Search results

A bit late to the party today, I’m starting with a bottled version of my Pirate Pale.

No, I just used up some hops I’d been given as competition prizes with the first batch. This one uses some of my favourite hops - Citra, Mosaic, Cascade.

First taste of my revised NEIPA and after just 3 days in the keg this one is more in line with what I wanted. My wife thinks it looks like grapefruit juice and tastes like grapefruit juice! She does have a point but there is a lot more going on, the aroma is bursting with juicy tropical fruit...

I didn’t get round to kegging that Brown Ale yesterday because we went out in the morning to Folkestone and again in the afternoon at the pub. I did keg it this morning though and it’s hopefully a good one. The colour is right, the aroma is right, and from what I can tell out of the fermenter...

Sussex Best at the local. Daughters dog dragged me here.

Best Bitter.

Another taste of the cask Pirate Pale. This is getting good now. The beer is nicely clear although not quite crystal clear. The yeastiness has gone, the zesty flavours and a little apricot are coming through, the bitterness is fairly high but not at all harsh, soft mouthfeel, and a long...

I dry hopped that American Pale this morning and then decided I ought to replace the silicon tube on my recirculation/transfer pipes and clean the stainless quick disconnects. It’s probably a bit odd but clean pipes make me feel happy. 😂

I think I might rename this “Nearly a NEIPA” although it is still a little hazy. The flavour is there but because I didn’t put any hops in the keg the aroma isn’t where it needs to be for this style. Still nice though 😉

I’ve been kegging and brewing beer today. Now it’s time to drink a beer. Best Bitter.

The bitter is done now and just over 20 litres is tucked up in the fermentation cabinet. There’s nothing happening on the brewing front tomorrow (apart from dry hopping my Butterfly Effect APA) but on Friday I’ll keg the Brown Ale and I might get another Czech lager on the go.

The NEIPA is kegged along with some keg hops and a good dose of ascorbic acid. The final gravity is 1.012 giving me an abv of 7.1%. This one is definitely more hazy!

I’ll clean and sanitise first. My bitter uses an English ale yeast that produces nice English ale esters and has good flocculation for clarity. The verdant yeast used in the NEIPA wouldn’t give me the same flavour profile and is designed to produce hazy beers - see next post 😉

I started at 6:00 and now about to add my 10 minute hop additions. Once it’s finished and chilled down I can then keg the NEIPA that’s just finished fermenting while this brew settles, then this brew will go into the bucket used for the NEIPA. No brew tomorrow so at least I don’t also have to...

The brew day is in flight, nearly finished the mash.

On the way back from lunch my wife wanted to pop into Waitrose for a couple of bits to make us a nice bread & butter pudding. I saw bottles of Golden Pride on the shelf so obviously bought some.

Lunch at Toby Carvery with the grandchildren today, London Pride for me. My own best bitter now.

I decided last night I’d brew a stout today. I milled the lighter grains and roast grains separately because I mash the lighter grains and steep the roast grains. This was me steeping the darker grist last night and separating out the liquor from the spent grist this morning. Here you see...

😂. Not sure what I’ve done to deserve that but thanks Clint.

Kegged Pirate Pale now and this is better than the cask version (at this point in time). The kegged version is far more crisp and clean tasting, and the hops shine more brightly.