Jim's Beer Kit

EoinMag wrote: I'd suggest bellebouche is more of a wine maker than a beer brewer.

Ouch!

We have enough vines here to produce a couple hundred litres of a perfectly mediocre wine every year.

My beers on the other hand are marginally better!

I'm guessing lees contact is a key thing in the development of the flavour. Not sure what you mean by this? I was also wondering about the fermentation so I asked someone in my brewing group, and they reckoned that it was just an ageing suggestion. Personally, I will be leaving it to ferment until ...

Attenuation by this yeast continues at a steady pace, despite ambient temperatures dropping a little. In the face of the evidence I'd decided against rousing and just to let the yeast do its thing. The temperature has dropped so I moved the control batch to the top of a chick brooder (!) to bring it...

I'm planning on that recipe for the Big Brew day itself as I'm hosting the event here. I'm quite intrigued by the simple recipe and the partial caramelisation of the first few litres of the first runnings. I notice that for both the extract and all grain recipes that stipulate a 4-week low temperatu...

Both showing a similar rate of attenuation at 7 days Day 4, 16c, 1028. Day 7, 17.5c, 1022. Markedly different flavours though. I was very surprised by the wherry, thick mouthfeel, astringent hop bitterness, no sublety of aroma. Quite cloudy. Far less krausen on top. The modified half that had the su...

Made my starter, 650ml of 1035 wort with the single 6g muntons yeast supplied. Left it 30 hrs @ 16c where it multiplied spectacularly - seen here at right.... http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2722/4494535150_0ba9af3df2.jpg With the remainder 350ml of starter I've set a culture from a St. Bernadus prio...

Winters finally making signs of being behind me and the last of my winter brews are running low - it's time to start the first brew of the year. I've got a Woodefords Wherry kit (2x 1.5Kg cans in a kit) and I thought I'd try an interesting experiment with one can brewed out to 11litres as a 'negativ...

A little update from across the channel. But first, I'll set the scene! http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3361/3608694940_15b82469b4.jpg A pic I took on Jun 7th this year about 10 mins up the road from me. Turns out as we had such splendid weather there's a bit of a bumper barley crop this year. Yields...

Briefest of brief updates. The "big cube" version was a distinct hit. Far superior to the un-oaked variant (my negative control). I've got one 650ml bottle left to taste next week and then it'll be all gone. Have two 5 litre secondaries *still* glugging away, albeit just once a week or so now. They'...

Bottled off the 'big cube' version of this last night as I'd noticed that half of the cubes had sunk to the bottom of the carboy. Oak flavour was quite subtle. The Beer still needs a couple of months to finish in the bottle yet and I hope the Oak lasts the distance. I split one cube with a cleaver a...

Ahhh. Little sample of the cubed version. No perceptible oak flavour. Similar sip of the roasty toasty chipped version... some very mild oak flavour, more astringent, not as sweet as the cubed (this was dry hopped, had the Brett and was showing a little 'head in the carbouy). It's only been racked o...

Ahh.. I'm surprised that 30g of Oak for just 5 days had such a stark impact. I'm away from home right now (Drinking Beartown beers from Congleton, Cheshire) but will have a sample this evening when I return, flavour update tomorrow. Can I ask if you used the chips 'raw' or if they were toasted at al...

I'm having a little experimentation with Oaking a recent brew. I've used a Brewferm 'Ambiorix' kit as the base, made it up with Belgian Candi syrup and last night racked off onto an assortment of dry hops, oak cubes and toasted oak chips. One Carbouy even got a shot of Orval dregs - hoping that I ge...