Confessions of a Bathtub Brewer

As the beer has been in the fermenter for two weeks, and we have workmen in for the rest of the week, Wednesday was a good day to have a go at some racking and bottling.  A quick test confirmed that it still tasted like beer. The ABV had gone …

This is the label.

I'm a lazy engineer. Whatever aspect of engineering I inherited from my Dad, it wasn't the bit that involves hacksaws and grease. Home brewing done properly seems to involve an amount of cutting pipe that I couldn't honestly face, so, despite thinking long and hard about making a hop filter …

When you get shiny new stuff, it's important to try it out. The Electrim boiler has now been designated the hot liquor boiler to feed the mash tun and stovetop boiler, and tubing has been obtained and modified for an assortment of purposes. It's currently filling the conservatory and causing …

The bottles have been sitting in the garage for a week and after yesterday's brewing, I fancied a beer, so one thing lead to another...

This isn't the official tasting as the labels aren't on yet, but I cracked one and poured it and was pleasantly surprised. A week in …

I need to do something with the brew as I'm not going to be able to next week so after filling the garage with bottles last time I'm going to give casking a go for a couple of weeks. As mentioned Nottingham yeast doesn't get as lively as Safale-04 but …

My wife and I took a cottage at the southern end of Coniston Lake for a week of walking, exploring and sightseeing. Oh, and the chance to sample a few local beers of course.

On our first night we had dinner at the Black Bull in Coniston, home of the …

No 2 (still trying to think of a name) has been sitting in the keg while we were away, but tonight seemed like a good time to test it. I got the keg up on a usable surface, took one of my faithful old Saltaire glasses out to the garage …

Having a bit of break at the moment as we're doing work in the house so my kit has been packed up in the garage. Planning the next couple of beers though, which I'm going to make in smaller quantities, a blonde, and for contrast, a stout, plus tinkering with …

There's a bit of talk in the beery blogosphere about Watney's Red Barrel as the shorthand for bad beer that inspired CAMRA's formation and of the value of bad beer as a comparison or base line for tasting, asking the questions 'have you ever tasted Red Barrel' and 'what's the …