Saturday 22 January 2011

When will I learn?

Although a week early, I decided to try a bottle of the Ginger Tom. Must admit, I was more interested in the carbonation and settling out more than anything. I thought the beer tasted crap....certainly did when I bottled it!

Well. One week. Just a week. A different beer. The sour lemony taste had gone. There is still a tang but this compliments rather than dominating. Clearly lots of malt....but wait, what's that warming burn I feel at the back of the throat??? Ginger!! This has actually turned out to be not a bad beer at all. I need to learn to have patience, and trust the technique.



Carbonation was good...if not a bit too bright. Settling.....well, it could do with more, as the photo suggests. But bottling seem a success. No astringency either, which means this comes from over hopping, or, more likely, extracting tannins from the grain - which I eliminated by steeping. Could be a success!

Sunday 9 January 2011

The Ginger Tom is brewed

Eventually, I got my arse in gear today to start another brew. I had looked at a Ginger Beer recipe before, so decided to give it a go, and bottle it!

I changed a few things this time around. I steeped the crystal, rather than boiled it. I am hoping that might get rid of a few of the more astringent tastes I sometime get (possibly from tannins extracted by boiling grains). Problem was maintaining the steeping temperature at 70C...what a bitch, so let's say this was an 'average'! I am also unsure whether the crystal was as light as I was expecting, so I have adjusted the recipe for a darker colour.

I froze, defrosted, and grated the ginger, into the boiler, and also added sliced ginger and sultanas to the FV. Expected it to be uber-gingery.....mmm, not quite. First taste I got a slight warmth. To be honest, a bit of a let down.

Well, let's see how fermentation goes, shall we?

Your friendly neighbourhood brewshop?

What is about some real ale folk? They seem to take a bit of an aggressive pleasure in telling you you're wrong...and implying you're a bit of a prat. You get it working at beer festivals too, where you're made to feel like you've never drunk a pint in your life. Perhaps these people are crap at everything else, and it boosts their ego to demonstrate their expertise in something relatively arcane. No wonder some people find us weird! I just hate people who talk to you in such a condescending manner thtat you feel you don't want to persue your interest....rather than the hundreds of really interested CAMRA folk, who are so in to it, all they want to do is take you by the hand and get you to taste and experience as much as possible.....that's more like it!

And so it was that this week I happened to pop into the only brewshop for miles. I couldn't get what I needed in Holland & Barrett, and I didn't want to pay the P&P from the VERY HELPFUL and NOT POMPOUS folk at Hop and Grape.

Wasn't I put in my place?! I excused myself by saying that what I had read is...., to which I was told...'That's Wheeler. He's an idiot'....thanks, kind of implies I must be one too. I then got subjected to 15 minutes of being told what to do in a voice not unlike they probably use to foreign waiters: 'We call that the wort, that's WORT...' etc. etc.

Thank God there are people like H&G, and the always enthusiastic, knowledgable, but friendly peeps at Bitter Virtue...they never make not knowing seem like a crime. On their virtues will the rise of real ale drinking continue. Wish I could say the same for those at the brew shop!

Christmas Crawl

A bit late on this report, but what a splendid day was had 29th December 2010. Closing the year with a few beers around the Capital has become a bit of a tradition, especially if we plan to go to a few different places! We concentrated on the Clerkenwell area, and dropped down towards Smithfield. Not a bad part of town.

We started the afternoon at the Betsey Trotwood. Lovely one roomed, corner pub. It does live music and such, but I quite liked the one bar set up, reminded me of a proper boozer. They missed a trick that day - they decided NOT to open the kitchen, and they could have done a dozen covers just whilst we sat and enoyed our first pint. Beer selection was a bit basic, but the Spitfire was well kept....and the organic pork pie rather tasty!

Not getting grub there, we moved onto the Crown Inn on Clerkenwell Green. Downstairs was busy (a lot of people who asked for lunch in the BT were spotted here!). It looked touch and go as to whether we could get seats, but then we found the upstairs room. What a great place. Food not bad, and the Black Horse Porter (White Horse Bewery) was superb! There were a few other guests on, and a range of international brews too...would definitely return.



Post lunch, we moved on to the Jerusalem Tavern, which was, sadly, closed. Shame, I fancied a pint of St. Peter's beer, and the pub looks a nice spot in a very quiet part of town. So we carried ever onwards towards Smithfield Market, and dropped in on the Fox and Anchor.

Passable pint in there...nice place, lots of little alcoves. My major gripes were that the barman tried to serve me a pre-pulled beer, and everyone in the front of the pub seemed to drink wine. I suspect it is a tad pretentious. Still a nice pint of Pere Ubu, and an interesting pint of Nethergate christmas offering.

Walking back towards Farringdon, we decided against the brushed metal and rather lagery feel of Smiths of Smithfield, and instead opted to go straight to Ye Olde Mitre. What a pub this is! Been several times, keep going back. It's like a secret bit of London. Great beer, never a wide choice, but well kept. Two pints of Seafarers in there, and round the corner to the Scotch Malt Whiskey Tasting Rooms for a night-cap before hitting the trains!

Top day.........now to start planning next/this years!!!!