Fence painted, front hedge trimmed, strimmer mended, strimming done and the garden waste bin put out. So very little brewing today. But I've ramped up the temperature in the fermenting fridge to 25°C for the Belgian experiment and hooked up the new gas bottle. Both the Victorian IPA and Kentucky Common have been sampled and … Continue reading Furloughed Day 7 – Mostly gardening, except…
Furloughed Day 6 – Wine, sulphur and gas
A quick check of the Belgian experiment revealed that the lovely honey smell had been replaced by a sulphur fart smell. I'm not worried, some yeasts love to drop their guts, and it was such an overpitch that it's highly unlikely to be down to stress, especially as the temp is well within both yeasts … Continue reading Furloughed Day 6 – Wine, sulphur and gas
Furloughed Day 5 – A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Brewfridge
Sprang out of bed nice and early (ok, that's a lie, I couldn't sleep so decided to force myself out of bed for an espresso) and skipped to the garage with a spring in my step to check on the Belgian experiment. As soon as I opened the garage door and noticed a pool of … Continue reading Furloughed Day 5 – A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Brewfridge
Furloughed Day 4 – Purists, look away now.
Fight! Fight! Fight! It's brew day today, and I decided to do something I've had in mind for ages. Brew up 10L of a sort of Belgian golden strong ale, put it in two demijohns and use a different yeast in each. As it happens, I have two such yeasts in my fridge just waiting … Continue reading Furloughed Day 4 – Purists, look away now.
Furloughed Day 3 – What’s that in your kegerator, I thought you had moved over to Corny kegs?
Brimming with confidence that I had finally solved my beer dispense issues (I hate bottling and was frustrated with the unpredictability of King Kegs and the S30 bottles) and after my Kegerator build and successful first beer served that way, I confidently ordered two more Corny kegs, another tap, secondary regulator and tubing. After all, … Continue reading Furloughed Day 3 – What’s that in your kegerator, I thought you had moved over to Corny kegs?
Furloughed Day 2 – Wye Valley yeast recovery, and ‘I wonder if the WOW’s started yet?’
I wonder if the WOW's started yet? If you were reading yesterdays post, you might have wondered why, if we are making 1 gallon of wine, we don't top up the demijohn with water at the beginning of fermentation. Take a look at the wine this morning, about 12 - 18 hours after starting it … Continue reading Furloughed Day 2 – Wye Valley yeast recovery, and ‘I wonder if the WOW’s started yet?’
Furloughed Day 1 – Lock Down Apple & Pineapple WOW
Today, it was time to make some wine with some cartons of juice that were about to go out of date. Ideal opportunity to do a run through. Starting with the ingredients; Sugars - Usually, I would use about 600g of white sugar. We didn't have that in the cupboard so I used what we … Continue reading Furloughed Day 1 – Lock Down Apple & Pineapple WOW
John’s Brew blog, furloughed edition. Day 1.
As work has dried up, I've been furloughed by my employer; basically sent home to do nothing on reduced pay, the idea being the company makes it through the Covid-19 situation without having to permanently lay people off as the UK government pick up part of the cost of my wages. So, although the kids … Continue reading John’s Brew blog, furloughed edition. Day 1.
Night Fighter Porter
The recipe for today's brew started life as one of the historic Barkley Perkins wartime recipes, but was gradually modified into the porter you see here. Fairly typical modern porter - about 4.5%, Chocolate Malt, and so on. Night Fighter porter4.6% 67.1% efficiency Batch Volume: 20 LBoil Time: 60 min Original Gravity: 1.044 Final Gravity: … Continue reading Night Fighter Porter
We Are Not Amused IPA – Update
That's lower than expected..... To my surprise, after 9 days the IPA has dropped to 1012°, which I am assuming is near it's final gravity. I'm surprised, as the MJ Empire Ale yeast has a reputation for finishing high, or setting off like the clappers, then slowing and taking an age to get to its … Continue reading We Are Not Amused IPA – Update
