Too Cool for School

I checked on the beer barrel  in the morning before going to work and it was clear all was not as it should be. The thermometer showed a temperature of 12° (although you could barely see it). That is well below the optimal temperature for brewing and in fact is so cold that the beer wouldn't be brewing at all. Looks like my heating pad was money well invested. It said not to turn the heating pad for the first 24 hours but I decided to throw caution into the wind and throw the switch.

I came back after work and was pleased to see I had done the right thing. The temperature was up at 22°, a good temperature for brewing, and the air lock was bubbling away nicely with that carbon dioxide showing that the yeast was doing its thing.

My Garage Project

My heating pad has finally arrived. Big plastic square with "Copper Tun" across the front of it and a power lead coming out the side. Not much too look at but apparently this thing will let me brew beer in the cold that is Wellington winter. It is now even more important as I have sacrificed some of my work bench in the garage to set myself up a proper brewing space, rather than taking up room in our laundry. It isn't actually a good example of cleanliness is godliness with cobwebs and dust and other dirt around the place but there is something that just feels right about brewing beer in a space that has a concrete floor. You can see my new bottle capper on the bench too. Lets see how reusing beer bottles from my various drinking adventures works.

A rainy ANZAC day is the perfect opportunity to finally put on another brew. Hasn't been much of a brewing blog so far has it? Won't tell you all about the cleaning again. That was basically the same as last time. Don't need a million photos of soap suds.

Instead of malt mixture in a can, this time it came in a pouch. Apparently the pouch seals in the flavours and keeps it fresher longer. Not sure that really makes a difference to me. You have to rest the pouch in hot water for 15 mins to loosen up th mixture inside so after that I tipped the gooey mess into the barrel. It was a dark brown with streaks of light brown through it. Not sure what that was all about but hopefully it makes for a tasty pale ale. All filled up and yeast added and time for it to work its magic again. The heating pad is not supposed to be used in the first 24 hours so hopefully it will keep itself warm in the meantime.

The brew was a cool 21º at the moment. That is pretty borderline in terms of temperature. Lucky I got that heating pad. Last thing to do was the hydrometer test. Readings 117, 56 and 5.5%. Still no idea what that is all about...

Boundary Road Brewery Red Baron

Another large brewery craft beer today. I have had mixed experiences with Boundary Road Brewery before. Some of their beers are a bit single minded in the tastes. If it tells you it has flavour then that is what you get (chocolate milk anyone?) Nonetheless that isn't a reason to not try their beers. With that in mind I had myself a glass of the Boundary Road Red Baron. It markets itself as an amber ale with a smooth malt taste has a wee story on it about WWI fighter planes.

It came out nice and dark brown
as you would expect from a good amber ale. The taste is definitely malty with that being the overwhelming flavour. You get some hops but not too strong. it also has a slightly burnt taste which I enjoy. I believe those with fancier pallets call that toffee and caramel. I call it burnt. Tasty beer. Would gladly have it again.

Yeastie Boys Golden Perch Summer Ale

Well, they tried to deliver my heat pad but I wasn't home so all they left was a car. I went to their website and scheduled for it to be delivered again Today. Unfortunately I get home and no sign of the heating pad. How disappointing Post Haste...

Guess I best be talking about someone else's beer again. Another one from Yeastie Boys today. Even though we are now well into a cool and wet autumn I thought I would throw it back a couple of months and try the Yeastie Boys Golden Perch Summer Ale, although it is actually an English Pale Ale.

The beer had a nice yellowy cloudy colour. There was a smooth smokey taste. There was some hops but not too strong. Pretty similar to the homebrew summer ale I had last month. Actually works quite well in autumn. Not what I would expect from a pale ale but I still enjoyed it.

Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta IPA

Well. no sign of the heating pad but that's fine because it means I can continue to drink and talk about other people's beers. Today's candidate is the Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta IPA. This beer is the winner of a few awards. People's choice at the Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular 2012 (for which it was specifically created) and Hashigo Zake's Beer of 2012. The twist on this one is that as a part of the brewing process they imbue it with Earl Grey Tea. I have tried beer imbued with tea before so I was interested to see how this one tasted.

The colour was a nice middle brown. It looked nice and smooth. Even though it is an IPA the taste was actually maltier than hoppy. It tasted good, but when you are drinking ale you want a bit more hoppyness. The tea taste was also much subtler than I expected it to be. That was shame as it could have enhanced the hoppy bitterness. It was a smooth drink and I did enjoy it but maybe it was a bit of a lesson in leaving your expectations at the door.

Blame it on the rain

Woo hoo! Water restrictions are all over so I can use the water to make some more beer.

Boo hoo...with the rain has come the cold so I don't think I will be able to get the brew temperature up to where it needs to be.

Oooh hooo? Bought myself a Copper Tun Heat Pad online so when it arrives we will see how that works. Might mean I can brew in the garage instead of the laundry too. That will keep my wife happy.

Monteiths Brewers' Series IPA

So these water restrictions are continuing. Even though it has been raining quite a bit they tell us we still have to conserve water. Hopefully shouldn't be too much longer. That means no brewing though. Doesn't stop me drinking beer though, so thought I might share my thoughts on some other people's beers. 

For many years Monteiths led the way in terms of making interesting beer in New Zealand that you could still buy. Appreciate they are no longer an independent brewery, being owned by DB, but that doesn't mean they can't make good beer. They now have their Brewers Series to tap into that craft market, so I thought I would go for a good standard against which to measure, their Indian Pale Ale. They market it as being very malty and having a high hop content.

There was certainly a strong malty taste. But you could only really get a very slight taste of the hops. rather than being bitter it actually had more of a citrus taste. It had a nice honey colour. Overall it was a nice easy drink although not anything that amazed me. I would drink it again but it wouldn't be my first choice.