2016 | BrannBrew - Beer Blog

With Christmas now upon us a small update my latest brews and what the new year potentially will bring.

Since my last post in Oct (It's been awhile again!) I have done 2 brews ready for Christmas and silly season, both contrasting each other.
One is a Black IPA, very roasty and fully bodied, the kind you sit and slip in front of an open fire while you wonder if John McClane can save the day even if you've watched Die Hard 25+ times before.

This is quite aptly named Fimbulwinter - which is norse for mighty winter & is the immediate prelude to Ragnarok (if you were wondering?!).
I originally did this beer last year as a partial extract, however this time tweaking it and did it as an all-grain.

Coming out as 5.2% and full of dark roasted malts this is a one a night beer for me. The only thing I would do differently next year is to up the hops, to balance more with the malts.

The other is it's younger brother.....Santa Panda, a light refreshing Pale Ale that is heavily hopped with Amarillo and Ahtanum to impart a strong Tangerine Citrus quality, with added late spices which has given the beer a faint nutmeg spicy finishing note after the citrus flavour.

I have only tasted a 10 day old sample which wasn't fully conditioned and carbonated but it certainly appears that Santa Panda will be a great alternative to the 'traditional' winter/autumn beers you get. At 4% it wont knock your head off. I decided to keg this one with a few bottles for a selection Xmas box of the two.

My idea for two completely different types was to have this choice, which I haven't had really before, also for making a mixed present box of 3 of each kind.

So briefly onto next year...Now with 3 very successful brews under my belt(along with my new setup) I have the confidence I think to try my hand a some competitions at the very least.
I have already penciled into the calendar the Saison Competition as part of the Home Brew Forum that runs in June next year. With the Strong Island Portsmouth Competition a few months earlier will be a perfect opportunity to do my most favoured G.E.B Pale Ale.

I have no illusions that any prizes will be within my reach however I am at the stage in my hobby that I would like to see actually how good am I, like a golfer obtaining their handicap.

Until next time......Have a MERRY Christmas and Happy Brew Year

The Red Barron (American Red IPA) had mixed fortune, from the keg it was a great success. Took it to a friends house warming (but not party!!) and it all went within a few hours. No joke! all what I had left was some slurry at the bottom of the keg. No only it seems everyone finds it remarkably cool to see a keg on the kitchen top, people also like free beer.

From the bottle it was more of a traditional english ale as I gave a 6 pack to my dad. it certainly wasn't designed to be relatively still, I had thought that it could be the case in the bottles as my sample ones were the same. So all in all I am not completely happy with the results.

There wasn't as much hop flavour as with my other batches in the past.

When I came to build and order my next recipe (Fimbulwinter Black IPA) I noticed that the hop quantities for the Barron were around the same as I have done with my 12l batches, however the Red Barron was in the region of 19l so all I can think of was that is was slightly diluted and I amended the recipe volume after I purchased the hops and forgot about it.

A shame and it didn't help also that I was adjusting to using a new brew setup (my Ace Boiler) and had a real ball ache to cool and transfer to the fermenter. I will redo this batch in the future, I owe it to myself to do it again to make 12l to see how it turns out. I really do like the 'Seasonal' takes on IPAs so I will ear mark it for next year.

I must remember I am a 12l batch brewer!!!
I must remember I am a 12l batch brewer!!!
I must remember I am a 12l batch brewer!!!

What I have taken from this though, my keg setup works very, very well. I will utilise this going forward and will carb it in the keg and transfer enough when fully carbonated to bottles to give away.

To do this I have recently bought a growler/bottle filler to fill the bottles straight from my tap. I will also buy in the next few days a mini regulator adaptor so I can use larger co2 bottles (same as the soda stream machines) to connect a direct supply to my small keg. The mini 16g cartridges are good to transport with to parties but are not great and consistent enough to carb the keg. I will also purchase a smaller 6l keg for kind of an overflow/bottling/testing keg before I tap my 9l keg.

If this all works out well with my Fimbulwinter Black IPA. I will get rid of my massive 30l bottling bucket.

Until next time.....Happy Brewing

I've been abit slow on my write up with the last brew day and the first go with the Ace Boiler.

It was a good bit of kit and worth while purchase to get off the stove that if you wanted a dedicated system but didn't want all the extra parts like a induction hob and kettle or fork out on a more expensive system like the Grainfather.

The boil/heating of especially my powerful 2500W model made the biggest initial impact as it cut down so much compared to heating on the stove, something like 20 minutes and with the double wall insulation it maintained the temperature for the duration of the mash.

I did sparge this time and the colour of the first runnings looked good, it was a bit of a heavy load to then fit to put the wort back in the boiler. I might have to put the kettle lower to the ground rather than on my kitchen top. Trying to lift 19L of warm wort head high (given the height of the boiler on the counter) was a struggle. So that was my first personal note.

The boil went well and got pretty vigorous a few times, my next personal issue came when I tried to cool the thing.....It took ages, I use a immersion chiller which got the temp to around 35-40 from near boiling in about 15-20 minutes but getting it from that temperature to pitching got me really twitched,

I have since picked up the trick (from a forum member of the HomebrewForum) of stirring it constantly for the chilling time which should get it down to pitching in a under 30 minutes with a chiller.

The last personal issue was when I was ready to transfer to my fermentor, this was a real pain as the hop filter got surrounded by crud and just couldn't pass anything through the tap.

I have since bought a different filter (well some heavy grade tubing that goes directly from the boiler tap to my false bottom which should do the job better. As after having such clear wort I kicked up all the Trub by having to manly using a measuring jug to strain into the filter.

These were my only issues, just 3, which I have/will hopefully rectify come the next brew so they aren't brew day killers.

I look forward to using this again,

Until Next time........Happy Brewing

Its starting to become an exciting time in the BrannBrew Kitchen, my last two proper brews (not counting the Proper Job Extract Kit) were a great success, both of which were original recipes.

My next brew will be Red Baron - a Red IPA - hopped like a west coast American IPA but with a malty backbone that should balance the hoppyness well. I was going use Brewdogs DIY Dog and their Punk IPA recipe but there is something quite satisfying when your own recipe comes out well, chuffed to bits!

Red Baron will also christen my latest brew purchase of a Ace Boiler. Ive been looking into this for awhile as an alternative to brewing on the stove (as the boiler is all self contained with a 2500w concealed heating element!)

I really think this will aid my brew days by speeding things up when heating the water and transferring the wort, which currently are the most clunky parts of my brewday.

The Ace Boiler is a great starting point to improvements, as over time I will make this into an all in one brewing system, essentially my own Grainfather.

For now though I'll still be sticking with using my grain bag (BIAB) in the Ace, but there is so much scope to enhance the boiler it will be a good project to work on over time.....adding bits to it slowly.

I'll post the Red Baron recipe up after brewday next week and will give my impressions of the Ace too.

Until Next Time.......Happy Brewing

This weekend I tapped my keg, full of a new brew for me. A Saison (Saison of Love).

I have tried a few Saisons from a bottle in the past, but it is usually a style I wouldn't pick if given the choice.

However I thought I try to brew my own, based off what I read in a recent BYO Magazine article and also the idea of not worrying too much on fermentation control, as at the time, around brew day, we were having some very hot days & evenings.

I'm very pleased now this has come out, I'm still fine tuning my keg setup but the outcome was very successful. The recipe was modeled off the Firestone Walker Opal and was additionally dry hopped.

I gave wifey a taste tester and she then asked for a full glass of it, after which I went to cook tea (a 5 of your 5 a day Thai green curry - was yummy too!) during cooking all I kept hearing squeaks over Gilmore Girls of how nice the beer was.

That was enough approval of the beer I needed, even though wifey has small tastes of my brewed beer she has never had a full glass (or even two) before. So certainly has proven to be a drink for non beer drinkers.

My detailed report: A yellow color with 2 & 1/2 fingers of white head that leaves some good lacing. The spicy funky yeast of the saison was the prominent smell, with some malty wheat notes. The taste matches the smell, with light citrus coming through at the end but doesn't overwhelm. Compared the bottles I've had in the past I my brew certainly compares to the commercial equivalent I purchased from Tesco.

It was stronger than the other recent brews I've done but actually tasted the lightest, I had 3 glasses before I knew it.. Would I do this again.....Yes......Yes......Yes! (4/5)

It is difficult to compare it to if its better than my G.E.B pale ale because of the different styles, however they are both my best brews to date - given how clunky my all grain brew days I'm pleasantly surprised.

It would be interesting to see how it ages in the keg, as I'll probably wont have any this weekend due to the Victorious Festival. So it could be a few weeks until I get another real taste of it.
The last beer I had in the keg didn't last the one night (I did take it to a party people!!).

Until Next Time.....Happy Brewing

A year has now past and have just celebrated my 1st Brewversary, over the last year I have developed my skills from a complete beginner, however I am still learning the ropes of all-grain after just brewing my first proper for a Fathers Day Brew (G.E.B Pale Ale).

Although that did turn out the most successful to date the brew day itself didn't quite go according to plan.

Reflecting and looking back on the past brews there will certainty be brews I would do again, like pro breweries having a regular 'core' range of beers along with seasonal specials.

I think I will do the same, using this repetitiveness to improve on a recipe and hone the brew days.

As the next year goes on I'm sure there would be beers to replicate from my BYO subscription or ideas to adapt - brews that you may not be entirely sure on or test batches like a SMaSH beer to discover if you like the flavour profile of certain hops, but may not brew again.

So what have I got in store for the next year?

Well I've recently brewed and now drinking a Proper Job Clone I got for my birthday.

This week be brewing a dry hopped Saison (The Saison of Love) - perfect beer to brew during summer.

I will also be developing/improving existing recipes:

Golden Flower - English Ale (brewed a partial mash in May, which I'm in the process of converting & improving into an All Grain version)
Fimbulwinter - Black IPA (brewed a partial mash back in February, another brew that I will tweek slightly and improve)

There will be atleast two new brews I'll try my hand at:
Brann's Own - American IPA based off Brewdog's Original Punk IPA Recipe 2007-2010
The Dark Pint Ryeses - Red Rye IPA

For my Fathers day brew (G.E.B Pale Ale) I designed a professional style label.

Now these will include my 'mascot' Kuàilè (happy) the Panda. It was an illustrated drawing my wife did for me on a birthday card, it will make the labels classic clean look a bit more fun.

Who cannot love the cuteness of a Panda!?

Until Next time.......Happy Brewing

So my latest brew, a Fathers Day brew- American Pale Ale using Galaxy, El Dorado and Bravo hops (that share the same initials as my Dad) turned out to be a great success, my best brew so far.

At the time on brew day I got myself all in a state as I had already wrote my own step instructions but 1/2 way through the mash some part of me decided to follow Brewers Friend session.

After a few other little hiccups/problems faced I thought it wouldn't come out anything like I had planned and researched.

I bottled 18 bottles (as I specifically made it a small batch) I had 12 bottles for my Dad and 4 for myself, come Fathers day on Sunday, there was only my Dads left, how it turned out was incredible, deep layers tropical flavours. This would go into the core range of my home brewery, definitely going to brew this again and part of me wants to as soon as, just to correct my wrongs on in the first place.

I was luckly enough to get a Proper Job Clone recipe kit for my recent birthday, which went like clockwork. I've being toying with the idea of purchasing a Braumeister but after settling myself back down with this Clone recipe kit I don't think I really need or can justify it. This is still brewing, so I cant comment on how close it tastes to the real thing however going by reviews prior to adding it to my birthday list it should turn out very close.

What makes me really happy and relieved at same time that my Dad liked it so much. So much so after trying a bottle earlier in the day Dad was singing its praises all day long (it wasn't even that strong!). If only he really knew how much sweat & tears went into producing it. If I remember right my wife came home to a very emotional husband that day.

I ultimately put too much pressure on myself to get it right. Thanks to my brew journal I wont be making the same mistakes again.

Its being a while since my last blog post, so I thought Id write on a hot topic with homebrewers that is a long disputed and much asked question...to keg or bottle?

Some like to bottle so they can keep track on how much they have drunk and like to just chuck a bottle or two in the fridge. Its cost effective to bottle, the equipment you need is very minimal. You will only need a capper, caps and of course the bottles which many I expect you could have from empties collected.

When I first majorly bottled I 'minesweeper-ed' a lot of empties from a friends BBQ party. However there always is a constant rinse and clean cycle, which when it comes to sanitising and filling come bottle day some find it quite tedious which you also may run out of space in the kitchen surrounded by bottles. Bottling however is a great way to share the fruits of your labor.

Kegging is very convenient, after a long day you get home and fancy a beer but only 1/2 having a keg is very handy for this. It also reduces alot of time come bottling day and cleaning. For carbonation and clarity kegging is the way to go.

There are many entry levels to kegging you can get a 5l mini keg or Tap a Draft (TAD) that are seemed as a good stepping stone into the world of kegged beer.

I have used a TAD when I first started out, I really liked using it, however after 4 kits (one which was a stove top extract kit) I quickly went into 12l BIAB batches as I didn't see the need of using these as I could easily just bottle 18 or so bottles and let them naturally carbonate over a few weeks. So I have lined this up to give to a friend who has very recently started home brewing, catching the bug very quickly however he has had problems with a leaky pressure barrel.

For me I would dearly love to do a DIY Kegerator however I know the powers that be (aka Mrs B) will not have that until I have a man shed or such area she can lock me away in. So if I can push it to just a 9L corny keg (tucked away in a corner) with a regulated Co2 charger and chrome tap will cost in the region of £130. That's not including a cool jacket or Co2 capsules.

You never know I might try my luck placing it on my upcoming birthday list.

There is so many pros and cons for the two so I'll leave it here....How do you do yours? do you bottle, keg or a mix of the two? What do you prefer?

Are there any Home Brew Suppliers/companies willing for me to test/review keg products?

Until next time......Happy Brewing

BrewDog have now released all 215 of their recipes online for free in one handy PDF.

Titled DIY Dog, the free download includes a manual on equipment and ingredients needed for each beer - and suggests food pairings for each one.

BrewDog have made all of their 215 recipes available for download on their website, via www.brewdog.com/diydog.

With each recipe being scaled down to home-brew volumes of five gallons or 20 litres.

This is amazing news, as a fan of their Punk IPA Im really excited to give that one a go first off and trying to recreate some more of their beers now I have an actual recipe from the brewery themselves. Will this inspire other breweries to follow suite? I probably don't think so (I hold my breath) as BrewDog do like straying away from the norm.

Regardless the PDF is immense! Especially as they could charge for a full book format, considering the only other official recipe came with the pre-packed beer kits that are on the higher priced side.

I'll save this document just encase this is a timed free exclusive, the works printer best not run out of ink come Tuesday when Im back in.

Time to get punked!

Until Next Time........Happy Brewing

If you are like me and have been struggling on what to do with all the spent grains after brew day?

It seemed to me wasteful to just throw them away, I don't have a dog and although my parents have a small allotment and compost bin, if I wasn't going to see them for a few weeks I didn't really want them laying around until that point. After some searching I found a recipe on Beer Drink Run. I believe they got the recipe from somewhere else originally.

You will be able to substitute some items if you don't have them in the cupboards and some are also optional.

Ingredients:

2 cups spent grains- dried
2 cups rolled oats (quick cooking or old fashioned)
1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1/2 to 1 cup chopped dried fruit (optional)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup barley malt syrup — can be substituted with Maple Syrup or in my instance Black Treacle as I didn't have enough Maple Syrup
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon salt

You can also add some milk chocolate chips (I had these on the side, staring me out and I forgot to actually add them in the end).

Directions:

Spread the grains on a cookie sheet and dry in the oven at 80°C (175° F) for 2.5 hours shifting the grains around every 30 minutes.
Increase the temperature to 160°C (325° F) for the final 30 minutes with the oats and chopped nuts to roast everything together.
During the final 30 minutes of roasting, start to mix the “wet” ingredients. Take a small saucepan and slowly heat the syrup, honey, butter, peanut butter and salt.
Bring that to a boil and them simmer for 5 minutes stirring frequently. Once the syrup mixture was done simmering, mix it with the dry ingredients completely combining them.
Combine all the dry ingredients and set them aside in a large mixing bowl.
Spread the mixture out in a wax-paper lined 13 x 9 baking pan. Allow this to cool several hours at room temperature, cut the bars, and wrap them in a wax paper square.

Mixture left to cool. Hardens pretty quickly only took 40 mins or so, then a sharp knife was required.

The verdict: They were very good, very moorish. I could taste the malts especially since I brewed with Chocolate & Medium Crystal (60L) malts. I had a background flavour of the syrup with the honey coming through. A bitter sweet snack.
They would be nice for a mid-day snack, I can imagine it going well with a coffee or an even an evening snack with a beer.

A cheeky test corner.

If you feel like you want to give it a try, the only other thing to remember is to properly store the grains you want to use before you start. So if you froze them for a few weeks and make sure you put them in the fridge for a day to thaw them before to keep them fresh.

Until next time.........Happy Brewing

Do you listen to music while brewing? Do you have a dedicated playlist or create one based on mood prior to the big day?

Regardless if I've only brewed a kit or an extract on the cooker top I've always liked to have something on in the background. I write what I'm listening to in my beer journal to keep track of what I've been listening too, its a nice little remembrance thing like in a normal diary, a piece of history. Even though current musical tastes are lent towards the Alt. Rock side of the spectrum.

Like the saying that people play music to plants to encourage growth, its like in beer you wont get the same outcome playing two different styles of music. My wife must even think I talk to the brew during fermentation. I've haven't done this yet, but I've been very close to and always "tuck it to bed".

With now not owning a dedicated CD player and not really using my iPod very much now, I've virtually gone digital within the "cloud".

I'm brewing my second extract brew (Hob Goblin Clone) tomorrow and have setup a Spotify Playlist built around the punk rock songs from early 2000. Clocking in at just under 4 hours for a complete run of the playlist should cover most if not all of the brew day activities.
Feel free to follow the playlist yourself (or play via the embedded player below) and enjoy some classic songs! On your own brew day.

Until Next Time.......Happy Brewing

Are you like me that have limited space & resources, unable to have variations of equipment for brewing?

Do you struggle to get through 40 odd pints of the same beer because you are unable to brew two batches in close succession, allowing them to condition over the same period of time? Or just find 40 pints of the same beer too much?

The last statement is quite generalised, I haven't had a problem with my 'Way to Amarillo' Pale Ale, its a very nice brew (best one Ive done to date) but every brew after the 30 something pint I really fancy a different beer - variety is the spice of life!

So now that I have got into Extract brewing & starting to either devise my own recipes or scale down others - small batch brewing is on the cards!

3 Gallons batches (11 Litres) which is roughly 20 pints, if you take into consideration the trub and other loses during fermentation, you'll probably end up with 18 or so 500ml sized bottles.

I did need to do some research however as I only have a full sized 23/25l bucket, I had a small 12.5L bucket in the shopping cart ready but before I committed myself I wanted to check if I was able to use my original, existing bucket.

And you actually can!

Many people have done the same, fermented 3 and even 2 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket.

For example, for every 2 gravity points creates one volume of CO2. So a gallon of beer, dropping from 1.050 to 1.010, will make 20 gallons of CO2 over the course of its fermentation. So any oxygen will be purged from the bucket.

If you decide to condition a beer for a longer period of time in secondary, like if it's a very high alcohol beer, you would want as little headspace as possible to minimise the risk of oxidation so then I recommended to rack into a similar sized vessel.

For the duration of primary fermentation (up to 3 weeks) there appears to be no problems using a 5 Gallon bucket.

This not only will allow me to potentially brew two batches within weeks of each other but I can now scale down a recipe to test it out to see if I like it, rather than having tons of bottles of 'meh' beer to get through. Essentially giving them away to associates just to clear the numbers. Some people windge that they don't get any beers but others have, but that's another story for another time.

If you find yourself in the same predicament like me....I would say give small batch brewing a go.

Until next time..............Happy Brewing

When I started this new hobby some six or so months ago, I knew I would like the whole home brewing scene but if you told me that I'd get the chance to write for an established community I would both be hesitant with the idea and tell you that there are other more seasoned and experienced Home Brewers out there.

Over the last few weeks, I have been contacted by one of the Admins of TheHomeBrewForum asking if I would like to write some articles for them, they have an excess amount of topics that they would like publish. It was quite a coincidence as this was the same kind of time that I was setting the ground work on this blog.

I gladly said yes, my knowledge on aspects of Home Brewing has increased quite considerably over the last few months. Its a hobby that not only gives you 40 odd pints every few months but has a lot of Science and a bit of Math involved, so if you open yourself to wanting to learn more then it gives more back. Besides all this, it is a very interesting subject matter.

So two weeks on from my initial contact with the Admins, I now have a list of topics (78 to begin with) that I can pick and choose what I would like to cover. Some topics I already know quite a bit on and others that I'd probably need to research into, however those would be good for future projects, such as using Raspberry Pi in Home Brewing.

To my surprise any articles will not only be syndicated on TheHomeBrewForum.co.uk (which alone has over 15,500 members) but also HomeBrewSupply.com and WinemakingTalk.com. It must be a week of exposing my name, as at work a project statistics email I distributed to my internal team was eventually pushed right up the chain to effectively what would be 'The Board' or the Bosses of my Big Boss's Boss (try saying that when you've had a few Home Brew!)

It was all good and proving that the work I was doing is becoming successful but when you get your big boss sending the email chain back to you and notice who its gone to its quite exciting and unnerving at the same time. I'll have to think how I word the emails in future.

Exciting prospects on the horizon,

Until then..........Happy Brewing

With my current brew 'Way to Amarillo' bottled and having 12 or so bottles left my thought is now going to my next batch.

The weathers dark, dank and miserably....Spring has no sign of coming around soon (even in Home Brew terms), my idea of brewing a Spring ale has been put on hold until a few months time.

I then got thinking/a craving for Hobgoblin, one of my favourite beers. Its perfect for this time of year.

After a few afternoons & quieter periods at work! I found an Extract clone of HobGoblin by the Home Brewer Orfy. This was dated back a few years, however it has been well tried and tested by many and recently too.

I also thought that before I did a brew completely from scratch it probably was a wise idea to get a feel for Steeping Grains with a recipe that has got so many good comments back from it. Saying its very close to the commercial HobGoblin.

Until next time.......Happy Brewing

For Christmas I was lucky to receive a Strainer and Stand, from The Home Brew Shop.

Hop Strainer clipped on top of bucket

I have a standard 25L fermenter bucket and also a 30L bottling bucket, both of which the stand clips on it very securly.

The bag has 4 slits that go through the top of the stands arms, was a bit fiddly to find if it was inside out or not, so I made sure the seam was on the inside, although some hop debris did collect around it washing it in a bowl of hot water easily removed any Klingons.

In order to strain my wort I used a sanitised jug and poured a jug full at a time into the strainer. Once all the wort and hops were out of my boiler pan I decided to pass the top up water through the strainer that had all the hops still in place.
I must say that I was concerned (as once I passed water through it did pull quite tights) if this would split the bag however as the recipe used 50g it wasn't enough to do so.

I wouldn't want to put any more than this in the strainer, also the hops were leaf hops not pellets so I'll have to keep this in mind if I use pellet hops next time.

Once the required amount of water was in the fermenter the strainer was just about touching the top of the wort, but it was already slightly aerated.

Emptying the strainer was simple, just turned the strainer inside out and the hops plopped into the bin. I set aside the strainer in my boil pot until I finished aerating and pitching the yeast.

I know there are other methods of straining, many people just simply use a coarse colander and I've read into hop spiders,bazookas or filters that can be directly used within the boiling wort.

I've been really impressed with how clear the packaged beers have been. I force carbed 1 TAD and a week after initial carbonation you can see straight though the glass once poured. Something of a luxury that I never have had before. An instant success which I look forward to using next time.

The only thing is that it could be a little stronger and also larger inner dimensions, just so it could be comfortable in holding the hops without the fear of it splitting or ripping of the arms, this is only minor as I wouldn't think I'd put much more hops than this in one batch, I like hoppy beers but not overly hoppy.

4 1/2 Bottles out of 5

What do you use for straining hops/wort, if anything? Have you noticed any improvements using one compared to not?

Until next time......Happy Brewing

I maybe still new to Home Brew in the grand scheme of things, but I find researching into certain aspects very interesting so probably my overall knowledge is quite high for someone who has only really brewed for 6 months. It helps with the all the established home brew forums out there.
The best one I repeatedly go back to is The Home Brew Forum, it has certainly been usefully diving into the forum & the established members are usually very swift and knowledgeable to help with any issues or the like.

As I have a background in Computing,Multimedia, Web & Graphic design I have always enjoyed designing & creating labels of some description for all the brews Ive done.

Labels don't go on all the bottles, I usually save my nice 500ml flip top bottles for either myself, social gatherings or family so I know I'll get the bottles back and I tend not to put labels on if only I'll be drinking it.

Front Labels of my previous brews

I do however put labels on ones that I either cap or go to friends or family as Homemade presents, as it rounds it all off into a neat presentation. It gives me a sense of pride giving something you've spent lots of time on that also looks the part.

I originally started making labels like luggage tags (see left) that I hole punched at the top and tied them on via string to the neck of the bottles. This gave a nice handmade country shop feel to it but was quite labor intensive so I only attached the labels as and when.

Way to Amarillo Label
(next brew to bottle)

I have recently found some avery labels (ones that are designed to fit a 3.5" floppy disk) I must have had these ages! Finding the label template on the web, I started redesigning the layout of my designs for future brews. As I use Photoshop I always either have a basic design template saved as .psd or I modify an existing brew label, if I want to save some time.

These look a perfect size for any shaped & sized bottles (300ml or 500ml)

I also produced a back label, The luggage type had it printed on the reverse, the new avery style will be stuck on the other side of the bottle. I needed to do this as many 'give away' bottles people were just pouring the whole bottle in, so the sediment was being disturbed and yeast sometimes going in the glass.

Back Bottle Condition Label

So this back label was made to tell the drinker its bottled conditioned, do they read it and pour carefully......probably not all the time!
It really does make me cringe if I see how they pour it from the bottle.
Hopefully now, as Ive stepped up my labels to mirror a proper packaged bottle it'll be more striking to drinkers.

What do you think? Do you label your brews & how? Do you want to label your brews?

Until next time.......Happy Brewing

When I first started brewing I bought 2 boxes of swing top bottles from the The Range they were £9 for 12 500ml bottles, good value! Although they wont last forever they are a great style of bottle that allows the beer to carbonate very well. I love the sound they make when they open.

Over time I've boasted my individual bottles from either the odd supermarket bought bottle or from a BBQ or house party and helped with the 'recycling' by taking a few empties home with me.

Now I have enough bottles to probably do a complete batch in bottles if I wish (or do 3/4 bottles and 1 TAD, so I have some leftover bottles for a batch sooner than waiting another month.

I've basically found that there's certain types of bottles that wont cap well due to the neck being a bit more dumpy, so my hand capper can't fully grip on the bottle. These I've found are Kopparberg, Wychwood and Badger bottles, some bottles like the Proper Job or 660ML Punk IPA bottles have either the label on a piece of plastic then glued onto the bottle (which stinks and leaves the bottle very sticky if you do try to remove it). Which I then have had to recycle for real.

Really easy bottles to reuse I've found Budweiser, Rekorderlig or the standard ale bottles that you usually get in the 3 for £5 deals at the supermarket. These labels generally just soak of after some time in hot soapy water, you'll then just have to lightly scrub off any label stickiness that is left.

It's nice to have a mix of swing/flip top, standard capped bottles (that look good if you are giving them away for presents) and a larger dispensing system.

Until next time........Happy Brewing.

Brew Diaries/Journals//Notes I keep one, I expect you keep one but they are a great means to keep track of how the brew has gone and any unexpected outcomes during the course of the brew.

I have kept one since I first started brewing up kits, even the simplest form of brewing your can come up with noteworthy points, especially points on how well its conditioning over time and flavour development.

I also keep a track of the music I am listening to at the time, its a nice little remembrance thing like in a normal diary, a piece of history. Do you remember the study/saying that people play music to plants to encourage growth, its like in beer you wont get the same outcome playing two different styles of music.

As a standard each entry in my Brew Diary I'll have:

Recipe (instructions from recipe packs/kits or a list written by me and affixed to the page)
The name of the kit or beer I'm brewing (this could be a made up name if the recipe is my own) I usually have given a kit a nickname for the brew as it looks better on the labels I make on ones I give away and its also abit of fun
The date of brew and bottle day OG, FG and ABV
Any noteworthy points or observations from the start of the brew day all the way through to the drinking the beer after conditioning. Things like how well the brew day went, how long it took before fermentation started, if the temperature drops during primary fermentation, flavour development during conditioning
Things I would do differently next time if I brewed this again - like reducing or increasing volume, making sure I strain hops better etc.

There are many forms out there, I just use a spiral binned A5 notebook, some probably buy a premade book, others use blogs. All aimed at doing the same thing.

What do you keep in yours? How long have you kept one?

Until next time......Happy Brewing

Ever had any bottle bombs due to over carbonation?

Ever had a flat beer from under carbonation?

Branching out on creating different styles in 2016?

I have recently come across a few Priming Sugar Calculators that will help, it certainly opened my eyes to the different beers styles and amount of sugar & CO2 that is recommended.

When I first starting brewing I came across a quick and fast rule of the sugar amount, which with the beers I was brewing probably made them off style and in cases slightly over carbonated.

The best one I found was Homebrew Dad's Priming Sugar Calculator this calculator has both the option to input the desired CO2 level that you want to achieve (for the science boffin). If you like me find it easier to relate to the styles they have a very extensive list to select from and aims to place the carbonation at the mid range level of each style.

A very useful tool indeed! I'll certainly be using it in the future.

Until Next time......Happy Brewing.

Ingredients:

Directions:

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