Book Review: The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Fourth Edition by Charlie Papazian

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Fourth Edition contains lots of good information about the brewing process and use of different sugars, ingredients such as berries, coriander, chocolate and when to add them.

There is also a useful description of different hops, basic guidelines of quantities of malts and hops to use for various styles of beer and a significant number of recipes. Unexpectedly there are also a number of different Mead recipes. There is even a section on growing hops.

The coverage of Brew In A Bag (BIAB) was quite light and I didn't see any coverage on how to scale a recipe (maybe I missed it).

Book Review: "How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time" by John J. Palmer

Having now brewed a couple of all grain beers I thought I should find out a bit more about what I should be doing and why I do certain things so I picked up this book that I had seen referred to in many places from the local library.

"How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time" by John J. Palmer is a superb book about brewing beer. It explains the basics (from kit brewing to extract to all grain), gets quite scientific and provides a number of recipes. For an absolute beginner of brewing this book may be a bit overwhelming. As somebody who has brewed many kits and recently got into all grain brewing (with Brew In A Bag) I found the book to be superb.

My first Brew In A Bag (BIAB)

I have done a reasonable number of beer brews using kits, but decided this year that I really wanted to do a brew from scratch. After a bit of research I found that Brew In A Bag (BIAB) is one of the most common ways of brewing so I decided to give it a go.

Since I had the equipment required for brewing kits I just needed to supplement this with a huge pot, a wort chiller, a grain bag, hop bags and a fake bottom for the pot (of which I used an upside down metal colander).

I bought a 50 litre pot with a 0.5cm thick base (I suspect it's a bit thinner) on Trade Me and made a wort chiller (I will write a separate post about that).

I decided to follow the BIAB Pale Ale recipe from Brewers Coop. This consisted of the following key ingredients:

• 5.3kg Pale malt
• 300g Pale crystal malt
• 300g Carapil malt
• 73g NZ Cascade pellet hops

I purchased all the ingredients from Brewers Coop and they also combined all the malts.

The pot is rather huge on the stove. 

I put 26 litres of water in the pot (with fake bottom inserted) and it took about 30 mins to get up to 68 degrees Celsius. I then turned the heat off and put the grain bag into the pot (with the top of it coming over the sides, poured the malt into it and left it to sit (with some insulation of towels) for 90 mins. The grain bag was unfortunately a bit too small so I couldn't have it over all edges, but it was good enough.

I then turned up the heat to get the brew up to the mashup temperature of 76 degrees Celsius, whilst stirring along the way. This was followed by removing the grain bag from the wort (the name given to boiled up malt) which was quite heavy and made more difficult by the pot being up high on the stove and also wanting to hold it there for as long as possible to get the wort pouring out of it straight back into the pot. I got about another couple of litres by just leaving the bag sitting in another pot (with another fake bottom), but didn't apply pressure since I was worried that over extraction would taint the flavour. The fake bottom was also removed at this point (after a bit of a struggle fishing for it).

I boiled up the wort and 30 mins later added 14g of hops (for bitterness), 30 mins later added another 14g of hops (for flavour) and 15 mins later added 28g of hops (for aroma); given I had acquired 73g I had some left over. I put each of the hops into hop bags so that I could easily remove them at the end of the brew.

After 80 mins of boiling, I added a teaspoon of Irish Moss and inserted the wort chiller so that it could be sterilised for 10 mins before I turned it on. At the same time I turned on the wort chiller I removed the hop bags. The wort chiller took the boiling wort to 22 degrees Celsius in about 15 mins. It is important to cool quickly to get a "cold break" and reduce the risk of infection.

With the help of Jane, we then strained the wort into a cleaned and sterilised fermenter. The wort in the pot was very heavy and it was quite a struggle. I suspect I should look at syphoning for future brews. I then took a hydrometer reading (1.06 OG) and added some rehydrated Safale US-05 yeast. The resulting brew was about 16.5 litres (from the 26 litre starting point. The resting temperature was initially 24 degrees Celsius, but it has already dropped to 23 degrees and should come down overnight (18-20 is where I tend to like it) and hopefully the fermentation will start tomorrow. All going well, I should be bottling in 2-3 weeks.

A few quiet beers with Tom, Nick and Jane in Brugge with a bite to eat at The Habit

It was good to catch up with friends Tom and Nick yesterday in Brugge. At the conclusion of the Procession of the Holy Blood we headed off in search of chocolate (which isn’t exactly hard in Brugge). We decided to head to The Chocolate Line (where Jane & I had purchased some excellent chocolates previously) although we managed to walk past it and a further 500 meters down the round. Oh well, no worries there were many other chocolate shops around.

After eating a couple of superb chocolates we decided a beer was needed so headed to the De Halve Maan brewery where I enjoyed a Straffe Hendrick Tripel (one of the best beers I’ve had whilst away) and the others had Bruges Zot Dubbel.

After the brewery we headed to Brugs Bertje where they have more they 300 hundred Belgian beers. This little bar had an excellent vibe and was packed; we were very lucky to get a table.

We then decided we were in need of food, so headed next door to The Habit where it was a lot quieter.

Flemish Beef Stew and fries accompanied by a Belgian beer is a superb mix. The meal was simple but very flavoursome and the meat nice and tender.

Jane had the Waterzooi that she found was okay, but after tasting the beef stew wished she had order that instead.

Salvador Dali followed by the De Halve Maan brewery

Jane introduced me to Salvador Dali’s art today and said to me as we walked around the extensive exhibition in Brugge that I look confused. Me confused? Dali was obviously the confused one! Surprisingly we were told as we went in that we were allowed to take photos.

Here are a few photos of some of my favourite exhibits.

After Salvador Dali, we went off in search or lunch and walked a long way before eventually ending up for lunch at Caffé Da Noi where I had a waffle and beer and Jane had a meatball salad that was okay but kind of weird.

The De Halve Maan brewery is the only brewery within 30km of Brugge and has been in operation since 1856.There is a EUR 6 fee for a brewery tour, but this money is well spent, particularly when you get a free normal sized glass of beer at the end of the tour.

Andrew was the tour guide I had for the brewery tour and he was larger than life and gave a superb explanation of how the brewery operates and its history with lots of humour along the way.

The brewery tour does involve a lot of narrow steps up to the roof of the building where there are magnificent views.

The walk back down through the building however is so steep at times that people are encouraged to go down the steps backwards.

At the end of tour we got a complementary beer that went down well. I do like how beers in Belgium have their own glass.

Dinner and Drinks on Saturday evening in Amsterdam

This evening we wandered along Damrak to Dam square and then up a couple of quieter streets beyond the Magna Plaza to find somewhere for dinner.  We weren't overly fussed about what we were looking for, just something different to what we've had before and preferably outside - the sun has been shining since first thing this morning and the city is positively hot!  I even regretted taking my cardigan (although I was glad of it a few hours later).

We eventually came upon a fondue restaurant in a back alley and once we'd convinced the waiter that while we appreciated his advise, we'd really like some time to think about what we'd order, we settled on a couple of different fondues, served simply with bread (instead of the 50 euro all-the-bells-and-whistles option he was urging us to 'trust' him on. He was charming.  Well, until we rejected his advise, then he was positively peevish, but even that had a certain charm.)  I chose the Normande fondue and Simon the traditional one with a name containing more esses, cees and aitches in weird combinations than I am prepared to try and repeat.  As it turned out, his traditional one was significantly better than my supposedly spicy one.  I think spicy ought to have been translated as ripe.  It was a basic, but different meal that we don't regret but wouldn't hurry back for.

Next we wandered back towards home via Van Zuylen - a bar with many tables spreading out on the very wide bridge across the Singel.  Simon had a couple of odd beers (well, I thought they were odd, he seemed to enjoy them) and I enjoyed first an apple juice and later a hot chocolate - which I chose mainly because by this stage I had put my cardigan on and was still feeling rather cold.  We saw many meals being consumed here and by the looks of everything served we will definitely return for a meal.

Amsterdam is clearly Hen and Stag central on the weekend and the evening was filled with free entertainment, both on the road by way of ambulatory and pedal-powered revellers and of course on the canals - I expect there were several 'man overboard' instances through the evening, although we didn't witness any.

We still haven't adjusted to the unfamiliar hours of daylight.  Simon asked the time of me at one point and I was rather shocked when I looked at my watch to discover it was in fact twenty to ten.  And yet it wasn't even quite dusk yet!  Amazing!  It is finally dark outside as I write this at 11pm (although the bars next door, and next door to that are both still going strong - not so strong that I won't sleep through it mind you - it's a very civilised clientele - no pre-wedding parties here!)

Epic Stout 2010… this is one heavy beer.

Very dark in colour, this stout from the Epic Brewing Company is an international collaborative brew between NZ and the UK that is aged in oak and not for the faint hearted.

On her first taste, Jane’s description is very apt.

"It’s like chewing on a board of smoky cedar.  Ohhh, but it has chocolate at the end of it."

It has a nice chocolate aroma, a very strong smoky cedar & malt flavour with medium-long duration.  For my taste buds, it’s a bit too heavy and bitter (I see it’s 6.8% alcohol, so that will be a contributing factor), but that may be more a statement of where I’m at on my stout journey. 

The beer did accompany chilli remarkably well, and Jane is quite happy to drink it again.

Portofino at the Viaduct

Last night was a 'I don't feel like cooking, and not only that, I don't feel like deciding what I'd like you to cook' night. And after being most impressed with the buzz in Courtney Place at 11pm on Saturday while I was in Wellington, we decided that our closest environment to that in Auckland would have to be the viaduct.

So we wandered down and settled on Portofino for dinner.

Impressions....
Decor and Environment - pretty cool, bathrooms snazzy (despite inappropriate affordances on the door handle - will designers never learn?); nice and warm despite being a freezing evening and us sitting out on the deck.
Service - very European. :) Adequately attentive, but by no means worthy of note, positive or negative. Hmm, although now that I think of it, we never did receive water.
Food - very 'sitting in a touristy coastal area of Italy'. The food was very reminiscent of meals we had in Italy - so yes it was authentic, but equally, it was basic. It was good, hearty, trattoria style Italian food.
What we ate

• SG - seafood risotto - personally I think I do a better risotto. I avoided the risottos and most of the pastas as they all had cream in them.
  
• JG - white veal picante - I enjoyed this, (although the potatoes were burnt on one side), nice Capsicum and tomato sauce with black olives. Veges were lovely.

What we drank

• SG - partook of my favourite beer - Nastro Azzuro - which, as always was divine.
  
• JG- a Pinot Grigio from the Roma region. A little thin, strong pear on the palette, taste developed with increased temperature and with food.

Price - as expected for the Viaduct - overpriced. :) Especially given above comments about the food.
Overall - fairly indifferent - although the people-watching opportunities really are fabulous at the Viaduct. :) I'd go back, but I wouldn't make a point of going back.

And that brings me to tonight. Argh! Its 6:55 and I'm still at work. :( And I really want to let the cats out tonight, so its going to have to be a home meal, but its another one of the those moods I fear! Ah well. You'll see soon enough......