Forum: Random Ramblings About Home Brewing: Ramble with the best of them - BeerMasons - craft beer club and beer appreciation society

Posts: 45

Subject: Ramble with the best of them

I cant exactly work out what my last attempt at home brewing was, which was late last summer.

I thought that I would have time to get a last brew in before the first frosts as we where having the hottest days for ages. So I went down to the home brew joint to get the gear together> I was going to have a go at a bitter but as usual I was talking too much and I brought the wrong can home which was ablonde ,the only excuse was that they were indentical colours aanyway no sooner got the stuff in the fermenter and the bum fell out of the thermometer dropping to nearly zero overnight and stayed that way. No activity and I was advised to let it go for a few extra days. After nearly a fortnight I started to bottle and things just got worse. I had gear fall to pieces I didnt work out nthe bottle count correctly as I bottle in all sizes so ended up short by a few litres I broke the hydrometer and ran out of sugar for the conditioning. I didn know what to call what I ended up with so I call it a Bitter Blonde, apt I thought, It turned out to be one of the best brews I have made and is still pouring nicely six months later. Ray W

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My Beer Blog :- http://beerandmorebyray.blogspot.com/

23/08/2009 at 1:37:05 AM GMT

R. M

Posts: 129

Sensational. I love this story - brewing for so long was intuitive and we too often forget this. That was one of the best things about researching the history of beer - understanding that before scientists entered the brewery, many great beers and advancements had been made by intuition, necessity, observation and a bit of luck. Probably a lot of "happy misfortunes" have led to some of the best beers in the world!

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Greetings fellow BMs - I am one of the Founders of the BeerMasons.... did I mention I love beer.... good beer.... delicious beer? Did I mention that?

Last edited on 24/08/2009 6:27:22 AM GMT

24/08/2009 at 7:40:40 AM GMT

Posts: 45

I am glad you liked my story - It didnt amuse me much at the time - and I am really going to have to watch those typo's or my yarn telling will look as inept as my brewing.

I thought that it was about time I started to get the gear in for another go, first of the season. I am going to see what sort of a mess I cam make out of a wheat (breakfast) beer, never tried one of those before, and guess what? After a great and warm to hot few days its pouring with rain and gone quite cold again. Oh Well! I suppose it will make the farmers happy and there is always the bottle'o Ray W.

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My Beer Blog :- http://beerandmorebyray.blogspot.com/

20/10/2009 at 9:32:20 AM GMT

Posts: 45

Well I have had another go at this brewing lark - with a little more success this time - at laest I didnt break anything, and I had enough bottles ready. Last weekend I bottled an American Pale Ale - not my idea of a pale ale more of a flaming redhead. This beer had a quite a lot of suspended particles in it which I expect will put some people off, but my goodness its pretty.

I brewed this because I felt it might be a middle of the road beer which is intended for my daughters wedding in the new year - I made myself unpopular by refusing to buy a mainstream beer, though I suppose somebody else will. It was also the first time I have used PET bottles, I experimented with a couple of 1.5l soda water bottles, which if nothing saves time in capping glass bottles

I also started a breakfast beer, my first go at a wheat beer and I am very keen to see the finished result , and hooray the temperature has gone up to double digits at lest today

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My Beer Blog :- http://beerandmorebyray.blogspot.com/

29/10/2009 at 9:23:00 AM GMT

Posts: 45