New brew. Black sheep ale.

So I've been brewing since Christmas 2012. Starting off with a kit moving on to brewing with with malt extract and finally all grain. If I'm honest it's only in the last couple of batches that I feel I'm really starting to get the hang of this.

I get all my ingredients and some kit from www.brewuk.co.uk. Speedy delivery and excellent quality.

Today I'm brewing the recipe for one of my favourite beers. Black sheep ale. You can find it on page 123 of the excellent third edition of British real ale by Graham Wheeler.

The beers OG should be 1046 with an FG of 1011  giving an abv of 4.6%

8:31 sanitise everything.  I use starsan.  It's a bit more expensive but it's also no rinse. So more convenient to use.

8:55. Malt weighed out. Bringing the water for the mash up to the required temperature. 

9:14. Grain added to mash tun (cool box). Left now to mash for 90 minutes. The cool box insulates well keeping the temperature pretty much spot on. Probably not as good as a thermostatically controlled proper tun but I haven't had a problem hitting the gravity i'm after doing it this way. 

10:53. Onto sparging.  Home made kit from two oil buckets from work. First run off goes back through the mash.

11:39. I now have 24 litres of wort. I'll take some off to boil with the hops since I don't have anything I can boil all of it in. I also take a gravity reading now since it won't really change . But I could easily add more sugar at this point if required. The gravity is 1034 a bit low so I will add some malt extract I have to bump it up. The wort at this point is still warmer than the calibrated temperature of my hydrometer. I use this handy website to do the conversion for me.http://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/

11:57. Hop's weighed out. Challenger, fuggle and progress in first.  Golding plus Irish moss for the last ten minutes of the boil.

13:31. Cooling the post boil wort as fast as possible. Then it's added to the remaining wort. The quantity topped up to 23 litres if needs be. 

14.01. The yeast hydrates for 15 minutes at 35 centigrade. 

The final gravity having increased the sugar content is now 1060 so this will be a strong one!

14:41 and done bar some cleaning up. Note I'm not using a normal air lock yet. The last time I used this yeast strain it got a bit overexcited and blew the lock. So I will keep it like this for the first 24 hours or so until it settles down then fit a standard air lock.

 

If I brew this to the FG of 1011 it should work out to be 6.43% abv. Much stronger than the recipe. Clearly I've added to much additional sugar. Never mind, I would sooner have a strong beer than a weak one!

In a couple of weeks it'll be time to bottle. I'll update this post then.  

A pint of: Morland - old golden hen

A beautiful golden coloured ale. Very bitter with a strong, lasting, aftertaste. The bottle suggests subtle tropical fruit notes.

It's 4.1% abv & comes in a 500ml clear glass bottle. The bottle bit being tinted does increase the risk of the beer spoiling. So perhaps pick one from the back of the shelf.

Sainsburys, where this brew is from, seem to have recently increased all the alcohols prices. So this beer is currently £1.99. I give it 6 out of 10.

A pint of: Robinsons - Old Tom

This beer proudly proclaims to be the worlds best ale. It won the world beer awards 2009. It was first brewed by the Robinson family in 1899, cool.

The beer is very dark, almost as dark as Guinness. The beer is very bitter & like Guinness I consider this a stout. It has a strong port, almost burnt finish. I rather like it!

I was disappointed at first to discover the beer in a 330ml bottle. But after drinking it I stood up. And promptly as well as swiftly sat back down. The beer is 8.5% abv & my god did I know it. So thats why it's in a small bottle then. A pint would floor a horse. To be fair the bottle does advise caution. I was impressed by the strength I often find very alcoholic beers are ruined & taste worse for being so strong. Not so with old Tom. I give it 9 out of 10. If you like strong beer or stouts then you'll love this beer.

A pint of: Sainsburys - Westmorland ale.

This is a Sainsburys taste the difference beer. Part of an expanding range of quality own brand beers & wines there currently offering. This ale is brewed for Sainsburys by Marston's at Jennings brewery. So the beer is brewed by those who know now to make it & it also has that I think is important. I think it's good that Sainsburys have taken the time to brew this beer in a local brewery. They could easily have called it Westmorland. Brewed a style that is in keeping with Cumbria but made it in London or abroad where it's cheap.

The beer is 4%abv & comes in a 500ml bottle. Although it curiously states on the bottle that it gives two glasses. Two 250ml glasses. But why wouldn't you serve it in a 500ml pint glass? It currently costs £1.69 which is pretty cheap.

In colour it's golden amber. It's not to bitter but does have quite a sharp after taste. It uses a combination of fuggles, goldings & challenger hops. This is s beer I would enjoy on a hop summers day. During a BBQ perhaps with the Cumberland sausages.

My score for this is 7 out of 10. A nice pleasant beer at a reasonable price. But nothing ground braking or exceptional.

A pint of: Marston's Old Empire.

This is old empire an Indian pale ale. This is a pale amber coloured beer. Very bitter, possibly a little to much so for my taste. It's also pretty strong at 5.7% abv but it would be an IPA if it wasn't strong. After all in theory it should be able to survive the merry voyage by sailing ship from England to India. Which according the back of the bottle took 3 months. Marston's are claiming a piece of heritage with this beer. Stating that in the 19th century the Burton brewery where this comes from produced the best beer for export. 

I like an IPA particularly on a hot day I think it's a refreshing beer although I found this one left a dry feeling in my mouth after the pint, which made me feel more thirsty.  My only other criticism is the clear glass bottle. Although it shows off the beer's lovely colour on the supermarket shelf it also makes it more likely that the beer will spoil.

This bottle was from Sainsburys and cost £1.99. I give it 4/10.

A pint of: Fraoch; heather ale

This wonderful beer from Morrisons is probably the only beer that can claim to have been brewed since 2000bc.

To quote the bottle "heather ale has been brewed in Scotland for four thousand years and is the oldest style of ale still made in the world" I think that's pretty cool and reason alone to give it a go.

The recipe for this beer is from the 16th century. Heather flowers are infused with the hot ale before then being fermented.

I find sometimes that beers infused with another ingredient can be overpowered. Fraoch however still hits those beer flavours. The beer is quite bitter, sharp then with the floral taste from the heather. The bottle describes the heather flavour as floral & spicy herbal. I found it tasted a bit banana like. I enjoyed this beer although I don't think I would like more than a couple.

The beer is 5% abv and is in a 500ml bottle. I rate it a 7/10.