Brewing adventures

I took the plunge a few weeks ago and did something that I've been thinking about for years, I had a go at making my own beer!

Being a fan of Brewdog beers generally and Punk IPA in particular I was pleased to see that an American company called the Brooklyn Brew Shop sold a complete kit that included all of the ingredients for this legendary craft beer. I snagged one from the Brewdog site and one rainy Sunday afternoon had a go at putting it all together.

Gone are the days of canned home brew, the gut rot that we used to drink as a students after chucking out time; these days the cool kids are all into "all-grain" brewing which is much more authentic and (hopefully) produces a much better result.

The kit contained almost everything you need, the barley, the hops, the yeast, a fermenting vessel, siphon, thermometer and some cleaning chemicals; the only thing missing was some big pots to do the mashing and the boiling. The process is reasonably simple, you add some malted barley to some hot water and keep the temperature at around 65 Celsius for around an hour (basically porridge!) then you filter the liquid (which is now full of sugar from the grains) into a boiling pot; boil for another hour whilst adding hops at various intervals then cool and filter again into a fermenting vessel and add some yeast, then put somewhere warm and dark and wait two weeks! Once two weeks is up then you transfer the fermented beer into bottles with a little honey (to carbonate) and wait another 2 weeks; my first effort will be ready next weekend although I had a sneaky try of the uncarbonated version which tasted really authentic.

I fear this might become a new (time-consuming) hobby; lot's of gear, science and unfettered geekery, sounds right up my street, official tasting notes to follow!