Homebrew Posts

The Session #66: The One Beer to Rule Them All

I've been meaning to participate in The Sessions for a long time, and this month's topic seems to be custom made for my inner brewer. Hosted by DrinkDrank, the question is simply this - what if you were to design the perfect brew? The "perfect beer for you, personally" is a tough question to ...

AG4 - Double Trouble and Hiccup

For my latest home brewing adventure, I was inspired by CAMRGB's "Evening of Double IPAs" earlier this year. Why not brew myself a Double IPA, I wondered. In the end, I didn't leave myself nearly enough time to get the beer ready for the event – a big beer like a Double IPA needs ...

AG3 - Zebedee Spring Ale

For this home brew, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to make. A spring ale, light, sweet, not too bitter and with some nice gentle hop aroma. The grain recipe wrote itself; mostly pale malt with just a little crystal malt (the only other non-black malt I had in ...

The Refractometer Blues

Around the time I took the plunge to switch from kit brewing to all grain brewing, I bought some new toys. One of those was a refractometer, which is a device used to measure how much sugar is in your beer – essential if you're going to know how strong it is, and ...

AG2 – Christmas Ale

Although my first attempt at a 'proper' all-grain home brewed beer wasn't perfect, I was inspired and encouraged by how well it came out. The extra work – mashing and the longer boil – really hadn't made things any harder, just more long winded. My next beer had to be something dark and festive, ...

AG1 – Bitter and Twisted

If I'm honest, I found the prospect of my first 'proper' homebrew rather daunting. I was convinced I'd screw it up somehow, so I decided to buy an all grain kit from Barley Bottom (sadly no longer in operation). This is a great idea for the nervous first timer – they have already ...

All Grain Brewing

In a very limited sense, I have dabbled in homebrew for a long time; my first experience was at university. I bought one of those homebrew bags from Boots, which was basically a 20 litre sack prefilled with – well, I don't know what, some sort of kit goo I suppose. You just ...