Bateman's Rosey Nosey

Turkey, Ham, Pavlova, Trifle...Santa, Rudolf, Presents, Family...Champagne, Egg Nog, Beer!

What better time to try a new beer but Christmas time. Santa was good enough to give me a brew bearing his visage this year. This one's an English beer called Rosey Nosey, by Bateman's Brewery. They have somehow brewed it so that you get both a malty and hoppy finish at the same time. The idea behind it is that it tastes a bit like Christmas Pudding. I am not a big fan of Christmas Pudding, fruitcake or any of those raisiny, sultanay deserts, however, although it has some festive spicyness to the taste to give it some Christmas cheer it is by no means as strong a taste as Christmas Pud. It was tasty enough, but perhaps more suited to a pub in the middle of English Winter than out on the deck in the middle of NZ summer.

Fill Em

Now that the hops had had time to do their thing it was time for that all important, but oh so slow, job of bottling. I got my bottles nicely cleaned and sanitised, and set to work at filling and capping them. Won't go into detail. You know how that part all works by now. I had hoped to be able to complete another brew shortly after this one, but it is pretty clear that I just don't have enough bottles to do that just yet. Only one way to deal with that problem...bottoms up!

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.