Hi folks, if we want to meet this month, we need to settle on a date. And if we want to do a brew ahead of the meet, we need to move double quick, because time is against us!
If we meet the last week in July (Wednesday 25th or Thursday 26th), we still have time to squeeze in a brew, but we need to do it next week. The other option is to postpone the brew until the next meet (October), and get organised. But either way, we need to set a date for this month!
Let me hear you!
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
July Meet-Up - A Call For Dates, & Possible Brew Day
Homebrewers of Leeds (and its environs), we need to try and set a date for our quarterly July meet.
For this meeting we have found a new home. The Brewery Tap, part of Leeds Brewery's estate, has very kindly offered to host us for the evening. As you will know if you've visited this fine establishment, it has a small (2.5bbl) brewplant on the premises, and Dave Scott, the manager there, has suggested that we might like to brew something that we can put on the bar for the meet.
So this post has two objectives - the first to set a date for the meet, and the second is to figure out if we can logistically brew a beer for that date, and what it should be. If we can brew a beer, then we need to decide what it will be, and who will brew it - should it be a collaborative effort from anyone who can get involved, or do we want to put one of the better recipes from a previous meet onto a small production run?
This should be fun!
For this meeting we have found a new home. The Brewery Tap, part of Leeds Brewery's estate, has very kindly offered to host us for the evening. As you will know if you've visited this fine establishment, it has a small (2.5bbl) brewplant on the premises, and Dave Scott, the manager there, has suggested that we might like to brew something that we can put on the bar for the meet.
So this post has two objectives - the first to set a date for the meet, and the second is to figure out if we can logistically brew a beer for that date, and what it should be. If we can brew a beer, then we need to decide what it will be, and who will brew it - should it be a collaborative effort from anyone who can get involved, or do we want to put one of the better recipes from a previous meet onto a small production run?
This should be fun!
Monday, 30 April 2012
Ilkley Brewery / Leeds Homebrew Competition
So, if you would like the opportunity to get up close and personal with the shiny brew kit in the photo, then read on and start planning a brew day!
Ilkley have set the challenge of brewing a low ABV beer to the following specification:
Style - American Brown Ale
Target OG - 1038
Colour - Amber/Red
Bitterness - 35 EBU
Hops - up to you!
Yeast - up to you!
Water treatment - up to you!
Entries will be judged by the Ilkley brewers and the winning entry will be scaled up and produced by Ilkley as their autumn beer. If that wasn't enough, the winning brewer will be invited to brew the first Gyle. I think the appropriate word to use here is AWESOME!
Deadline for entries to be delivered to the locations below, is Saturday 14th July.
Entries should be bottled in 2x500ml brown bottles, with gold crown caps, and posted to:
Beer Paradise Limited
Unit 20, Centre Park
Marston Moor Business Park
Tockwith
York
YO26 7QF
Or bottles can be left at Beer Ritz, Headingley (14 Weetwood Lane, LS16 5LX) on or before the submission date (Saturday 14th July). Please mark the parcel in some way with 'Ilkley Homebrew Competition' and include your name, contact telephone number and details of your recipe with your entry. It would be helpful if these details were printed and stuck to the bottles as a label.
Friday, 27 April 2012
April meeting with Ilkley Brewery
Last nights meeting went well, a great talk from Chris Ives from Ilkley Brewery, as well as some new faces joining us. Chris gave an insightful talk on the challenges of brewing low abv / hop forward beers, with some irony that the beers the homebrewers presented being upward of 5.8% abv, including an Amber Ale from Matt and Will, a 6.5% Cascadian Dark Ale from Ian, a 7% single hop IPA from Rob, a 9% smoked IPA from Pete and two versions of a 10% Barley Wine from Simon. Safe to say that some hops were harmed in the making of these beers!
Chris made several points on the variables a brewer needs to control when brewing a low abv beer. Interestingly, and from my point of view, each point is important to consider when brewing any beer; sanitation of your kit, water treatment, temperatures of your strike, mash and sparge liquor, boil length, hop addition timings and choice of yeast. However, these principles are arguably more important with a beer which is all about balance between its body and the hop character. I can't speak from experience of brewing this style of beer, but I've drunk a few and any slight mistakes have nowhere to hide.
This is not to say that brewing a low abv beer is necessarily anymore difficult than brewing any other style, but this leads on to what I found to be the most important advice of the evening. Regardless of the style you are brewing, if you are going to produce exactly what you want and to be happy with it, then you will need to brew it a few times before you get it right. Chris was honest enough to share with us that Ilkley beers took some development, no surprise there, but also that it is an ongoing process of incremental adjustments to the variables listed above, that allow them to understand where they need to focus to make the beer better the next time. Food for thought and a big thank you to Chris for joining us.
Looking forward to our next meeting, we will be arranging a meeting sometime in late July (venue to be confirmed). However, between now and July, Chris has extended an invitation to the group to visit the brewery for a tasting session. Before we tackle the logistics of getting us all to the brewery, it would be useful if we can agree on a couple of dates that we can put forward. The best days for this to happen are are Thursday late afternoon onwards (which could prove difficult for most) or a Saturday afternoon.
So, lets be having your suggestions below.
Cheers.
Chris made several points on the variables a brewer needs to control when brewing a low abv beer. Interestingly, and from my point of view, each point is important to consider when brewing any beer; sanitation of your kit, water treatment, temperatures of your strike, mash and sparge liquor, boil length, hop addition timings and choice of yeast. However, these principles are arguably more important with a beer which is all about balance between its body and the hop character. I can't speak from experience of brewing this style of beer, but I've drunk a few and any slight mistakes have nowhere to hide.
This is not to say that brewing a low abv beer is necessarily anymore difficult than brewing any other style, but this leads on to what I found to be the most important advice of the evening. Regardless of the style you are brewing, if you are going to produce exactly what you want and to be happy with it, then you will need to brew it a few times before you get it right. Chris was honest enough to share with us that Ilkley beers took some development, no surprise there, but also that it is an ongoing process of incremental adjustments to the variables listed above, that allow them to understand where they need to focus to make the beer better the next time. Food for thought and a big thank you to Chris for joining us.
Looking forward to our next meeting, we will be arranging a meeting sometime in late July (venue to be confirmed). However, between now and July, Chris has extended an invitation to the group to visit the brewery for a tasting session. Before we tackle the logistics of getting us all to the brewery, it would be useful if we can agree on a couple of dates that we can put forward. The best days for this to happen are are Thursday late afternoon onwards (which could prove difficult for most) or a Saturday afternoon.
So, lets be having your suggestions below.
Cheers.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Next Meet - TOMORROW! Thursday 26th April
The usual format applies - arrive for a 7pm start when our guests from Ilkley Brewery will be talking about brewing low-gravity, hop-forward beers in general, and no doubt about their all-conquering Mary Jane Pale Ale in particular. After this, the floor is open for any Q's and A's to them.
Following this - at about 8pm - there is the usual ceremony of throwing yourself to the lions, or as it's more commonly known, an opportunity to have your homebrew assessed by a panel of professional and amateur brewers. Of course, it's not really that scary, but it's a great opportunity to get your beer in front of a panel who will tell you what they think, in the nicest possible way.
Game on!
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Beer Ritz & Copper Dragon Home Brew Competition
Operation Remix
The idea behind this Remix is twofold: Firstly - choose one of the three Copper Dragon beer recipes given. Secondly - take the ingredients specified, and do what ever the heck you want with them to create what you think will be a creative and tasty beer!
If you want to know the full scoop and details, visit this post on Ghosty's blog, but if you need an incentive, just know that there's some fantastic prizes available up for grabs. Not just that though... everyone who takes part in the event itself will be treated to a fantastic evening up at Copper Dragon after the final judging of the competition.
Time to show people the skills that local home brewers have!
Get those kettles and mash tuns warming...
Saturday, 10 March 2012
REVOLUTIONS BREWING COMPETITION - WINNER AND UPDATES
Slightly belated congratulations to group member Peter Hindle for his victory in our first homebrew competition, held in conjunction with Revolutions Brewing Co. Here's what Mark Seaman of Revolutions had to say about the process:"We were very pleased with the overall standard of entries. The judging panel comprised Andrew and myself, Kevin and Ruth who put on Headingley BF, Rhian from Arcadia and Colin Williams, who is our CAMRA brewery liaison officer. (Leigh Linley was moving house, so had to withdraw.)
"We met at Mr. Foley’s where Dean acted as our impartial pourer to ensure a genuinely blind tasting. It was a close run affair at the top of the table but the top three were...
1 – Peter Hindle - @pchindle – with a pale golden bitter, featuring a big peppery / hoppy finish
2 – Matt Lovatt - @braukerl – an interesting beer with a hint of coffee
3 – Gary Lester-Olivier - @bosium – a ruby / chestnut ale with more than a hint of 80/- about it.
"We scheduled the brewday with Peter for next Tuesday 13th. He seems excited about it, so that’s good. 30 odd casks of Replicas should be hitting the pubs just at the end of March"
Congratulations again to Peter, and we look forward to the launch of this beer shortly.
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