Today I
have transferred Castlegate Brewery’s sixth brew from fermentation vessel to
conditioning tank. A bitter-style of
beer based on a recipe for “Everard’s Beacon”, the beer is almost clear, looks
and tastes like beer already. Totally
flat, of course, but will receive two weeks conditioning before bottling.
If all
the Brewery products end up like those tasted so far, the directors will be
well-satisfied
at the results. My main aim was to brew
beer that does not taste like home brew and so far this is the case.
We now
have five beers ranging from golden summer beer to a sort-of barley wine at the
conditioning stage. The first is three
weeks in the bottle and my share is down to its last eight pints. The kitchen is now free from brew clutter and
I can’t any longer lift vessel lids to sniff the eye-watering intensity of
good-quality yeast getting on with what it does best. Tomorrow I start brew seven, with another
later in the week at the Harrogate premises and then brewing will start again
the following week at Newcastle.
It is
fair to say the first-brewed beer is probably at its best and has now been
tasted in accordance with my own criteria:
St. Arbeck’s Gold 5.0% (recipe based on Hopback
Summer Lightning)
Appearance: Dark gold, no head unless poured from great
height. Few bubbles.
Smell: Beer + hint of flowers (best I can do)
Taste: Beer (this happens a lot!)
Impressions:
Quaffable
and refreshing cold or at cellar temperature.
Very similar to the shop-bought product, but less fizzy. Worth repeating and an ideal base for
experimenting with dry hopping, heather, lavender, herbs, etc. and degrees of
bottle-priming.
Bitter: 1
Sweetness:
2/3 (thus a 5-point scale becomes 10, showcasing
my indecision)
Score: 4 (seek out, ergo “brew more of same”)
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