So today we are brewing IPA LOT 71 again. The strongest of all our brews. This beer is jam packed with the finest hops. We have decided on a more conservative amount to brew this time as 6bbl's was a tad ambitious with an 8bbl mash tun! There is more malt in 5bbls than 8 bbls of Piddle. We don't up the gravity with sugar, preferring to go with the traditional extract from malt alone. As I am writing this Simon is ceremoniously cleaning off Great Uncle David of Dagenhams antique hop paddle and getting the fermentation vessel squeaky clean.
Well as this blog has that "live" feel to it we have just finished the final transfer and cool down, we had a most magnificent rolling boil and have ended up slightly over our 1071 target on specific gravity, we had excellent viability on the yeast so a vigorous fermentation should ensue. Most of this is going to bottle, but as we love our beer we have decided on putting some to cask, and making it available for selected beer festivals and the odd soiree of our own.
"There's Gold in them there sacks I tell thee" GOLDSACKS. Named after our infamous boss Mr. Paul Goldsack, this beer has been in the prospective annals of our production for longer than we can remember. The briefing was simple, keep it light, golden and fruity with an easy to go down characteristic, I guess this one will live up to its name then! I started with a malt base of Lager Barley and as you can see from above a heady mixture of Maize blended in. I kept the whole Pilsner theme with some Bohemian hops from behind the Iron Curtain, that is not an euphemism for metal store cabinet, Hallertauer Hersbrucker is the predominent hop used. We ended up with an ABV of 4.0% bang on.
I take my job seriously and never one to shirk any responsibility I seflessly embarked on some quality control in the Giant Inn in Cerne Abbas. I ordered my Goldsacks in a lager vessel, my fellow imbibers found this confusing at first, upon further discussion and "sippers" from my glass a few eyebrows were raised from the lager pop fellas. "What? you mean thats made from the same stuff as lager?" "What real lager?" "I dont drink that real ale but thats not bad" and of course those unforgetable words "I'll have one of them next" Overjoyed and caught up in the moment, slightly missing my partner in crime Johann, I took on the next thankless task in the brewers workload, and that my friends, is finding out how well a gallon sits in the belly. I can confirm, as I did with Jon Absolom at 2 o'clock in the morning, It's a lovely easy drinking brew and will be all the better for a bit of sunshine. No nasty hangovers the next day. In fact the following day, I dropped of some beermats to the Giant to be greeted by Colgate Chris, and further congratulations of a beer well brewed and this coming from a man I have never seen with a glass of anything vaguely brown in his hand. I was happy with the result.
So what's next you may ask? well... I've just brewed Cocky Hop as the March Seasonal and then we have "April Showers" The pump clip is with the designers, 4.2% is the abv and Rob wants "intense peach" So it's just a case of getting on with it, so dust off the hop encyclopedia and get me Will from Farams on the phone...I might just have an idea.....
Cheers
Vic
