Back On Track

It's high time I get back on track. I started this blog mainly as an outlet for my home brewing but I've somehow allowed myself to get off topic too many times. Time for a re-focus.

Since moving house back in early 2011, I have brewed over thirty 5-gallon (US) batches of beer, probably the most consecutive run I've had in doing this for over 15 years. I still have yet to enter any contests but I have started going to some of the Austin Zealots (the local homebrew club) meetings and happy hours and attended The Dixie Cup homebrew competition in Houston last year, one of the largest in the US.

I'd like to say that I am a fairly style centric brewer but I experiment a lot with different grist profiles, hop varieties, hop schedules, types of yeast and mash programs. Perhaps this is one of the reasons I haven't been contest focused. I like to brew what I like to drink as well as what my friends like. If they're happy, I'm usually happy. I do prefer Scottish and English style ales far and above any other types of beer but do brew a few German styles that I like a lot (Helles, Kölsch, Altbier, and Oktoberfest-Märzen) as well as the odd Czech style Pilsener.

I have worked out the majority of problems in my brewing equipment and process and with the aid primarily of input from my friend John McGarva, founder of Tryst Brewery in Larbert, Scotland (near Falkirk) as well as all the fine work that Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer do at TheBrewingNetwork, my beers have improved immensely in the last few years. If one were to ask me to pick one thing that had the biggest impact on improving my beer quality, without hesitation I would say doing a proper yeast starter. Using a yeast nutrient in the copper and oxygenating the wort prior to pitching are also key factors. There are a number of other items but this has certainly been the most significant. I encourage anyone that has not done so already to read Jamil's articles on the Mr Malty website.

I do still face the odd issue, however, and as of late it has been beer clarity. I've made some improvements in this area but certain beers still give me fits. My friend and award-winning homebrewer, Kerry Martin, turned me on to the use of gelatin finings and that handles the majority of the beers. Recently, I've also tried BioFine but as yet, I've not had very good results with it. Of course, I have used Whirlfloc as a copper fining agent for years but clearly, in lieu of filtering (which I care not to do), post fermentation fining is an important aspect for clearing up the beers.

A few weeks ago, I brewed three hop heavy beers that on the face of it are all quite different. One is even a "cask lager" if I may use that term, modeled loosely after Harviestoun Brewery Schiehallion which is a great lager that is cask conditioned (the first of its kind that I was introduced to). In the next post, I'll discuss these beers in a little more detail - as soon as the one that is giving me fits clears up.

Yours Aye!
Neil