Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Euston Tap



This country needs more pubs like the Euston Tap.

Hidden away inside an old gatehouse just infront of Euston station the Euston Tap is a beer lovers haven. Whilst appearing small on the outside the tap is a tardis stocked full of fine beers from all over the world.

The back wall is graced with 8 cask ales on gravity pour, 15 draught handles and 4 fridges rammed with the largest selection of bottles I've ever seen in a pub.
On offer on cask was a selection of beers from the UK including Thornbridge and Fyne ale. Draught beers included beers from the US, including Anchor Hummer, Sierra Nevada Torpedo & Bigfoot, as well as beers from the continent including several wheat beers, a selection of different styles of lager and a couple of fruit beers.
The selection of bottles included beers from breweries all around the globe, with a large selection of American craft beers as well as a varied selection from continental Europe.

The bar staff were very knowledgeable giving advice on beers and offering tasters of several of the beers.

The tap is suprisingly spacious considering how small it looks from the outside, a iron spiral staircase leads up to a cosy room with plenty of seating on the second floor.

The Euston Tap is not to be missed by beer lovers, you will not be disappointed!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Orange Molemel

1 Gallon of water
1kg of Honey
Juice of 2 oranges
50g of raisins
2 cloves
1 tsp of cinnamon powder

1 packet youngs wine yeast

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Fail Ale IPA




Well,  I'd ended up with loads and loads of grain left over from previous brews which I could've used up on a couple of normal beers,  but I decided to use up all in one go and have a go at brewing a massive IPA...


This is mostly inspired by the crazy IPAs which the Americans are producing.  I'd had a bottle of Stone Ruination IPA over Christmas and it had blown my face off; in a good way....

So I'd figured that there was no point doing this by halves and therefore there are a lot of hops involved!  This cumulated in the a mixture of Goldings, Willamette and Cascade being continually added over the period of the 60minute boil, and a further 75g of Cascade being added to the secondary fermenter.  This means that the final product will be over 9% and have about 135 IBUs..... 

As well as being a massive beer,  this is also the most complicated brew I've ever done.  Due to space limitations in the mash tun, and a desire to experiment with something new, I decided to go for a triple decoction mash.
In decoction mashing, the mash temperature is raised by pulling a specific amount of the thickest portion of the mash out of the mash tun and boiling for a period of time, and then returning it to the main mash in the tun. This caramelizes some of the sugars, giving the beer a deeper flavor and color, and frees more starches from the grain, making for a more efficient extraction from the grains.


 Brew day was quite successful, with my decoctions more or less hitting the correct temperatures and getting a decent extraction from the grain.  I pitched a couple of packets of Safale US-5 American Ale yeast, and it was fermenting like crazy the next morning.  
Now we just have to play the waiting game...


I have included the recipe bellow,  in case you are curious!

Brew Type: All Grain
Style: Imperial IPA
Batch Size: 22.50 L
Boil Volume: 26.80 L
Actual Efficiency: 74.67 %
Boil Time: 60 min
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.10 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 42.01 %
1.67 kg Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 17.11 %
1.60 kg Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 16.39 %
1.30 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (13.2 SRM) Grain 13.32 %
1.00 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 10.25 %
0.09 kg Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 0.92 %
50.00 gm Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 22.7 IBU
90.00 gm Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 29.7 IBU
18.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 6.8 IBU
75.00 gm Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
18.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (55 min) Hops 6.6 IBU
18.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (50 min) Hops 6.4 IBU
20.00 gm Cascade [5.50 %] (45 min) Hops 7.6 IBU
18.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (45 min) Hops 6.2 IBU
30.00 gm Williamette [5.50 %] (40 min) Hops 10.9 IBU
18.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (40 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
18.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (35 min) Hops 5.6 IBU
24.00 gm Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 7.6 IBU
24.00 gm Williamette [5.50 %] (25 min) Hops 6.9 IBU
24.00 gm Williamette [5.50 %] (20 min) Hops 6.0 IBU
24.00 gm Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min) Hops 4.9 IBU
24.00 gm Williamette [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 3.6 IBU
24.00 gm Williamette [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.0 IBU
2 Pkgs Safale US-05 Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile


Measured Original Gravity: 1.096 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.027 SG
Estimated Color: 18.3 SRM (8.0-15.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 138.7 IBU (60.0-120.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 69.8 AAU
Alcohol by Volume: 9.06 %
Calories: 955 cal/l


Mash Profile


Name: Decoction Mash, Triple

Mash Grain Weight: 9.76 kg
Grain Temperature: 22.2 C Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C
Sparge Water: 15.52 L


Name Description Step          Temp Step Time
Step Add 16.00 L of water at 39.2 C 36.0 C 40 min

Protein Rest

Add 6.00 L of water at 96.0 C

50.0 C

35 min

Saccharification

Decoct 5.72 L of mash and boil 

63.0 C

45 min

Saccharification

Decoct 4.16 L of mash and boil

70.0 C

45 min

Mashout

Decoct 3.67 L of mash and boil  75.0 C 40 min