Beach Brew

Despite being an atheist I have cleaned up in the Christmas stakes this year. I got a number of really good books that I wanted including “Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town” by Corey Doctrow, “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins and “The Goldilocks Enigma” by Paul Davies. I also scored a cool shirt from my sister and any number of other goodies.

However, my partner truly excelled herself this year. I got a 30l electric urn that will now takes it place as the HLT in my brewing system. I have borrowed these from other brewers in the past and it makes life so much easier than a gas fired as it has a thermostat so it is set and forget. Some calibration will be required as the measurements on the dial won’t be quite right. I knew I was getting this so it wasn’t a surprise but very cool none the less.

The real surprise was the Nintendo Wii I received. I had wanted one but was not expecting to get one. It is as cool as it looks. The games may not have the best graphics in the world but the game play is great. I have only played the Wii Sports that comes with it so far but it’s great fun and people who would not normally play games can’t wait to play and get involved. It is a really social gaming experience.

I really do have the best girlfriend. Maybe she will bottle the two 25l batches that need bottling for me today……

I didn’t end up brewing last weekend due to beer related injuries. By that I mean I went to a poker night til two in the morning and drank too much, got up at mid day the next day and then only left the couch to get deep fired chicken. What’s your excuse?

Anyway brewed my American Pale Ale and Premium Bitter today. You should be able to find the recipes in the recipe section. All went well and I hit pretty much all my targets. I didn’t want use a lot of water so did a really quick chill and am taking off the last few degrees in the fridge. Will pitch a little later tonight. I started at about 0730 and finished at about 1600 including finishing all clean up. A good enjoyable brew day all up. I just need to get myself a decent stand to avoid all the lifting. Thanks to Stu for the loan of the urn.