Round the horn (or at least over the Khyber pass)

I have been reading Hops and Glory by Pete Brown over the past few weeks. In it he charts the history of India Pale Ale (seemingly an oft mis-told tale), and attempts to carry a barrel of traditional IPA by boat "round the horn" to Calcutta.

I don't want to spoil the end of the book, but the general principle is that IPA was brewed in Burton to survive a sea journey half way around the world. The myth is that the hops and strength helped preserve it. The truth is that normal beer survived the journey fine way before IPA was created. But, this mix of heavy hopped beer really changed during the journey, and turned into something very special. Also, it seems to be perfect with a curry. Maybe it was the fluctuation of temperature; maybe it was the movement of the boat; maybe it's just cos they left it long enough to condition properly? But it got me thinking.

So I got on amazon maps and put in a route from my hometown to Calcutta. Google map route. Seriously who fancies a road trip? Across Germany, Ukraine and Russia before hitting the 'stans. I particularly like the idea of a road trip from Tashkent to Peshawar. Watch out for IED's; but the foods great :) The route reckons it'd take 6 and a half days. But, I assume that's without any breaks for sightseeing, beer drinking, toilet stops, kidnapping etc.

Anyway, I'm not proposing the trip (although I am tempted to go from the UK to China by train - apparently it is possible), but it got me thinking how I could try and reproduce it here. My plan would be to brew a trad English IPA (none of your bonkers US super hopped malarkey), put it in a keg, put in the boot of the car and leave it until I've done 6,500 miles. That's for the road journey. The sea journey would probably be more like 10,000! Anyway, I figure it may be worth the effort. It may even be worth putting it in mini kegs so we can do a comparison between the ones which have done the mileage, and those which have been pampered at home.

As someone commented today when I told them this plan - "it must be a very weird inside your head".

You can read Pete Brown's Beer blog at:  http://petebrown.blogspot.com/

Treading the old ways

I love damsons. In fact I love them so much that my wife bought me a damson tree for Christmas a few years ago. Unfortunately it's still not matured, so each year I go out and buy 1 or 2 trays of the things when they're in season and filled the whole bottom drawer of our freezer with them. We make jam, cheese, flavoured vodka; and once we started making wine I had a go at damson wine.


Our first batch was really nice. It was light and fruity and quite different for a red wine. However, the name of the recipe I used was - "Damson Destroyer". I was left a little underwhelmed.

Our second attempt went very badly wrong. I rush it and ended up with a moldy mess. Firstly I didn't have any citric acid so decided to use lemon juice. One of the main aims when brewing, or making wine, is to make sure that no nasty wild yeasts get into the mix. Cleanliness is a priority. So when when I lobbed in the skin of the lemon after squeezing it (and it wasn't the freshest lemon), I was asking for trouble. Also, I left the m8ix in the fermenter for a lot longer than needed. The end result was a waste of precious damsons.

So I made sure I had everything I need for the third attempt. I decided to augment the brew with a can of red wine concentrate. It may seem like cheating but a good base can often make the taste of the fruit really shine, and make sure you get a really good full bodied wine. I also wanted to make sure that the fruit was well mashed.

Enter my son Cai. It has to be said that a more tactile person will not be found. He lives by sense of touch and he's always up for a new sensation. So, I washed his feet carefully, and carried him downstairs. He tentatively put his feet into the mix of fruit and warm water. Smiled broadly and began to squish the fruit up. He was a little perturbed when I started to add hot water and sugar (not too hot before you go running to the NSPCC), but it did seem to get him moving.

The fermenter is now safely lidded and sat next to a radiator to soak up flavour for the next 2 days, before being strained into a demi-john.

An Evening Treat - John's Schwarzbier

I was given a gift this morning, namely two bottles of John's Schwarzbier, conditioned and ready to drink...so, as they say, I suppose it would be rude not to....

John made it from extract malt just before Christmas and lagering it in his garage.  Admittedly, not quite a Bavarian cellar or a Czech cave but it is what he had available, and to be perfectly honest, the only place in his house that was cold enough to do the job.

It had a lovely head and great nose, was clear as a bell and tasted great - slightly sweet on the palate with a chocolate and burnt malt undertone, but with real depth and length to the flavours.


This is a good beer and definately one that we need to make again.  Lovely stuff!

Overall mark from me = 17/20

This might seem like a low mark for such a cracking ale - but this is my first comment/ review and I need to set a benchmark with some wiggle room :)

Beer Gear

So I've finally taken the plunge to buy my own gear to be able to brew all-grain. I have been using Mr. Luff's for the past few months and our brew days have been amazing days of beer drinking, chatting, and brewing mis-happery.

Unfortunately, we have been plagued by electric heaters failing on us. For a few years I have been a fan of the Burco boiler, and firmly believe that every household should have one. Unfortunately though, after consigning a second one to the loft after burning the element out with an extract brew, I decided that a simpler method was needed. Enter a very large brew pan (33l - I can see you green with pan envy).

That was fine, but how to heat it. My first attempt to boil 20l of water to boiling took 1 and a half hours on our (not insubstantial) range cooker. So I found a gas boiler at a brew shop online. When it arrived it was a little bigger than I imagined :) but it heated the water 25 deg in 15mins before the gas ran out.

Next I found a cheap wort cooler online. But, even better than a wort cooler at a budget price was 10 minutes with the lovely Nige (My new best friend) who owns a local micro brewery. He was really kind and showed me some of his gear, answered some of my questions, and gave me a load of bottles. What I've found is that brewer's (even pro ones) are not touchy about sharing knowledge. There are loads of online threads where home brewer's have emailed breweries to ask what hops/ grain/ or yeast they use to make a beer. In a lot of cases the brewers are happy to share the info with amateur brewers wanting to have a go at their recipes.

Finally, I purchased a mash tun. Basically it's a cool box to keep the grain and water mix at a stable temperature while all the lovely sugar gets turned into something fermentable. I was a little disappointed when it got here as it's not the most sturdy Item. But, a homemade cardboard box and gaffer tape case should do the trick until I design something more suitable.

Safe to save my palms are itching as I consider what to brew first, and when to brew it. More of that later.