Brewing with Treats

Wanting to learn absolutely everything I can about brewing, I offered a local brewery a helping hand. I have done some home brewing using malt extracts and I think they came out as good as they could have, I wanted more from my own home brew. I want control of every aspect of the beer. This is why, a little late but I have decided to take a step up into all grain brewing. Brewing totally from scratch using any ingredients that I want.

The brewery and brewer will be kept anonymous to save the poor guy hassle and being inundated with emails and requests from other people.

I was looking forward to it. I'd helped out or should I say 'watched' a brewer before. That is in recent times, in breweries that aren't huge with a majority of the procedures being automated. It was a cramped pub cellar with a low ceiling meaning I had to bend my neck in order to stand, being tall that was a right ball ache and made the whole day very uncomfortable. The whole day wasn't as hands on as I'd hoped apart from carrying 25kg bags of malt to and fro and then carrying the spent grain upstairs. I did enjoy it though, and learned a lot helping to refresh my mind about brewing. Due to work commitments I never had a chance to go back and help out, I was really looking forward to seeing how a milk stout is made but missed the chance as it was on my first/trial day at work. 'Howlin Hops' beers are great. One guy working his ass off in a tiny, hot and steamy cellar creating some really tasty pales, brown ales, stouts and more. Some of the beers are pumped directly into the pub, 'The Cock Tavern' above for your enjoyment.

I think I may have previously written about this... or maybe I didn't, I can't remember.

This time was different and enjoyable in other ways. BBC6 Music in the background, long and interesting conversations and a more helpful and 'hands on' learning experience. We or he was brewing a more traditional, darker, mild bitter than he would normally. Not the hoppy pales that he'd normally brew.

Reading home brew books, forums and from the basics of brewing that I studied at college, brewing sounded incredibly technical and complex. It was almost as if you'd have to be a nuclear physicist or mathematician, the next Einstein or Hawkins to understand. How wrong that misconception is. Yes it does involve complex scientific procedures with stupidly meaningless equations that you never really need to know or understand, but at the most basics it is simply measuring and mixing.

If you follow few very idiot proof steps, using the correct quantities of ingredients; malted barley, water, hops and yeast, or anything else that you might like to add. Remembering that it is most important to keep everything clean and sanitised after the boil as you don't want to risk any contamination or anything that might spoil the beer. Half a days work could be completely ruined if you infect the beer. Follow the most basic cooking instructions and you're onto a winner.

I was treated to a stinky ham and cheese toastie using an old Brie. Then I got to try some very special trial brews.

The brewer quizzed me on some of these beers. He wanted to know if I could detect and identify the 'secret' ingredient. Being a talented and experimental cook and eater, I like to think that I have knowledge of a wide range of herbs, spices and other fancy things.

As we went through each one, I felt proud, arrogant and big headed that I managed to accurately guess each and every one. Even something so delicate when used in a brew like Kaffir lime leaves. The other blends remain a secret. Perhaps beers that will grace the shelves of shops and pubs soon.. maybe.

One of the beers was surprisingly amazing. For some time now I've been wanting to make this very beer. I like the spice and thought, about 10 years ago that it would work perfectly well if paired with a pale ale. By Jove. I think he's done it. A successful attempt. A light, crisp and zesty pale with the distinct aroma and flavour of this 'secret' spice. It was pronounced, right there in the front of it all. Somehow it wasn't overpowering or dominant and allowed the subtle hops to shine through.

I think an ideal pairing to Asian cuisine. A very different and unusual beer but intelligently thought out. Well done I say, a little annoyed that an idea of mine had been created and perfected without any input from myself. A beer I think that should definitely go into production.

I liked to think I helped out a bit at least. I figured out how to speed up a very slow donkey of a pump but turning the voltage adjuster on a transformer to increasing its output and turning the donkey into a mule.