Beach Brew

I finally got around to brewing my Kolsch for the Mash Paddle competition today. Exactly the same recipe as last time I made it. Last time it came out great so I thought there is no point messing with it. It is pretty much just straight pils malt and bittered with Hallertau.

The wort came out really clear and very pale. It is probably just lighter in colour than the style guide suggests it should be but I like to make it with just pils malt. I used Weyermann pils malt this time. Last time I used Powells so I am expecting an improvement in the malt flavour on this one. Not to bag to Powells malt but if you are making a German style beer it helps to have German malt. I did one of the silliest brewing mistakes ever today. I left the tap open in the kettle when running the mash into it and lost around a litre of wort. Just one of those things that happens but it is annoying. Other than that th brew day went according to plan. The last couple of times I have brewed I have done double brew days which makes things a little hectic. I had forgotten how fun and relaxing brew day could be. I had a great day and pretty much nailed everything.

I also tasted my bock/brown ale for the first time today. It has only been in the bottle for a week. It was a little under carbonated but is stunningly clear and has the most wonderful Munich malt aroma. The malt flavour is great too. I guess I would say it is most like a big esb or old ale except for the Munch malt. However, it’s not really like a bock as it has the fruity ale flavours. I’m not sure what it is but I like it.

Had the first taste of my stout yesterday. It has come out almost exactly as intended. It has some great rich dark sugar flavours. Most of this has come from the dark brown sugar I used but it presents it’s self as more than just brown sugar. It gives a great depth of dark sugar flavours like treacle and golden syrup. The roast grain, coffee and chocolate flavours from the malt are also in really good proportions. Everything has come together on this with the bitterness at just the right level too. The carbonation was just a little lower than I would like but it has only been a week in the bottle in pretty cool conditions so I am sure that will improve.

I will get the recipe for this up soon. I think this one is sensational and will be making it again next winter. If I have any left, unlikely, when the competitions come around I will enter it. This beer has come in right around the Southwark and Cooper’s stout area. Without being just like either of them it is in the same range. This is just what I was aiming for.

Coming up next I am making a Kolsch and a Dopplebock.

I did some bottling on the weekend. Unfortunately I only had time to bottle one batch. The stout is the beer I am most looking forward to drinking so that is the one I bottled. I only want low carbonation on this one so have not used a lot of priming sugar in it. When I tasted this during fermentation I really enjoyed the flavours from the dark brown sugar. I decided to use this sugar again in the priming to hopefully get a little more of that flavour into the beer. I only used 60gm in 23l so it should only have a very low carbonation. I’m looking forward to giving it a try this weekend.

I will bottle the brown ale this weekend. To celebrate that bottling I will crack the first bottle of stout. Very soon I will brew a Kolsch and a Dopplebock.