Alan clearly enjoyed his first Dirty Ewe as he allowed his father in-law to have one.
Check this beauty of a review out. It has to be said that our Master brewer is rather pleased with the first brew coming out of the new brewery.
Alan was the first member of the SummersWorth team to bravely video his first taste of SummersWorth’s Dirty Ewe .
Alan was instructed by our MasterBrewer to chill the first beer as we are still working to get the carbination of the bottles right. Chilling should calm the beer down a little. 🙂
 Our first beer Dirty Ewe 5% is still conditioning at the moment but here is a sneaky peak, taking advantage of the fermenting chamber not being in use.
So………………….
It has been far too long since the last post so what have we been doing? Well, i am sorry to report that none brewing activities got in the way.
Work, selling houses, buying houses, work, expanding families, work, lack of money, work, fixing new houses, work and life….. I think you get the picture.
Well i am happy to report that SummersWorth is on its way back and this time it is going to be All Grain all the way baby. Things are still bubling under the surface so i cannot confirm everything yet, but when brewing starts again, hopefully in July, it will be full on All Grain all the way.
For the time being The brewery needs to be prepared and Mr Summers senior has been booked in to assist (and make sure my electric cabling is safe). Work will start this Saturday and i will post pics of our progress.
While this has been going on i have been refreshing my knowledge of all the kit i will need and upgrades/ updates to my current kit. I will start posting information about the various pieces of kit i am building/ buying and reviewing them once i use them.
For now, a little nugget i came across yesterday which should be going on sale at some point this month. I may have to try one.
The last deliveries have been made prior to Christmas and we hope that our friends are happy with the goods.
You may be wondering why I have not posted for a while. Well I have turned the brewery into a lab but my results have not been good. The Christmas pudding ale is a little flat and bitter. The Toffee stout is nice but a little over powering and the Mexican lager (Flangeater) had a funny after taste :-).
Well since then the Blond that I made was fantastic and this bitter is great. Back to basics is working well.
Here’s to 2012!!
Well that’s a Southern Hemisphere inspired IPA in the fermenter. New Zealand Pacifica and Apollo hops to give it the marmalade citrus smell and flavour. I must say though that the smell wasn’t that great or pronounced in the boil so fingers crossed on this one. I’ve also opted for a Safale s-04 yeast for the first time, it has high sediment but hopefully a sweeter / softer base to the ale.
I do trust the Brew Gods to do their stuff though….:-)
Cheers and Hoppy Brewing
Kev
Always on the lookout for new hops to try, I was some what surprised when Greene King, under their Morland brand, released Old Golden Hen, this is a light beer, both in terms of ABV at 4.1% and colour. I am surprised because I’m not a fan of their brews normally, but this one uses Tasmanian galaxy hops, which really do produce a lovely fruit salad / grapefruit flavour throughout and after the taste.This is a far better brew from the tap than the bottle though as the hop flavour is subdued in the bottled version.
Thankfully my hop stockist has just introduced these to his stock. His description is as follows.
Alpha 15.1% – an Exciting hop variety that was new in 2010 from Australia. This is different from the American “c” hops in that it is more friut salad than citrus. Use early, late or dry. A must try hop.
He nailed it when he said “must try” and I will be in the New Year. SummersWorth Galaxy is on it’s way … 🙂
Cheers and Hoppy Brewing
Kev
Well time for a quick update as it’s been a while. I continue to experiment with my IPA’s by varying the hopping schedules so that I get a good feel for their individual character. My current brew is in the fermenter with a 50 grammes Citra hop tea added into the primary. This is a very strong smelling, extremely citrus hop which I hope will be maintained in the final beer. To say it smells lovely is a complete understatement.
I’ve also been privileged to have helped organise and staff a mini beer festival at my local, (The Bulls Head). This place is so much more than a pub, it really is a community. With many thanks To Amanda Burton for giving me this opportunity. And the barrel tappers bruise which I was proud of for days..:-) . 13 quality beers on tap and the opportunity to sample them all over a great weekend.
As we have been tasting various brews I thought it was time to take the plunge and visit a Belgium Brewery, the Half Moon brewery in Bruge was the target. An award winning brewery that won high acclaim at the American Beer Festival this year.
The guide walked you through the whole process from start to finish, Very informative and amazing to see some of the contraptions I have at home for bottling, sterilising bottles are all still in use and have been for many a long year.It was great to see the old style of brewing and to tour the brewery.
What a pleasant surprise that at the end of the tour, there was a nice cool glass of Zlot on hand which was included in the price….
Of course it would have been rude not to try a couple more whilst we were there ..:-) Well worth the trip and definitely one place I will be visiting again…
I know Mark has also been very busy experimenting, A Christmas pudding ale, with real Christmas pudding, a toffee stout and some exciting IPA’s .
Well cheers for now.
Hoppy Brewing
Kev
The SummersWorth Apollo IPA has turned out superb, clear, hoppy, dry, great head and lacing. This is officially my favourite beer of the moment. Can Mark catch up is the question?
The Gauntlet is down ..:-)
Having just returned from Europe, maybe it’s time to try brewing a Belgium style beer. Watch this space, it’s coming.
Cheers and Hoppy Brewing
Kev
At the beginning of may I posted about my first adventure with the great cornelius. Since then I have been working hard to get the infrastructure in place to have a permanent tap setup, in my shed. As plans go, they usually grow and become more complex.
Well fortune favours the brave, so instead of the single tap setup, my cornelius kegs have grown to 3, I have acquired a 7lb CO2 bottle, a cupboard which is perfect for housing them and a triple tap setup. All I am waiting for now is a triple CO2 regulator I have on order from Norm.
As I have gone about acquiring the kit and putting it all together I have realised that it is all starting to form the second of the SummersWorth ventures. Â ‘The Shed’ SummersWorths first Bar.
It is a little rough around the edges at the moment but once I have brewed enough beer 🙂 it will be fully functional.
And Finally, after 5 months of ‘maturing’ in the bottle. SummersWorths’ Great Galah  Australian styled lager is ready.
And what a beauty she is.
At the end of this week, I travel to the French Alpes with the cornelius full to the brim. I will update you on how it fairs after the 14 road trip.
