Worse Things Happen At Sea

Beer Update, it is ruined! Took a taste this morning and it's definitely got an acidic back note, I strongly suspect it is indeed acetobacter now and no amount of leaving it will improve the situation. I might bottle a few for comparison later down the road for research etc. Better get the next brew on then!

The Not_So_Gorgeous Beer Update

So what has happened to my gorgeous beer? Since my last post, I had a further read before seeking advice on jimsbeerkit from some of the many seasoned craft brewers that hang out there, you can read the thread here. my initial thoughts were that it has become acetified but it's harder to be certain without the necessary experience, this is where having a local brew club can come in handy; bringing along a beer that has a fault that others can taste is a great way of learning and sharing your experiences.

I decided to move the beer from the fermenter to a secondary fermenter, syphoning off the beer and leaving behind the yeast cake. Primarily this is to reduce the risk of the beer developing a yeasty flavour, something that can happen if left too long on the yeast. It's no hardship on me since when I bottle I do the same thing but immediately bottle after mixing in some priming sugars. So that was Monday, I have just had a taste and I have to say the flavour is changing for the better.
It appears to have lost the cidery smell and smells pleasant, the acidic edge or cider like sharpness is going, almost gone in fact and the hop flavour is returning.

What was interesting and a point I noted on the forum post I made, was how the flavour changed dramatically at the very end of the fermentation, perhaps at the time when the top fermenting yeast that had sat on top of the beer throughout, sank to the bottom. Another poster commented he notes that certain yeasts can have this effect, that maybe the yeast on the top is starved of food and develops these cidery flavours, it sounds quite feasible.
At this stage I think I will leave the beer to continue to condition into next week and see how the flavour develops, there is plenty of yeast in suspension still so I needn't worry about there not being any left to condition the beer when bottled. Only trouble is with each 'sample' I take the beer is going down and there might not be a great deal to bottle!

What's Happened To My Gorgeous Beer?

I have just done another SG reading of my latest beer this morning, the gravity has dropped again from 1009/10 to 1008, the yeast head has subsided to a thin covering now but I still can't bottle until I know it has finished.
Trouble is, I drank the run-off of beer just now (I no longer return it to the fermenter to reduce the risk of infection) and it's started to taste off!

I am hoping (really hoping) that what I am tasting is acetaldehyde, a sort of green apple flavour, which is a by-product of fermentation that if I'm right, left for a while, the yeast will clean it up, if I'm wrong I've got 40 pints of vinegar, Ah!
What I don't get is how, every other day I have tasted it, the flavour has been great, just this last taste today that it is noticeable; perhaps now most if not all the sugar has been fermented it no longer masks the taste?

Bread and Beer, what's not to like?

White Loaf Baked on Wednesday

Another gratuitous picture of a loaf of bread and why not? It's come out pretty damn good. Just before putting it in the oven I slashed the top and it sort of deflated like a balloon! nevertheless it still had a good overall rise.
I shall keep working at my craft (and eating the results...)
I ended up spending the day baking and cooking, making this then a batch of 'Besan Ki Roti', a flat bread taken from one of my many Anjum Anand Books. I must say if you haven't tried working gram flour (made with ground chick peas) you should try it, it turns into the most sticky substance known to man I swear! It takes me twice as long to make anything with it as I spend all my time unsticking the stuff from my hands... Anyway after making that I followed on with a large batch of Dhal then after a couple of hours off made a nice Aloo Gobi curry (cauliflower and potato) and that was me done for the day.

Testing the TT Landlord beer yesterday showed an SG of 1010, which is the target for this beer, however there is still a layer of yeast on top and I think it may drop another point or two so I'll check again Saturday. Looks like I'll be bottling on Monday / Tuesday then I can start thinking about the next brew, ha!

Beer Galloping Ahead

The TT Landlord beer is fermenting well, measured on Sunday morning and the SG has dropped to 1016 , just another 6 points to go to hit the target of 1010.
The yeast is still chomping it's way through the sugars, evident by the 2" yeast cake on top. Whatever else I'm doing right or wrong, I seem to have pleased the yeast, it must be loving the new bodywarmer jacket that's keeping it all cosy and at a constant 19c.

The flavour is just superb, whilst I was waxing lyrical about the fruity initial flavours that mellow into a floral then bitter finish, Frankie got taken in by my prose and had a sip. Big mistake! Oh she hates that bitterness, which is just as well... as there is more for me :-)

I'll do another SG reading on Tuesday as I think it will be about done.

I Remembered!

I shouldn't complain, it actually feels like winter today and I guess we need it to kill off all the bugs that will otherwise survive and eat everything this coming year.
Consulting my journal/ planner (my, that sounds organised) actually worked as normally I forget to look until it's too late then miss all those little jobs that really need doing now, hence today I pruned our blackcurrant bushes for the first time since planting! Whilst doing this I also ended up re-fixing some of the netting over the cage that had come away in places, no doubt due to the gale force winds we have had of late.

Coat Rack From Reclaimed Oak - Lovely

Note the lovely dead knot which I think adds to it's charm

 Here's my latest little project that I've just finished, a little job really by all accounts. The oak used is a piece left over from when I made the kitchen table, it's incredibly hard to work, almost impossible to plane using a hand plane luckily I have an electric. Ripping off a section using my circular saw involves flipping the piece over as the blade cannot cut through in one go and you can see the saw marks (including some burn) as I made the cuts. I confess I bought the oak shaker style pegs as I do not turn wood.
Overall I'm pleased with the results, what took me so long!

Timber Used For Making The Coat Rack