Home Brewing Update!

Hey guys,

So I’ve been a little busy lately. Between attending Glastonbury and having a couple of friends visit me from Norway, I have slowed down on the home brewing front. But that is about to change. So without further ado, let me give you all an update on where I am on my home brew adventure.

I kegged my second kit, the American IPA, a few weeks ago and so it is ready to drink. I gave it a little tasting session a couple of weeks ago, but have not touched it since then. I must say, the extra weeks spent in the cellar have certainly not gone unnoticed. The flavour has become a lot smoother, although some of the hop aroma from dry-hopping has disappeared. It is very drinkable indeed, although being an unfiltered beer it lies somewhere between a Weissbier and an IPA. There is a slight yeast sediment, I am hoping to eliminate some more of this in later brews through filtration- using a small hop straining bag and attaching it to the end of the racking tube.

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My third kit, an American Pale Ale kit from Young’s has now finished fermenting and is ready to be kegged. I was originally going to bottle this one, but I had not purchased the necessary kit on time, and don’t think I can leave the beer in the fermentation vessel for much longer. But, good news- last night I splashed out one all the gear needed to produce my own bottled brew! I also bought a fourth kit, An American Mocha Porter, so am looking forward to making and then bottling it in the coming weeks. The dream of owning a micro brewery is slowly coming into fruition. This Porter will be my last kit brew, after which I will be moving on to extract brewing, and hopefully all-grain once Autumn comes around. If you want to learn more about the different types of home-brewing, there is a very well-explained and simple to understand guide here.

As always, thanks for reading, more updates coming soon!

American IPA Barreled

Howdy folks,

So last night I barreled my second brew from a kit, the Cooper’s American Beer’s IPA (see previous post for details). It was in the fermentation vessel for a good 17 days; I think the fermentation was finished after 14, then I dry hopped it with the hop pellets included in the kit for a further 3 days before barreling. The concern at the moment is that there was quite a lot of hop sediment suspended in the brew, I’m hoping this will sink to the bottom during conditioning or else I am in for another cloudy beer…

This is also the first time I am using the King Keg, and am pretty pleased with it so far. The larger top opening meant that cleaning it was a breeze (not looking forward to cleaning my other keg, which is a very basic plastic pressure barrel), and it seems to be a much sturdier build than the basic plastic pressure barrel included in my starter set. I have also upgraded the tap to a sparkler tap, which should hopefully give a much nicer head when the brew is finally ready to drink (which I imagine will be in 3 weeks or so). For now, its time for the secondary fermentation. I like my American IPAs to have a decent level of carbonation, so I injected a barrel of CO2 straight into the keg after racking and sealing. This, alongside the decent amount of priming sugar used, should ensure a good level of fizz. It has another week or so to ferment and then Mr King Keg is taking an extended vacation in my cellar to condition and clear. Looking forward to trying this one.

More updates coming soon, thanks for reading!