Drinking

After the week had passed it was time for me to transfer the beer into the pressure barrel. I have a King Keg (top tap) barrel. This kind of barrel takes the beer from the top rather then the bottom of the barrel and into the tap, meaning the pint you pull is clearer. This is because the beer clears from the top.

Once everything had been sterilised I added some golden syrup to the barrel. This is called priming sugar and is to promote further fermentation to enable a build of gas in the pressure barrel. This head of pressure gives you the slight fizz to the beer and a frothy head on the top of your pint!

Once I siphoned the beer into the pressure barrel I put on the cap. Before I fitted the barrel cap I lubricated the thread with some Vaseline. I put the cap on tightly and left the beer for another week, to allow any sediment to fall to the bottom of the barrel and to allow the gas pressure to build. The barrel I used has a valve that will release excess pressure. So no need to worry about it blowing up!

A week later I had the pleasure of drinking my first pint. The beer did have some of the qualities of Sam Adams. However it was much smoother than Sam’s, but has the same good hop aroma. I also serve my home brew warm, like a good ale should be served, whereas Sam’s is always served cold. On the whole I am very pleased with the results. I have also had lots of good reviews from friends.

In my next Beer blog I will show you how to create a beer using the whole grain method.

Fermentation

Each day I gave the beer a good stir and took a hydrometer reading to check the gravity, to see what progress the beer was making. By day two a cake had formed on the surface of the beer. This is a thick mixture of sediment and yeast. The worst of the sediment should be removed. Once the gravity reading had fallen to 1010 it was time to re-rack the beer into an airtight container with an airlock.

Before I started this process I cleaned all the equipment again. To the new fermentation bin I added a little more golden syrup (about a table spoon full) and some gelatine (dissolved in a little warm water). The gelatine is used to clear the beer, so your beer will look as beautiful as it tastes! Once the beer was transferred I added the second 50 grams of hallertauer hops, this time using the herbruck variety. This is called dry hopping and is a way of imparting a strong hop aroma to the beer.

Once the airlock is fitted this can be left to mature for about a week.

Brew Day.

The first step of the day was to make sure all the equipment I was going to use was cleaned using a steriliser called Bruclens. Once everything had been cleaned it was time to begin.

Into my boiler I added 15 litres of water and then brought this to the boil. To the hot water I added the 3kg of pale malt extract then stirred till it had completely dissolved. To the boiler I attached my grain bag; this is to keep the grains and hops from blocking the tap at the bottom of the boiler.

Then I added the 500 grams of crushed crystal malt and the 50 grams of Hallertauer Mittelfrueh hops then boiled this for 45 minutes. 15 minutes before the end of the boil I pitched in the irish moss.

Once the boil had finished I transferred the wort into a large fermentation bin. I opened the tap on the boiler to allow this to drain and poured hot water over the grains and hops to collect more wort. To this I then added cold water till I had 20 litres worth of liquid.

Once the wort has cooled to room temperature (21c) I took a gravity reading to show the amount of sugar and therefore the potential alcohol content for the beer. It gave a reading of only 1030, but this needed to be 1045. So to the wort I added golden syrup (a liquid form of inverted sugar) I dissolved small amounts in hot water and kept adding more till I got a reading of 1045.

I then moved the fermentation bin to under my stairs. This is a good place to keep it, as the temperature here doesn’t fluctuate a lot. A constant temperature of around 20c is ideal for termination. The last step was to add the yeast and stir well, then wait for the magic to happen.

Report on www.thehomebrewshop.co.uk

For the first time I used the Internet to purchase ingredients for my homebrew. It was mainly due to the fact that I needed hops that are not normally available at high street home brewing shops. I am sad to report that the service was not perfect. The majority of the ingredients came 3 days after placing the order at www.thehomebrewshop.co.uk but contained a short note that the yeast would be sent on A.S.A.P. That was 9 days ago and it still hasn’t turned up. I actually got sick of waiting and a couple of days ago I drove over to my local home brew shop in Middleton and picked up some high quality dry lager yeast. I prefer to use local services and in future will only use the web to order rare ingredients not normally stocked by local stores. The homebrew shop in Middleton also has a web site at www.homebrewkits.co.uk.

The Boston Lager Hunt.

As mentioned in a previous blog I have been hunting for a UK supplier of Boston lager. I emailed Shepherd Neame the UK importer and they replied to let me know both Sainsburys and E H Booths stock the beer. Neither of these companies have local branches to me so I went on a mission to my closest Sainsbury’s in Darwen, 7 miles away. The store was a small and under stocked supermarket and I wasn’t very impressed at the range of beers. It certainly didn’t include the mystical Boston lager!

I wasn’t about to make the same mistake with E H Booths, as it was another 15 miles drive away! So I called the store, something I should have done in the first place! I spoke to the head of beers and wines. His name was Phillip and he was very helpful. At first he said that he hadn’t heard of the beer but promised to check with his head office. I called back 30 minutes later and Phillip had some good news, they had just started to stock the beer and would have some in the next day! I was so happy!

So today I drove to the nearest branch of Booths in Clitheroe. I walked into store and headed straight to the booze section. And in the corner trying to hide away from me were lots of bottles of my favourite beer! I had to buy the lot, 18 bottles! I think the checkout man thought I was an alcoholic, buying 18 bottles of beer at 9 o’clock in the morning!

So here I am having a beer very early in the morning, I don’t care, it tastes soooo good!

The Technical Stuff.

I have quickly realised that an explanation of the basic brewing methods and ingredients is needed. So here is a simple run down of things you need to know when trying to create your own yummy beers:-

What makes a Beer?

1) Malt. This gives the beer its colour, most of the flavour and most of the sugars needed to ferment with the yeast. There are lots of kinds, but we shall discuss the varieties as we come across them whilst making different beers.

2) Sugar. The malts alone rarely generate enough sugar to create the right amount of alcohol. Commercial brewers do not use the sort of sugar you and I put in our tea. These sugars are too refined for brewing. Less refined sugars such as syrups are a much better idea as they impart some flavour and sometimes colour to your beer.

3) Hops. These delicate petals give the beer the bitterness to balance the maltiness. They also give a beautiful aroma. Again there are lots of different types and the ones you use can make a huge difference to the character of your beer. We will talk more deeply about the hops when we come across them in the recipes.

4) Adjuncts. Other cereals are sometimes used in brewing beer, such as wheat, rice and barley. These are used for a number of reasons. To give extra flavour or just to save costs (as they are cheaper than malts) and even for giving your pint a better foaming head.

5) Yeast. This coverts the sugars into alcohol and your beer wouldn’t be much good without that stuff. It also produces the carbon dioxide needed to make your beer all fizzy! Amazingly there are many different varieties of yeasts and the one you pick depends on the style of beer you are aiming for. A beer for example should only be called ale if it has been brewed using ale yeast.

Brewing techniques.

1) Yeast starter. It’s worth getting the yeast cultivating before you start brewing. The yeast is added to some sugary warm water and left to its own devises a day before you start.

2)Mashing. This is when you add the malts and adjuncts to hot water in a suitable boiler (must be around 62-66c) and is left at this temp for about an hour. A pan on your domestic cooker will do but a brewing boiler with a thermostat is a much easier way to do it. The exact temperature is needed to create the right conditions for enzymes to break down the starch into fermentable sugars.

3) Sparging your wort. This is just the retrieval of those fermentable sugars from the mashed grain; this liquid is called the wort. This is normally collected using a grain bag, which allows you to lift the mashed grains from the boiler. The bag must be supported in such away to allow the remaining wort contained within the grain to drain out and be collected. Once I start my brewing I will include pictures to demonstrate what I mean.
Once the grains look fully drained further wort is collected by gently pouring hot water over the grains. This process is continued in till the desired amount of sweet wort is achieved.

4) Boiling. Once the desired amount of wort is collected it requires boiling along with the hops for about an hour. Once completed it can then be topped up using cold water to produce the correct amount of liquid.

5) Gravity reading. A specific gravity reading can be taken at this point. This will require a devise called a hydrometer. It is used to measure the amount of sugar in the solution. Various things can be worked out from this reading including the potential alcohol content. It is also a good way of checking the progress of the beer.

6)Fermentation. Once cooled to room temperature the yeast can be added.

7) Bottling or putting in barrels. Both require priming of the container. This means adding a little sugar to the bottle or barrel to restart some more fermentation. Because the beer will be fermenting in an air tight container the carbon dioxide is trapped. This is what gives the beer its head and fizz.

8) Drinking. The best bit.

Which Beer to Brew First?

On my last few trips to the United States I have discovered a beer that if readily available in this country could quite possible turn me into an alcoholic. It is called Boston Lager made by a brewery called Samuel Adams ( http://www.samueladams.com/ ). It’s a very new company, only founded in 1984 but it’s beers are already world award winning creations. It is imported into the U.K by Shepherd Neame but I have never seen it for sale (I have written an email to them asking where I can buy it, will post the information when I find out).

Boston Lager is what I would describe as an Amber Lager. It uses malts that you would use to create a pale ale together with the sort of hops and yeast normally only used in brewing lager. The result is a crisp refreshing but rounded malty tasting beer.

Because I can’t seem to find this beer here in England I have decided to try and make something similar. I found a commercial recipe for the beer and will adapt it for home brewing the best I can. For this first recipe I’ll cheat slightly and use malt extract rather then using the crushed malt grains, but don’t worry I will be making some beers using only dry ingredients soon. I will be using 3kg of Brupaks Pale Malt Extract syrup but also add a small amount of crushed crystal malt (500g). The hops used are what gives this amber lager real identity. Samuel Adams use two varieties of Hallertauer hop, Heresbrucker and Mittlefruh (50g of each). I will also be using a very good lager yeast called WYeast Bavarian lager. Hopefully the malt extract will provide all the sugar I need but if I need more I will add some golden syrup.

I should point out that if you’re lost with any of the product names and technical stuff don’t worry because I will be writing another Blog giving a good explanation of all the processes in home-brewing.

For the first time I ordered all the above ingredients on the web! I have used a company called The Home Brew Shop ( http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/ ). Will be giving a report on how good the service is from this site.