91 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…
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,…
Saw a friend today to whom I had recently given a few bottles of my Mucky Pup Oatmeal Stout. He’s a new acquaintance and I hadn’t given him any beer before, so I was keen to hear what he though. I was delighted to hear that he thought…
Had a nice day yesterday at the Charlbury Beer Festival. Its not one I’ve been to before and I was surprised by its scale and slickness of the operation in such a quiet little Oxfordshire village. Its an open air affair at the local…
What with the wearying demands of fatherhood and Fendog inexplicably active social life, there seem to be very few weekends when we can actually get together to brew. With this in mind, we have decide that all future brewdays will be…
I’m still sore that Fendog stole my idea of making mead. So whilst he’s busy preparing his Leviticus sermon, I thought I would get one on the go this weekend so we can have a good old fashioned brew-off.
Finally got round to bottling the sloe gin that should have been bottled and drunk months ago! I’m not sure what the effects are of leaving the sloes soaking for so long. But I’m hoping its not too disastrous.
A new batch of ingredients and equipment arrived today courtesy of the Mentor! We have enough kit now for our next three brews and some tools he has specially designed and built.
24 Things You Didn’t Know About Beer 24 Things You Didn’t Know About Beer infographic Related Posts Pouring Instructions for Homebrew Beer Labels Fendog’s Birthday Beer and Cheese Beer and Food Pairing Chart Share This Post Share on Faceboo
It’s Easter Day and what better way to celebrate the freedom that Christ’s death and resurrection has won for us than by brewing a batch of beer! As is my habit for Sunday brewdays, I mashed in just before setting off for church and…
Today was the big day – the moment of truth – me, the Fendog, and Bow-wow nipped over to the lab at lunchtime for our first taste of Olde Badgers Crack!
Was looking forward to today’s brewday all week. It would be my first solo all grain brew (since Fendog is off running the Jerusalem marathon), and I would be trying out the mash tun I made last weekend. I got my grain from the Malt…
Finally, I got round to making my own mash tun this weekend. Since Fendog took most of our all-grain set-up back to the farm, I have had to make do with extract and partial mash brews. But I just managed to get a cheap cool box from…
We set up our first beer brew today following the Mentor’s instructions and using the ingredients he bought for us. He has been brewing for years but tends not experiement these days. This is his standard tecnique which is designed for…
Finally we got round to brewing our royal wedding beer today. Fendog came up from the big smoke and the rain held off sufficiently to brew in the back yard, but it still proved an extremely frustrating day. After some thought, we gave…
Not satisfied with entering the the Jerusalem marathon, Fendog has planned another charity event in aid of Confident Children out of Conflict .
When it comes to English Pale Ale, Fuller’s London Pride is considered by many to be the quintessential classic. Its the draught option at the pub opposite work so I often enjoy a cheeky one at lunchtime. This is not a beer that is…
With their monthly meetings on Wednesday evenings, Fendog and I have been unable to meet the Oxford Brewers group as Wednesdays find us hard at prayer and Bible study. Admirable, you may think. But one cannot help recalling the wise…
Using cartons, bottles or tins of fruit juice is probably the easier way to make wine. With the variety on offer these days, you can make some really interesting wines with very little effort. There is no need for straining, mashing,…
I’ve put together a label for the Slurry Tank Oatmeal Stout which is conditioning nicely in the shed. Have just realised these are going to be a real pain in the butt to cut out. I shall go back to rectangular labels from now on.
Work Christmas lunch today at the Red Lion. Haven’t been in there since it was done up. Its pretty nice and the food was good but the beer selection is poor and expensive. Was pleased with the secret santa present I got for the Canary…
Fendog came round tonight to help bottle the Oatmeal Stout. After my last two nightmare bottling sessions, I was glad of the help. It is so much easier with two, plus I managed to borrow the Geek’s countertop cappper so I had none of the pr
A fellow brewer from the Oxford brewgroup put me onto Beer Labelizer which, dispite the disappointingly American spelling, is a neat little site offering simple templates for you to design your own beer labels. Simply enter a few…
Check this out! In what these days is a rare flash of inspiration, I’ve come up with an awesome name for my barleywine: “The Audacity of Hops”. I think that suits it well as it is hopped through the roof, and has vast pretentions of…
This morning’s “Today” programme on Radio 4 featured an story on the initiative of British brewers to recreate the traditional journey of Russian Imperial Stout by ship from England to St Petersburg. A favourite of Catherine the Great,…
No, I’m not talking to my friend’s new manservant. I’m referring to his latest effort (if that is not an overstatement) at brewing beer with the Geek. When I talk about homebrewing, friends often say they tried it once (usually as a…
Ok, I live in the dark ages. I don’t have a TV. I don’t particularly miss it – its just full of sex and violence anyway, and I get enough of that in real life. Except the sex. One noticeable consequence lately though, is that the whole…
If you’ve been following us on Twitter, you know I’ve been trying to recreate my legendary Parsnip wine which put North Wales to sleep in 2006. You’ll also have read that it hasn’t been plain sailing…
Woah! Returned home to find the walls and ceiling of the utility room completely splattered like an explosion in a sewage plant. And the fermenter was invisible inside a four foot high seeting pile of brown foam. It took ages to clean…
Another Brewday that took far longer than I was anticipating. The main reason: Fendog bailed on me. Some excuse about getting his nostrils plucked – a likely story. I courageously pressed on on alone. I racked the Windsor Knot into a…
In these times of austerity, and being a tight-arse as well as lazy, I am thinking about reusing the yeast from our current brew (the Windsor Knot IPA) in the next brew that I do.
Was invited round for Sunday lunch at Webmonkey’s today and spent a very pleasant afternoon with him and the Thespian who, despite being afflicted with severe vegetarianism, cooks a mean roast dinner. I thought I would use it as an…
Amber in colour with golden highlights, arriving with a fairly lively carbonation. A thin white head forms but settles down too quickly to a thin ring with a few lacey spots clinging to the glass. The aroma is bright and citrusy and I…
A university in the North Carolina is aiming to sell its own beer and offer a degree in brewing after a class in the subject last year proved extremely successful.
Following on from my post last week about Beer in the Letters of Martin Luther, I thought I would share a few more interesting stories about the great Reformer’s love for beer. My favourite Luther quote is one that I expressed myself…
I mentioned in a recent post our intention of following the tradition here in Britain of brewing a commerative beer whenever there is a royal wedding. Hopefully, we will get a brewday for this on Saturday and I thought I’d share a few…
Today in 1546, one of our heroes of the faith, the great Reformer Martin Luther died. Luther was a man of startling contrarieties – a brilliant mind whose contribution to Christian theology is inestimable, he was courageous,…
Wychwood do a good job with their marketing. Their website looks really great and they have worked hard at the dinstinctive branding of their beers. As with all their products, Hobgoblin comes in a eye-catching bottle with an…
Spent a very pleasant evening last night with the Dandy whom I have not seen since his liposuction. I must say he cuts a fine figure in his new super-skinny jeans though I’m sure he must need some kind of tool to get them on and off.
As we head towards spring here in the UK, royal wedding fever will be hotting up along with the weather. Magazines and websites are already packed with speculation about the dress, the food, the guess, the presents, the ceremony…
Right, I think its about time for another in our series looking at some of our heroes of the faith – the great brewers in Church History. This week its St Arnold of Soisson (also known as Arnoldus), one of the many patron saints of…
Morten Meilgaard is an unsung hero of the brewing world. A brilliant chemical engineer and real ale enthusiast, he basically invented the language used to describe beer. Although human beings have been enjoying the taste of beer for…
Whilst clearing out the shed the other day, I unearthed some long lost treasures – boxes and boxes of homemade wine that a packaged up when we moved house last year and promptly forgot about. What a delight to pull out bottle after…