Category Archives: General

Bottling day plus IPA

General, ,

500D_2206I did a lot of bottling today.  The Golden Stag made 22 litres, then I moved one of the demijohns of Pinot Chardonnay in to six and a bit bottles for ease of drinking.  The remnants were disposed of appropriately.  I completely forgot to measure the gravity of the beer before adding the priming sugar.

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To celebrate I thought I would try some of the IPA.  The head was excellent, creamy and long lasting, and the taste was fine.  I am sure it will get smoother over time, but it is already drinkable.

I now have nothing major going at all for the first time in ages.  I have over forty litres of IPA and golden stag to work my way through.  I suspect that if I open a 1 litre bottle that will get drunk so in reality it is about 40 drinking nights.  At my current rate of progress the beer will be gone by Christmas.  Wine goes much faster, so the next project is going to be a rosé kit, thought I have not yet bought one.

Golden Stag Summer Ale

General
Bags of beer base warming whilst sterilising the bucket
Bags of beer base warming whilst sterilising the bucket

With the IPA bottled, I had nothing on the go for the first time in a long while.  My researches on the IPA suggested that it won’t be at its best for three or four months (if it lasts that long).  So I thought that I had better get going with my next kit, although it may not take as long to mature based on my reading up in Home Brew forum.

The kit was pretty comprehensive, even including the priming sugar.  There are hops to add after a few days and a bag to help strain them off when syphoning.  The instructions way better than the last one.

500D_2156I warmed the bags of beer concentrate in the bucket whilst sterilising it.  I liked the bags.  Easier than tins to deal with, especially if you just cut off a corner.

500D_2159After that it was all pretty standard:  boiling water to dissolve the concentrate, then top up to 23 litres (5 gallons).  Wait for it to cool down, then shove in the yeast.  I just sprinkled the yeast on top this time rather than stir it in.  By morning it was bubbling away pretty fast.  My OG was a good bit lower than people in the home brew forum but hey ho, not much I can do about that.

DateSpecific GravityAlcohol Content (%)
13th February 20141,0360
18th February 20141,0202.1
22nd February 20141,0123.2
28th February 20141,0103.4

 

A different yeast product…

General

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Last summer we stayed with a friend in Cornwall.  Each day he wowed us with newly fresh bread that seemed to flow effortlessly from his kitchen. 
He waxed lyrical about the book he used – Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard. I added the book to my Amazon wish list and waited for Christmas.  The book did not appear!  But like the beer kit, I just received it as a gift from one of my grateful rowers.

My bread in the past has been OK, but not inspiring.  But I followed the “easy bread” recipe in the book and it blew us all away.  I guess that I must have been over-kneading it in the past.  the kids are keen for me to make their sandwich bread for Tuesday, so the challenge has been set.

Labels!

General

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I capped off a busy afternoon of bottling with some simple clip art labels held on by water soluble glue stick.  It took me three goes to get the height right, which led to some rather eccentric labelling.

Demijohns!

Equipment, General

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Progress has stalled recently.  I think my Waitrose Grape Juice, Quince and Perry all really need racking on soon, but when I check them they still bubble reasonably fast.  Certainly faster than I would like.  I need to find a quiet day to test their gravity and rack them off if needs be.

I have also been handicapped by lack of demijohns.  This is now no longer the case because my excellent father-in-law has passed on half a dozen of his.  He has been a good source of experience and advice in this little hobby but has not done home brew himself for some time.

Thank you David!

The cellar is starting to fill up with home brew “stuff” as it was cleared down there for Christmas.  You can see the scrumpy, Christmas Ale and country wines ageing down there, plus various bottles being saved.  I am lucky to have the space, but it is a little damp down there, so it will come back up.

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