Just bottled my exceptionally bitter IPA. Brewed from a Coopers IPA kit and it's certainly damn bitter. Should be nice when it's ready.
Also just cracked into my Belgian Wit which I thought was going to be a write-off. The flavour up until this time was cloyingly sickly fruit. Now it's spectacular. The fruity flavours have mellowed and now take a back seat. It's great! Think I'll take some to the Halloween party tonight.
Over the weekend, Scott and I went cider making in the Forest of Dean. Was a great weekend away in beautiful countryside and we learnt the pleasures of making traditional cider. We also got to bring back 25L of fermenting cider.
Photos here.
Put the Coopers IPA in the bucket yesterday. I boiled up a huge couple of handfuls of Fuggles hops for half an hour to try and get a bit more bite in. Fuggles is, supposedly, an aroma hop and I got these very cheap from Spencers Homebrew so wasn't worried about using loads.
I chucked in another handful and continued boiling for five minutes or so, just for a bit of aroma. Then I strained the lot into the bucket with the beer.
When I tested the Original Gravity (1050) I had a taste. My, it's gonna be one bitter beer! I guess that's kinda authentic to the IPA style, and not really a problem. I just hope that it has enough residual sweetness to counter the bitterness, since I used 1kg of glucose and no extra malt. Must remember to prime with malt, then.
Just doing my water treatment (boil it all, nothing more) and yeast starter for my next brew, a Coopers India Pale Ale which I'll brew up tomorrow. Will make according to directions with 1kg glucose for a nice, light flavour. However I think I'll boil up a big bunch of hops to try and get it a bit more bitter.
In other news, Pomegranates are 7 to the £1 at North End Road market. Yum!
After quite a long break over the Summer, I've finally started brewing again. On Monday night I put a Woodeforde's Wherry all malt kit on. I'm gonna keg this one and have it for xmas day at Rachel's place.
Since I started using yeast nutrients (a teaspoon in the water), my fermentations have been a lot quicker starting and seem more vigorous. Must say I'd recommend them.
This week the Great British Beer Festival has been on at Olympia, which is very close to our house. I think my favourite has been the dark German wheat beer I had last night. Delicious! Might see if I can make such a beast.
And if my head is anything to go by, steer clear of the (12%!) barley wine.
I bottled the Canadian Blonde last night. Should be a nice, light beer with loads of hop aroma. I bottled with 100g glucose priming and a handful of Fuggles hops boiled in for a few minutes. Tasted pretty good when I took a gravity reading. 4% or so alcohol.
I brewed a Coopers Canadian Blonde kit on Sunday night with 500g glucose and 500g pale malt. This morning the yeast foam was all gone and I was worried something was wrong, so I chucked in another dry yeast packet just to be sure. Tasting it tonight, it actually seems to be completely fermented out. Amazing!
I guess the glucose really is easier than sugar for the yeast. This is a 48 hour fermentation. Incredible stuff, and tastes alright too. I guess doing a nice big yeast starter helps too.
Now I have to find enough bottles to get it into bottles.
I bottled the Belgian Wit yesterday. It's tasting great already, and can only get better. I must have messed up my measurements of the original and final gravity, as they make no sense. Either that or I've just bottled way too early. Erm...
Final recipe was all malt, with curucao orange and coriander seed. The White Labs Belgian Wit Ale yeast is just amazing. Goes off like a firecracker!
Just started up a Cooper's Canadian Blonde kit. Added 500g pale malt and 500g glucose. This should be a light, quaffing beer. Chucked in some boiled Fuggles hop juice to improve the aroma. Just waiting for the wort to cool to pitch.
Over the weekend I made up a Hoegaarden-style belgian wit ale, in the style of Graeme's fabulous recipe, the results of which tried while we were in Oz.
The spice measures are somewhat inaccurate because my scales aren't very accurate below 20g or so. If the spicing ends up all wrong, I might need to invest in some more accurate scales.
This is also my first experience with liquid yeast and I'm impressed! The yeast has tried to climb out of the bucket and goes off like a firecracker!
I'm following Graeme's suggestion and have made a 1.5L starter which I'll bottle and use for later brews as well.
Looking forward to drinking this one. Hopefully it'll be ready while the weather is still warm enough to require such a refreshing brew!