And Slaters Go Plop

Over the last year or two I’ve been using a couple of 30L plastic fermenters while brewing. One of them, the second one I bought, has developed odd white ‘scratch’ lines and I’m not sure what’s caused them. I’ve never used anything harsher than a nylon scrubbing brush to clean it and I’m tempted to think that these are actually artefacts of a kind of blistering of the plastic rather than actual scratches. Perhaps something to do with a fault in the manufacturing process as my other fermenter shows no signs of these.

Difficult to see, but here are the odd chalky-looking scratches.

Any form of surface damage worries me because I can’t be as sure I’ve been able to remove any embedded bacteria or other unwanted organisms and so I decided to splash out and pay twice the amount for a 23L glass carboy.

I’ve never used glass before and am aware that there is a danger involved when lifting and that transferring liquids can be tricky due to the lack of a tap at the bottom. I am, however, looking forward to being able to watch vigorous fermentations through the glass!

***UPDATE***

I’ve just taken a much closer look and it appears that these aren’t scratches at all. Some kind of crystallisation or chemical build-up which came away when I used my fingernail. Any ideas? (Oh well, still looking forward to using the glass carboy even if it was money unnecessarily spent).

q = (b*r)/100

The quality of your brew (out of 100) is equal to the number of batches (to a maximum of 100) you have brewed multiplied by how highly you rate it (out of 100) and divided by 100.

(Or, in plain English: “The beer you make yourself doesn’t taste nearly as good as you think it does, especially when you first start out”)

Tomorrow morning is Brew Day. It’s been three weeks and I’m probably going to have restless dreams in anticipation.

For me, Brew Day usually starts at around 6am and finishes four or five hours later by which time I have over 20 litres of beer settled in my fermenter for the next week or two where it will magically turn sugary, malty water into delicious beer.

Above is a photo of all you really need to make beer; crushed malted barley, hops and yeast (at a trifling cost of only NZ$27 — that’s around 35c per standard 330ml bottle). All I have to do is let the malted barley sit in nice warm water for an hour or so where enzymes will convert the starches into sweet fermentable sugars, then I boil this sugary water up with some hops for an hour or so, cool it down and add the yeast which will do all the rest for me by eating the sugars and producing alcohol and carbon dioxide as waste products.

This week I’m making an English Ordinary Bitter which is a low alcohol beer (~3.5%ABV) with low carbonation, a malty/caramel flavour and aroma with hints of fruitiness and a light hop aroma. It’s a session beer which means that you can drink a truckload of it without feeling bloated from too much fizz and you won’t end up legless. But it’s a hard beer to get right; this is my third attempt and I’ve got high hopes for this one as it’s my first using all grain (instead of liquid malt extract).

Here is my recipe (for 21L):

Grain bill
3kg Maris Otter
200g Dark Crystal
100g Munich Malt
Mashed at 67 degrees C for 60 minutes
Mashout at 75 degrees C for 10 minutes

Hop additions
30g East Kent Goldings for 60 minutes
12g East Kent Goldings for 30 minutes
(1tsp Irish Moss for 10 minutes to clear out the protein)
10g East Kent Goldings for 1 minute
Boil for 90 minutes total to get rid of DMS

1 sachet rehydrated Safale s-04 English ale yeast
(yes, liquid yeast would be preferable but it’s really hard to come by here in NZ)

Sweet dreams!

From RealBeer.co.nz:

SOBA, New Zealand’s consumer beer advocacy group, is excited about the April 1st release of Mac’s Brewjolais seasonal beer, and is looking to celebrate the event in style and en masse.

Mac’s Brewjolais is a beer which has been brewed annually by Lion Nathan at the old Mac’s Brewery in Wellington. It is brewed to celebrate the hop harvest, and uses freshly picked “wet” (undried) hops from Nelson late in the brewing process to impart their aromatic and distinctive notes to the finished beer. It’s a rare type of beer, and one that SOBA believes deserves recognition, particularly when brewed by one of NZ’s largest breweries who could be expected to opt for the ‘safer’ and more commercially viable styles of beer.

SOBA plans to show its appreciation for Brewjolais by organising a synchronised toast to Lion Nathan and the beer at all of the locations it will be served. SOBA members will descend upon the six Mac’s Brewbars around the country and raise a glass of the deliciously hoppy beverage to the brewers who make it, and the company which gives them the freedom to push the boundaries of beer a little.

The Mac’s brewery in Wellington where Brewjolais has been brewed is being closed down for economic reasons, with Lion Nathan citing higher costs involved in running the smaller scale brewery. This fact makes the 2010 release of Brewjolais bittersweet for beer lovers who fondly remember some of the excellent Mac’s beers to roll out of this brewery. While sad to see the brewery go, SOBA is optimistic that the beer will continue to be produced, and hopes its gesture will help convince Lion Nathan to continue production each year.

SOBA was formed in 2006 in order to increase awareness of and appreciation for flavourful crafted beers. The organisation is often perceived as “anti big brewer”, but in actuality is simply “pro good beer”.

If you appreciate a good beer and want to help celebrate you will be able to do so at one of the following locations:

Northern Steamship Co. – Quay Street, Auckland
Nuffield Street Trading Co. – Newmarket, Auckland
Neighbourhood – Kingsland, Auckland
Shed 22 – Taranaki Street Wharf, Wellington
The Vic – Trafalgar Street, Nelson
Poplar Lane – cnr Ash & Poplar Street, Christchurch

I’m going to be in Christchurch over the next few days and hope to get myself along to Poplar Lane. There will be a synchronised toast at each of these locations at 6pm tomorrow afternoon (Thursday 1 April).