Today was my first home brew day. It is an all grain kit from Brew
Bros and seems pretty spot on. The kit contained a grain bag, grain,
thermometer, hops, yeast, air lock, dextrose, bung and a 5l keg. In
addition to this, I had to get a mash vessel, funnel, measuring tube,
hydrometer and a measuring jug. For the mash vessel, I bought some jam
making thing with a great measuring system. It would be even better if
there was a way of fitting a tap but... meh. I have a 2 week wait for
the yeast to do what it does best and turn sugar into alcohol. I might
have boiled for less than the required time but the wort
(pre-fermented beer) seems sticky enough. Worst comes to worst is that
the beer might be less than the intended 4.5%. The kit is for an
american IPA and was very cloudy. The hop pellets disintegrated in a
rather bleurgh manner. I spent a fair bit of time filtering using the
grain bag. Keeping a temperature during the mash was more difficult
than I would like. I have a gas stove and so there was lots of guess
work. I think I will get an inductive hob for next time to get the
temperature control. That or a tea urn. It felt rather simple to do
time wise. I ended up taking 4 hours which is not bad considering
there was 70 minutes of mashing and an hour of boiling. We shall see
if it is worthwhile in a month. There are 2 weeks for the yeast to do
its thing and 2 weeks for carbonating the beer. If you ever do try
home brew, do not try drinking the wort sample for taking the original
gravity reading. It is sweet and bitter with little need to try more
than a sip.
While brewing I was listening to the T20 cricket world cup match
between India and Pakistan. For those who are not aware, cricket
matches between India and Pakistan are always great. These teams care
only about beating the other rather than winning the tournament. It is
still happening with Pakistan needing 117 runs from 15 overs. This is
rather achievable and it seems India should be panicing. India got 151
runs for 7 wickets. Pakistan are currently doing 41 runs for 0
wickets.
*Update*
Pakistan dominated India! 152 runs for 0 wickets. Absolute dominance.
Well done Pakistan!
