20 articles in this section.
Needed to rack my 1 gallon mead batch into a clean demijohn tonight. Not wanting to waste all the delicious yeasty goodness at the bottom, I decided on to make up a 1 gallon batch of ginger beer and pitch the yeast slurry from the…
Had my third Christmas dinner of the season last night at the Scoutmaster’s. It was the homegroup festive shindig and I was keen to inflict some of my latest concoctions on them, so I took along a bottle each of my 2012 Strawberry…
Was round at Funky T’s for dinner last night and Fendog came in towards the end. He’d been for a run – he’s supposed to be in training for the Jerusalem marathon. I don’t know why anyone would run that far on purpose but he says its…
How pleasant to awake not only to the sight of snow on the ground, but two carboys each with a healthy head indicating a good start to fermentation.
For a while now, I’ve been wanting to have a go at making a simple Oatmeal Stout. The addition of a proportion oats to a stout can significantly add to the smoothness and the texture. It imparts proteins, lipids and gums which increase…
It was a delight to see Fendog alive and well today and all fears of mass-poisonings have be alleviated. I’d like to think he came all the way back to hear me preach at church this morning but no, he’s taken a midharvest break to pop…
Brew day at the Lab as Fendog and I set up an IPA using the recipe below. Again, we used the church’s old Burco boiler (made more efficient after a good descaling). We must remember next time either to do the boil outside or use the…
Off to visit the Outlaws for a week tomorrow, so it’s a perfect time to set up a brew at home as the fermenter wont be anyone’s way for the coming week. (Space is at a premium at Chez Trenchfoot which is why most of the brewing takes…
The first consideration when evaluatign a beer is the appearance. Three things are usually taken into consideration:
I have discovered that there is actually specialist software to help you with your beer brewing! The two best that I have seen are Beertools and Beersmith . Both allow you to design, adapt and scale recipes, calculate final colour,…
When tasting beer, its imporant you serve it correctly to all the proper appreciation of the look, smell and taste of the beer. The first rule is simple : NEVER taste beer directly from the bottle or can it came in.
I know it sounds minging, and it probably is. But I thought I would give it a go. This recipe is adapted from one found on Jack Keller’s website . Jack is an elder statesman of winemaking and although his site is in desperate need of a…
A good brew day today! We decided to go back to what we know and set up batch of Olde Badger’s Crack. It knocks the socks off any of the other brews we’ve attempted so far (which is not saying much). However, after the dissapointemt of…
Two summers ago, I happened to discover a couple of plum trees in the wild, not far from the lane by a village just south of Oxford. They were absolutely laden with fruit and the ground around them was ankle deep in plums. In half an…
Right… needed to clear out the fridge today – otherwise, some of the stuff in there was going to be able walk out on its own soon. Amongst the stuff that had to go was a bowl of strawberries and a bowl of raspberries (both homegrown,…
Until I get the keg system and counter-pressure bottler that I’ll been praying for (How long, O Lord!) all the homebrew I give away is bottle-conditioned which most people are not used it. I’m sure any of you that are brewers are as…
Good time last night at the Beer and Cheese evening for Fendog’s birthday. The present my kids’ got him seemed to be his favourite:
We have a problem. My house still stinks of cheese and the Boss is due back today. I am beginning to suspect that Fendog has hidden a piece of that french stuff somewhere. Why I oughta…
Trying to decide what cheeses to get for Fendog’s birthday Beer & Cheese evening, I came across this useful chart put together by the Brewers Association. As with all charts it generalises somewhat but still useful.
The trouble with English beer festival is that they are full of English beers. Now, I’ve got nothing against English beer (I love it!), but it does get a bit samey. For example at the Charlbury Beer Festival we went to at the weekend,…