tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90169187667349857612024-03-13T22:50:50.569+00:00Mash Tun MusingsThe Inveralmond Brewery: Beautiful beer from the heart of ScotlandBrewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-89085730650318592942014-12-06T16:41:00.003+00:002014-12-08T22:59:33.425+00:00All that glisters isn't gold, but Sunburst Bohemian Pilsner wins gold!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We're thrilled to bits as our beautiful Sunburst Bohemian Pilsner has struck gold at the SIBA North Craft Keg Competition 2014 in Nottingham.</div>
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A great testament to a wonderful beer.</div>
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Cheers & Na Zdravi!</div>
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Ken</div>
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I'm very excited today as we're launching our new range of beers today -<b> <i>the Inspiration Series</i>.</b> It's a brand new series of beers which have been inspired by the great beer styles of the world. There are some amazing classic beers out there in the wonderful world of beer and we thought it was about time we made our mark on this field. We asked everyone in the brewery to get together and make up a Beer Development Team to think about some new beers for us to brew and they came up with the Inspiration Series, a numbered list of deliciously diverse and exciting beers. We've got 4 in the pipeline, or grist-case I should say, at the moment, and Inspiration Series No.1 is<i> <b>Sunburst Bohemian Pilsner</b></i>. You can see we've got a brand new designed look and those of you with excellent 3D vision can tell it's a 330ml long-necked bottle. </div>
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As you know Sunburst on draught has been developing over the last 15 years from a cask-conditioned version originally to a filtered version in keg more recently. I've always wanted to get it into bottles but we just didn't have the maturation or lagering tank capacity. It takes 8 weeks icy cold maturation after its 10 day cool bottom fermentation to develop its exquisite and complex Saaz and Hallertau Hersbrucker hoppy aroma, its smooth malty palate and its soft lingering finish. This fermentation and lagering regime is only possible with our beautiful Czech lager yeast, which I get from my good friends at the Brevnovsky Brewery in Prague. One of my long-term plans has been to get more tank space and get a dedicated maturation cellar, which we now have and at last we can put Sunburst into bottle! <b>Slava, Slava!</b> <i>Hooray, Hooray in Czech</i>!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A happy brewer in his new maturation cellar</td></tr>
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It's No.1 in the Inspiration Series because I've been inspired so much by my Beer and Brewery Hunting visits in the Czech Lands to brew this beer. I've had a very long association with Bohemia and the Czech Lands, first learning some Czech in 1968, year of the Prague Spring, so I could sing in the boy's chorus on the stage of my mother's opera company in Smetana's Bartered Bride. Years later I started to visit the country more often and since, as they say in Czech, <i>Hospoda je nejlepsi ucitelka</i> - <i>the pub is the best teacher,</i> my language skills improved along with my appreciation of their wonderful brewing traditions, sowing the seed for my desire to brew my version of the wonderful Pilsner style. Exacting to brew as it's such a delicate, yet exhilarating taste, with no margin for error, but oh, so exquisite to enjoy.<br />
I hope you all enjoy as much as I do. Diky moc a Na Zdravi! Thank you very much and Slàinte, Ken</div>
Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-10281914549445922632014-03-01T18:39:00.002+00:002014-03-01T18:39:27.543+00:00Three Cheers for today 1st March is Iceland's 25th Anniversary of Beer Day - Skál!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Today, the First Day of March, that amazing country of Ice and Fire, Volcanoes and Tectonic Plate-shifting, Iceland, celebrates that most exciting of days for a brewer and beer lover - <b>Beer Day</b>!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Icelandic Flag at <i>þingvellir</i>, the site of the first Icelandic Parliament</td></tr>
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Today is the <a href="http://magazine.wowiceland.co.uk/national-beer-day-in-iceland/" target="_blank">25th Annual Beer Day</a> as beer was illegal in Iceland from 1915 right up to 1 March 1989, after the people felt it was time to embrace the joys of beer. And quite right too! Now it's proper and respectable to have a view like this in your cellar:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">50 litre kegs in Reykjavik pub cellar<br /></td></tr>
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I was lucky enough to have a short visit to this incredible island in May last year (corresponding blog to follow when I find the photos). Favourite bar/cafes were <a href="http://www.babalu.is/" target="_blank">Cafe Babalu</a><b>, </b><a href="http://www.thelaundromatcafe.com/en/about-laundromat-cafe" target="_blank">Laundromat Cafe</a><b>, </b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85098); color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20.479999542236328px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.survivingiceland.com/Accommodation/49536/" target="_blank">Ölstofa Kormáks Og Skjaldar</a><b>. </b></span></span>Best eating by far was down at the docks in the <a href="http://saegreifinn.is/?page_id=1333" target="_blank">Sea Baron</a>. They are brewing some delicious beer of all types - from the palest of pilsners to the most imperial of stouts, with everything in between. Get over there if you can - you'll not be disappointed by the welcoming and friendly Icelanders, the out of this world volcanic scenery and the beautiful beer. </div>
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<b>Fagnið pivni daginn í dag! Celebrate Icelandic Beer Day today!</b></div>
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Skál & Slàinte, </div>
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Ken</div>
Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-80797071408073881222014-02-21T15:10:00.000+00:002014-02-23T19:15:08.574+00:00Snowdrops and sunlight<div style="text-align: justify;">
Cycling home from the brewery this afternoon, I watched a flight of oystercatchers head for their roost, for the first time in months in sunlight, as the days are drawing out with the Winter Solstice well behind us and Spring on its way. I was heading under the old bridge over the River Almond (as in Inveralmond) a couple of hundred yards from the brewery, when I suddenly saw beside me a host of ivory snowdrops which had flourished and blossomed this week.</div>
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I had to stop and take a picture as for me snowdrops represent the beginning of Spring, along with that most marvellous of birds (in my humble opinion), the Oystercatcher. These two Signifiers of Spring return to the banks of the Almond during the same week every year and it's a great filip to the soul hard-pressed by the extremes of Winter, bringing their lightness and brightness to the riverbank and meadow. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galanthus" target="_blank">Snowdrop</a> (<i>Galanthus nivalis</i>) comes through the soil by the river, where its bulb has been more often than not (and weeks at a time!) deep under the winter rainwater and snowmelt, breaking out with bright alabaster white and vivid green on a background of washed out withered grass and heath.<br />
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The charming <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/o/oystercatcher/" target="_blank">Oystercatcher</a> (<i>Haemotopus ostralegus</i>), immacutely turned out in his exceedingly smart black and white plumage, brings his own colour to the drabness of the scene with his bright orange-rimmed red eyes, orange legs and beak. The high-pitched shrill cheep-cheep sounds out its cheeriness as the bird wings swiftly through the air looking for its mate, with whom it mates for life. We have two pairs who nest at the brewery every year - one pair at the front and the other at the back.<br />
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Spring is also the time for us in the brewery to get on with brewing this year's beers - our regular <b>Duncan's IPA</b>, a blond bitter beer tipping its head to the IPAs of the past, and our newly-vamped <b>Tighthead Ale</b> brewed specially for the 6 Nations Rugby tournament - <i>scrum</i>-ptious! As well as these two, brewed just today, our own brand-new offering to the Wetherspoon's Spring Beer Festival - <b>Marzenfest </b>- a malty deep golden ale with luscious, biscuity malty notes on the palate from the toasted Munich malt and hints of springtime buds and trees flushing with their newly unfurled leaves from the sweet Brewer' Gold hops on the nose. <i>Prosit!</i><br />
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Just makes me want to have a beer right now writing about it, so I'll pour myself a glass of <b>Homecoming</b>...why don't you do the same? </div>
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<i>Cheers, Slàinte and welcome to Spring!</i></div>
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<i>Ken </i></div>
Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-15231028608391202282014-01-01T16:41:00.001+00:002014-01-01T17:26:42.635+00:00Happy New Year to one and all this Year of Homecoming Scotland 2014!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Every New Year brings its own special joy and reflections on the previous twelve months and this one is no different. 2013 was a very interesting year for the brewery with three new people joining and new beers created and enjoyed, not to mention more fermenters, conditioning tanks, keg filler and cask cleaner together with solar panels on the roof (ok, where else?) and a new liquid CO2 bulk tank system. So I celebrated Hogmanay with some Santa's Swallie and some fine Scottish Tablet.<br />
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On top of all of this we brewed some fabulous beer and tried our best to improve the human condition through the medium of beer! I think we've succeeded and we'll strive to continue with this approach over the next twelvemonth.</div>
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2014 is the year of Homecoming Scotland and I'm proud to have brewed a delicious eponymous beer to celebrate this:<br />
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Here's a shot of Dave the Tanker Driver with me filling up Tanker T32 with the first batch of <em>Homecoming Scotland 2014</em> beer which has now been packed into stylish and contemporary 330ml longneck bottles. Great for every occasion!</div>
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<em>Jamey Bowers, the current Miss Scotland, gladly pouring the first glass of Homecoming Scotland 2014 beer</em> </div>
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Anyway back to wishing you all a super and fulfilling New Year. May it be prosperous and happy and accompanied by great-tasting beer!</div>
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<em>Bliadhna Math Ur</em>! Happy new Year!</div>
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Slainte,</div>
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Ken </div>
Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-36709834798020899742013-12-04T13:23:00.001+00:002013-12-04T13:23:21.918+00:00The countdown to Xmas has begun and there are more goodies in Santa's sack...<div style="text-align: justify;">
We're all very excited at the brewery because we're going to get some lovely Xmas gifts from Santa. Three new dual-purpose 30 bbl fermenting and conditioning tanks are in the middle of manufacture.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdDt_xP5t89qsScaMHU-nG82xhmbiHaeST12Tdjg4-zLQz3VUP5IlqWOsidEbneiqD7II6pzsP2yZz6_LNGIxjvfztDBVNirZr32Wk9aZt8X9bnd898-JJu4ItSLTZELekOyId5jbxV4FH/s1600/New+dpv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdDt_xP5t89qsScaMHU-nG82xhmbiHaeST12Tdjg4-zLQz3VUP5IlqWOsidEbneiqD7II6pzsP2yZz6_LNGIxjvfztDBVNirZr32Wk9aZt8X9bnd898-JJu4ItSLTZELekOyId5jbxV4FH/s320/New+dpv.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnNN0A1LBYGmlOblKUAfd2Ti595zJnmtuE8ucekd4hDxcyXFa5D-VcRlgCyIPFP_T1zmIbO76CiiEWphP-Ny6bPN3l86yuTuDfAslsyubn8qlzb-x2X4QwM-fCsz9xgByhFz9ZMLQfVs_z/s1600/dpv2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnNN0A1LBYGmlOblKUAfd2Ti595zJnmtuE8ucekd4hDxcyXFa5D-VcRlgCyIPFP_T1zmIbO76CiiEWphP-Ny6bPN3l86yuTuDfAslsyubn8qlzb-x2X4QwM-fCsz9xgByhFz9ZMLQfVs_z/s320/dpv2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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They are almost ready for the lorry, with only minor finishing touches to do. Stainless steel comes from the steel mill with a protective peel-off grey plastic coating, which remains on during the welding and bending processes. Once the tanks have been transported here, unloaded off the lorry, uprighted and put into position on the brewery floor, the plastic coating is peeled off to reveal the shiny stainless finish. Great fun - it's a bit like popping the bubbles in bubble-wrap - once you start, you can't stop! And then the real excitement comes when we fill them with beer. Can't wait.</div>
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Hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable lead-up to the Xmas period. I'll be looking forward to a few pints of our scrumptious Santa's Swallie, ask for it in a pub near you...<br />
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<a href="http://www.inveralmond-brewery.co.uk/images/santas-swallie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><em><img alt="" border="0" class="eventLgeimg" height="200" src="http://www.inveralmond-brewery.co.uk/images/santas-swallie.jpg" title="Santa's Swallie 4.3% beer pump clip." width="150" /></em></a></div>
Slàinte!<br />
Ken<em> </em></div>
Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-46055771496446055242013-11-12T21:47:00.000+00:002013-11-13T15:14:45.560+00:00How to help the environment and decrease your carbon footprint by installing Solar PV Panels.<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: justify;">In these carbon-conscious times we've been thinking good and hard about our energy usage. Even though we're in Scotland where a high proportion of electricity comes from hydro schemes, we felt it would be a very sensible environmental decision to put solar panels on to our roof, as this will help our overall usage of electricity and furthermore contribute to the national grid.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX4dstlvzlvZkKHK_3ILX6wQbtVJKM_IUl2IVNu9GHBRBaG-OAoZXSls1nNu7PHNatnAhAMzIfp4EgBXB0JOkoHLnUxBELOssNy1uknLRPCM0tbOhPve703-6o4vnFOQ0OVcuVrDHEi8h8/s1600/Scaffolding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX4dstlvzlvZkKHK_3ILX6wQbtVJKM_IUl2IVNu9GHBRBaG-OAoZXSls1nNu7PHNatnAhAMzIfp4EgBXB0JOkoHLnUxBELOssNy1uknLRPCM0tbOhPve703-6o4vnFOQ0OVcuVrDHEi8h8/s320/Scaffolding.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Three weeks ago the scaffolders arrived and in a day had erected this multi-coloured framework mainly around the western side of the building to allow the electricians to install the solar panels on the roof. They did pick a very wet day to put the scaffolding up as you can see from the sheen of rain on the tarmac.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXOedVrQI79BCG2SkgYGMtW_SERbU2d22QUp1DUxLgtdQyix9_F2LJELqODUQtLOM75D_m_pJdNhgQgeNoU42LNzNKmEEwZsPoSwYNtCzmINKBlUlleqs2Q246HD6jyzlvMU_Li-wlFQzZ/s1600/Solar+Panels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXOedVrQI79BCG2SkgYGMtW_SERbU2d22QUp1DUxLgtdQyix9_F2LJELqODUQtLOM75D_m_pJdNhgQgeNoU42LNzNKmEEwZsPoSwYNtCzmINKBlUlleqs2Q246HD6jyzlvMU_Li-wlFQzZ/s400/Solar+Panels.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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This is the view on the roof looking North, with the brew kettle chimney stack in the upper right of the picture. So now you know what a Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Panel looks like. For a more detailed guide on Solar PV <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaics" target="_blank">click here</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ja9C5ECB03cN51XEf36yTOK2skG6BYDgPYrncWGTuDJ_rEgHODse7vSIRKSsSIhqWVPuDCNkkUpjn9tjGCAtmC81dG-GCYQhjBr-jLuVSvChCLSiB-WzD_uocxXLVn5YXiALeB05OZsN/s1600/SP+inverters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ja9C5ECB03cN51XEf36yTOK2skG6BYDgPYrncWGTuDJ_rEgHODse7vSIRKSsSIhqWVPuDCNkkUpjn9tjGCAtmC81dG-GCYQhjBr-jLuVSvChCLSiB-WzD_uocxXLVn5YXiALeB05OZsN/s640/SP+inverters.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Here is Michael the electrician, hiding behind the platform on the cherrypicker, commissioning the inverters - the 2 black and blue panels fixed to the wall above the malt intake hopper. Inverters turn the Direct Current (like in a torch battery) into Alternating Current as in your 2-phase 240v domestic supply, though at the brewery we have the added complication of having a 3-phase 415v supply, which is much more efficient at running our types of big pumps and refrigeration equipment. The power from the PV panels comes down through the roof along the black cables into the seven black and grey isolator switchboxes then into the inverters, from where it goes into our distribution board. We had to switch off all the electricity into the brewery for a few hours for the connecting up of the PV power to our distribution board (all the grey/white panels on the right of the photo) which did involve a 'Throw the Switch, Igor' moment, when the main power line was cut off. And much more excitingly, when the power was switched back on again!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLNpi34lR9S7fWWHlaCZn9HcYAFizGXN51M1mEuosm27jJ7-rMUjrhL7Hc1AMKOUcnu-yVctLu5QOQ9bSyy_UDR_48msW83lAiFXu1fbd71_A81aULb_vNM2ayzQbJAHudtWPfwKPUW1Nn/s1600/PV+meter+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLNpi34lR9S7fWWHlaCZn9HcYAFizGXN51M1mEuosm27jJ7-rMUjrhL7Hc1AMKOUcnu-yVctLu5QOQ9bSyy_UDR_48msW83lAiFXu1fbd71_A81aULb_vNM2ayzQbJAHudtWPfwKPUW1Nn/s320/PV+meter+(2).jpg" width="192" /></a></div>
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<em><strong>'Throw the switch, Igor!'</strong></em></div>
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The cardboard recycling lorry, which comes by us on Thursday had a bumper load as every component came in a little box. In fact we recycled all of the wrapping, cardboard and pallets that the installation came with, to help with the holistic green approach we've taken with this project.</div>
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One thing I was very pleased with, despite the fact that the commissioning of the PV panels took place on a cold dank rainy day, was that the system managed to generate 4 kW in about half an hour after it was switched on before the dusk made it too dark for any power generation.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3yIbKiBWvXqiayctBWRTCNDVxLpMWkaIS0ZECtC4KP5mJTJS2vWcKsT9f_G1J7iqpUe4O8ki0XMOOFWvqAj1S0r6Os9QDX-3HPkuzJ-KZh4pG87dLz-VfOsY5y-VJzZdyzLdEr59v1Xed/s1600/PV+meter+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3yIbKiBWvXqiayctBWRTCNDVxLpMWkaIS0ZECtC4KP5mJTJS2vWcKsT9f_G1J7iqpUe4O8ki0XMOOFWvqAj1S0r6Os9QDX-3HPkuzJ-KZh4pG87dLz-VfOsY5y-VJzZdyzLdEr59v1Xed/s320/PV+meter+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<em>Our new sun-o-meter</em></div>
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Every day we're hoping for sun and its light, as that's what makes this work to harness the sun's energy to help our environment for the present and for the future, as I want people to be able to enjoy our (now greener) beer far into the future as well.</div>
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Slàinte,</div>
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Ken</div>
Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-70023598030936824292013-11-05T23:23:00.000+00:002013-11-06T16:32:16.569+00:00All new shiny stuff - can a brewery ever get any more exciting than this?<div style="text-align: justify;">
Been a while since I posted anything - so much been going on over the summer together with my lack of modern computer skills ( ie my old laptop at home where this blog is put together getting outdated with operating system and browser and me being unable to fix it - until now that is).</div>
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<i>Been doing a bit of hill walking, contemplating the craft beer scene</i></div>
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There have been quite a few changes at the brewery - new people, new systems, new kit, new van and even a new kettle. A new toaster would be nice but we'll have to wait a bit for that. The underlying theme of all this change isn't in fact change for its own sake but it's more of an emphasis on quality and the delivery of great tasting beer, because, what really matters for me and all of us in the brewery is this - great tasting beer.</div>
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There has been a lot of talk over the past year and even more attitudes of all kinds in the press and blogosphere about craft beer, crafty beer, craft vs. keg, craft vs. real ale and micro vs macro. My idea is quite a simple view - is it beer I can be proud of and proud to tell the world about. Everyone has a different spin on craft beer and this one is mine. I has taken me years to learn my craft and I'm still learning. I still want to brew better beer and to brew beer better.</div>
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One way of doing this is to have better equipment, so over the last 6 months we've been investing in new kit in the brewery, beginning with the keg machine. This keg cleaner/filler arrived one dreich Saturday morning in April all the way from the manufacturer <a href="http://www.comacgroup.com/keg-filling-system/semiautomatic-keg-filling-plants-up-to-40-kph" target="_blank">Comac in Bergamo</a>, near Milan. It's very near where San Pellegrino water (my personal favourite) comes from, and if you know anything about grand opera, it's the town where the composer Donizetti was from.The driver was Bulgarian and spoke no English, let alone Scots, so it was back to my 6th form Russian O-level to dredge up enough Russian to use as a common tongue to unload the kegger safely.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijdqniTjFP0mQOeCgkWQKBNwmu8exc_Z3rw5buAbGsW7GD9LcBOv1uyM9T8T9CDNJK5MckOF-Qbpq-ZXL9YWu7mkauyIt0wAYzq24fb_xhvaQUm7NyLc9IrdXvbJCXUsIkvg5_YzPJ8Idv/s1600/kegwrap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijdqniTjFP0mQOeCgkWQKBNwmu8exc_Z3rw5buAbGsW7GD9LcBOv1uyM9T8T9CDNJK5MckOF-Qbpq-ZXL9YWu7mkauyIt0wAYzq24fb_xhvaQUm7NyLc9IrdXvbJCXUsIkvg5_YzPJ8Idv/s320/kegwrap.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i><span id="goog_41662595"></span><span id="goog_41662596"></span>My first day in Scotland - I hope they unwrap me soon</i></div>
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Now the kegger has been installed (after agonising where to place it), it looks great, but much more importantly puts our great tasting beer into kegs much better and safer than we could do it manually. We have been racking our craft beer into kegs for Sweden, USA, Malaysia, Finland and Norway for several years now, but it meant degassing the keg (a pressure vessel), taking out the keg extractor tube or spear. This has to done very carefully after ensuring the keg is completely degassed and contains no pressure as even a very low pressure over atmospheric pressure can cause the spear to fly out of the keg and cause a serious injury. A special key is needed to open up a keg to prevent this happening by un-trained personnel. After this, cleaning and sterilising the keg and spear then refitting, gassing up and filling very slowly to minimise fobbing losses. Four days work for four people to fill 100 kegs, whereas the kegger can clean and fill 100 kegs safely in less than four hours, allowing us to enjoy the fruits of our labours even more!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQxDkVzsuZk82AqFbUP98qPYzkHpwuhwCgkxh7MUKKV-BEGYiwxG5VCKyG8hju6n0nV6CIOMAaM9XV8jSshlYCeoB3n4Bx4jxeg1SPtZMYoi_o6Q3l1C-8ORbvyR2CCrfgwsgTjp6OYSfa/s1600/kegger2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQxDkVzsuZk82AqFbUP98qPYzkHpwuhwCgkxh7MUKKV-BEGYiwxG5VCKyG8hju6n0nV6CIOMAaM9XV8jSshlYCeoB3n4Bx4jxeg1SPtZMYoi_o6Q3l1C-8ORbvyR2CCrfgwsgTjp6OYSfa/s400/kegger2.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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The left hand side is the cleaning and sterilising head and the right hand side is the filling side. The machine has various cycles it can go through depending what we want done, whether cleaning or cleaning, sterilising and pressurising only (for filling the next day for example) or going through the whole regime of cleaning, sterilising, pressuring and filling right there and then. Comac were very understanding of our requirements and delivered an excellent machine which has already filled since commissioning at the end of April this year over 1500 kegs. </div>
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The kegger needs various services - steam for heating the caustic detergent tank, air pressure for actuating the rams and valves, electricity for powering the PLC (process logic controller) and sensor systems - pressure/flowrate/temperature/fill levels/liquid, CO2 for pressurising kegs, water for rinsing and tank filling.Not least, a drain for de-ullaging or draining out the dregs and rinsings. So plenty of effort was devoted to installing these in March and April.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EFht78GJMh10aq8JCFGDYizBk0eBCvY8mJ0zPXEQmjSIMqYyDyeCtCu-PpV84qVvAIqOjpR0mGwObvOdJFO8ZPMv0GsIjg3qz6EHVHZJgGBcSTsFTVBnyxlfSWgvwiYo1y8g8umT8vdA/s1600/services+to+kegger.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EFht78GJMh10aq8JCFGDYizBk0eBCvY8mJ0zPXEQmjSIMqYyDyeCtCu-PpV84qVvAIqOjpR0mGwObvOdJFO8ZPMv0GsIjg3qz6EHVHZJgGBcSTsFTVBnyxlfSWgvwiYo1y8g8umT8vdA/s320/services+to+kegger.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The service end of the kegger</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgboKO40FfkQjWv8nvrjl6IysPsbnILJ_wybBa56ZcGBSXMhTP5sTO1vWG4qmmDV9tkXp-u3rlmqdeMMwOQBd8cJgYoSyFtSQzgIo-YhBGrpB2EXP924WlasYi2t3go_4vyWPGZYOGbc6To/s1600/New+Steam+pipes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgboKO40FfkQjWv8nvrjl6IysPsbnILJ_wybBa56ZcGBSXMhTP5sTO1vWG4qmmDV9tkXp-u3rlmqdeMMwOQBd8cJgYoSyFtSQzgIo-YhBGrpB2EXP924WlasYi2t3go_4vyWPGZYOGbc6To/s320/New+Steam+pipes.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New steam pipe from the boiler</td></tr>
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We also commissioned a new type of air compressor - a rotary screw compressor, which is so quiet (unlike the reciprocal action compressors of old) that we hardly know if it is on. This delivers the service air at 6 bar to the kegger and to various other bits and pieces in the brewery, more of which later...</div>
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We've been using the kegger to fill not only chilled and filtered beer into kegs, but also real ale, unfiltered but treated with isinglass finings to allow the yeast to settle quickly to the bottom of the keg where it sits below the bottom of the extractor tube. We do this by mixing the rough beer with isinglass in a 5 bbl conditioning tank, then pumping it to fill through the kegger. The various pressure and flowrate settings on the kegger we can alter to allow the low level of carbonation within the keg to stay within our specifications for the ideal conditioning for real ale. In the pub, these kegs are connected to a handpull, which draws the beer from the keg without any external CO2 gas pressure going into the keg as the gas vent on the beerline to keg coupler is open to the atmosphere, which lets air into the keg as the beer is drawn out.</div>
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A lovely system and these kegger-filled real ale kegs are being used in over 40 pubs for our beautiful beers. Just thinking about it makes we want to pop out for a pint now, so I'll sign off now and carry on after some 'refreshment'. How about a pint of Thrappledouser?<br />
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Cheers the noo & Slàinte, Ken</div>
Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-25306551714417680162013-03-17T12:07:00.001+00:002013-03-17T12:07:49.218+00:00Brewing and tasting continues apace with new developments in brewland<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;">
It's been quite a month what with one thing or another. Putting a new shower in at home, getting the new conditioning tanks into operation with cooling pipework in copper, but soon to be insulated, running the glycol coolant around them and topping up the big glycol tank, commissioning the upgraded and shiny white refrigeration compressor, fitting sight-tubes to <strong>all</strong> the conditioning tanks (not just the new ones), brewing plenty of Tighthead to keep the thirsty folk in pubs happy during the Six Nations Rugby. Even managed to watch the Irish game at Murrayfield, the day after hosting at the brewery some great Irish brewers (and rugby fans). Planning for our new keg cleaner/racker which Fergus and I saw in Bergamo, Italy, for a hasty but essential pre-delivery inspection. Welcoming a new member of the brewery team, young Andrew who will be improving his brewhouse skills at the mashtun and copper. Not to mention enjoying the brief sunny week in early March before the snow came back with a vengeance...and getting out and about to some pubs for some professional sampling.</div>
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CT1 with it's rather simple but effective pushfit sight tubes. The bit that sticks out to the right is a pressure relief valve, to stop the tank imploding should beer be pumped out quickly without the CIP (the black and red handled one below) valve being open.</div>
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Our new refrigeration compressor with its copper pipework still to be lagged at the back.</div>
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What it looks like on the inside. It's just a fancy fridge except without the food or drink. The compressor is the black bit on the lower left and the white cylinder is the gas expansion tank. Fridges work by compressing a gas into liquid and then allowing the liquid to evaporate back to gas which brings a drop in temperature, just like droplets of sweat on one's brow evaporating in the breeze, bringing a drop in temperature.</div>
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The pressure gauge of the glycol coolant within the system</div>
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The old shower cubicle at home after I'd gone mad with a sledgehammer. I kept the copper pipework for the new fittings. </div>
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All shiny and new. N<em>ote to self - must get shower door</em></div>
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The February sun shining bright on St. Matthew's Church Spire - the view from the back of my flat</div>
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Oh such beauty! Sunburst in all its glory.</div>
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A happy and contented man...in the Ericht Alehouse. Top pub.Go there. Enjoy.</div>
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Slàinte, Ken</div>
Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-3583584303130971452013-01-22T21:22:00.000+00:002013-01-24T16:23:02.710+00:00Santa came through with the goodies!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I know it's been a while since Christmas and the festive season, but we've been hard at it in the brewery with plenty of beer going out in lots of different tankers, casks, kegs and bottles. I took a few days off over Hogmanay and had a lovely time in the Black Isle with the Lady Arlene and her family. Hogmanay itself was very pleasant indeed with a visit to the pictures in Eden Court, Inverness, to see Life of Pi (2D) - an excellent interpretation of the best-selling book - followed by great grub and grog at the <a href="http://www.castletavern.net/" target="_blank">Castle Tavern</a> featuring our thirst-quenching Thrappledouser and the hearty and robust Lia Fail. Then over the River Ness to a crackin' outside concert with the <a href="http://www.treacherousorchestra.com/about/" target="_blank">Treacherous Orchestra</a>, <a href="http://www.bigcountry.co.uk/" target="_blank">Big Country</a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/skerryvore" target="_blank">Skerryvore</a>. We snuck off to see the bells in at our lodgings for the night before a glowing fire and some fine uisge beatha.</div>
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Above you can see my personal haul of beer-related Xmas goodies. <a href="http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/the-brewmaster" target="_blank">Garret Oliver's wonderfully informative Brewmaster's Table</a> - fascinating reading with some inspiring food and beer ideas. He's an interesting and interested writer with a superb turn of phrase and throws a good deal of light on to the American brewing story. From early spruce beers through Washington, Jefferson and the 19th century pre-eminence of Brooklyn as a brewing town (a good water supply being paramount), continuing on through Prohibition - such a sadness - and up to the present day. A lovely and worthwhile treasure.</div>
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My sister Fiona, who lives by Helston in Cornwall, sent up the beautiful print of Spingo Christmas Cracker from <a href="http://www.spingoales.com/index.html" target="_blank">Helston's Blue Anchor Pub Brewery</a>. A frame is being sought as I write and a space found on the wall in the sitting-room. A fine accompaniment it shall be to the third of my beery gifts - a delightful limited edition ceramic relief from Fife artist <a href="http://boovake.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/new-hilke-macintyre.html" target="_blank">Hilke Macintyre</a> which proudly displays admiration and anticipation of the foaming brew. Thank you, Arlene.</div>
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Meanwhile, back on the brewery floor, more excitement ensues with the very recent addition of our three new 30 barrel triple-purpose vessels. Triple-purpose because they can be used for fermentation, conditioning and carbonating bright beer for kegging. They are <a href="http://www.beldingtank.com/images/Dished-Bottom-enlarge(0tj6a3).jpg" target="_blank">dish-bottomed </a>with the dish underneath, as we call the shape of the underside, exactly the same profile as the domed lid. The relatively flat centre of the dish, where the inlet/outlet lies, is ideal for letting the flocculating and sedimenting yeast and proteinaceous trub settle out, without dragging it all through to the casks, filter or kegs. Below is a shot of our very own <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Magi" target="_blank">Three Wise Men</a>, Richard, Malc and Duncan, standing in front of our new members of staff with their proper names - Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar - our Three Kings, each with his gift, but instead of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, we have Fermentation, Conditioning and Carbonating Pressure!</div>
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We've already filled Caspar, on the left, with Tighthead, our 4.2% amber ale ready for the Rugby World Cup. Looking forward to it and the rugby! Slàinte, KenBrewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-58371846983935698732012-12-24T13:39:00.000+00:002012-12-24T13:39:03.663+00:00Happy Christmas and A great New Year!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
The Festive Season is upon us now and Father Christmas has been good enough to send me a picture of what's in my stocking. I don't quite know how he's going to get them into his sack and down the chimney, but his special powers will ensure, I'm sure, that these three new 30 barrel tanks arrive on time in the brewery!</div>
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'Tis the season of goodwill and merriment, so I'll wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year and share with you all a picture from our very good friends, Osmo & Sari in Finland wishing everyone a Good Yule with help from Messrs Blackfriar!</div>
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<em><strong>Nollaig Chridheil is Bliadhna Mhath Ùr</strong></em>! Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year, <br />
KenBrewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-30606573046605291612012-11-21T23:30:00.002+00:002012-11-22T10:36:20.379+00:00Tour, Taste at the Brewery Tap and Win a Prize!<div style="border: currentColor;">
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It's been quite hectic at the brewery for the last month or so, with folk being away on holiday (me too, although I did visit five other breweries during the 4 days off, old habits being hard to break...) and new computer systems going into the office and with two new people starting work - ok, I know you can't really call it 'work' if it's in a brewery - so I'll give you a whistle stop tour of what's been going on. </div>
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Above we have the lovely people from the also lovely <a href="http://www.unisg.it/en/" target="_blank">University of Study of Gastronomy</a> from Piedmonte, Italy, who popped in today for a tour and in depth technical discussion about how we brew beer. Always nice to have food and drink lovers come by for some serious organoleptic evaluation! Grazie, Amici.</div>
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This is a Norwegian paraphrase for a well-known prayer - <em>Our Beer, which art in the Brewery, Hallowed be Thy Name</em> - put on to the brewery tap's mini-blackboard to welcome our guests from southern Norway, who had booked a tour and taste complete with pies on a Friday lunchtime three weeks ago. </div>
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Casks of Lia Fail and Ossian, pictured above, were the main offering at a <em>cèilidh</em> (dance) in Bankfoot, two weeks back, where we were helping to raise money for the Chernobyl Childrens' Lifeline, which brings children over from that radiation-poisoned part of Ukraine and Belarus each summer for a month to help them get some healthy living and fresh green vegetables. We helped to raise over £2000, thanks to the thirsty dancers.</div>
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Winter is just upon us, with Autumn's cool evenings and misty mornings turning to darkness and chill as the Earth tilts more away from the Sun. Here's my bike on the bank of the River Tay on my journey in to the brewery one Sunday morning last month, lying prostrate in front of a very elderly elderberry tree, which, despite the amount of lichen it carries, still flowers and copiously bears fruit. It's a late flowerer and therefore brings forth its berries late in the season. When the berries are just away, it acts as my natural alarm clock to remind me that the Festive Season will be upon us soon, with its attendant ale, Santa's Swallie - <br />
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<strong><em>Yo Ho Ho!</em></strong></div>
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One day later here's the Almond River, 200 yards from the brewery and in the other direction my elder tree. The river is flowing under the old Inverness road bridge in spate and about to burst its bank. However you'll be glad to know that the brewery and it's stock of freshly-brewed Santa's Swallie is quite a bit higher up from the river, keeping the beer safe for everyone! Thankfully.</div>
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A small chalkboard welcome for our Swedish visitors two weeks ago - for those of you with good Swedish, you'll recognise the language is quite an old style of around 1541 AD. Continuing with the Swedish theme, we were chuffed to bits to receive a Silver Medal from the Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival 2012 for Ossian. Tak sa mycket och Skal! Ken </div>
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Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-15168370698291777922012-09-25T22:38:00.000+01:002012-09-25T22:38:24.524+01:00Blackfriar, Baking and Balsamic.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Continuing the baking theme in these pages, it's good to hear more people are trying out baking and cooking with beer. Campbell's Bakery in Crieff have been baking a beautiful loaf with Lia Fail and Ian, one of our regulars in the Brewery Tap on a Friday afternoon (come on down for a taste and a look around), brought in a heavenly loaf of bread baked with Blackfriar and chilli flakes - would be so good dipped into some extra virgin olive oil and balsamic. The previous Friday he brought in some divinely rich brownies made with Lia Fail. So baking with beer was certainly still in my mind. On Friday evening I was going to bake an ordinary gingerbread, but since there was already a half-opened botle of Blackfriar on the kitchen table, the loaf took on a new dimension. Especially when I pulled out of the cupboard the jar of ground ginger to discover it wasn't ginger at all but cardamom. Hmm... Since the butter was already melted and cooling in the frying pan and the sugar and treacle had been mixed together, I thought, 'Fair enough, carry on and add the cardamom in place of the ginger and throw in the last of my ground cinnamon - and while I'm at it, use the Blackfriar I'm drinking in place of the milk...'</div>
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You can see above a stylist's photo (all right, I took the picture, and you can also see I'm no stylist!) of the loaf complete with a well-thumbed through and stained Lofty Peak Recipe Book. The loaf did taste slightly gingery - cardamom, cinnamon and treacle, together with the not-so secret ingredient of Blackfriar combined to give a rich, spicy warmth. Tasty and moreish. Lovely words, even for a brewer!</div>
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I'm not the only one to think that Blackfriar tastes good, as we received a postcard from our good friend Johny in Liberec, Czech Republic with his view on this mighty ale - I hope you can read them -</div>
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<em>Diky moc</em> & thanks very much Johny for the good words!<br />
Slàinte, <br />
Ken Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-46170568872795797842012-09-01T12:29:00.000+01:002012-09-01T22:27:23.037+01:00The Dark Side of Chocolate Cupcakes <div style="text-align: justify;">
Been on a bit of a baking frenzy this week - three dense and very moist chocolate cakes, two loaves of rye sourdough, one wheat sourdough and one batch of chocolate cupcakes. I prefer to call them fairy cakes, as there is something magical about them.<br />
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The extra special thing about the chocolate fairy cakes is that I used Blackfriar in the recipe. We've been brewing it for bottling this week and I've been tasting it rather more than normal. Yes it's true, there are advantages in being a brewer! Anyway back to the cupcakes or fairy cakes. The finished article was a real success and tasted divine. Moist and rich, dark chocolatey and hints of dark roasted malt. Although I've called the fairy cakes 'chocolate', there isn't any actual chocolate in the recipe as the chocolate flavours come from the cocoa, fleshed out a bit more by the caramelisation of the dark maltiness of the Blackfriar beer. The dark muscovado-type sugar also adds its hints of treacle and molasses which really round of the flavours here. </div>
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Well worth a try and ever so easy.</div>
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40g soft margerine - I use the well known brand named for the bird that is said to deliver babies.</div>
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130g dark brown sugar </div>
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100g plain flour</div>
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1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder</div>
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40g cocoa powder</div>
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1 egg medium - from Hugh Grierson's free range honesty shop past Tibbermore </div>
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1/4 tsp vanilla extract</div>
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120ml Blackfriar Ale - indulge in a glass of the remainder whilst the oven works its wonders.</div>
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I use a wooden spoon and a big earthenware bowl for everything - a lot easier to clean and even better for getting your finger to scrape the last bit out. </div>
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Oven on to 170c. Tray with 12 fairy cake cases at the ready.</div>
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Mix marg, sugar, flour, baking powder and cocoa together to make a a well-combined crumble. Don't eat any! Not until it's baked...</div>
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In a bowl or measuring jug whisk the egg and stir in the beer and vanilla extract. Add this to the chocolatey crumble and stir in steadily, just to get it smooth and mixed. Don't beat it too much or you'll drive out the bubbles to lift the cakes up.</div>
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Spoon into the cases and into the oven for 15 minutes or until springy to touch.</div>
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Let cool for 5 minutes in baking tray then carefully put on to wire rack.</div>
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I like to dust them with icing sugar and then enjoy with a cup of Lady Grey tea.</div>
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Oh yes...</div>
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Slàinte and Happy Baking, Ken</div>
Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-23095211448485994192012-08-15T16:29:00.000+01:002012-08-15T16:49:11.455+01:00Triple Brewing and How To Go Forth and Multiply<div style="text-align: justify;">
Something we've been doing for quite few years now is triple brewing - not brewing tripel, the Belgian strong blond ale as in Westmalle Tripel or Chimay White - but simply doing three brews consecutively into one fermenting vessel. If one's brewlength (the amount of each brew, i.e., 30 barrels) and FV capacity are the same then there is no need for such extravagant behaviour, however if one has a FV thrice as large as the brewlength, then doing three brews consecutively into said FV will work effectively. The brews can go in three days in a row, which what we do currently with Bigger Bertha (its other name being CT7) shown below, or straight after each other, without a break, if one is shift brewing around the clock. The first at 8am, the second at 3pm and the third at 10 pm. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtvaIFPhhKj822L79t5gOr29c7yCiMDveOw6-WHN0lLYaTy-1qDN8ObHV6jceUDIC2NU330d0X5fHpqhC96Aa4IOSLeDmXH4opbSpKb86_5Ya568DqQFBiH7-l5Q6F_G5z8NuxPtzwWesK/s1600/Image0192.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtvaIFPhhKj822L79t5gOr29c7yCiMDveOw6-WHN0lLYaTy-1qDN8ObHV6jceUDIC2NU330d0X5fHpqhC96Aa4IOSLeDmXH4opbSpKb86_5Ya568DqQFBiH7-l5Q6F_G5z8NuxPtzwWesK/s200/Image0192.jpg" width="150" /></a>Our regular brewlength is 30 bbls (barrels) or in metric speak, 50hl (hectolitres or 100 ltres). We have 4 sizes of FVs - 20, 30, 60 & 120 bbls which means most of our brewing is in 30 bbl aliquots. The two smaller 20 bbl FVs get brews of 20 bbls and the 30 bbl FVs get the standard 30 bbl brewlengths. But for the two larger FVs (FV8 at 60 bbl and CT7 at 120 bbl, the latter revelling in its status as a dual-purpose vessel - fermenting and conditioning) the dark arts of double and triple brewing must be practised. Those of you with a mathematical bent will be asking yourselves why we don't do quadruple brewing into the largest tank being of four times our standard brewlength of 30 bbls. The answer is we need some freeboard or space above the fermenting wort for the yeast head to rise up. And indeed it does. Especially with the stronger beers. For Blackfriar, our 7% Scotch Ale, for example, we'll brew 3 x 20bbl brews into FV8 and it likes to foam up with serious intent. </div>
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I was reminded of this today by our summer placement student from Heriot-Watt University, Liam, who asked how much yeast we pitch into a double or triple brew. A good question. We pitch 10 litres of yeast slurry to give 18 million cells per ml of wort for the first brew of 30 bbls which is oxygenated for 30 minutes. As the cells take up the nutrients and the oxygen present in the wort, the yeast cells multiply sufficiently to be able to cope with the next brew coming in. This second brew only gets 10 minutes of oxygenation, which allows the now-multiplied yeast to grow even more to be able to ferment the doubled brew in the FV and also, after the third brew is added without any oxygen, to continue the fermentation to completion. A simple tale of yeast going forth into the fermenter and multiplying.</div>
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<em>Lia Fail yeast head getting going in style</em></div>
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It's important to get enough yeast cells to ferment out the wort but we don't want too many otherwise the beer will have the wrong flavour, and beer is all about flavour. Having the yeast multiply, generally fourfold during a fermentation, is good for our flavour characteristics, and it's also a lot easier and simple to pitch 15 litres into a brew than 60 litres. </div>
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As far as yeast vessels are concerned, we use simple 25 ltr drums into which yeast is run, merely by opening the valve and letting the yeast slurry flow in gently, from the bottom of the cone of an FV of one of the previous week's fermentations. </div>
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The drums are stored in a fridge at 3 degrees C where they sit until needed for brewing over the following 6 days. I wouldn't really want to leave the yeast in the fridge longer than a week as it will begin to lose viability and vitality quite rapidly after then. Pitching involves the yeast being pumped into the FV in-line with the oxygenated wort using our yellow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peristaltic_pump" target="_blank">peristaltic pump</a> shown below. </div>
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This pump from the peristaltic experts, <a href="http://www.watson-marlow.com/en-GB/1/" target="_blank">Watson-Marlow</a>, works like a hand milking a cow, gently squeezing the milk down a teat into the milk-bucket, by gently squeezing the yeast through a flexible hose (the clear hose coming out of the right-hand side of the pump) into the fast-flowing wort coming from the heat-exchanger and thus into the FV, getting good mixing with the wort in the process. </div>
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Our pitching set above, where wort travels along the green hose and the pale beige yeast slurry is coming in from the left. We find this method of pitching gives consistent results in fermentation and flavour and it certainly beats opening up a fermenter lid and pouring in 15 litres of slurry and helps avoid infections from wild yeasts and bacteria which will do no good for the taste of the beer. And what we're all about is, of course, the taste of the beer! Like in this pint of <a href="http://champagnepalateonabeerbudget.com/2011/10/20/thrappledouser-inveralmond-brewery-4-3-abv/" target="_blank">Thrappledouser...</a></div>
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Slàinte! Ken</div>
Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-53818377345276653392012-07-01T22:59:00.000+01:002012-07-09T20:51:55.720+01:00Brewer on tour - from Blair Atholl to Athol, Massachusetts.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As you'll have noticed the blogs have been a wee bit thin on the ground recently. <em>Mea culpa</em>, as I've been overseas to the United States of America. Athol in Massachusetts to be precise, helping the town celebrate its 250th anniversary, in my humble capacity as an Atholl Highlander, the Duke of Atholl's personal bodyguard and army, based at Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, Perthshire. We were away for two weeks, ten days in Athol staying with host families, then one night in Boston, finishing up with 4 days in Bermuda, opening the first ever Bermuda Highland Games, being billeted in the Royal Bermudan Regiment's Warwick Camp. I'll start off with some high points of our stay in Athol.</div>
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The very fine Derek and the late great Will Sellars - who were tasked with looking after Niall and me in Athol. We think we won the jackpot with the host pairings - the best people who could not do enough for us. Will, on the right, passed away unexpectedly a week after our return. A tragic loss to all who knew him, as he was an upstanding gentleman - a Virginian and a Scot of ancient descent - immensely proud of his heritage and very knowledgeable of Scottish and American History. We only knew him for 6 days, but I felt he was like an elder brother. A caring, fun and kind man, ever ready to stand up for those in need. A good storyteller and a fine singer too. We'll all miss him.</div>
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The bar in our host's house - being a good 25 minute drive away from the centre of Athol, it was a very pleasant room to spend some relaxation time. The fridge was full of lovely beers - Wachusett and Berkshire Brewing, to name but a few. As one sipped at the fine ales, through the window (seen from the garden in the first picture of this piece above, to the left of the flags) could be seen a bird feeder - not for sparrows or chaffinches, but for hummingbirds. Amazing tiny birds - stunningly irridescent and beautiful - a real treat for us.</div>
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One of the Athol hosts, Jerome, in his garage beside his pride and joys - his classic XJS Jaguar and his three barrel self-built brewery. He had a 'kegerator' in the kitchen which contained 4 kegs of his homebrews on tap - excellent beer and very tasty indeed. A good brewer for sure. I suspect there a quite a few microbrewers in this country who could learn a thing or two from Jerome. One of our Atholl Highlanders did very well staying with Jerome and his wife Liz! Four beers on tap in the kitchen - Wow! Super people who certainly know how to put on a cracking party. </div>
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<em>'Hey, let's go and visit another brewery...'</em><br />
'Ok, if you insist...'<br />
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And what a brewery it was. Berkshire Brewing Company, in South Deerfield, in Western Massachusetts, has been going 19 years. Founded by homebrewers Chris and Gary, it's a really friendly homely brewery that brews fantastic beer. I felt so much at home there on our tour with my fellow Highlanders Ross and Kevin and their host Don. Here we are, below, in the Dick Schatz taproom inside the brewery. The late Dick Schatz was one of the band of helpers in the Berkshire Brewing Co. (BBC)'s early days, when friends would come down and pitch in unpaid with hand bottling or scrubbing out tanks. He left his huge collection of American Breweriana to BBC and they honoured his memory with this lovely bar.</div>
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Out in the fermenting cellars. Like us, they pretty much brew ale, with one or two bottom-fermenting styles. BBC brews about four times as much as we do at Inveralmond, but there is still the same attention to detail and passion for the beer. <br />
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Ssshhh... Beer sleeping quietly in the lagering cellars.<br />
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The growler cleaning team and a real jolly pair. A growler is the standard term for the brown half-gallon flagon used by most new breweries in the US, seen coming out of the washer.</div>
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A sneaky shot from the men's restroom - complete with the super homebrewing magazine, Zymurgy. If you're serious about homebrewing, get a subscription - just google it. It comes from Boulder in Colorado, but it's high quality homebrewing information with good articles and plenty of practical knowledge.</div>
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Back in the taproom with a shot of the full beer range on draught. If you get the chance to pop in, do. You'll not be disappointed. Great beer, great people with a great attitude. As the BBC t-shirts say, 'Things are looking up!'</div>
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Next brewery - ok, we were there as the Atholl Highlanders doing gigs here there and everywhere, but we did in fact do a show at this next brewery. In Merrimack in New Hampshire (state motto on every number plate - 'Live Free or Die!') is the Anheuser-Busch Budweiser Brewery. The smallest of their 16 breweries in the US, it was still the size of a small city. <br />
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Real live brewing heritage, folks, Bud-style. Not our great piper Ross - he's just there to give the brewery behind some scale - but the plastic horse, Big Scott, who was one of the renowned Budweiser Dray Clydesdales. There is a huge stable block here, where they keep one of the Clydesdale teams. The horses seem to be a bigger attraction than the beer, so much was made of them during our tour.</div>
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The famous Budweiser USA beechwood chip lagering tanks. There were seemingly hundreds of them. The tour took in the major points of brewing Bud, from the malt and rice rail wagons, through the brewhouse with its rice cookers, mash tuns, lauter tuns and hop kettles and on to the fermentation cellars. One of the interesting things about Bud is that these lagering tanks, laid inside up to a foot deep with beechwood chips to allow the yeast to continue to mature the beer for 21 days by remaining in contact with the beer rather than flocculating and settling on to the vessel floor, are krausened, or primed, with a percentage of freshly fermenting beer. A traditional German practice, but not unsurprising, as most of the older US brewing techniques came from Germany. Quite a labour-intensive operation - adding the chips and then taking them out afterwards all by hand to clean and so on. Nice to see it still continued by a Very Large Brewery. </div>
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An Inveralmond T-shirt smuggled inside the <em>sanctum sanctorum</em> of the brewery tasting room. I was expecting the security heavies to hustle me out double-quick!</div>
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The famous New England Clambake, put on for us by the Athol 250 Committee, as seen in the musical 'Carousel', although there may be more lobster visible than clam. Truly sensational. A big fire within the stone cicle is started, then plenty of seaweed laid on top, then buckets of fresh clams and lobster, then covered with more seaweed and finally a tarpaulin. This allows the steam from the wet seaweed cook the seafood to perfection. Delicious.</div>
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The Blind Pig, Athol. One of the Great Pubs of the World. I cannot recommend the Pig enough - great staff, great customers and great pub grub, topped off with a superb selection of crafty brews on draught. A beer festival in itself. The beer fridge at the end of the bar holds a cornucopia of first-rate New England micros - go visit and enjoy. Summer opening hours 11am - late M-F, closed Sat/Sun.<br />
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Friendly folk beside the flowers - always like a bar that has fresh flowers in a vase on the bar. The locals kept buying us beer and we felt this was a wonderful and honourable tradition that we should indulge ourselves in. Thanks everyone! The hospitality was overwhelming and humbling, but we did give as good as we got. One of the pipers Ross, already seen in these notes, got up his pipes and stood up on the bar cranking out a few good tunes for us to sing along to, then he would go into what became known as 'the Death March' - he would step off the bar on to a bar stool in time with the beat and then off into mid-air without looking, expecting us to scrabble madly about placing bar stools under his feet as he marched around the bar on to the hastily-placed bar stools! Incredibly, each time this happened, his foot would land on to a stool just in time. Nerve-wracking for us rushing around with the stools, but hilarious to watch!</div>
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The Pig in all her glory - kitted out in fine Scottish style, wearing her own Athol 250th Anniversary Medal (on the purple ribbon) which we were all presented with in the Town Hall at a grand ceremony after a march through the town with colours flying and fixed bayonets. In the soaking rain, I might add, but it didn't detract from the occasion, merely add to the heightened emotions.<br />
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Young Niall and I flanking Carol and Deb, who was also looking after us in excellent fashion, from the Athol Town Library, proudly showing us the bold extension plans for the venerable building. Ah yes, Culture - I remember it well...<br />
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Get on the bus, get off the bus. Where's the next gig? What are playing? Who are we playing for?</div>
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Some post-gig lite refreshment</div>
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To be continued...Slàinte, Ken</div>Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-8624120088817908212012-05-09T23:32:00.000+01:002012-05-09T23:32:47.305+01:00Dusty Miller and the truth of the Grind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
We've been quite busy in the brewery in the last few weeks and posting a wee blog has been somewhat overlooked, so I'll try to remedy this with a few words and pictures on malt. More specifically on milling malt for brewing in our infusion mash tun..</div>
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When we grind the whole grains of malted barley in our mills, we're looking to unlock the soluble starch inside the husk so that our hot liquor (brewing water) can wet thoroughly the starchy granules in the mash tun. Here the the starch dissolves into the liquor and the malt enzymes, encased in the aleurone layer of the malt grain, then are able to start working their magic in turning the starch into sugars. Their work, in cleaving the long polysaccharide molecule chains into shorter sugar molecule chains, changes the indeterminate porridgy mash, or 'mash goods' into a distinct and discrete sweet wort and grain husk mixture, with the grain husks floating on top of the crystal clear sugary wort, or into the 'wort and grain bed'.</div>
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If the malt has been milled or crushed too finely, there is a tendency for the grain husks not to float on the wort, but to sink down and cause trouble and lengthy delays in the wort run-off to the copper - the dreaded 'stuck mash' and getting clogged up on the mash tun filter plates, where the wort is strained through slotted or perforated stainless steel plates, leaving the grain husks or spent grain or draff to be augured out for cattle feed. Another problem with too fine a grind, is that the malt husks contain much tannins, which can cause excessive astringency in the beer, if the husk is broken up too much.</div>
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Too rough a grind, with the grain husks hardly scuffed, will not expose enough of the white starch to the hot liquor, resulting in poor extract and a lower gravity of wort from the mash.</div>
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Above you can see the sample port of our two-roller mill, showing a sample of the grist (<em>past participle of grind</em>) which has come through the mill, on its way to the grist case. The malt has not been ground like flour, not even like wholemeal or stoneground flour, as the husk sizes are far too big. The gap between the two rollers is 1.50 mm, which is sufficient to crack open the malt kernels, yet not break the husk up completely, so that we have plenty of big husk fragments, each having a bubble of air attached, which allow the grain bed, as we call the body of husks, to float successfully above the draining out wort.</div>
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Here is another shot of a sample of grist, just on a plain white background for contrast.Plenty of husk fragments, looking almost as if they had been cleft lengthways. The malt starch granules don't show up too well as they are white also! A perfect crush for an infusion mash tun.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifVYZapkC6szWQCPBV3lz6yJQMmt2x9MNhAMqoSpzeoiBeKzMCzeXRY4Gy8Tq9iaWkseBBFKbNIkLz9EfkYZbgLtC2QYKm1o-q3JdKCJ_79ASU8PU_jjhrGGlpUYyi-JJbnTx3PplTNHKU/s1600/Image0206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dba="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifVYZapkC6szWQCPBV3lz6yJQMmt2x9MNhAMqoSpzeoiBeKzMCzeXRY4Gy8Tq9iaWkseBBFKbNIkLz9EfkYZbgLtC2QYKm1o-q3JdKCJ_79ASU8PU_jjhrGGlpUYyi-JJbnTx3PplTNHKU/s320/Image0206.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And here is the cone of grist inside the grist case from today's Blackfriar. The grist does look very pale, considering Blackfriar is quite a dark beer, but then the dark crystal and roasted malts only consist of about 7% of the grain bill.<br />
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That'll be getting mashed in at 6.30 tomorrow morning, so I'd better see if I have a bottle of Blackfriar in the cupboard to celebrate the brew with in the evening!<br />
Slàinte,<br />
KenBrewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-57709166724731556382012-04-12T22:52:00.000+01:002012-04-14T11:56:06.392+01:00Beer on the Move - How to transfer beer from FV to Conditioning Tank, Road Tanker or Filter.<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here's a shot I took at a well known Czech brewery, which is famous for the 70 day maturation or lagering of its beer. The hoses coming from the right into the mixing manifold are taking the beer from two 200hl (121 barrel) horizontal cellar tanks to the filtration room through the manifold, which in Czech is called the nanny-goat, because its looks like the goat's udders (!). The beer then goes to the pump in the background and thence off to the filter buffer tank. The wooden beck or large bucket is there to take the overflow from the bleed-off valves on top of the sight-glasses via the small red hoses.</div>
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Whereas back at Inveralmond Castle, you can still see the red hoses, albeit with a smaller bore, with the beer coming out of FV8 (Big Bertha) through the sightglass then into the pump and off to the filter assembly. Below there is a similar set up - Conditioning Tank (CT7 - Bigger Bertha, 120 Barrels) valve on left, sightglass, T-piece with CO2 line and 1/4"gas valve then beer hose to pump. Our pump is known by its more prosaic name 'Big Pump' - two stage centrifical pump for those with an interest in such things, which works by an impeller spinning around inside the stainless housing at the front (the blue rear is just a huge heavy motor) and this impeller flings via centrifugal force the beer up through the outlet on the top of the pump off to its destination. Imagine you were spinning a bucket of beer around your head at 1500rpm and there was a small hole in the bottom of aforesaid bucket - how far would the beer spurt out and more importantly, who would clean up afterwards? But that's simply how centrifical pumps work. </div>
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You'll be asking yourself why the sightglass and T-Piece with CO2 valve, I am sure. Well, the sightglass is to show when the tank is empty and when we're getting to the bottom we watch it like a hawk, as we don't want to send too much yeast or tank bottoms that have sedimented out during the cold-conditioning of the beer off to the filter or to the road tanker, which latter will be going off for bottling. The Co2 line is there to flush the whole Transfer Line or Tx line with CO2 all the way to the destination tank/er, which has its own T-piece, to push out any remaining sterilant (in our case peroxyacetic acid, which is a harmless terminal, ie no rinse needed, sterilant) and most important of all, any oxygen to the drain. </div>
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Oxygen, essential to yeast for growth and any successful fermentation, is to be avoided and excluded as much as possible after fermentation as it oxidises, not oxygenates, the beer to cause rapid staling and unwanted off-flavours in the beer. So the CO2 flush is a must before bringing the beer down the line and the first part of the beer goes to the drain first before opening up simultaneously the tank inlet/T-piece drain valve. Below you can see the tanker rear for Ossian from yesterday. Bottom right is the beer line in with the valve handle, then the T-piece with its drain valve closed, and the fittings leading from the 1&1/2 inch line to the 3inch tank inlet valve. On the left is the drain line now attached to the tanker overflow line with its valve out of view, which controls the top pressure in the tanker. We like to fill tankers at about 1 bar top pressure to prevent any fobbing of the beer as it's filling, and to assist in this beer tankers always have a pressure gauge on the overflow line. </div>
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When the tanker is just about full, beer fob or foam will flow down the drain line and when it turns to beer, the tanker is full. Overflow valve off, Tanker inlet valve off. Pump off. Close off beer line valve and disconnect and then wash down with sterilant, close up back door, seal up and send tanker on its way.</div>
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With moving beer between FV and Conditioning Tank, the principle is the same - sterilise the CT with the Tx line and pump with peroxyacetic (1/2% solution v/v) first, then drain, take off plug of yeast in FV, connect up sightglass and CO2 T-piece to FV outlet, flush TX line downstream through pump into CT with CO2 to create a blanket of CO2 within the CT to protect the beer form air and oxygen, then close off CO2 line and then open up FV outlet, so that the rough beer can flow down the line into the CT. We let the beer flow into CT as much as possible under gravity but eventually we'll switch on the pump to complete the process as beer doesn't like flowing uphill often! When the FV is empty or the pump starts to suck out the yeasty tank bottoms, it's shut off the pump, close off FV outlet and then use the CO2 to push the last aliquot of beer in line through to CT and then close off CT inlet and CT overflow line, gas off and disconnect gas line. Disconnect beer line from CT, wash down CT valve with sterilant and then connect beer line to drain to allow the cleaning of the FV to place. Have cup of tea, or, in extreme cases, to celebrate another succesful Transfer of Beer retire to a Place of Sanctity and Sanity and enjoy a fine glass of beer, like Aleš below, from aforesaid well-known Czech brewery who celebrates his name day (<em>svátek</em>) tomorrow on April 13.</div>
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Na Zdraví & Slàinte! Ken</div>Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-78971152282014119182012-03-13T22:57:00.002+00:002012-03-14T09:27:57.430+00:00Organoleptic Evaluation, Ale Conning or Ale Tasting - Ancient and Modern<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />In the Days of Yore, ale was officially tasted or organoleptically evaluated, to use contemporary brewery jargon, and approved or condemned by the Ale Conners, or Knowers of Ale, whose task it was, charged to them by the Incorporated Trades Guilds of the Town, to judge the very quality and substance of the ale brewed for sale within the policies of the township. In Perth the Guilds were incorporated by William the Lion of Scotland's Charter of Perth in 1210, so they have been around for a long time.</div>
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The method for testing the ale was quite simple and consisted of 6 parts:</div>
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<em>Part the First - Attire thyself with leathern breeches.</em></div>
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<em>Part the Second - Avail thyself of a flagon of the ale in question.</em></div>
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<em>Part the Third - Pour one quarter of the flagon on to a bench.</em></div>
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<em>Part the Fourth - Sit thyself down upon aforementioned bench.</em></div>
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<em>Part the Fifth - Quaff the remainder of the flagon and indulge in timely conversation with thy neighbour.</em></div>
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<em>Part the Sixth - Upon draining the flagon, stand up and turn to observe the bench; if it be stuck to thy leathern-clad rear, then the ale be proven to be underfermented with sticky malt worts and unfit for sale, whereby the brewer be punished; yet, however, if thy rear be free of aforementioned bench, then the ale be proven cleansed and fit for sale and the brewer be complemented.</em></div>
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In these modern times, the ale is still tested and tasted, though without the deliberate spillage on the bench. The Guildry Incorporation of Perth continues its centuries-old practice of ale tasting and below is a picture, in the modern style, of your correspondent in the fine hostelry of Greyfriars, during their triennial Ale Tasting last week, holding forth upon a bottle of <strong><a href="http://mashtunmusings.blogspot.com/2011/02/hallo-finland-part-2.html" target="_blank">Blackfriar</a></strong>, which the Guildry's Ale Conners are analysing with great thought and determination.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NXfZSJUBGEH5RZV9-2JzbhYsc7W1SolQRwVAtPFOUpjUlZLj9ZSkJOizuK6myai1ITufkmzyc59Mxf1voWotctuAZwqjLicZzcGpMrc3mcoMk2bbjdJui8jQXwebgJSCgYVGEGNYq76p/s1600/modernale+conning.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NXfZSJUBGEH5RZV9-2JzbhYsc7W1SolQRwVAtPFOUpjUlZLj9ZSkJOizuK6myai1ITufkmzyc59Mxf1voWotctuAZwqjLicZzcGpMrc3mcoMk2bbjdJui8jQXwebgJSCgYVGEGNYq76p/s320/modernale+conning.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Blackfriar was proven cleansed and fit for sale.</div>
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Slàinte, Ken</div>Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-28941176243729844932012-02-28T15:06:00.001+00:002012-02-29T20:49:13.867+00:00Tänään on Kalevala-päivä, joten 'Eläköön ja kippis!'<br />
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<strong><em>Sammon taonta</em></strong> </div>
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Tahoma", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Tänään on Kalevala-päivä, joten minä annan teille neuvoa oluenpanosta, viisaus, jonka antoi Osmotar, kaunis impi, luvussa kaksikymmentakolme:</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Tahoma", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Tahoma", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><em>''Keitä ohraiset oluet, makujuomat maltahiset <br />yhen ohrasen jyvästä, puolen puun on poltakselta! <br />Kun sa ohria imellät, ma'ustelet maltahia, <br />elä koukulla kohenna, kärryksellä käännyttele: <br />aina kourilla kohenna, kämmenillä käännyttele! <br />Käypä saunassa use'in, elä anna iun paheta, <br />kissan istua ituja, kasin maata maltahia! <br />Eläkä sure susia, pelkeä metsän petoja <br />saunahan samotessasi, kesken yötä käyessäsi!''</em></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Tahoma", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Tahoma", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Ja tietysti, m<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Tahoma", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">uistakaa <strong>Lia Fail</strong> ja <strong>Blackfriar</strong> teidän juhlastanne ja mietiskelystä saunassa pois metsästä eläimet!</span></span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Tahoma", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Tahoma", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Tahoma", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><strong><em>Eläköön ja kippis!</em></strong></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Tahoma", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Tahoma", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Tahoma", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Ken</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: x-small;"><em>A wee prècis for the non-Finnish speakers</em> - Today (28 February) is Kalevala Day in Finland, a celebration of the great epic of Finnish oral folklore, compiled by Elias Lönnrot and first published on this day in 1835. It played a major role in the movement towards Finnish independence and has inspired Finns ever since.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: x-small;">The first picture is 'Forging the Sampo' by Aksel Gallen-Kallela, who painted many scenes from the Kalevela. The Sampo is the stuff of legends, a fantastic prize, a talisman, a magical quern with 'its bright lid' with a salt-mill on one side, a grain-mill on the next and a money-mill on the third. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: x-small;">What follows are some of the words of wisdom from the Fair Maid Osmotar to a young bride in how to brew beer <em>''from one barleycorn and half a tree's burnt wood...when you malt it with its honey-sweetness, do not turn it with a hook, but use your hand cleverly...go to the sauna often and keep the cats off the floor of malt...fear not the hungry wolves nor beasts of the forest as you go to the sauna at midnight!''</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: x-small;">Still sound advice in these modern times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: x-small;">Then finally, I counsel minding of the Lia Fail and Blackfriar for celebration and contemplation in the sauna.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: x-small;">Long Live and Slàinte! Ken</span></div>Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-42849274025559594642012-02-23T08:15:00.006+00:002012-02-24T09:32:22.970+00:00Brewery tours are go at Inveralmond Howff!<div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoGOODI5OAQqaU0Dm-08wu-oqSkQfqNql9d2wxmFc2qtN7fgGC_-GML9aSD9gMy18gffio7SLnQtlUnsYc3azG7DfY6lbOWsOUgr-TOWG9FWtDk1SJ3B0fAEbmZFIwCg6Qqg9NG3kJ0MTF/s1600/duncan%2527s+pint.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 400px; height: 300px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712241905272897842" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoGOODI5OAQqaU0Dm-08wu-oqSkQfqNql9d2wxmFc2qtN7fgGC_-GML9aSD9gMy18gffio7SLnQtlUnsYc3azG7DfY6lbOWsOUgr-TOWG9FWtDk1SJ3B0fAEbmZFIwCg6Qqg9NG3kJ0MTF/s400/duncan%2527s+pint.JPG" /></a>Tours have been running hot at the brewery here and top of the bill on the tasting charts is the lovely Duncan's IPA with its charming aroma from Czech Saaz and East Kent Goldings hops following up with a full malty palate and ending up with a lingering dry bitter finish. Yum yum.</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">On Friday we had a fine group from the Central Bar in St. Andrews gracing our wee howff - their pub was having a refurbishment so they came through to see how we make beer here and go through a tutored tasting. Here they are enjoying the atmosphere -</div><div align="justify"> </div><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 400px; height: 300px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712245140366164034" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKMhd1SLEhF5EjvHn26UwEAvXonw94Z-UUKmPoSkOWac4b2Q_PgHSOFGSC6jWkSUCV2RfnGPHsRkOmumqxqCana93Gb8e3f-qulO5XnaFPoHrfgIPeJBgGrfeSnZbh3KnCsG5pf4Dq8z6T/s400/Central+Bar+at+InvBrew.jpg" /><div align="justify">On Saturday we were host to a great group from the State Bar in Glasgow. Next time you are in this neck of the woods, do drop in and see Jason and his mum. They run a great old-fashioned pub which is a joy to be in. On Holland Street just near the Kings behind all the Sauchiehall Street madness. </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">Finally our triptych of tours ended on Tuesday with visit from the Milnathort Round Table with their super motto - Adopt, Adapt and Improve. We've taken this to our hearts and are looking forward to welcoming more to the howff (our adopted nickname for the brewery tap) to show off our scrumptious brews.</div><div align="justify">Slàinte, Ken</div>Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-16387175684041253032012-02-07T19:36:00.014+00:002012-02-14T11:19:29.440+00:00Lia Fail in Keg gets Bronze Medal and goes globetrotting!<img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 300px; height: 400px; text-align: center; display: block;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707263790381779138" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZGIgTz6bRpErA5HEN9AFjgyAeU2fidqGdCLP4aewcJ60oSQOQaJWdgc0CJ3eVgoNC6YKVvc8HxNB4rB6DEZD16cfdzuHA_rdanCTdGfsGJXy_t1OV5YC-mhPW_tygU2ZBxd_kA3HWCKuH/s400/lf+grant.jpg" /> We've had a busy time of it at the brewery these last two months - plenty of kegs of Lia Fail have been got ready to go off to customers in Finland and Australia. This is the first time we've sent off kegs to these places - bottles yes, but draught is a different situation, so it means plenty of cold-conditioning at -1 C, followed by filtering out the yeast and unwanted protein hazes, before racking the beer from the Bright Beer Tank into our PET recyclable kegs. The Finnish shipment will be arriving in a week or so but the Australians in Perth, Western Australia, will have to wait 6 weeks after the slow sea voyage.<br /><br /><div align="justify">A wee plus for us is that our keg Lia Fail for export garnered a Bronze Medal at the SIBA National Craft Keg Competition held at Hereford this weekend. </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">So I'm going to crack open a bottle of Lia Fail in celebration right now and settle down to a good read of <em>Kalewala, taikka Wanhoja Karjalan Runoja Suomen kansan muinosista ajoista</em> ('The Kalevala, or old Karelian poems about ancient times of the Finnish people'), the English translation admittedly, with the sounds of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8JMyM0xcjo">The Night of the Wolverine </a>from the great <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Graney">Dave Graney</a>, fab Australian musician, on the stereo.<br /></div><div align="justify"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 300px; height: 400px; text-align: center; display: block;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707266504801889410" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEOkTx5c4hsmiNsew3SCT1JpJQ-4ZR1VSQcD76HNH203htLCyeXFpCxND3z7elVyQ3ZD2zDIYmD5E7ILrz_74ofpJQE3INU3Z4_B-kFClJpcVPTWG_a3oegAcMZvY9rrSHqBoo0dRVju6V/s400/kalevala+LF.jpg" /></div><div align="center"><em>Gippis & Slainte</em>, Ken </div>Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-40943856745097013722012-01-23T09:37:00.003+00:002012-01-23T09:59:08.985+00:00Tanker Filling Station Revealed<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1kEklwsXwoklytkPWWLGdNSjs9QyjHk0Ly4GofgvNyTxXWyo4hhoCueyDaaQggh9oWxXJMPb4ZssYRpVc3abOqWmR9AIVsz8PyNtFR1oBIC_PlGUkgHKOLUxOiNXq6RxBlYyBOLum4iEL/s1600/Osstanker.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 300px; height: 400px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5700759603169993682" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1kEklwsXwoklytkPWWLGdNSjs9QyjHk0Ly4GofgvNyTxXWyo4hhoCueyDaaQggh9oWxXJMPb4ZssYRpVc3abOqWmR9AIVsz8PyNtFR1oBIC_PlGUkgHKOLUxOiNXq6RxBlYyBOLum4iEL/s400/Osstanker.jpg" /></a>Here's a wee shot of the back of a beer tanker. This one is filling up with Ossian along the red hose from Wednesday's transfer to tanker from Bigger Bertha, our 120 bbl conditioning vessel, and the 30 bbl FV5. The blue-handled valve controls the back or top pressure in the tank as it slowly releases the pressure built up inside as the beer fills up, with the released pressure (CO2/air) coming out to drain through the buff hose. We usually fill the tanker with about 1/2 bar pressure inside. The small red valve is for taking samples from the tanker. The T-piece on the inlet is to allow the first yeasty part of the beer flow to drain rather than go inside. The stainless steel valve to the right of the blue valve is the on CIP (cleaning in place) line which is connected to sprayheads inside the tanker.</div>When the tanker is full, fob or foam then beer comes out of the drain hose and it's then time to close all the valves and clean up! Filling a 150bbl tanker takes us about 2 hours, always checking and watching and listening...and looking forward to the finished bottles!<br /><div align="justify">Slàinte, Ken<br /></div>Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-11804673302251110832012-01-10T21:13:00.007+00:002012-01-10T21:49:36.283+00:00The Italian Job - part 2 - What have the Romans ever done for us?<div align="justify">Happy New Year to one and all! Let's hope it's good for all too!</div><br /><div align="justify">Back at Brewery Mansions we've been very busy during the Festive period, getting beer ready to send off to Rome, Italy. Draught Beer, which is even more exciting than bottles and even more messy! And the two beers, Lia Fail and Ossian, are going in one-way 30 litre PET kegs, which are a great environmental boon as they save so much on transportation demands. Our Italian importer has been very pleased with our Lia Fail and Ossian in bottle and now has placed an order for the beer in keg. Which means cranking up the filter, shown below, with its filter sheets, bright beer-out sight glass and the side of the beer-out pressure gauge.</div><br /><div align="justify"><br /></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696119008295644466" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEY77pES_KFA3XD84MN0OVYql9MWqV4BDkpq2VyZ2ygu66IxcHtjNjT87sRGND_pqd-vatZWZRoF2iTh6rwgE0qY8GtWSoyIazQ4GpxsagKrTs8io07cp07_zPJ0rAImUNn7FRc9GX5CZm/s400/Image0150.jpg" /> <br /><div align="justify">Keg beer demands extra attention for the beer, so we've been cold-conditioning the beers at -1 Celsius for two weeeks to encourage the precipitation of haze-forming proteins before running the beer through a plate and frame pad filter (at -1 C, hence all the condensation) to remove the yeast along with the haze, adjusting the carbonation to make sure it is at the correct level (4.4 g/l for the tecchies) and then, on the following day, racking the brilliantly starbright beer into the PET kegs. Here's a snap I took today of the flowplate with the 'rough' or cloudy beer flowing through - the glass above is my sample to ensure the clarity, of course...</div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696119017925705618" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxUh-zOq8nQCX4hyphenhyphen7nRr25rjoZXLw8MAiB-AsbuMlh5gVN0_8KMO-Xx_EmHflypJVf6X4HpI6Is0Cll-l2rs49SYgkPhe3wLorYdvLFRZJcVGuEoYSAu1h1iNAwA50fqVOCgd9gU8vvZvU/s400/Image0149.jpg" /><br />What the Romans have ever done for us, is, indeed, to enjoy our beer! Grazie!<br />Slàinte + Salute! KenBrewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016918766734985761.post-23432176211074589392011-12-22T16:45:00.004+00:002011-12-22T17:14:05.775+00:00Christmas time approaches and the shop is open!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzI6sdZpqYxLDfF3sCYBptwE7_Ddsbvk561sqIMitSjHPrt_F_rutJQ7975mYfDEQPbsrm8Ax0yxUxNQFYWALWAP9lgPQqoxxG_VlKboKeNJwrylA7CKapPC-g9DLdD0Y6YbszO6tpWKX/s1600/Image0129.jpg"><span style="color:#000000;"></span><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 300px; height: 400px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688999759025810642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzI6sdZpqYxLDfF3sCYBptwE7_Ddsbvk561sqIMitSjHPrt_F_rutJQ7975mYfDEQPbsrm8Ax0yxUxNQFYWALWAP9lgPQqoxxG_VlKboKeNJwrylA7CKapPC-g9DLdD0Y6YbszO6tpWKX/s400/Image0129.jpg" /></a><div align="justify">Only two days to Christmas, but the shop is open and we're getting better at using the card machine with all the good folk popping in for minikegs of Santa's Swallie for the Festive Season.</div><div> </div><div>We're open for off-sales tomorrow 10-4pm and even on Christmas Eve itself (Saturday 24th) with yours truly between 12 - 3pm. On Saturday I'll be doing tastings in the shop, perhaps with my puppet alter ego (thanks Johny & Sìma from Liberec in Bohemia who carved and clothed me). As you can see I am quite partial to a fine glass of Ossian...</div><div> </div><div>Look forward to seeing you.</div><div>Have a good Christmas and be good to your beer!</div><div>Slàinte, Nollaig Chridheil is Bliadhna Mhath Ùr!</div><div>Ken</div>Brewmaster Kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16884737048184640173noreply@blogger.com0