A Quite Pint At Home

Getting to the end of the Young's Special (4.9% ABV) barrel.  Quaffed a few pints last night. I made a few errors when I initially brewed this beer. I forgot the Irish Moss and the second lot of hops for the last ten minutes of the boil so I had to put the moss and hops into my second boil. Which means boiling tap water for 10 minutes or so to make up the volume of the wort to 23 litres. I also used a large sparging bag to contain the hops and grains in the first boil. The idea was that I could just lift the debris of hops and grain out of the boiler at the end of the boil. Thus saving a lot of cleaning. I won't be doing that again!! First it means that the wort was not filtered through the remains of the hops missing out on some flavours and aromas, apparently! Second the whole thing boiled over because the bottom of the bag acted like a big bung forcing the hops and grains upto and over the rim of the boiler. This made a right mess of not only the boiler but part of the shed. The clean up operation took a while I can tell you. However, all that aside the finished ale tasted just fine. It was clear and bright. Some of my friends also liked this brew declaring it very tasty and very drinkable and not just because it was free. Call me a cynic if you like! This brew was fermented on 26 March 10, casked on 3 April 10 and the first tap was on 25 July 10.

Brewing Data

Name - Young's Special.
Date Fermentated: 26-Mar-10
Type of Sugar: Light Spray Malt
Hops: Fuggle at start of boil. Golding for last 10 minutes of boil
Type of Yeast: Safal 04
Original gravity: 1044
Final gravity: 1006
Primer: 75g unrefined demerra sugar straight into barrel
Date of First Tap: 25-Jul-10
Date of Last Tap: probably 8-Aug-10.
Cost Per Brew: £26.79
Cost Per Pint: £0.67
Tasting Notes: Sweet citrus on the nose follows through into a malty, hoppy flavour with a dry
bitter aftertaste and a touch of toffee.