Book Review : Brewing Britain, The quest for the perfect pint by Andy Hamilton

 

 

Brewing Britain, The quest for the perfect Pint by Andy Hamilton

I received this book for Christmas 2013, I have Andy's other book "Booze for Free" and have used it many times for wines and beer recipes. This book is quite different than his other book on booze however.

The introduction outlines Andy's agenda for this new tome of beer brewing and drinking discovery, describing it as kinda like a brewery tour on paper, in fact it's far more detailed than any brewery tour that I have been on.

The next section is all about beer terminology which I have been able to skip over as I have been brewing now for quite a few years, however for a new brewer or someone that would like to expand their knowledge of all things brewing it is an invaluable reference. Even if you are a old hand at brewing you should still give this section a  peruse as there a some amusing additions to the standard terminology which I found put a wry smile on my face and even a couple of chuckles.

I won't describe every section/chapter in Andy's book as that will turn into quite a large post in itself. But to sum up in as little words as possible Brewing Britain, The quest for the perfect pint is a very welcome addition to my brewing library, in fact it's one of the best if not the best book I have on the subject of brewing, it's informative yet witty and covers everything a new brewer or old hand could wish for in a book, with examples of commercial beers to try, beers to brew Kit and All Grain for each style covered within it's pages.The book goes into plenty of detail about almost everything about beer and it's manufacture without getting overly technical.

I can highly recommend it for the new brewer, old hand or even the beer drinker with no wish to even brew their own pint but has a interest in the beer they chugg in the pub on the weekend and wish to find out what they are actually drinking.

 

GIFTS: Beer Tasting Notes [Paperback]

Got a nice little present the other day in the shape of a Beer Tasting Log book, it's called Beer Tasting Notes and is published by cicobooks.

The RRP on the back of the book is 9.99 UKP but this one was found in HomeSence in Somerset for 2.99 UKP

Book Description

Fans of craft beer will love this unique journal to record the characteristics of their favorite brews. The recent explosion of outstanding beers made by exceptionally talented brewers has been a dream come true for anyone who appreciates a well-balanced beverage. But with thousands of new beers coming out every year, it's hard to keep track of what you've been drinking and what you thought about it - especially if you've drunk quite a few! That's where this journal containing the following comes in: Specially designed pages to record the key characteristics of over 100 beers A section for home brewers to plan their recipes A craft-paper envelope to store the labels, bottle caps or beer mats of any particularly good ales

 

The book or log, is split up into Four sections,   

Understanding Beer which gives a short four page description  of different types of beer styles. 

Tasting Notes, which is where you can log beers that you have tried, there are 114 pages in this section and make up the bulk of the book/log and includes a few pages where you can write a few notes (8 pages)

The Brewing Your Own section is where you can record your own recipes and contains enough room to record the details, but only to a limited level of detail, but has all the sections you might require to recreate the brew at a later date. Unfortunately for myself and other home-brewers it only contains room for recording 25 of your own brew recipes.

The last part of the book/log is Keeping Organized, this section allows us to log Favorite Bars & Pubs (6 pages), Favorite Brewers (4 pages), Favorite Beer Stores, with areas on each page for names and addresses of each. Right at the end of this section is a 3 month per page beer diary called A Year in Beer, where you can record when and what you drank over the whole year.

 

Overall quite a handy little log, the only down side for myself is the recipe section being a little small to record my own home-brews, 25 is a little limited, but my plan is that I just use that section to record my own personal recipes that I have made up myself and to use the note section to record page numbers and the book of any that I make from the growing collection of beer brewing related literature on my bookshelf.

It's certainly going to be used quite a bit and very handy to have on my bookshelf

Xmas Presents (Brewing/Drinking Related)

Hey Hey, brewing and beer related Xmas Presents. A Big Thank you to every ones generous gifts this year.

Books

Got Andy Hamilton's new book "Brewing Britain" which is currently sitting next to his other book "Booze For Free" on my bookshelf, haven't had a chance to read it yet, but will do a full review once I have had a chance to put my feet up.

I also received another old book by Mary Aylett (1957) Encyclopaedia of Home-Made wines. Again not really had a chance to look through it as yet, but will Blog it once I have.

Beer!!

Got a nifty little beer mat/bottle opener personalised to me, Really handy and it got used alot on Xmas day, I  really like this little gadget as it also has a magnet on the back. It has a nice weight to it and the bottle opener is lovely to use as well a giving me a landing pad for my beer glass.

And to boost the now flagging beer stocks I now have a Coopers Stout kit to make up. Kits like this I find really  handy to have around and make because they are quick to make up and restock my Cellar with a good few pints in quite a short space of time.

Xmas Cheer with Xmas Beer!!!

Christmas Day's drinking.. 13 bottles of beer all drunk on the day.

Had quite a few nice commercial beers during the day. Some of the highlights of the days drinking where a bottle of Extreme Chilli Beer from Debenhams, very hard black pepper kick with a little chilli afterburn, a very pleasant pint if you like a bit of chilli heat. The other mentionable beer was a Chocolate Porter from Hotel Chocolat, lovely smooth porter, and a mild smell and taste of chocolate.

All in all a good few pints consumed over the whole day. I had a very Merry Xmas...

Drinking the brew

Well freed up six more bottles last night, couple of pints of Coopers IPA from a kit, and a few of my Pumpkin beers, getting low on BIAB brews now, in fact getting low on beer full stop. 

Got 10 left in the store room and 9 inside the house. Plus a few store bought Xmas brews. Should see me through to the new year at least. Still have 12 litres in my no-chill cube ready to ferment of Pumpkin Beer, can't wait to get mashing again once these festivities are all done.

Andy Hamilton's African Ginger beer

Nice post on Andy Hamilton's blog if your a ginger beer fan as I am. It's a nonalcoholic ginger beer but as Andy suggested once run through a soda stream will be ace as a mixer.

http://www.theotherandyhamilton.com/2013/12/18/quick-and-easy-african-ginger-beer-part-five-in-the-12-drinks-for-christmas/

Made this ginger beer up today and it's come out very good. Very very gingery and has a great kick to it. I made it up a little different to Andy but the ingredients are the same.

Peeled and beat the ginger to death with a rolling pin in a freezer bag, brought 500ml water to the boil in a pan.

Added the beaten ginger root to the pan. Left to steep for 30mins.

Put 125g of honey in a jug, added 140ml (125g) of lemon juice, two cloves and 1\2 a cinnamon stick, topped up to 600ml of boiling water, stirred until the honey is dissolved and added to the pan with the steeped ginger.

Left the whole lot to cool and strained through muslin into one of our Sodastream 1 litre bottles and is now chilling in the fridge.

When it's nice and cold I'll blast it with some bubbles.

Got the Ginger root from Aldi for £0.31 and the lemon juice from Co-op for £0.61. We had some honey in the house so all in all the ginger beer worked out quite inexpensive to make. At a guess it works out at about £0.60 per litre bottle and that includes the honey and spices.

Christmas Veg!

Down to the plot today to pick some veg to go with Christmas dinner.  Christmas sprouts STILL arent ready yet however there were enough of the earlier ones left for us to pick.  Got two heads of kale, picked the whole plant so it stays fresh through to Christmas day.  Some leeks, only small ones but you pay a fortune for baby leeks in the shop so they look a bit posh!  Little carrots.  And of course, a load of chard for the chickens.  Cold down there today, particularly in the wind but at least the sun was shining.  Couldn't see anyone else down there today, all a bit deserted.

 



 

Hope everyone has a happy Christmas and a successful new year in all their allotment endeavours, best wishes from Jane & Simon xx

GIFTS : Little Bottler & Country Wines by Mary Aylett (1953)

Received two lovely gifts from my Amazon Wish List this week, Thank you so much Emily.

Little Bottler : Product Description (Youngs)

The Little Bottler is designed to swiftly and efficiently fill your bottles from your fermenter. The Little Bottler consists of a dispensing tap which can be used as usual, plus a detachable filling tube. When the filling tube is fitted, inserting it into a bottle will result in the brew flowing and filling the bottle. Taking the bottle away will result in the flow automatically stopping. Ideally this should be used over a drip tray as, inevitably with this sort of product, small drips will occur.

I have one of these on my 25 liter fermenting bucket and they are great, really does make things nice and easy when it comes to filling up your beer bottles. This new one has been fitted to my smaller bucket (15 liters) for when I make my BIAB beers.

COUNTRY WINES MARY AYLETT

Product Description

This a fascinating and informative book on the age-old and delightful rural art of wine-making includes a very extensive collection of recipes for traditional country wines and many absorbing stories about wine-making and wine drinking through the ages. Full of wine making recipes, which include country wines, beer, cider and mead making. A useful book for the amateur wine maker.

London, Odhams Press, 1953 . First edition illustrated by line drawings throughout. Chapters on Raisin and Dried fruit wine, Currant wine, Elderflower and elderberry wine, plum port and beetroot wine, several fruit wines, parsnip and vegetable wines, flower wines, wines from grains, herb wines mead and metheglin, cider and perry and so on. Mrs Aylett hopes that "the book will bring afresh to many the joys of "a simple valuable and once widely practised art, which can be a source of pleasure to all, a wholesome addition to a woefully depleted diet and a new stimulus to a sadly waning hospitality" possibly just as true today as in 1953. 8vo., pp192 

I have already read through this whole book, it reads just like a novel, Even if you don't make home brew it's a great read. There are quite a few things I might make from this old book, but maybe not the wine the Manchus made from the flesh of sheep!!!

Brewday : Elderberry + Mixed fruit wine

Had 1.5kg of frozen elderberries in the freezer taking up space that need to be used for Xmas food, also had a ice-cream tub of allotment mixed fruit, jostaberries, gooseberries, strawberries, black and red-currents, raspberries. Not enough to make much with but came to 0.5kg in weight.

I make Elderberry wine every year and is a favorite of mine for drinking. So I have made it up again but added the 0.5kg of mixed fruit to use it all up.

The Recipe is from How to Make Your Own Drinks: by Susy Atkins page 70.

The only things that have been done different to the book is the addition of the 0.5kg of mixed fruit and I boiled the Frozen elderberries up with the water and mixed fruit for 15mins and added 2tsp of  Pectolase just in case when the Must had cooled to 20'c.

Today I strained the Must onto the sugar in the demijohn for it to ferment out. Used 1/2 a packet of Youngs champagne brewing yeast that I had left over. So I hope these changes don't change the wine to much.

Tasting : Homemade Ginger Wine

Ginger Wine: Reviewed By Jane

As a lover of Stones Ginger wine it was a little courageous of Simon to make me some from scratch.  However, I am more than pleasantly surprised at just how good it is.  I would even go as far to say that I prefer his.

It is lighter and more refreshing and is not as heady as Stones, with a lovely strong ginger tang that warms the stomach and a very pleasant citrus aftertaste.  It certainly is as strong as Stones, one glass is enough to put a little colour in the cheeks and a smile on your face.  Beautiful golden coppery gingery colour as well.  All in all, a great success and one I hope Simon will repeat.

                                    

Recipe was the one on page 31 from Favourite Country Wines and Cordials  and uses 3 oz of root ginger a few lemons and 1lb of rasins and made 4 x 750ml bottles with a bit left over for sampling.

I made this wine on the 12th of August 2013 and was bottled on the 7th of November so it's still a young wine but very good. 

Converting used barley into Eggs

After brew day us beer brewers have plenty of used malted barley left over, and not alot we can do with it. So my good lady wife's chickens get a treat on brewday.

Could do with a few more uses for this "spent" barley, maybe try doing a old English "small" beer or maybe add some to a bread recipe.

Brewday : Bitter with Homegrown Hops & Pumpkin

Roasted the home grown pumpkin in the oven in big chunks with the skin on at gas mark 6 for 2 hours on the top shelf so it was nice and caramelized. When it was cool enough to handle, I removed the pumpkin flesh from the skin into a bowl. 1.3kg of lovely pumpkin ready for the brew.

The hops are all home grown as well, from this years crop, and with this brew I am using up the last of them. I like my beers quite hoppy which is why the quantities look a little high for a 20 pint brew.

The brew method is the same as I always do for my beers and follows the procedure here this makes around 20 pints of beer. The only thing that was done extra was the addition of the pumpkin flesh at the mash stage. The whole 1.3kg of pumpkin was added right at the start of the mash after the grains where rained in.

Pumpkin Bitter (Home Grown Hops) Ale Recipe by Simon Scott

---

Recipe Specs

Original Gravity	Final Gravity	Colour (SRM / EBC)	Bitterness	Alcohol by Volume
1.036	1.009	8.3 / 16.4	30.9 IBU	3.5%

Brewhouse Specs

Recipe Type	Batch Size	Boil Time	Efficiency
All Grain/BIAB	12.0 Litres / 3.2 Gal	60.0 min	65.0%

Fermentables

Name	Type	SRM	Percentage	Amount
Golden Promise Malt	Grain	3.0	90.48 %	1.90 Kg / 4.19 Lbs
Crystal 60	Grain	60.0	9.52 %	0.20 Kg / 0.44 Lbs

Hops

Name	AA%	Amount	Use	Time
Target	9.0%	10.00 g / 0.35 oz	Mash	60 mins
Challenger	6.1%	8.00 g / 0.28 oz	Boil	60 mins
Fuggles	5.7%	12.00 g / 0.42 oz	Boil	60 mins
Fuggles	5.7%	5.00 g / 0.18 oz	Cube Hop	2 days
Target	9.0%	5.00 g / 0.18 oz	Cube Hop	2 days

Misc

Name	Amount	Use	Time
Pumpkin	1300.00 g / 45.86 oz	Mash	90 mins

Yeast

Name	Attenuation
Wyeast 1098 - British Ale	75 %

Mash Steps

Step Name	Time	Temperature	Type
Saccharification Rest	90.0 min	66.0 °C / 150.8 °F	Infusion

Recipe Generated with BrewMate


READINGS:

	Reading
Temp 'C At Start Of Mash	68
Temp 'C At 45min mark Of Mash	66
Temp 'C At End Of Mash	65
SG Before Boil	1033
SG After Boil	1045
Volume of Wort in Cube	10.7 ltr
Dilution Required for target ABV%	2.5 ltr

10.7 liters of Wort ready for brew day

Below Zero

The greenhouse thermometer is giving us an idea of how cold its getting at night now, only had a couple of very light frosts at home, only had to de-ice the car once.  Coldest recorded so far in the greenhouse is -3.5.  Chillies are still doing OK in there and there are even some flowers on the Super Chilli!  Forecast is supposed to be for mild weather for the next week or so but expect we will see much lower figures before the winter is over.  Shortest day in a couple of weeks though so Spring wont be too long in coming.



Interesting to see how the 2 different brussel sprouts varieties I planted have performed this year, did a couple of rows of F1 Brilliant and a little block of Fillibasket.  F1 Brilliant has proved to be very productive, have had lots of meals from these already.



Yet the Fillibasket variety are very tall and weedy with not many decent sprouts, some have not a single sprout on.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No prizes for guessing which I'll be doing next year......

So, more mulching and chicken muck spreading today and a general check around, all is very quiet down there.  Still got to get down there with pen and paper and do some planning for next year.

 

November

Well, it's been a quiet month down the plot, in fact I've hardly been there as been laid low with flu for a couple of weeks.  Simon has been down there though to keep things ticking over and tidying things up in readiness for the winter.  Harvesting of chillies has been continuing and about 10% still remain in the greenhouse, not planning to try and overwinter any this year.  Plenty of seeds ready for next year.  Polytunnel is empty and ready for next year.  Onions and garlic are all up and not attacked by pigeons.. yet.   Kale and brussel sprouts are still providing us with lots of veg and look likely to for some time to come as well.

Simon has begun to prep the big holes for the two flag poles for his hops to grow up next year, he has cleared it with the committee as well so hopefully no problems when he puts them up!  Each pole is 20ft high so they will certainly be eyecatching!  Next plan would be to plant some barley then his homebrewing would really be completely DIY!

Hopefully my flu is departing so will be able to get out and give Simon a hand tidying very soon and then the plans can start for next year..... :)



 

Autumn

Well, Autumn is definitely upon us now.   The wind and rains have taken their toll this week and our hop arch has taken a bit of a battering - got to the allotment yesterday to find it seriously listing.  Some of the metal joints have rusted through and it is no longer able to support itself, let alone any hops.  Simon repaired as best he could with some bamboo canes but it looks like the whole structure will need to come down once the hops have died right back and replaced with something a bit more substantial next year.

Still lots of harvesting going on from the plot though - the kale has turned into a forest and will certainly keep us going right through the winter.  Planted 2 types this year, dwarf curled green and Starbor.  In the picture, Starbor are the short ones and the dwarf curled are the larger ones behind.  An easy decision as to which one we grow next year!

 



The chard is continuing to provide lots of greenery, particularly for our hens which love the stuff.  The perpetual spinach is still growing well too.



Todays harvest - kale and cabbage for tea tonight, a bag of sprouts (F1 Brilliant) - as good as any you would get in the shops, 2 pumpkins - for Simon to make some pumpkin beer, and two bags of Simons peppers.  Greenhouse is still proving to be very productive with lots of peppers still to come.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

A hoooge thanks for the £10 seed voucher..... going to enjoy spending it!  :)

Onions and Garlic Sorted

Put in our onions and garlic for overwintering yesterday.  Got 2 large bulbs of Provence Wight which made 21 cloves to plant.  12 elephant garlic went in as well.  Also 100 Senshyu Yellow onions.  Still got another 100 to go in but waiting for the runner beans to completely finish and come down to make some room for them!  Bought the garlic and onions from Marshalls for £28.15 which felt a little extravagent but couldnt find elephant garlic anywhere else any cheaper 12 for £8.95.  In the garden centre is was £5 for 3.  The plot they have been planted in has been enriched over the summer since the broad beans came out - lots of chicken manure.  So hopefully that will help that corner as it was a little lacking in nutrients and the broad beans suffered for it a little this year.



Put in 20 sprouting broccoli plants as well yesterday and protected them well against all the critters down there.  Plenty of room in the brassica bed for spring cabbages as well but not sorted them out yet....

Brussel sprouts are looking good - the F1 Brillants are certainly a lot more advanced than the Fillibasket variety even though they were planted at the same time.  The Brilliants are almost ready for harvesting yet the Fillibaskets are still very tiny.  Happy with that though as it means we wont have too many ready at the same time.



 

Fruit Plot Planning

September has been a month of harvesting and planning for next season.  The Blue Lake beans have been good again this year but going to try Cobra next year as this is supposed to be even heavier cropping.  Not going to bother with too many runner beans next year as not everyones favourite at home, might just do one row of Equator as they were stringless and the most successful out of all the varieties we have tried.  Learnt lots of lessons this year.  Cabbages = nightmare.  Everything wants to eat them.  Need more protection.   Florence fennel = not to bother, didnt produce bulbs.  Courgettes = grow in the ground rather than grow bags as they dry out too quick.  Aubergines = dont bother.  2nd year of failure.  Sorted out most of our seeds for next year and sat down with paper and pen to plan the plot.... rotation is proving to be a little difficult but hopefully we will work it out eventually.

 

Main job for September was taking up all the potatoes - had an excellent crop of Pink Fir Apples and Nicolas, Roosters were good as well but the skins were quite tough.  Got enough stored in the garage to last us quite a while.  Used the last of the garlic last night though so our decision to grow a lot more next year was the right one.  Ordered 2 Provence Wight bulbs and  12 Elephant garlic from Marshalls, and a few hundred Senshyu Yellow onions so will put them in as soon as they arrive.

Other big job was planting the new fruit bushes.  Picked up some cheap and cheerful ones from the Range, 4 for £10 so a bargain and look healthy enough.  Got some blackcurrants, a fig tree to go in a big planter, a blueberry, some yellow raspberries and some redcurrants.  Together with the rhubarb, currants, jostaberry, gooseberries and raspberries we already had it has turned the right hand side of plot 119 into a proper fruit patch.  Just got to sort out some sort of fruit cage for next year.



 

Job of the Day

Thanks to Monty Don and his inspirational compost heaps Simon has been working really hard to create the same sort of thing.  He managed to get some good quality pallets via our plot manager and today he cleared the area to the rear of the greenhouse and made a system of three compost bins.  First bin for fresh allotment waste, second bin for when it is partially rotted down and a bit more crumbly and the third bin for when it is sieved and ready to use.  So far the first bin is filling up nicely with the contents of the old compost heap.  Already got some of the organice matter from the bottome of the heap into bin number two though.  Looks a lot better than the compost heap we had before and hopefully the system will provide us with some brilliant usable compost next year.  He just has to do the front slats now so we can get in and out of them easily.  Got to empty the two plastic compost bins yet too, however not in any hurry as we know a slow worm has taken up residence in one of them!



Just a couple of other pictures - firstly Simons little melon in the greehouse - its surviving and getting bigger by the day!



And his lovely hops looking lovely in the sunshine today....

Harvest and Preserving

Harvest is slow but steady this year, keeping us ticking over with veg at home.  The green beans (Blue Lake) are doing well again this year.  The onions are all picked and hanging, had a bit of rot but mostly they were excellent.  Used some of the red onions to make red onion chutney again this year as it was so nice last time.



 





 

 



 

Not doing any jam at the moment as still have so much left over from last year.  Might be tempted to make some blackberry jelly next weekend though as so many of them down at the plot.  What else is being harvested?

    Lots of green beans, turnips, kohl rabi, potatoes (Nicolas), courgettes, cabbages.  Just picking what we need at the moment and     using them while they are fresh.  Had a lovely stir fry with lots of our produce the other day, tasted great!

Simon has a blackberry wine on the go and lots of yellow plums to do some more this week, also got some ginger wine 'brewing' too, not technically from the allotment but still.....

 

 

 

 

   Our crop of onions, right by the kitchen door so very handy when cooking!

A Busy Month

Wow, can't believe we are nearly at the end of August, not sure where that month went!  Its been a month of watering cans, picking beans and cursing the caterpillars!  Keeping on top of the watering has been a challenge, the polytunnel and greenhouse are certainly needing a lot of attention and we havent had much rain either to drench the rest of the plot.  Put in some late leeks today that have been grown on in pots and the earth was as dry as a bone, more like sand really.  The caterpillars have managed to become a real problem, despite netting the brassica bed we are still overun with them.  Just like last year though, they dont seem to like curly kale very much so at least that is safe!  The cauliflowers all bolted so lost them all - not been a good year for them at all.  Luckily, the brussel sprouts seem to be coping with the crawlies and we have the first signs of sprouts already.  Ah, the challenges of allotmenting.  Would just be perfect if we had sun all day and rain all night but guess that would be too much to hope for!

Had our open day for the National Garden Scheme, was very successful and the allotment raised over £600!  Was a really nice afternoon, cookery demonstration in the communal orchard, tea and cakes in the garden room and lots of people milling around, and good weather too.  We spent the week before making sure the allotment looked as tidy as possible so glad we made an effort with it.

A few pictures - Simons chilli house looking fabulous, some of my tomatoes underway and one of my giant pumpkins.  Not quite giant yet, but working on it!







 

 

Not just Veg and Fruit

One of the things I love about the allotment is all the other lovely things we find going on down there which are nothing to do with all the fruit and veg.  Today we enjoyed the sunflowers, out in all their glory and buzzing with bees.  Got three sorts growing this year, Wah-hoo (dwarf),  Solar Eclipse (mid-sized) and Giant (obviously huge!)  All the Cosmos (Purity) are out too and again, buzzing with bees.  Sweetpeas are all over now but loads of seed pods for next year.





Also found a little lizard scurrying around the paving slabs - we see them from time to time and they are really delightful little creatures.  He was rescued and put out of harms way and away from being stood on.   Then I went into the polytunnel (which I leave the door open to as it gets so hot in there) and it sounded as though there was a bird trapped in there.  In fact, it was a huge dragonfly that couldnt find his way out.  Luckily Simon rescued him and set him free, after he had his photo taken of course!  Beautiful insect.





And so ended a nice trip down to the allotment today, headed home with loads of veg for tea and an armful of flowers to brighten up the kitchen, cosmos, marigolds and huge daisies.  All with a little help from grandson who will be getting his own raised bed and little trowel as soon as he is walking about!