Well another year has past and after 7 brews and some extra bits of kit, notably the grain basket for my boiler. I've now got a setup that works for me. 

I still have struggled on chilling the beer down but after entering a BJCP judged competition (Welsh National Championship) I've since looked into potential causes of some faults that were highlighted and have a good idea how to improve in these areas.

Looking back over the last brew year, I've entered a couple of competitions that is a goal ticked off my list.

I had 2 recipes in mind to redevelop - Golden Flower and Fimbulwinter, the later has had a name change to Galactic Panda and its hop additions change to all Galaxy Hops. Golden Flower has been altered quite abit however I haven't brewed it as it made way for Midsummer Mosaic (IPA), which was a new idea/recipe I wanted to try.
I probably will brew it again, however probably wont be until next year as I will probably start thinking of brewing some more seasonal beers soon.

Another new recipe was a Brann's Breakfast stout a Coffee, Chocolate Milk Stout that will be a regular beer I would brew again. I was very tasty indeed. Saison of Love has also been a success, brewing tomorrow, what will be 3rd time this year.

I have in mind still to brew my G.E.B. American Pale Ale, as that too is a favourite, although it has been slightly tweaked over the past few times I've brewed it. The last time adding Rye Malt to it, which didn't really work for me so I took it out and rejigged the malt profile.

I have some exciting prospects to come as a close friend has asked me to brew some beers for his wedding in 10 months, also brewing a batch of Saison of Love for my wife's friend's wedding in august (only a month or so away!!) Exciting!!

Until Next time.....Happy Brewing

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Last month (16th June to be precise) I brewed a new recipe with hops I haven't used before (Mosaic and Equinox).


It took some time to decide to do something new and original or do my Golden Flower again, however even though Golden Flower turned out really well last year what most would class a traditional English summer ale. I have developed a taste for the tropical hoppy beers, that have the flavour but not the bitterness. So I wanted to devise a recipe for just that, which could also double as a sessionable summer beer.

I am calling it Midsummer Mosaic, in which I used a large portion of Oats in the mash as well as a honey addition when transferring it to the fermenter. Which utlisies the Mosaic and equinox hops with a First Wort hop addition and no other additions until 5 mins left and flame out.

I can see why many like Mosaic hops, when opening the packet I got an intense tropical aroma which I haven't really notice when opening other hops in the past.

Like the brew day for Brann's Breakfast Stout, mashing the grains was easy thanks to my new grain basket, no mess, no fuss. Wanting to make a slightly larger batch (so I could fill my 9l keg to the top) while also bottling some giveaways too I hit my target fermenter exactly and after dry hopping I ended up with  16L packaged. With an abv of 4.1% it all worked out correctly according to my recipe estimates.



The fermentation to 6 days to reach final gravity, the trial samples I had around this time, had a definitive honey flavour with tropical notes coming through, which would obviously improve with alittle more time.

I was licking my chops and could of drunk straight from the fermenter quite easily!!

Come bottling day and toasting the beer with the token dregs left in the bottling bucket, I noticed that the honey flavour wasn't so prominent as before.


I could only assume 1 of 2 things (or a combo of both), this would either be I didn't mix the honey in enough in the first place and it all settled below the racking tube of the fermenter or the fermentation wiped out the flavours of the honey.

This I can correct if I brew this again, as TheHomeBrewShop sell a packet of Honey malt, which would give the honey flavour I am after, without the gamble of the flavours dissipating. I only used liquid honey as my brew last year (Golden Flower) came out really well however that was with different kit and different fermenter with no conical bottom.

I left all the bottles and keg in my coolbox in the airing cupboard for a week (at 21c) and put a bottle in the fridge for 24 hours.

So now for the 1 week taste test........

The bottle when opened had a slight hiss to it, and while it had some carbonation still wasnt really carbed to the level I aiming for.

The aroma was of tropical, much like the when I opened the packet of Mosaic hops was intense tropical.

The flavour was upfront Mango along with the taste of candied pineapple, some piney notes came through next. I was left with the mouthfeel that Honey gives you, a slight coating, with the taste of honey the last thing.


I was quite surprised by the honey as I thought it all faded/got lost. The sample bottle didn't last long, if I had more in the fridge I could of drunk 3 or 4 already. Another sample bottle is in the fridge for Friday. One that's had a couple more days out and an extra day in fridge. Really happy so far how this one has turned out. I can see why people like Mosaic hops!

Until next time....Happy Brewing

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The Welsh Homebrew competition judging took place over the past weekend (marked on average from 2 judges sheets) and although I unfortunately wasn't successful in getting in the top 3 in my category I did learn something from my feedback sheets.

It wasn't until now I understand one of the main top tips (Enter competitions to get 'qualified' judged feedback) given to Home Brewers to improve their beer.  The feedback given to me has been really helpful, as it just has highlighted the flaws I had with this brew day in particular and what I struggle generally.

What both judges picked up on occurred, I believe because I struggled to get the temperature down fast and well before pitching the yeast, by the time I did all the oxygen that was in the wort dissipated.
Even though my Saison (of love) was still judged in the Belgium/Saison category it wasn't quite to style as it was dry hopped to make it more citrus and I was aiming for this rather than the traditional peppery tones. So a few marks came off because of that too. I can however feel good that the dry hopped flavours were retained enough as I brewed this 2 months prior to the competition, the bottles were only kept slightly lower than room temp too.

I did however get some additional positives in the comments, with the BCJP judge sheet saying that overall it was a good beer.

Would I enter another competition that's judged with the bjcp style guide? Probably, but not this year or until I can sort out the flaws in my brew day. I have an idea on how.

Until next time......Happy Brewing

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