P.D's Brewery.

[PD]

Just in the process of making up 2 x 1gallon of tea bag wines for Christmas.
First is another of the Blackberry and Nettle variety
Second is ( I hope ) going to be a white wine. Lemon and Ginger. Its far from white at the moment due to the Tannin powder added.
These wines are so easy to make...its criminal...

 

[PD]

Well the wines been put to bed OG was 1.120 on both which should give around 15% alcohol, but I may water it back a bit in a few days, 13% is ample.

Seeing this is an honest blog thingy of my brews I must report on my failures as well as successes. I've just had my first taster of the first All Grain brew I made Piddles Dribble... Its drinkable is the best I can say. Of course its still young to be drinking but....its very thin,lacking body and mouth feel.
Will give it a month and if it doesn't improve much, I'll feed it to my son.....

 

[PD]

Well my grains have arrived from the Malt Miller, a 25kg sack of Maris Otter takes up the full dustbin for storage, I've had to find room elsewhere for the several kg bags of special malts, and I've commandeered a section of one of the freezers for hop storage. How come you can order a selection of hops and then find you fancy brewing a beer that needs the one hop you haven't got ....
Also got a rectangular insulated water tank jacket to go round the mash tun. Looks very smart in its black dinner jacket.

 

[PD]

bottled a ( low strength )Sarah Hughes Mild this afternoon, which smelt and tasted very similar to the kit beer St Peters Red Ruby ale.
38 bottles up in the airing cupboard for two weeks out of the way.
Still got a full strength Sarah Hughes in the fv which will be racked into its 2nd fv over the weekend....because.......

Tomorrows BREW DAY.....yippee :party:

After tea I'm going to set the equipment up in the garage, ready for a morning start....what to brew,what to brew.... :)

 

[PD]

I've decided....

I'm brewing a Timothy Taylor Pale Ale, something nice and simple. A Pale Ale of around 4.2% abv for easy light drinking.
I seem to have a lot of " dark/reddish" coloured ales bottled, and most are over 5%abv so it will be nice to have a lighter ale in store.
I'm starting a bit late this morning, as my daughter is not in from work till 0900 after doing a nights " Carers " job, and the wife wanted a lie in....apparently I make a noise brewing..... :)
Hop additions in this brew are nice and easy, only East Kent Golding and Styrian Goldings to add, I'm hoping for 19 litres with a SG of around 1.041, we will see...

 

[Vossy1]

I hope there will be pics pd :P

 

[PD]

I wasn't going to ! but you've talked me into it......

Well the brews on and is nicely tucked up in its newly insulated mash tun,( looking nice and sleek) I'll be interested to see how much the temp drops this time now its well wrapped. 90 mins to wait...coffee time

 

[PD]

The images that are in great demand....well Vossey asked any way.

Simple hops

even simpler grains

Mash temp hit...more or less I was aimimg for 67.

sleeky sexy mash tun

 

[LeedsBrewer]

Just wanted to say thanks for all your posts. I've just spent a while reading through them and really enjoyed seeing your journey. I'm still on my first batch which i'm hoping to bottle at the weekend. After reading your experiences I might try a few more kits. Cant wait to get into AG though. Better start saving up!

 

[PD]

Thanks a bundle...It's an enjoyable journey. I hope my few experiences don't put you off...I tend to make more mistakes than most folks so you should be ok.

 

[PD]

Mash tun removed for emptying and boiler moved down a peg...

Hops added to boil...notice the high tech HSSC in use

HSSC equals hop sock support clips equals clothes pegs

Last hop sock added, chiller added to get sanitised and protoflock tablet plunked in..

coffee time again while the brew chills down....

 

[PD]

have you all noticed the similarity between my all grain brewing and the experts back to basic's challenge....ha haa
I will get better..

 

[alanywiseman.]

Dont be so hard on yourself PD, It is looking good :thumb:

 

[PD]

might look good but I only managed 17 litres from a target of 19. However it came out at 1.042 so that will give me an abv of around 4.2% alcohol, I'll stick with 17 litres at that %.
Must work harder on my Sparge.... and volume pre boil....
I wonder if doing the ingredients for a 23 litre mash and aiming for 19 would help...he heee...

Oh well at least there were no hic-cups along the way today and everything worked fine.

 

[kRooGa]

Have to say, this thread is a cracking read. Reading this was the reason why I went to Wilko's last week for some yeast nutrient and ended up buying a shiny new FV and a Woodforde's Wherry kit which is now going like the clappers in the new FV. It's my first beer kit as I've only done wine and cider in the past, but I thought I'd take the plunge. You guys seem to speak very highly of the Wherry so who am I to argue : Bought 40 beer bottles off fleabay and I'm champing at the bit :thumb:

 

[PD]

Well done to you. You wont be disappointed with the Wherry, but take it from me..its not a quick drink, by all means have a taster but try try to leave it for over a month in the bottle, you will not regret it.
And start going around your local pubs and asking for some empties, you will soon end up with loads of bottles.....and the more bottles you collect...the more kits you can make...
Try a St Peters Red Ruby Ale...but don't tell anyone you've made it....

 

[LeedsBrewer]

yeah thats my problem, i've only got 40 bottles. guna have to go scrounging so i can start my next brew off. On the bright side, i have just spent the last 4 hours clearing out my garage and have created an nice new brewing space. Think i'm going to start doing all of my brewing in there instead of the spare bedroom. how do you keep your fermenters warm enough? I've found and old plastic bin in the garden and am going to fill it with water and get an aquarium heater to keep it at around 20C with my fermenter in it. Hope it works.

 

[PD]

the water bath treatment does work. Also an electric heat belt which lots of folks decry because the heat is uncontrollable, unless you do some DIY, but I've used them in the past on my 33litre fermenter's just have to watch the temp carefully.
Brewing in a garage is great, perhaps you can get the fermenters into the house in the warmth for a few days ? they look OK on the kitchen worktop with a pretty bow around em !
Or build a box for them to sit in filled with bubble wrap or similar, or a more substantial box with a low watt light bulb inside...or even go the whole hog with a converted old fridge... lots of ways of doing it.

 

[PD]

Just had a taste of my Muntons Midas Touch Golden Ale, bottled on the 9th September 2012.
Absolutely fabulous dahrlings.... Clear amber colour carbonated well and with a little too much head ( bad pouring ! )
Yet another kit brew I would be glad to spend an evening with.
I think its a brew that would benefit from some dry hopping as there's little aroma as it stands. Nor is it as " Golden " as I expected it to be, but very smart looking with a nice slightly off white head. ( which lasts the whole drink and also gives a bit of lacing on the glass ).
Marks out of 10....... has to be a 9. Lovely drink.

 

[PD]

Just completed my best and most successful brew day so far...

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=30848

Have now got 20 litres of 1.052 Gob Hobling in the fermenter waiting the yeast to wake up...
was a great day, very relaxed with no mishaps. I've enjoyed myself..
Got most of the mess cleared up in time for tea. just my boiler to empty of crud and cleaned up. la la laa oh Happy days....