Hopping to it

Exciting times. I have finally decided to get a bit more experimental with one of my brews (only marginally) by adding some hops to the brew. The internet tells me that day three is about the right time to drop some hop pellets in there. But how much? Again the internet tells me that about an ounce is the right amount. So I measured out about 28 grams (which is apparently an ounce in modern measuring) of Chinook hops. Tip them in the top of the barrel and the float to the bottom. Hopefully that means I am going to get some hoppy action to balance out the maltyness of the home brew. Apparently it won't make the taste more bitter. You have to do that at mash making time (well more advanced than I am), but at least this will add a bit to the aroma.

Krausen Hell!

Maybe adding the brew enhancer late wasn't quite as harmless as I first thought. I opened the door to the cupboard to see froth bubbling out of the top of the airlock. I'm pretty sure that isn't supposed to happen. Fortunately the wonders of the internet assured me there was nothing to worry about, it was just Krausen, which is a fancy name for the froth you get on top of beer. At least I know it is working. The advice is to leave it to stop bubbling and then clean up and re-sanitise the air lock. After a few hours I checked it again and it was still bubbling away, with the Krausen blob getting even bigger and beer starting to pool on the top of the barrel. Trusting in the advice I left it to carry on and a few hours later the bubbling had died down quite a bit so I managed to get the airlock out, cleaned up and sanitised and then back in the hole on the top of the barrel. Hopefully that's the last we see of that.

Another round

Finally time to have another go at making my own brew. This time Countdown has hooked me up with not only the lids and sugar capsules but also the brewing kit. Coopers Real Ale. It's Australian...but the Aussies do actually make some good beers (Little Creatures) so there is no reason why this shouldn't be good. After the usual ceremony of cleaning the barrel and the equipment (hopefully Palmolive is OK cause I don't have any other beer kit cleaner) I poured the mixture into the barrel and started filling it up with water. I probably should have read the instructions at the start because I was supposed to mix in the brew enhancer before adding the water....Oh well, add it in later and mix it around. No harm done. At least I hadn't added the yeast yet. I had managed to sort out a new spot for my beer barrel, a nice little shelf in the garage cupboard. Hopefully that will keep the temperature a bit even. The days are warmer but it still gets cold at night.

Yeastie Boys - Digital IPA

With the good weather coming around and the homebrew starting to run low it was time to try another limited release from a local brewer. This time it was the local Wellington boys, Yeastie Boys. The Digital IPA has some sort of background which they put down to the 1s and 0s of digital code (you can read about it on their website.) The beer itself is a nice golden colour. You get a good hit of hops as you taste the beer, with quite a fruity aftertaste. Must be those Motueka hops. If you want to find out more about the Motueka hops, and all the other stuff in it, then you can because much like Firefox, VLC Media Player and a bunch of other cool software this beer is open source. They give you the recipe! Share away, cause beer is always better when you share it with someone else. This beer is well worth a share too. Very tasty. Love a good IPA and this one is gooooood.

Social Drinking

Social networks on the internet are all the rage. Some are more successful than others...So why wouldn't there be one for beer drinkers too? Well there are actually a few, but I have decided to have a go at one called Untappd. The thing I like about it is it is all about the beer. You can tell people about what you are drinking and find out about other beer before you drink it. What else do you need? So check it out.

Garage Project's Day of the Dead

I don't drink a lot of Garage Project beer. Mostly because it isn't available in as many places as some of its competitors like Tuatara or Epic. They are certainly one of the more experimental breweries around with all manner of small batch brews coming out trying all manner of brewing techniques. For me no trip to Moore Wilson's is complete without picking up a random beer to try. With Halloween having just passed the appropriate beverage had to be one of Garage Project's two Halloween specials and I decided on the Day of the Dead, a strong black lager. That's right, black lager. If I hadn't had it in the Czech Republic I would have thought it was a gimmick. In true Garage Project style they have mixed all sorts of random things into their brew like smoked chipotle chili and organic blue agave syrup (from cactus like in Tequila).

The beer itself has a nice dark look to it, like a stout, but as you would expect from a lager it isn't nearly as heavy to drink. You still get all the nice chocolatey, cocoa flavours but without the heavy aftertaste that comes along with a the porter our stout. I will be honest that I didn't really notice the chili or the cactus, but I would certainly drink this one again given the opportunity (I bought another bottle for the cupboard so the opportunity will arise again...)