Titbits from my Brewery Log

[CD]

I thought this page from my Brewery Log might be of interest.

August 1995. BAD NEWS. PLYMPTON BREWERY CLOSING. Allied Breweries decided to close this excellent small brewery after some 11 years. Idiots. Heard this when leaving tub for yeast. All 3 employees, Ian, Stefan & ? given 90 days notice. ‘Dartmoor Bitter’ being made after October by St Austell – who can’t even make their own beer properly. (Hicks used to be excellent. I now avoid it). *

Collected 3lbs Goldings and 2lbs Fuggles plus info on recipes etc in exchange for bottle of Fundador Spanish Brandy. Fair exchange.

DARTMOOR BEST. OG 1037. ABV 3.9% 4900 litres (30 bbs). 600Kg Pale malt, 75Kg Crystal malt. Hops 2.4Kg Goldings 4.3Kg Fuggles. Aroma Hops 3.5Kg Goldings.

DARTMOOR LEGEND. OG 1044. ABV 4.6%. 4200 litres (25.6 bbl). 650Kg Pale, 50Kg Crystal. Hops 2.4Kg Goldings. 4.8Kg Fuggles. AH 3.5Kg Goldings.

COCKLEROASTER. OG 1058 ABV 6%. 3700 litres (22.6 bbl). 800Kg Pale malt. No Crystal. Hops 1.7Kg Goldings. 3.4Kg Fuggles. AH 3Kg Goldings.

Mash – strike temp 67C finish 65C. 1 hour. Boil 1½ hours. Hops at boil. Aroma hops after heat off. Rest 20 mins. Recirculate 20 mins. Pitch yeast 17 – 18C. Max ferm 20 – 21c. Chill at final gravity to 9C. Rest 4 days. Transfer to racking vessel plus Auxiliary Finings. 24 hrs. Into casks plus isinglass finings. To pubs 1 or 2 days later.

*At this time St Austell Brewery was universally known as St Awful Brewery, so dire were their beers, and it wasn’t until Roger Ryman took over as Head Brewer in 1999 that things improved.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Chr*st… what were your batch sizes?!

durrr - 4200 litres just seen it in the log

thatsalottabeer

 

[CD]

Those are the beers brewed by Halls Brewery, where I got my yeast from. My batch size is only 36 gallons!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Those are the beers brewed by Halls Brewery, where I got my yeast from. My batch size is only 36 gallons!

“Only” 36 gallons, he says!

 

[CD]

I don't brew very often.

 

[CD]

If it hadn’t been for that remark in my Brewery Log, this beer mat would seem a bit of a travesty, and would certainly upset Dartmoor Brewery. It’s an odd mat, made of glass, and found by my grandson in a charity shop I think. I’ll ask him when he gets back from the Boardmasters Surf Festival at Newquay. The beer, predictably, was short-lived after St A. got their hands on it.

 

[An Ankoù]

“Only” 36 gallons, he says!

Only 36 gallons??? It's not worth pointing Percy in the general direction of the porcelain for such a piffling trickle! :hat:

In all seriousness, It sounds like a worthy batch, but it doesn't leave a lot of room for experimentation. Unless CD's perfected his beer for all time, of course. I know CD doesn't like top pressure and uses his "Noddy" system to keep the beer fresh, But even so, I wonder how long the beer lasts without going flat, when you've got 36 gallons of (effectively) cask all to get through.

 

[CD]

Only 36 gallons??? It's not worth pointing Percy in the general direction of the porcelain for such a piffling trickle! :hat:

In all seriousness, It sounds like a worthy batch, but it doesn't leave a lot of room for experimentation. Unless CD's perfected his beer for all time, of course. I know CD doesn't like top pressure and uses his "Noddy" system to keep the beer fresh, But even so, I wonder how long the beer lasts without going flat, when you've got 36 gallons of (effectively) cask all to get through.

I reckon that I have perfected a beer that suits me, and as I first brewed in 1955 I bloody well ought to have done by now! Sadly all good things come to an end, and our next brew could well be our penultimate, if not our last. Mind you I’ve been saying that for about 10 years now . . .

Experience shows that as long as no air comes into contact with the beer until the moment it lands in my glass, it lasts as long as it takes me to drink it, which taking into account 11 gallons drunk elsewhere (no names, no pack drill), can be 8o to 90 days from filling the PBs. It would probably seem ‘flat’ to the gas guzzlers of today, but to them that knows, it ‘aint!

 

[CD]

Dartmoor Bitter features in one more Log Book entry:-

ADVANCED BREWING AND TASTING COURSE. 23/1/99

Dr Keith Thomas of Brewlab liked my beer. Quote ‘I prefer that to the beer I had at lunchtime. I could drink a pint of that’. So better than ‘Dartmoor’ from St Awful Brewery. I should think so! Good fun, but not worth £50. Confirms opinion – don’t add last of Mash Tun runnings to copper during boil. Brings over tannins – harsh. Funny people these competition home brewers.

The course was organised by a lovely chap called Hywell, who with his wife Rosemary ran the Plymouth Hop Shop then. He also organised Brewery visits for his ‘mashing customers’, hiring a Minibus for the purpose.

BREWERY VISITS. 12/5/95

RCH near Burnham. 15 bbl plant. Excellent light bitter, superb hop flavour. Award winner called ‘Pitchfork’. OG 1043. 375 Kg of Pale Malt. Nowt else. 13.6 Kg Hops. Half, Fuggles + bit of Goldings, at start of boil, half, all Goldings, about 5 minutes from end. Ferments at 19 – 22C, cool to 8C. Auxilliary finings added at skimming.

COURAGE Brewery, Bristol. Brews ‘Directors’ and ‘Best Bitter’ – same recipe. Could produce 400 barrels every four hours! (115,200 pints). Doesn’t.

There are Wet Breweries and Dry Breweries, the difference being whether the Head Brewer is wearing Overalls and Wellies, or a White Coat and Smart Shoes. Courage’s was definitely Dry. I remember the Brewer who was showing us around saying ‘My job is not to produce the best possible beer, but to ensure that every pint tastes the same, wherever it is drunk.’

 

[CD]

27/3/1992 VISIT TO FULLERS BREWERY, CHISWICK.

Another Minibus tour organised by The Hop Shop. We were shown around the Brewery by a girl, who thankfully realised we were a group of hands-on brewers, not the usual Camra piss artists, and called in the Assistant Brewer John Keeler to answer our questions whilst we sampled their wares in the Brewery Tap.

Beers OGs. ESB 58 bottled, 54 draught. London Pride. 46 bottles, 40 draught. Chiswick Bitter 34. Pale Ale 31. Mild 33. Golden Pride 80.

Party Gyle system. Two MTs both fed to one Copper/Whirlpool, then into second Copper/Hopback. 1st gravity 80, 2nd 15. Fermenters fed a percentage from each, depending which beer required.

GRIST. 89% PA malt. 3% Crystal. 6 to 7% Flaked Maize for head retention. 1% invert sugar. Some caramel for colour, more in Mild. Winter Warmer & Mr Harry – extra crystal.

HOPS. Target bittering, Northdown aroma. (Saw Challenger in store.) All pelleted. Kent Goldings leaf plugs for dry hopping. Hop rate depends on alpha acid, about 25 Kg to 160 bbl. (This could be a mistake as seems very low). Aroma hops added 15 mins before end of boil. Dry hopping – London Pride Nil. ESB 6oz/brl, Chiswick 3 oz/brl. Half ounce plugs.

YEAST. Strain cultured from Fullers top fermenting type to give bottom fermenting in conical FVs. Yeast rate 18oz (510gms) / barrel. Increases 5 times, pressed and surplus sold to Marmite.

MASHING. Strike 70C, mash at 63 to 64C. 1 hour plus ¼ mixing. Sparge water 76C. Takes 2½ hours or so. BOIL. External heater, pumped around to give whirlpool effect. Irish moss added at end of boil. Hop trub removed from bottom, kept as slurry, and put on top of MT grist in next brew.

FERMENTATION. Old squares now replaced by stainless cylindriconicals. Start at 17C, rising to 20C. Quarter gravity back to 17C. Quarter to third OG chilled to 6C. Air injected at start of ferm. 7 days from brewing yeast removed from bottom. Transferred to racking tank with auxiliary finings. Fish finings added to casks. 6 to 7 days in store before going to trade.

From FVs beer goes through a centrifuge which removes all the yeast. It is then krausened with a measured quantity of a different strain in the racking tank.

Finally, I can tell you there is nothing worse than being stuck in a traffic jam after visiting a Brewery!

 

[Scrattajack]

It is then krausened with a measured quantity of a different strain in the racking tank.

Does that mean there's no point in culturing up from bottles of 1845 then?

 

[CD]

Does that mean there's no point in culturing up from bottles of 1845 then?

Without buying a bottle, I don’t know if it is bottle-conditioned or pasteurised. If the former there is no reason not to culture from it.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Does that mean there's no point in culturing up from bottles of 1845 then?

According to that same John Keeling (not Keeler) a few years ago, it is the production strain that they reseed with.

@CD - that's a useful record you've got there, it would be worth getting in touch with the likes of Boak & Bailey (formerly of Cornwall, now up in Bristol) and/or Ron Pattinson (contact form hidden away in the sidebar), they're always interested in brewery history, particularly from that kind of period when much official brewery documentation ended up on floppy discs and the like which are no longer with us (ditto the breweries themselves).

 

[CD]

According to that same John Keeling (not Keeler) a few years ago, it is the production strain that they reseed with.

Sorry about getting the Brewer's name wrong, I must have mis-heard as that is what is written in my log. He went on to become Head Brewer of course. I'll think about what you said.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I'll think about what you said.

I hope you do talk to them - there's a gap of about 15-20 years in British brewing history where there's almost no written history, and it's a crucial period when the modern brewing world was taking shape. Boak and Bailey are real enthusiasts, particularly for the West Country as that's their patch - Ray's parents had a pub in Exeter and eg they've written articles on Newquay Steam and a 1984 CAMRA Real Ale in Devon booklet, they'd certainly be interested in having a look at any of that kind of ephemera that you have (or of any of your Hop Shop mates that are still around).

 

[CD]

Another *** Bit from 2007 is the following list of Bottled Beers, whose gravity I checked prior to drinking them. Abbreviations: B = Bottled (pasteurised). BC = Bottle Conditioned. D = Draught (from pub). T = Tin. FG = Final Gravity measured by me. OG = Theoretical Original Gravity calculated by the approximation OG = (ABV x 7.46) + FG. Hops: CA = Cascade. CH = Challenger. CK = Chinook. F = Fuggles. FG = First Gold. G = Goldings. ND = Northdown. SG = Styrian Golding. T = Target. W = Willamette.

Note I only drink beers that my Dad and his pals would recognise as such!

 

[CD]

I hope you can read that. I don't seem able to enlarge it.

 

[foxbat]

TTL: "Nearly as good as mine"

 

[An Ankoù]

Another *** Bit from 2007 is the following list of Bottled Beers, whose gravity I checked prior to drinking them. Abbreviations: B = Bottled (pasteurised). BC = Bottle Conditioned. D = Draught (from pub). T = Tin. FG = Final Gravity measured by me. OG = Theoretical Original Gravity calculated by the approximation OG = (ABV x 7.46) + FG. Hops: CA = Cascade. CH = Challenger. CK = Chinook. F = Fuggles. FG = First Gold. G = Goldings. ND = Northdown. SG = Styrian Golding. T = Target. W = Willamette.

Note I only drink beers that my Dad and his pals would recognise as such!

View attachment 53946

That's a very respectable session, CD. Did you have anything left for the following day?

 

[CD]

That's a very respectable session, CD. Did you have anything left for the following day?