Winter is starting to kick in and grab us all by the balls. Men need strong beers. Beers too gird the loins. To stave off illness. To add iron to the bloodstream and fire to the belly. Beer can see us through the darker days.
The Ales were ready to drink. The Pale Ale had come home and had sat in the fridge for a while. It beckons me. It taunts me. It whispers to me at night when no one is around and the wind is howling through the rafters. But it is not the season for Pale Ale. The rain and the cold and the sleet suggest other, heartier Ales. And so it is time to bring home the Amber Ale and the Brown Ale. And like squirrels, we each have hidden enough of a supply to see us through the colder months. Hibernation calls.
And yet, we look forward. The Porter had been sitting on the cake for a while. Maybe a bit too long. Time to get it into bottles. We threw away the idea of adding coffee to it. Let's see how it drinks in July.
Another idea we had was to try and perfect our IPA. We want to get the hops right. A balance of flavour and aroma. Of fruitiness and zest against earthiness and body. We hope to create a signature hops blend that can be applied to all our IPAs. We took some notes -- you can see these below.
The beer is drinking well. Come and have one with us.
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| The pot is a beautiful thing, all cosy in its doona with its heaters tucked in tightly |
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| Got to get the water to about 72 degrees |
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| We bought another floating thermometer. Don't drop it, buddy! |
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| Ben was sick, so we gave him a special job standing in the rain |
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| How's the weather, Benny? |
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| Lots of hop combinations to consider |
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| Check the gravity of the Porter that's in the conditioning fridge |
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| Seems about right! |
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| Keep filling those buckets Ben |
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| The Porter is looking tasty |
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| But back to the IPA |
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| The water is at the right temperature |
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| Time to get the voile in |
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| clamp it down |
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| Tip in the grain |
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| And get it all in |
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| Meanwhile, we divided up the Brown Ale |
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| There's plenty there |
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| Gotta keep the mash at about 72 degrees |
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| Nice paddle |
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| Add some heat |
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| and give it a stir |
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| But here's the Porter ready to move into the other keg |
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| And we split the Amber Ale six ways, and divided this amongst three of us, on a 1/6 ratio. Maths, bitch! |
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| Getting the sugar syrup ready for the Porter |
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| Stop drinking the sugar-syrup!! |
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| And moving the Porter down into the clean keg |
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| This helps us to keep a lot of the sediment in the first keg, and not in our lovely beer, |
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| The conditioning fridge gets a bit mouldy when it stays at a constant temperature of 20 degrees |
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| Ben cleaned all the bottles and stacked them nicely |
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| Michael's weighing hops |
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| And we had a bit of a choice of hops today. |
HERE ARE OUR TASTING AND SMELLING NOTES FOR TODAY'S HOPS
CENTENNIAL
Michael -- Passionfruit, Citrus, and hmmm ... yummy
Ben -- Love, Oatmeal (?), Coriander in the back
Chris -- Grass and Hay, Sparkling, Zest
COLUMBUS
Michael -- Grassy, Floral, Sweet
Ben -- Spicy, Pepper, Dope
Chris -- Mould, Earthy Meaty tones, Oranges
AMARILLO
Michael -- Ooh ... ow ... big, Sour, Orange
Ben -- Chives, Coriander, Mint
Chris -- Spearmint Leaf Lollies, Flowers, Sugar
CITRA
Michael -- Tangerine, Apricot, it's a kind of ... ah ... sweet but it's not sweet it's citrusy sweet
Ben -- Marmalade, um ... ahem ... sweet, Turmeric
Chris -- Lemonade, Vine Leaves, Moroccan Spices like that 361 beer
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| It's time to Mash-Out |
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| Use the pulley |
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| Take the strain |
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| easy ... easy |
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| tie it off |
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| And we're there |
GENTLEMEN, THAT'S LUNCH
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| Today's lunch was brought to us by Michael and his smoky beef sensation |
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| First, Ben checked the standings at Race 5 at Randwick |
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| Get the well seasoned meat in the BBQ |
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| And the plan is to smoke it |
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| With Mesquite and whiskey! |
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| After about three hours it was ready |
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| Who wants toast with theirs? |
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| It needs salsa, too! |
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| Yum! |
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| Better get a beer. Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! |
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| And sit and watch the beer drip into the pot. This is often the best part of brew-day |
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| The Porter had not made it all the way into the second keg |
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| The line was blocked |
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| And so I thought I'd scoop the rest in by hand |
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| Not the best job, but got us another 7-8 litres |
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| The wort had hit a rolling boil, time to add the hops |
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| First in Columbus. |
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| And to start bottling, we needed to move the bottles over to the bottling table |
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| Let's use the trolley |
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| What could possibly go wrong? |
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| Nothing, because here is all the Porter in the bottles! |
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| Good job, Ben! |
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| And the IPA was ready to move into the keg |
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| It got to about 47 litres |
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| And into the fridge with the bottled Porter |
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| Brewery Selfie!! |
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| And here's all the Ale at home |
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| And into the cellar |
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| Not a lot of room left. You better come round and drink some |
