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.