is "badged" by Muntons by adding the Woodforde's Wherry and that you could probably buy this exact kit around the world supplied with identical components but with a different extract. That said, it certainly has no bearing on the quality of it and it shouldn't have any affect on the beer produced.
Well, hopefully not. I'll soon see.
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