Monday - Brew Day

Today I attempted to brew a clone of Cameron's Strongarm. Started the process by dissolving 2250 grams of light dried spray malt in 10 litres of water at 40C. Followed by topping up the boiler with 8 litres of water. Into this I placed 210 grams of crystal malt and 93 grams of black malt. This was brought to the boil and 37 grams of Challenger Hops were added. The boil continued for 45 minutes when 420 grams of white caster sugar was stirred in. After 80 minutes 12 grams of Target Hops were added along with 3 grams of Irish moss. After a further 10 minutes the boiler was switched off and the trub allowed to settle. A further 1 hour passed until I poured 4 litres of bottled mineral water into the sterilised fermenting vessel. The wort from the boiler was then run off into the fv and stirred. To this was added a further 6 litres of bottled water and the yeast pitched.

Once again the goblins were not present. The brew is beginning to ferment and starting to bubble. So I declare another successful brew. It is likely that this brew will not make it to the 2nd Annual Orchard Road Beer Festival as it would be about 5 months old by then. However, at least 6 other beers will. Hooray!!!

Thursday - Curry Night

I travelled with Jim, Pete and Duncan to the Staple Hill Oak for our traditional curry night. I started off with a pint of Old Hooker 4.4%. A light amber bitter with nice fruity tones. Seeing I have forsaken the Weatherspoons currys I ordered a Chili Con Carne. It was quite tasty and was not too spicy. I also had a pint of Chuffin Ale 4%. This dark amber ale had a light head but not much lacing. However, it made up for that with a good malty finish. After finishing our meal the Old Gits went into full ranting mode. Ranging from Gadaffi to bankers and back to the middle east. A more sobering and quiet discussion then took place concerning the terrible earthquake in New Zealand. Another drink came up. This time a pint of Great Western 4% from Cottage Brewing Company. A dark amber beer with a medium head and light lacing. This was quickly followed by a pint of Silly Billy Bitter 4.3%. A light golden bitter and very drinkable. This ended our evening and we made our happy way home.

Thursday - Barrelling Day

I ran off the wort from the Burton Bridge Bitter into a sterilised pressure barrel that contained 65 grams of dried sprayed malt and 6 grams of white sugar. I took a sample of the beer. It tasted nice and bitter, just how I like it and will be in the barrel for about 3 months. It should then be very drinkable. The final gravity was about 1.009 and this should give an ABV of about 3.8%. So the goblins were not present this time and I therefore pronounce another successful beer has been made.

Monday should be another brew day. This time I will be attempting a clone of Camerons Strongarm. This beer should have an ABV of 4.4%.  I have to ramp up the beer brewing a little to ensure that there are a sufficient number of different beers available for the 2nd Annual Orchard Road Beer Festival.

Wednesday - Out With Pete

Keynsham was in our sights for this Wednesday's pub stroll. I caught the number 318 bus. Good job that I checked the time table as this service now runs about 10 earlier than the last time I visited Keynsham. Thinking that I would have some spare time before going to the pub I decided that I would exchange two gas cylinders and buy some faggots. Before I could get to the brew shop I bumped into Pete. I scurried off to the brew shop while Pete strolled majestically to the butchers for to buy some faggots. I purchased a float for one of my King Keg barrels that does not have one. A special treat because it has been sitting patiently in my brewing shed without any complaint or moaning. I also exchanged my CO2 cylinders. Scurrying out of the brew shop I made my way to the butchers where Pete was still waiting in the queue. Pete volunteered to get me my faggots as well as his own. We got our faggots and proceeded in a northernly direction and then a easternly direction and then a westernly direction straight into the Old Bank pub. Here we studied the beers on offer and settled for a Barnstormer 4.5%. A dark bitter with a medium head and good lacing down to the last drop. It was then onto the Ship Inn a nice pub with friendly staff and good selection of real ale. The Ship had about 5 real ales on offer. We zoomed in on the Lions Roar 3.8% a Banks Brewery creation. This amber bitter was served with a light head but had good lacing. A pleasant pint that went down well. We decided to stay put for the next pint which was a Wychwood Dirty Tackle 4.0%. A dark amber bitter with a hoppy somewhat spicy aroma and hoppy taste. It recalled the taste of Hobgoblin and so was very enjoyable. On then to the Trout Tavern another pleasant pub but not a lot of choice. Only Marstons Pedigree or Marstons Bitter. We settled on the Bitter 3.8%. A nice amber bitter without that Pedigree sulphur aftertaste that I don't like very much. It had a small head and very little lacing. A decent enough beer but would only drink it if nothing else was available. However, we were getting towards the end of our beer and my bus was at least 40 minutes away. So we decided to have a half each of the Bitter. Oh well, needs must and all that jazz.

And so the pub stroll came to an end without too much ranting. Caught the next 318 bus to Kingswood just in time for moussaka and chips with mushy peas. Lovely.

Thursday - Curry Night

There was a surfeit of Old Gits last night for the traditional curry. We all met up at the Staple Hill Oak. I started the night off with a pint of Heritage 4.2% from Three Castles Brewery. This is an amber beer with a thin head but with good lacing. A nice fresh aroma. I liked this beer very much. I ordered a Lamb Rogan Josh from the curry night menu. Wetherspoons currys have definitely gone down hill in my opinion. The portions are smaller. My poppadoms were covered in pools of oil. Although the lamb was tasty and tender the whole taste of the curry was disappointing. This curry was a stark reminder of why I have not had one for the past 5 weeks. I shall not be having one again. Anyway, I would have stayed on the Heritage had it not been for the Golden Hare 4.4%. Although it the beer had a very slight haze about it  was just as I remembered it. A light yellow to slight golden in colour. Very good lacing with a medium head. All in all a very good beer. I had three altogether but managed once again to stay off the wine. Who's a good boy then? Apart from the curry it was a very enjoyable night talking bullocks with good friends and drinking good beer.

MY BID TO RAISE SOME MONEY FOR THE ALZHEIMER'S SOCIETY HAS ONCE AGAIN STALLED. PLEASE, PLEASE CLICK ON THE ADVERTS. CLICK ON AS MANY DIFFERENT ONES AS IS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. TA!

Wednesday - A non pub day

Pete had to cancel todays pub stroll and as there were not any other old gits available I stayed at home and completed some odd jobs.

Monday - Brew Day

This Monday I started off my first attempt to brew a clone of Burton Bridge Bitter. Because I was having trouble with the original gravity of my latest brews I upped the dried malt extract (DME) from 2610 grams to 2700 grams and the sugar from 170 grams to 180 grams. I went the usual route and dissolved the DME in 10 litres of water at 40C and then topped up with 8 litres of water. Added 22 grams of Challenger and 15 grams of Target hops when the wort came to the boil and added the white sugar after 45 minutes of boiling. After a further 40 minutes I added the Irish moss and boiled for a further 10 minutes. I allowed the wort to cool to 80C and added 7 grams Styrian Golding hops. After another hour or thereabouts I added 10 litres of bottled mineral water to the sterilised fermenting vessel and ran the wort off into this. I then topped up to about 22 litres with bottled mineral water and pitched the rehydrated yeast. I took an hydrometer reading which came out at 1041. This should give an ABV of about 4.2%. The FV was then placed in my fermenting cupboard and the lid and air trap screwed on.

The brew was bubbling away very nicely this morning so I claim a success with the brew. Goblins were noticeable by their absence. I will test the gravity in about 1 week when I will also taste it. A rotten job but someone has to do it. I will probably put the brew into a pressure barrel next Thursday.

Next brew day will more than likely be next Monday 21 February 2011. Watch this space.