One last thing

I never posted one but here is a picture of the Locke's Liberty Stout that I brewed back in November.  If I ever go commercial, this one is coming too.  A nice 6.8% session stout!

Last of the 2011 brews

Well, who would of thought that a year and a half ago I would be working in a pub, start to be conditioned to good beer and where to find it and only then, to start actually brewing beer earlier this year.  I sure didn't but it sure grabbed hold of me.  Bought an extract kit and found out I was not interested in brewing syrup (sorry extract brewers).  So I picked up a decent home kit and boom!  It all took off from there.

So the last of the 2011 brews is a smoked bitter.  It looks to be more of a session bitter in the low 4% range.  I am hoping that the smoked part will be a subtle taste and if the smell coming from the fermentor is any indication, then I may have met my goal.  Bit lesson this last brew is my time management has vastly improved since the first one, back in June.  I think it was 2 or so hours faster this time.  Every thing seemed to click.

Sooooo, I hope to have this one in bottles next weekend and able to drink it in 3 weeks.

I have also ordered one more 5 gallon carboy, so my ability to brew more often will increase.  I also gained more bottles from Joe which means I can put all that beer someplace when it is done.

Happy 2012 to all and see you next year :)

Later,

Tim

Camera should be disbanded for the sake of beer

Real quick,

CAMRA should be labeled a terrorist organisation to the beer world.  Tired of old men with bad beards talking shit about good beer and small independent breweries.  Yet, they keep drinking our "shit beer" day after day.  I am guessing, when they die that there is a big pub in the sky that has a thousand hand pumps with nothing but Woodfordes Wherry.  Nothing against the beer but if thats what you want, then go get it.

Later,

Pissy beer drinker, Tim

Beer sharing

So one thing we do here in the small beer lovers group that is The Cannon and other beer drinkers is do a bit of sharing.  I was able to find some good American beers from California such as Port Brewing and the Bruery.  Most people think of American beer as Bud, Miller and Coors but soon find out this is not the case.  Funny thing is, most English people drink shit beer, too such as Carling and Stella but for some reason think it is good stuff.  Most of them don't know that Carling found its roots in Canada and due to some marketing genius, they started drinking it in masses.

So I took a bottle of The Bruery's Saison Rue up to Beautiful Beers to share with Rene, the owner.  We found it to be a fairly solid beer brewed in the Belgium Farmhouse style.  Lots of character and a nice, dry finish.  I see me buying more of it sometime in the future.

Later

Tim

It's a stout, not a porter.

So after two weeks in the fermenter, and eight days since I bottled it, I now have a completely functional and decent tasting stout. I opened one last night but it didn't seal right and was more of a chocolate wine liquor, in other words it was turning into chocolate vinegar. So tonight, I opened a correctly sealed bottle of which turned out nice. It has a sweet taste typical of English stouts, low hop flavour and is full bodied. I look to try another one in a week and then hand some out. I think it will condition well over the next several months if I can put some off to the side and forget about it until St. Patrick's Day.

Later,

Tim

Porter on the way

Sorry for the delay in big time brewing news!

Alright, so I brewed a black as night porter a couple of weeks ago and it is almost time to bottle that thing.  I will be doing so, later this week and fingers crossed, it will be a good holiday cheer sort of beer.  I will be dry hopping a mini cask of it with some Willamette (maybe some Nelson Savign) for an experiment.  Either way, it will be around 6.3% and if the smell it was giving off is any indication, then I may be a little happy.  I received good post brew feedback from the professional side (Joe and Molly) so like I said, hopefully all will be good.  Stay tuned for further brewing news.

Later,

Tim

On Vacation in Texas

So I have left England for a bit and hope to return with some memories of a few good beers (also family memories!).  So far it has been bleh on the beer front.  The Stone IPA on draft was good but I am partial to Stone Brewing.  the few bottles of the other stuff I have had is as follows.

Shiner Double Wheat 102 - An alright wheat beer but is overpowering on the sweet side.

Shiner Black Lager - Probably won't revisit it.  Not that it was bad but it was just an ok lager with some roasted flavors to it.

Shiner Oktoberfest - Another German style wheat but much to sweet for the style.

New Belgium Ranger - I was looking forward to this one as it advertises as a hop monster.  It was decent but not memorable at all.  Very little malt taste and for being a 6.5 you would have thought it would have a little.  The hops was ok but left a bit of a peppery feel in my stomach and not much of an after taste.  I would have thought NB would have put out something a little better.

That's all I have for now but there is a trip to a major beer store coming up and I have a small list of a few that I am looking to try from Dog Fish, Russian River and West Coast breweries.

Later,

Tim

Brass Monkey 2.0

Today has been a good day.

Chris and I did a new version of Brass Monkey which was originally done by Joe and Wes.  It was a twist on an American IPA.  It hasn't been done in a couple of years and in that time, it has become harder to get American Hops over here in England or at least the ones that you are looking for.  So we made the attempt with a bit of compromise and it turns out we came across something that is a really nice to drink.  I say this with the beer only having been out of the fermentation tanks for 4 days.  Typically, you need a couple of weeks but if what we drank tonight is any indication of what is to come, then we may have hit gold.  One of our better beer drinking customers was in tonight and I went downstairs to get him a taster.  Not only did he taste it but he asked for a full pint.  The beer is light in colour but the taste is a bright citrus with a flowery following.  The bitterness is just about right and does not overpower it.  He said he is bringing friends soon to try some.  It should be up on Friday but to be honest, I am looking forward to a week from now when it will start coming together.

This has been a really good day.

Later,

Tim

Post très numéro

OMG, I have made it to post tres numero!  I want to thank my sponsors, family, and of course, Ninkasi.

So I opened the second to last bottle of my 2nd batch that I brewed in July.  I learned that if you don't seat the bottle just right it will taste like a bottle of bee-hole.  Good thing was, I had a last bottle of Dead Cobra Bitter which lucky enough, seated just fine.  The batch was a good learning experience for a few reasons.  I was a little more prepared than I was for the first batch in that things moved a bit smoother.  I was able to learn a bit about his and the amounts needed for the beer you want.  I could have upped the malt for a little more balance but with a higher ABV (3.8%).  I also learned that people asked for seconds when they had it for the first time.  It was good to hear that and as much as I wanted to pick away what I didn't like about the beer, I actually enjoyed it and may have been its biggest fan.

I do however want to make it a better beer.  The second batch is sitting downstairs at the Cannon waiting to be served on the 7th of October.  It will be a different beer for a few reasons.  The mash temp was 8 degrees off and I got more water retention this time which I though might of had an effect on lowering the ABV but funny enough, the mash temps made it go the other was.  I am looking at a 5.2% and I have no idea what it will taste like.  I did taste it coming out of the fermenter but I can't go with that as the taste because it had all the yeast and sediment still suspended in the beer.  Hopefully, it cleared right and the taste I am looking for comes out in it.  It is big on Amarillo hops so my fingers are crossed.  Stay tuned for this one.

Later,

Tim

Sooner than later

Well for a bit of info here is what is coming up in the near future.  I plan on brewing a stout, somewhere on the sweeter side of things.  I am going to try and get it as dark as possible without going to roasted flavour and get some fruit flavour on the hops side of things.  I am thinking a small about of Willamette for bitter and an even lesser amount of Nelson Sauvignon to get some aroma in it.  I am looking to do it just before I head back to the states for a few weeks which will keep me from looking at it which will make me want to touch it.  With me out of the picture, it will have a chance to ferment for 15 or so days.  I hope to bottle it soon after I return and let it condition for a few weeks.  We shall see.

London beer trip coming up this weekend with some of the old cannon crew and may be finding a few American beers.  Let's hope to find some Lost Abbey, Deschutes, Coranado and a few other surprises.

A few of the local beers here that are worth watching out for:

Anything from Compass Brewery in Oxford which includes all of 4 beers but all of them are as good of beer that you will find in England.

GreenJack Lurchers Stout.

And anything from Old Chimney out of Market Weston.  The guy pretty much does it as a hobby and makes some of the best beers you will find on the plus side of 6%.

Later

Tim

First Brew Blog

Alright, here is my attempt to try and document my brewing and attempts to get better at it.  there is not much to say yet other than I have a long way to go even if I have been able to pull of a few drinkable beers.  I will have more to say soon.