Brew Dog

A trip to The Supermarket, or for the Americans amongst you, The Store, provided the obligatory wander down the beer section. 

Crates on one side, and a surprisingly wide ranging selection of ales, bitters, ciders and lagers on the other.

I was after something I'd not tried before and straggling on the bottom shelf was a funky looking bottle which screamed PUNK at me. 

To my surprise, I saw it was a BrewDog beer.  I'd only recently become familiar with the company BrewDog through my exploits on Twitter so thought it would be good to put a taste to the name.  Sold.

There were a couple of bottles down there two by BrewDog, "Hardcore" and "5A.M Saint".

Looking at the "Hardcore" bottle, it had a whopping 9.8% ABV whacked on the side of it, which scared me.  Small steps, lets not get carried away!

Brew Dog's background

Taken from their website.

"At BrewDog we are on a mission – a mission to create some of the most extraordinary, non-conformist, craft beers known to man, or dog.

Our beers strive to be everything mass produced, mainstream beers aren't which means every BrewDog beer is 100% free of the preservatives, additives and harmful chemicals.

We've decided to replace these unnecessary nasties with ingredients like passion, determination and a touch of the obscure; and that’s all on top of brewing our beers in small, hand-crafted batches from our brewery in rugged north east Scotland.

BrewDog’s beers are the epitome of pure punk. We brew uncompromising, bold and irreverent beer, beer with a soul and a purpose.

Our approach has the same contempt of the mass beer market that the old-school punks had for pop-culture. "

Quite a refreshing mission statement, I felt inspired.  Not really to make me go out and take on the world, but to know that there is some real thought going into making new advances and breaking boundaries in our drinking habits.  Beers can get boring, and I think the people at Brew Dog have recognised this.

I'll definitely be drinking more BrewDog beers.  Really tasty and was disappointed I only bought two. 

Thanks for the new tastes and experiences.  Much Recommended.

http://www.brewdog.com/

Coopers Austrailian Lager

While I do not claim to be a beer expert, this is just my experience and how it all made me feel.  Right or wrong, I enjoyed writing it.

This was my first attempt at homebrewing after months of research, should I, shouldn't I, and hours of "craigtube" - he's a real help.

The kit came with everything i needed, clear instructions and they were easy to follow.

Everything went well, left it for 7 days, then put it into 2nd FV which had my bottling wand - great gadget, saved time and no mess. Left in the bottles for 2 weeks, tasted great, refreshing, full of flavour.

I used the carbonation drops that came with the kit, and again they saved time and no mess. ( can you tell i don't like to clean up mess, ha!)

I gave loads out to family and friends because they'd all encouraged me to get into it, and obviously wanted some free beer. I glugged about 20 bottles myself, in about 2 weeks 99% were gone, and towards the end of the 2nd week (4th week in the bottle) they were tasting nicer and nicer.

I left 4 bottles for a further 4 weeks and then opened them and the taste blew the first bottle opened out of the water. I'd recommend leaving it in the bottle at least 4 weeks before opening.

This is a light, skippy, dancing beer that actually has a great taste, nothing like the commercial lagers, much better.

go for it, especially during the summer.

(bought from http://www.brewuk.com/  )

Choosing a Beer to Brew

There was only ever going to be one type of brew for the first one.  All my friends and most of my family just drink lager, the golden gassy commercial beers. 
As I was always going to share out 70% of the beer, there's no point in giving someone something I know they wont like before they've even tasted it.
So good old Lager it was.

I ordered this from http://www.brewuk.co.uk/ where there is a wide ranging selection of all sorts of beer kits.  An easy site to navigate with a friendly forum as well which i use a lot to see if I'm on the right road.  Go check it out.

The kit contents were; the can of malt (pictured), sachet of 6G Yeast, 1kg Brewing Sugar and a bag of Coopers Carbonation Drops.  Simple. 

The instructions inside covered every angle and weren't complicated.

Although personally I wanted to brew up an ale of some sorts, I felt this was a great choice and had good reviews.

Support

I had great support from friends and family who all associated homebrew as a strong loopyjuice that just tasted a bit nasty. 
Neither the less, they all kept their empty bottles for me, all hoping to get them back at some point full of beer.
Getting everyone on board gave me the extra motivation and enthusiasm to get it right and get my beer out there for all to taste.
The bottles came in slowly, too slowly really for what I needed.  Luckily my Uncle owns a bar and I raided his bottle bin one Sunday morning.  Felt like a bit of a tramp but needs must.  It wasn't that bad really.  Funny if anything.
Most of all, support from the Wife.  I'm not sure if it was the promise of me being out in the shed in the evening while the Soap Opera's roll out their usual hostility, or the prospect of her having a banker when it came to thinking of Birthday/Christmas gifts. 

So like any new venture, having those closest to you giving their full support makes everything that bit more enjoyable and simpler.

Start Up - Equipment

Not the most exciting post,  but perhaps a helpful one for those starting out.

This is what I bought from http://www.brewsmarter.co.uk/  for about £100.
It was a reasonably priced website which had everything I had researched.  Easy to navigate etc etc.


33 Litre Fermenter, Lid and Bung for Airlock (where the beer is mixed and left in for however many days)

23 Litre Fermentation Vessel and lid fitted with drum tap (where the beer is syphoned into for bottling)

Bubbler Airlock with Cap ( to release the CO2 from the bucket without letting anything back in)

Thermometer (to ensure the beer is at the right temperate to ferment)

Hydrometer (measures the sugar content to check fermentation is complete and to figure out the alcohol %)

Auto Syphon 23 litre ( to transfer the beer quickly and without contamination)

Nylon Bottle Brush

Beer Plastic Paddle (used for mixing)

Twin Lever Capper (for capping bottles)

Crown Caps (bottle tops)

VWP Cleanser 400g (steriliser - invaluable stuff, it is your friend use it!!!)

Little Bottler / Bottling Wand (a must have for easy bottling without a mess)

Brew Belt (heats the bucket to keep it at the right temperature if you keep your beer in the garage or shed)


All you need now is the beer.

****KEEP THE SHIPPING CARDBOARD BOX YOUR ORDER COMES IN,

IT WILL COME IN HANDY****

A Mine Field

That's exactly what this is.  Its difficult coming into something totally new and be able to see the wood for the trees. 
Extract, grain, hops, malt, fermentation, conditioning, steeping.......I found it difficult not to get disheartened and lose interest, thinking "nah this isn't for me, i thought it would have been simpler".

Well, like anything you learn, you need to strip it back, go to basics.  I trawled the Internet and YouTube to get familiar with what the terms were, what the processes were and where it was best, or should I say easiest to start.

Before I got involved with which beer to make, what process to chose, I decided to look at the equipment needed and what they all did.

Basics, learning to drive, you learn how the car works.  Same.

Research, Research, Research

Hours and hours spent online, youtube and every hombrew forum gave an excellent insight into how to get started, what you need, and if you can actually be bothered with it all.

My favourite source of the above was Craig Tube http://www.youtube.com/user/CraigTube straight talking, down to earth, guy from Canada who give a step by step guide to everything, without rambling.  So take a look at his stuff, he goes right back to basics aswell as doing the more advanced stuff if thats what you want.

I like a beer

So, I'm guessing you've arrived here because you share the same sentiment.

Of course you do.



I had'nt really delved too adventurously into different beers at all until about 3 years ago.  I just drank the usual Carling, Stella, Fosters, Bud.  You know, the big commercial gassy beers.



The Kinmel Arms St George



Boxing Day saw the start of an annual trip to the country style pub nearby.  The 3 legged hay bale race and several pints with family has its obvious attractions.  My usual in there was a pint of Peroni, which was not a pint found in most places in the area, and since the World Cup in Germany its always reminded me of a great summer of football, sun and beer.

But not this year.  Four pumps lined the front of the cold marble bar, and a trip from one end to the other and back again was a challenge set by my Father in Law, affectionately known as FIL.  (Mother in Law is MIL).

So there's me, MIL and FIL, and the Wife (designated driver).

I wont bore you with each pint, but they were local ales and bitters which surprised me with how tasty and easy to drink they were.

Boxing Day was a game changer.  I completely went off Peroni and the like, and 9 times out of 10 I will now always have a taste of what the pumps with no name have in store.

That's a brief story of my life in beer, fairly short but nice to account for.