Brewday Capital Brewers

[Will_D]

Great Work Padraic

[Partridge9]

Finally found some time to publish a small article for the website: http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/capital-brewers-first-brewday-review/

Looks Great - well done

[Shanna]

Hi there,

Just wanted to publish an update to the brewing from the 8th to all of the "Capital Brewers". I broke all of the rules on the day (dropping the spoon in to the DME mix and then taking it out again). I must admit that brewing in unfamiliar surroundings threw me somewhat. Having to figure out where things were, how to switch on and off the rings (or at least the right ring was a challenge. It appears also that I miscalculated the amount of water I added to the fermenter cause I only ended up with about 20 ish litres of beer instead of the 23 litres called for by the can of extract. This should in theory make the beer a tad stronger due to the lower concentration of water. Using a bucket with no graduation mark meant that I was reduced to counting saucepans full of water from the tap in to the fermenter.

Getting the fermenter from Tog to my car in my companies car park on Pearse Street was uneventful thanks to Dempsey and his expert driving. I managed to get the fermenter home in one piece in my own car, although I had a few hairy moments driving up the hill from Blackrock to my house. Then it was out with the stanley knife to fashion a hole in the lid of the bucket. Of course i butchered the whole but being pig headed failed to admit it to myself at least initially. So after 1/2 hour it was out with the drill and the wood bit. This allowed me fashion a larger round hole. I had a spare bung that I was able to fit in to the hole so I was able to get my bubbler inserted.

if the first impression is anything to go by this batch should be nice, nicest colour beer that I have made to date and the taste was pretty nice also. I can't believe that the difference the fresh hops have made, hope this will last through in to the final beer. My guest bedroom at home has smelt really pleasant with the fermenter gurgling cascade infused C02 in to the air every so often from the hop bag (Partridge 9 will return this to you next time I see you).

Anyway last night I bottled approximately 30 bottles of the beer as it has hit an final gravity reading of 1.010. I am going to put 2 of these away for the competition in March and another batch of approximately 15 away for private consumption (help defray the cost of the kit, DME, hops etc). I hope this won't be a problem? The rest we can consume at a future tasting session. Hopefully this will be delayed till at least early February to allow these bottles to condition fully in my shed.

Padraic I have your fermentor (white bucket with the bastard of a lid that attempts to break your knuckles every time you even look at it ;-). I will return it the next time that we meet. Thanks to everybody who helped out on the day. I am determined to make a go of this brewing lark and with a bit of luck will continue to learn going forward.

Regards,

Declan

[DEMPSEY]

Dropping the spoon into the dme and taking it out again should be no problem,but licking it now that's a different matter .

[Shanna]

Hi there,

Just a quick update on the tog Sierra Nevada Pale Clone made from the kit and DME on the 8th of December and I am sorry to say Tube that unfortunately the beer tastes great ;-)

Not a hint of contamination despite my rough and ready cleaning and miscalculation with the water (upon reflection I think the hops might have absorbed a bit of the liquid). I am hopeful that the beer will improve no end after a month in the shed but for the first attempt I am pretty happy with it.

Declan