with the occasional rant about tin openers...

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Sixth Brew*: Geordie Bitter (36 pints, 4.5%)

I’m writing this before bottling the beer, where normally I write afterwards. I think I’m doing this to put off washing the bottles, in the same spirit that gets the housework done or all the socks paired whilst some deadline or other looms. I’m not looking forward to cleaning and rinsing 20 bottles. Maybe I’ll give in and buy a pressure barrel soon. Maybe.

The brew seems to have gone off without a hitch, so far. I’m getting pretty quick at making it all. I stopped measuring out the pints exactly, and went with the marks on the side of the bucket for a guide. I’ve also got the hang of siphoning the beer into bottles. I think the trick is to keep the barrel only slightly higher than the bottles, so that it doesn’t all gush out. Nice and easy does it. Although I’m still not quite sure about sucking the end of the tube to get the beer out… no bacterial side effects yet…

Not much else to report in the way of brewing. Once it’s bottled I’ll be off to the shops for 2 lbs of sugar and another round of bottles to empty.

A Few Days Later...

Well, isn’t washing bottles fun. At least I won’t have to do it again for a week or so. 20 litres bottled, and it looks good and dark. I’ve saved myself ten minutes work in a couple of days time by just putting the bottled beer straight in the cupboard without the four day 'warm' period. Frankly, it’s just pointless because the house is tepid at the best of times, and if the mice like it behind the cupboard, then it must be reasonably warm. It’ll do.

* Getting the hang of it now

2 comments:

  1. Hey, you've tarted this page up. It looks like the inside of a woman's handbag now.

    How's the beergut coming along?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Whassat? Full of crap?

    No chance of a beergut for another couple of weeks, then once it's cleared I'll have another crack at adding some winter weight. It's just to keep me warm.

    ReplyDelete