Sunday 24 November 2013

Brew day -- Pale Ale Day

I love brew day. Get up on a Sunday and think some thoughts. Good thoughts. Cheery thoughts. Regretful thoughts. Just thoughts. 

"What am I doing today? Where the flick am I? How can I shake off this hangover that's been lingering around since Friday" KFC? No way. Tried that last time. Didn't work out too well. 

Shake out some of that tar from all those Friday-night ciggies. Jig it out. Chuck on a tune. Check the score. 4 for ... yeah, that's okay. Pour us a beer, eh? 11am ... yeah no worries. Not driving. Not 'till later. Yep. Where we at? Okay. So let's get a brew going.

Pale Ale might be one of the greatest beers of all time. 

Might be. 
Probably isn't. 
Don't care. 

Made it anyways.

Here's how we did it.



Step one is to get the pot boiling. So when Michael says he'll see us at 11am, we know he's put the pot on to boil early. He put it on at 10am. It reached the right temperature at 11:20am. It hit 69 degrees. That doona is keeping all the heat inside the pot. Keep the lid on and wait for everyone to turn up.
Make sure the temperature is right
Make sure the hat looks right for the photo
Meanwhile, get the hops ready for the boil. A good range of hops today. Horizon, Cascade, Centennial. Tasty!
And these are our immersion heaters. Hanging off the back of a trolley. It's a good system. 
Time to drop the voile in.
Good luck with that 
Boo! 
And now it's time to tip in the grain.
It's a big bag ...
Squeeze it all out. 
Fill up the pot
And stir it through ...
Bit of a handful
Frothy!
Meanwhile, it's a good time to clean the gear. 
Michael finally had the chance to hold a long and powerful water jet in his hands
Hi Lucy!
This water cannon might be one of the greatest inventions of all time.
The best bit is getting to aim it each other.
So, back to the brewery. 
And time to check the temperature
Probably should have a beer first. A big Heretic beer, thanks to Ben. 
Luke brought me over a Breaking Bad suit. #squinching.
Now, this is a great tool
You put it to your eye ...
And it tells you the sugar level of the wort. Clever!
But, we've got to get the hops ready
And it's time to lift out the mash.
Josh came over to help us. 
Tie a knot ...
Tie it tight.
Tighter ...
Tight enough.
and that's lunch, gentlemen.
Okinama -fucking-yami!
Can you smell the hops?? 
Mash out!!!! 
and get the boil going.
Good time to have a break and a snack. Ben made us some cheese, salami and NZ pickles. 
But Michael had his mind on the job.
Luke had his mind on the coffee machine. Nice little flair there on the crema. 
But time for you to get back in the brewery, 
Stir the pot,  boyo!
The boil is finished and it's time to move it into the cubes. 
Gently, gently ...
gennnnnnnntttttttllllllllyyyyyyyy ....
The cake left over at the end.
Filled the cubes.
Cubes.
3 . 0000000011 cubes filled
beer
and the leftover grain. Feed the chooks!