Thursday 20 October 2016

Hoppy Brett Saison (Nelson Sauvin)

After a number of Brettanomyces influenced Saisons etc, I saw this strain, and thought I'd give it a shot. but what would I brew with it? Some thing traditional maybe? Or should I push the boat out, and add fruits and/or spices? OR What about an imperial Saison, similar to my S J Porr challenge beer last year... (Tart Saison aged on Chardonnay Oak cubes)

But then I thought to myself, who doesn't love hops? 
Not many people I don't think (although there are probably a few weirdo's out there)
So Why not throw a bunch at a Farmhouse Ale. Sounds good to me....

I've brewed a few iterations of the base beer in the past couple of years - I've done, 100% WLP644 (Formerly Brett Trois), WLP500, and more recently I found probably the most suitable strain....WLP670.

"WLP670 - American Farmhouse Blendnspired by local American brewers crafting semi-traditional Belgian-style ales. This blend creates a complex flavor profile with a moderate level of sourness. It consists of a traditional farmhouse yeast strain and Brettanomyces. Great yeast for farmhouse ales, Saisons, and other Belgian-inspired beers."

Despite the descriptors, I don't find much, if any sourness. Plenty of light Belgian spices, with a nice classic saison character, and if aged in the correct way, some nice earthy funk from the Brettanomyces strain. 

So, onto the hops:
the last one, was the first hoppy farmhouse I made. so, I'll start there.

Version 1: 
60min: 10g Pacific Jade
0 min: 25g each of Nelson Sauvin / Galaxy / Sorachi Ace
Dryhop: 30g each Nelson Sauvin / Galaxy - 20g Sorachi Ace

I really enjoyed this version, although the Sorachi ace, was over powering,, even more so than Nelson - which we all know is a pungent hop.
So this time around I wanted to find the right balance of hops for the base build. but as always, I'll probably find ways to adjust and change the recipe overthe next few iterations.

Bear in mind, this is beer, that I age for a longer period to get some of that brett funk, as with this yeast, you can keep it in primary for 3 months with no ill effects. (surprisingly enough)


ORIGINAL SIN Farmhouse Ale

Batch Size: 21 Litres
Estimated OG: 1.054
IBU: 20.8
EBC: 8.4EBC
Efficiency: 74%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Grain:
     3.2kg Pilsner
     0.6kg Wheat
     0.3kg Vienna
     0.3kg Melanoiden (Aurora)
     0.3kg Rye Malt
     0.2kg Acidulated
     
Hops:
     60min - 6g Pacific Jade
     00min - 50g Motueka
     00min - 25g Waimea

Dryhop:  85g Nelson Sauvin
Yeast: 
     WLP670 - No Starter (Removed from fridge 6 hours prior to pitching)

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion Mash 65 Deg C
Mash out 76 Deg C

Brewing Notes: 
     Brewed 19 June  2016 - Hit Target of 1.050 dead on, volume target dead on. Pitched vial of yeast. (No Starter)
     Ferm Temp 20 Deg C 
     22 June 2016 - Raised Ferm Temp to 22 Deg C

     09 July 2016 - Lowered Temp to 20Deg in ferm chamber for aging.
  
     15 August 2016 - Moved to ambient temp for further aging (I needed the ferm chamber)

     10 September 2016 - Racked to keg, bagged dry-hops added for 3 days, and cold crashed for an additional 24 hours.

     14 September 2016 - Removed bag from keg, and racked to new keg, on top of gelatin.

Tasting Notes:
     Appearance - Crystal golden colour, nice spritzy carbonation.

     Aroma - white grapes and funky farmhouse notes (670 is quite distinct)

     Flavour - more grape, its hard to tell which are hops and which is the funk, but it melds nicely together. I think this time round I get the spicy Rye character too, which adds another dimension to it.

     Mouthfeel - light and crisp, sweetness present fro mthe hop/yeast play.

     Overall - really nice, i think next time round a slight boost ingravity is in order, and an increase in dryhopping (only because its normally easier to throw a full bag of hops in.

VERSION 3 has been brewed using the a slightly altered malt base.....
Pilsner / Wheat / Flaked Oats (1.056)
Big additions of Simcoe Amarillo (50/50) at flameout and Dryhop
Re-pitch of yeast cake. (WLP670)

Saturday 10 September 2016

Leffe Radieuse With M47 and Brettanomyces.

Beers influenced with Brettanomyces, whether that is a mixed culture for a saison, or aged in secondary. To explore the different flavours etc. of such a versatile organism.

So, on that note, I have brewed wha is essentially a clone of one of my favourite belgian beers. Leffe Radieuse. Its spicy, phenolic, with lovely notes of  caramel, dates and raisins.

The beer has then been aged with Brettanomyces Bruxellensis. (WLP650) for XX months.
SO, Here Goes......


Double Trubbel

Batch Size: 21 Litres 
Estimated OG: 1.068
IBU: 18.9
EBC: 42.4EBC
Efficiency: 74%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

GRAIN:
     5.2kg Pilsner
     0.4kg Munich
     0.2kg Caramunich II
     0.2kg Aurora (Melaniodin)
     0.2kg Special B
     0.1kg Acid Malt
     0.45kg D180 Candi Syrup

HOPS: 
     12g Pacific Jade @90
     25g Crystal @5

YEAST:
     Mangrove Jacks - Belgian Abbey M47 x3 Packs(Re-hydrated)

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion 
Mash 68 Deg C - 20.5 Litres
Mash out 76 Deg C
Sparge - 11.5 Litres @ 76 Deg C

Brewing Notes:
      21 May 2016 -  OG 1.068 hit. Additional 2-300ml into FV. Activity within 24 hours.

     07 June 2016 - Rack to carboy for extended ageing, 15 litres with WLP650 (1x vial).

     26 June 2016 - Bottled 5 Litres into 330ml bottles - 1 carb drop per bottle.
     
 Plain Version FG: 1.015
     Appearance: Blood red, when held to the light. nice and clear, after some extended ageing in a secondary carboy. Off white head, which lingers nicely in the glass.

     Aroma: Aroma of Dried fruit and spicy Belgian phenolics. some sweet malt, and raisiny presence. Remarkably similar to the real Leffe Radieuse.

     Flavour: Sweet malt, and Belgian candy come to the fore, with a beautiful back up of Belgian phenols and spices. again similar to Radieuse. At a young age, this should age well, as a touch of booze is present, but similar to the original. Bitterness could be higher.

     Mouthfeel: thick and creamy, good sweetness, not too over powering.

     Overall: Fantastic Beer - Next time the bitterness will be increased slightly (Not by too much), but as a clone recipe, this is really quite close. Especially when you take into account the Dry Yeast factor. 

Definite re-brew on the card, but split in half next time (I need more of this)

WLP650 version notes to follow.....

Tuesday 16 August 2016

NE Pale Ale

There's been a fair bit of chatter about this so called "Style".
Some hate the haze, and consider it to be poor brewing style, others love it, saying its like a lovely Orange Juice beer.
soft bitterness, with juicy hop flavours. 

Me? I have no idea what t o think - so I decided to brew one.
I mean why the hell not right?
I don't necessarily have an averse to hazy beers, depending on the style of course. Which is why I gelatin most of my Hoppy Beers. they just end up looking so pretty in a nice glass, while that aroma jumps out at you.

for me. the biggest issue, I've seen is too many people actually trying to make their beers hazy.(here in NZ, its not an overly popular way of doing things as yet) Removing Koppafloc / whirlfloc, and some even adding wheat flour or other adjunct to make the haze more Prominent. (WTF?!)
Now, I have no idea what causes the haze. everyone seems to have a different opinion, the only thing I will say is this 
[hazy beers can be good, provided you pick the right style, yeast, and stick to all of your normal processes, changing thing, to try to actually replicate what a beer acutally looks like, is ridiculous, if you know your process - stick to it. It could be your un-doing in the long run]


So, to try to get a handle on this particular style, I decided to brew a tried and true recipe {Thanks to Ed Coffey - alesoftheriverwards.com

The reason is 3 fold: 
     1- I've been having issues with Diacetyl, on US-05 (this is common on this particular dry yeast). so I figured, I should try something different, and to be fair, actually use a liquid yeast instead of being a cheap ass.
     2- I wondered what so many oats would do to the mouth fel of a beer - particularly a smaller pale ale style beer like this one. 
     3- Like I said I'm not bothered with haze, but if my processes are good, and correct, then the beer should clear out ok, once I add my gelatin finings into the keg (don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting crystal clear commercial grade clarity).


CAPITOL BERTRON  (Don't ask)
Batch Size: 21 Litres
Estimated OG: 1.050
IBU: 34
EBC: 7
Efficiency: 74%
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain:
     3.6kg Gladfields Ale Malt
     0.7kg Flaked Oats (Harraways)
     0.3kg Gladfields Wheat Malt
     0.2kg Acidulated Malt (pH)


Hops:
     14g Chinook FWH 
     15g Nelson @5min
     15g Simcoe @5min
     15g Mosaic @5min
     20g Nelson @0min
     20g Simcoe @0min
     20g Mosaic @0min
(hopstand the 0min addition for 15mins prior to chilling)
Dryhop:
     35g Nelson / 35g Simcoe / 35g Mosaic (Used hop bag to be able to harvest yeast)

Yeast: 
     WYeast 1318 - London Ale III (1 Litre Starter)
Mash Schedule: Mash at 67 Degrees C for 60 minutes.

Brewing Notes: 
     17 July 2016: Mashed with 16.5 litres of water normal hoppy beer - water profile. none of this high chloride rubbish. Hit 1.050 dead on, and ended up with additional 5 litre in my new SS Brew-bucket.
Swirled my starter and added. (Wort was 14.5 degC when added)
Set temp to 17.2 Deg c, raising after 6 hours.

     18 July 2016: Temp for fermentation 18.8 DegC. days at this temp

     20 July2016: Ramped temp to 21.1 DegC - Small swirl of fermenter to ensure British yeast still in suspension.

     26 July 2016: Added dryhop to primary, in sanitized hop bag.

     29 July 2016: Temp changed to 1 Deg C for cold crash.

     31 July 2016: Racked to keg, using a new CO2 Transfer process, PSI set to 30, for 24 hours - return to serve pressure.

Tasting - 17 August 2016:
     Appearance - Hazy Golden Colour (I suspect if it ever clears up it will be a bright golden colour) Nice Lacing and tight bubbles

     Aroma - Aromas's of Grapefruit and Hops - Similar in some ways to what you'd expect Grapefruit Juice to smell like. It jumps out of the glass at you.

     Flavour - Similar to aroma - with a "Zing" to it, low bitterness, high saturated hop flavour, low malt flavour. The hops really shine here, and funnily enough I don't get a big Nelson Sauvin flavour from it.

     Mouthfeel - maybe a touch thin considering the amoun of Flaked Oats. - but I think it suits the style.

     Overall - Fantastic beer, and there is merit to the style. the haze does bother me a bit, but it doesn't affect the overall view of this beer. Some haze is fine, but when these beers start to look muddy, it becomes a problem for me. Its definitely worht a re-brew, and possibly turning it more into a session IPa would work nicely. Adding some carapils and mashing another degree higher would probably get this on the money here.

GARAGE PROJECT, PARTY&BULLSHIT - I had the opportunity to try one of the first NZ Takes on the NE IPA Style recently.
It misses the mark in what this should be - haze is fine, but htis goes more towards muddy, and the hops flavour isn't saturated anywhere near enough. it's too much like an ugly American IPA. The bitterness is lower, but is doesn't have the juicy zingy flavour and aroma.

Sunday 17 July 2016

Farmhouse Imperial Stout

I originally had plans for an imperial stout with brettanomyces much like The Mad Fermentationist Courage Imperial Stout, which historically, had brettanomyces involved in the fermentation, probably from the barrels. Either way, check out  this Post.

So, I had the inclination to brew a big Imperial Stout, but I wanted to use brettanomyces. Bingo! I had harvested some WLP670 recently, from a batch of Hoppy Farmhouse Ale I've appropriately named Lemon-Face, due to the Sorachi Ace Hops. So I figured why not, and scoured the internet, looking for anyone or anything who'd done it before, when I came across Jester King Black Metal.

The Jester King beer is considered a Farmhouse Imperial Stout. It looks like they use some brettanomyces as well, this can also be funked up to crate Funk Metal.

so anyways, I had found my inspiration, I had some harvested yeast, and some malt I had ordered previously. What the Heck Right?!

From what else I had read, the Saison yeast, would be somewhat lost behind rich aromas of an Imperial stout, but there would be some funk and phenols around it, to essentially round it out. With the added brettanomyces already inside WLP670, some additional funk should come about of a period of time.

So without further delay - a Recipe:

FEAR OF THE DARK_Farmhouse Imperial Stout
Batch Size: 18 Litres
Estimated OG: 1.085
IBU: 43.2
EBC: 94.1
Efficiency: 67%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes


Grain:
     6.4kg Pale Ale Malt
     0.45kg Amber
     0.15 Shephards Delight
     0.15kg Caramunich II
     0.4kg Pale Chocolate

     0.15kg Roasted Wheat: Cold Steeped

     0.4kg Carafa II: Cold Steeped

Hops:
     30g Pacific Jade @ 60 Minutes
     50g East Kent Goldings @ 5 Minutes
Yeast: 
     WLP 670 Slurry (200 ml thick)

Mash Schedule: Mash at 67 Degrees C for 60 minutes.

Brewing Notes: 
     6 Feb 2016 - 1.5 Litres of Cold Tap Water added to Insulated flask, dissolved half tsp of Calcium carbonate to this. and mixed with 0.4kg Carafa II & 0.15kg Roasted Wheat for 24 Hours cold Steep

     7 Feb 2016 - Brewed on the Grainfather. Mashed in with 24 litres of water, and sparged with 6 litres of water. Missed the amber malt in the recipe, as it had been bagged separately. Removed 1-1.5 litres of mash water (the mash had been removsed and sparging had begun) and stirred in the amber malt for a 15 min mini mash. poured back to the Grainfather through a sieve. No other salts added to mash  or boil.

 OG: 1.081 4 Points shy of target.
Pitched 200ml of fresh thick slurry, harvested from Hoppy Saison.

24 Hours later - signs of fermentation

     13 Feb 2016 - increased Temp to 21 degrees. and two days later 21.5 degrees to ensure Saison yeast is completed.

     7 April 2016 - Small Taste from Primary.  no hot alcohol at this stage, some yeast character, and plenty of thick malty stout type character. No presence of Brett noted.

     4 May 2016 - FG 1.010!!!!!!!!! Over attenuated, but tasting good, some booze.

     14 May 2016 - Bottled to 2.0 Volumes (75g priming sugar) Final Volume: 16.5Litres

     17 July 2016 - First Tasting (See Below) - WOW! 5 Months from Brewing to the first taste test.....

     Aroma - Some Funk, plenty of Malt Background, notes of dusty cocoa and biscuity malt.

     Appearance - Black as night, with beige/brown head. Carbonation, is nic and low, perfect for style. some lacing despite, being higher in alcohol


     Flavour - Funky Farmhouse notes, but restrained. Booze is prevalent, but hopefully should dissipate with time.  Some small amount of tartness as well to round it off.


     Mouthfeel - Good mouthfeel, the lower carbonation, works well with thestyle, and keeps the booziness in check. Probably a tad thin, but that'll be the low FG.


     Overall - Overall a nice beer, and should only improve over time, I'll post more notes another time, but I'm impressed, it does work as a style, just be sure to keep the esters and phenols in check.

Next time, Id mash higher maybe 69Deg C, and probably, add some extra crystal malts.

Tuesday 17 May 2016

Mangrove Jacks - M21 Belgian Wit

I've been struggling with what I should brew recently. With the weddijng over, and a raft of left overs hops to use. I decided to re-visit one of the Wedding recipes..... but which one?

I decided, that as I wasn't a massive fan of the beer (Read: Boring), i decided it was a good idea to re-visit this particular recipe.
The Blonde/Golden Ale, which funnily enough was probably the most popular beer on the day.

But given the word I used above (Boring), I wanted to put a little bit of a spin on  the beer, without going crazy with it.

so I decided to changethe flameout hops, and use a slightly different yeast. See as follows:

This is a New Yeast from Mangrove Jacks.     M21 - Belgian Wit
A traditional top-fermenting yeast that has a good balance between fruity esters and warming spice phenolics. The yeast will leave some sweetness and will drop bright if left long enough.Suitable for Witbier, Grand Cru, Spiced Ales and other specialty beers.Attenuation: HighFlocculation: LowUsage Directions: Sprinkle directly on up to 23 L (6 US Gal) of wort. For best results, ferment at 18-25 degrees C (64-77 degrees F).
I had thought of usingthe new M47Belgian Abbaye Yeast from the same guys, but decided, that as no one had a ctually tried it locally. I'd give it a shot. Ther were nearly no reviews on this yeas through the net, so I have no idea really what to expect. Although the descriptors suggest it'd go quite well with some moderate hopping.

So lets give the masses what they want----- A Review on this new strain of Dry Yeast. All Be it not really true to style for what alot of people expect. Butthats just not how I Roll.

M41 Hoppy Wit
Batch Size: 21 LitresEstimated OG: 1.054IBU: 20.8
EBC: 8.4EBC
Efficiency: 74%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain:
     Pilsner 4KG
     Wheat 0.6KG
     Aurora 0.1KG
     Gladiator 0.2KG
     Sour Grapes Malt 0.2kg
Hops:
     Kohatu 20g @ 30 min
     Riwaka 21g @ 10 min     -     26g @5 min
     Nelson Sauvin 35g @0 min
Yeast: 
     1x Pack M41 - Belgian Wit (Rehydrated in 100ml of Water)

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion Mash 66 Deg C - 17.5 Litres
Mash out 76 Deg C
Sparge - 14.5 Litres @ 76 Deg C

Brewing Notes: 
16 April 2016 - OG: 1.051 Suspect too Much Sparge Water by maybe 500ml
Shake 30 seconds to aerate, and pitch yeast.
Ferment - 19 Deg C

19 April 2016 - Krausen falling, signs of fermentation slowing

20April 2016 - Raise temp to 21 Deg C to finish fermentation.
Decided against dryhopping with the remaing Nelson Sauvin, to get a better idea of what the yeast will contribute. (Plus I've been busy all week organising the CHBA Club Launch)

28 April 2016 - Cold Crashed to 1.5 Deg C

30 April 2016 - FG 1.014 (4.7% ABV) Kegged . No Gelatin this time round (all my beers receive gelatin). and put under pressure in the TARDIS.

Fermentation: Took off pretty quickly, I had signs of positive pressure in 12hours, and a solid krausen at 24 hours. Due to the lower gravity, the fermentation seemed to finish around the time I raised my temp to 21 (Krausen was mostly gone). The FG was a little high, so either it doesn't attenuate as much as I thought, or the yeast simply got a bit lazy.
I think the latter is probably slightly more true, with specialty malts as well (Not overly common in this style of beer) may have contributed a touch, but definitely not where it sits.
Just FYI - Treat this yeast with care, to makes sure it attenuates fully, so run your Temp increase a day earlier than you plan to.

Appearance: Hazy light straw colour,  fluffy white head, with nice tight bubbles

Aroma: Banana and clove, with plenty of belgian spice. some Wheaty sweetness. Very much Belgian Wit. with a touch of hefeweizen

Flavour: Little to no hop character, bitterness is spot on. Typical Wheat/Wit type flavour, wheat cracker flavour/sweetness, and plenty of banana & Clove / spices.
Yeast is definiely at thefront of the flavour, very drinkable.


Overall: I quite like the yeast in general, and probably deserves more time to play around. Definitely what I would call a wit yeast, some definite clove/banana notes, but not as in your face as something like a full on wheat beer yeast.
For me this didn't attenuate where I was hoping it would, but I'll put that down to me, ratherthan anything else. 

Alot of my beers recently, have attenuated fast and aggressively, they've then dropped out either pre-maturely (insert dirty joke here) or missed the D-Rest time.

Next time I make this beer, I will dryhop and dry the beer out slightly more by removing the Gladiator/carapils, and the Melanoidin, and turn it into much more of a Wit type recipe, but with plenty of hops.

All in all, I'd recommend this yeast, and I will definitely play around further with it.

Until next time.
ROB

Thursday 7 April 2016

Lets Get Married - A guide to Brewing Enough Beer for your Special Day!

Marriage: It's such a special day in your lives and you want to share it with your family and friends, right?
So, personal touches are really great, and as a home-brewer what better touch to give, than personalised beer for your very own nuptials.

So, when I made the questionable decision to embark on this massive task. (and it was just that) I wanted to find another brewer who had done something like this previously, but I came up with only a small amount of information.
Some minor tid-bits on homebrewtalk.com and some good information from Scott @ bertusbrewery.com

So, here are a few tips for someone who is keen to make their special day even tastier, and more intimate.

THE VENUE:
Will the venue chosen serve your beer? 
If you anything like us, we had it at the Family Farm, so liquor licensing and serving issues were not an issue. The place must be ok with serving your delicious hand-crafted beverage, but bear in mind that some places won't; or will at least be wary of doing so.
Because, lets be honest if they won't do it, there is whole lot of fresh beer, which will probably take you some time to get through, unless you have a big party afterwards.

ORDER OF EVENTS/SERVING AREAS:
So for us, we organised a shaded area which we called "The Beer Garden" and of course the area where dinner was served, which had a bar etc.
Ensure you set these out accordingly, and allow space for your kegerator or serving apparatus. To make life easier, I would suggest that using a kegerator system or preferably two, to make it easier.

ALCOHOL VOLUME (ABV%):
To make sure your guests make it through the night, and their heads aren't too dodgy the next morning. Keep your alcohol volume lower, even though you could serve up some mighty fine IPA at 7%abv, but after a couple of pints it can take its toll.
For example My highest abv beer, was 5.2%.

BEER STYLES: 
Choose your beer styles carefully, having 5 Pale Ales and IPA's is all well and good, but you need to try and cater somewhat to your guests tastes. Something light, crisp and drinkable for those non-craft beer drinkers, something malty for those who enjoy the darker styles, generally the older generation of people.
It's all up to you, you want to showcase what your capable of, so why not show why you brew your own. 

TEST & EXPERIMENT:
Make trial batches, test and refine these beers, it is sooooo important to make sure your consistent with your recipes, and refine to where you believe it needs to be.
Enter the beers in local Home brew competitions, and let friends taste and evaluate your beer for feedback. If you win medals etc. it is just a bonus, and you can boast (like I did) about the beers receiving medals.

BACK TO SERVING:
Vary the serving techniques. I was able to get hold of an English style Hand pump/Beer engine from a friend, so I bagged a nice English Brown Ale, which has received a Bronze medal in competition. It a fun novelty idea to have your friends and family pullingtheir own pint in such a traditional way.









AMOUNT TO BREW:
This is where things get tricky. For me we had planned for 100 guests, and with two separate serving areas, the decision was made to make 3 5gal/20lit kegs for each area, with a 4th in a hand pump bag, in the "Beer Garden" I had approx 10-15 litres left over at the end of it all, so it was popular enough for people to drink most of it.
I did also make an additional 5 gal/20lit batch of the brown ale, and kegged, then bottled it all. Which did not get touched. (this was an added safety net to ensure we had enough grog)
So all I can say is assess the type of people who are coming, and take into account the season. If its spring / summer, lighter crisper styles are good and more of these will be needed. If you decide an autumn or winter wedding is what you want, people may choose red wine over beer, or consider brewing darker styles of beer to suit the climate.

SEDIMENT & CLARITY:
This one is off the beaten track a bit, as a number of home brewers aren't overly bothered with beer clarity etc. But it is something to think about. Like I said, cater for your guests, those people who drink the Budweiser, Speights or Tui's of the world like to see a nice clear beer. and lets be honest, who doesn't enjopy looking at a nice bright ale, or lager.
If you are serving from a keg, consider using fining agents like Gelatin. If you do, then to eliminate the crap at the bottom that settles, is after 1-2 weeks in the keg use a CO2 transfer from keg to keg to reduce sediment in the next keg. when you transfer under pressure, any risk of oxidation is minimal, leaving you with bright freshly flavored beer with a low risk of pouring something that looks like it came from a 3rd world country. (no offence)

GLASSWARE:
This is simple, but still very important. Beer needs to be served in a nice glass, especially when you are serving at a wedding. By all means you can use Bottle and let people drink from them. The problem with this is you don't get the aroma or look of the beer fro mthe bottle. Normally your caterer or venue will provide a glass. If possible don't use pint glasses, a goblet or pilsner type glass is a great idea.

SETUP TIME:
Allow plenty of time to transport your kegs, kegerator, or anything else you plan to serve from. I used power, so if you plan to power your kegerator, make sure your prepared for that.
Kegs will need time to settle, as the yeast sediment moves around during transport. (even if you transfer from keg to keg, a small amount of sediment may remain)

HAVE FUN WITH IT:
Here is the most important Point, just enjoy yourself. Enjoy the brewing process, but most importantly, enjoy your wedding day, it is a (Hopefully) once in a lifetime thing, so enjoy it, and brew/drink the good beer you brew.

I hope this gives you an insight and better idea of how to go about it.
cheers for reading,
Until next time.

ROB

Thursday 17 March 2016

THE CRUSADE CONTINUES

Hi Everyone,

In my time off I: 
- Got Married
- Built a TARDIS Kegerator
- Bought a Grain-Father Brewing System
- Brewed lots of Beer
- Drank Beer
- Emptied and re-filled Barrels
- Went to Festivals

So Plenty has happened, I've re-evaluated my priorities, and found that I was spending too much time trying to actually write about brewing and beer, instead of just enjoying the hobby, and so on.

So, what I decided to do with this blog is turn it into more of a niche. (I'm struggling to find words to describe how I'll run it. 
But essentially, I'll post the odd article and write some stuff, but not really try to find something to write about, as previously done.

So the only stuff you'll find here is actual interesting bits and pieces from brewing I think NEED to be talked about, rather than this is a beer I made today, this is how I think it tastes etc. I'll still probably do that for some of the more interesting beers I make, but they'll be more about the experiments etc.

SO, I'm mid post about writing up about getting married.......
Yep, MARRIAGE. But don't worry, it's very much Beer related.

So, the TARDIS.......
I'm not writing about it, but see the link below to see how it was made etc.
It worked well, and it was a great feature point of the Beer Garden.


So, thats all for now.
See you next time.

Thursday 7 January 2016

I'm coming back.....

After a long absence, I've decided to do some writing.

Stay tuned I'll be around soon.
Come see me around March time....