Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Something to Celebrate the Move with ........

As exposed in our previous post - we are moving.  A lifestyle change.  In another change, I have entered the amazing world of home-brew beer.  Not only will this save money in the future - but it will provide a very adequate supply of something to celebrate our shift with.


Robbie gave me the home-brew kit for Christmas, and to be honest, I was a bit apprehensive about how it would go - especially given all the warnings in the instructions about temperature control.  All sounded a bit 'disciplined' for my usual method of doing things.  However, we set up the "keg" with a pair of electric slippers and this seemed to do the job.

A week or so later, and what they call the "wort" seemed about right, so it was bottling time.  You are meant to get 30 bottles (740ml each) from the brew, and bugger me dead, that's exactly what I got.  So far, so good.

Then the really difficult bit - leaving the bottles to store and complete fermenting, etc. for two weeks - two bloody weeks to get into it to check the result.  Robbie, in one of her unkinder moments, said it wouldn't matter to me anyway.  Hopefully they would contain at least some alcohol, so the taste probably wouldn't matter to me.

Well, I gave it 18 days before chilling a couple of test bottles.  Then, on that momentous day, Sunday 17 January, the big taste test occurred.  Bouquet excellent - for Adrian's edification, no 'nuts on the nose'; colour okay - very much like beer (a good indicator); nice and clear - no noticable sediment; and finally, the taste.  More like a bitter than a lager, but absolutely NO complaints with the quality of taste.

It's now Tuesday and a testament to the brew's quality can be seen in the two photos - the glass of the liquid amber looks good enough to put on E-Bay and as you will see, only 24 bottles left.  No I haven't drunk the other six yet - there's a couple chilling in the fridge.

Look out Fosters & Tooheys - there's a new kid on the block.

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