….don’t lose hope too soon! This post is about a batch of oatmeal stout I did which suffered almost every conceivable fuck up during the brewing process and yet almost miraculously has emerged as a really nice smooth and drinkable beer. I was pretty much convinced this one would end up down the drain but I soldiered on anyway and for now at least it looks like its beaten the odds and produced something drinkable. The moral is if it smells and tastes ok it probably is so don’t rush to ditch a brew if things aren’t going to plan stick it out and the brewing gods may yet favour you. Anyway heres what went down.

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This was my first attempt at a lager and the resulting beer was probably my best to date… my other half reckons it’s the best lager she’s ever drank… high praise indeed.!  The fermentation schedule was a little complex, but this was recommended to me by the brewer at Chorlton Brewery… I followed to the letter and the result was so good, I’ll do it again for definite.

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I did this one a about a year ago but it remains one of my best Bitters to date, it was loosely based on some information I found about Timothy Taylors Boltmaker which is a lovely beer and a multiple award winner. As with most brews in this style I put it into a pressure barrel which gave a great pub style pour to the beer. The yeast is key 1469 is supposed to be the actual Timothy Taylor strain and it has bags of character, you could use something else but make sure it has some fruity esters or the beer will be lacking in flavour. If you do use 1469 a blow off tube is recommended, its a lively one! I found it attenuated higher than the specified range so my version was a bit stronger than intended but it was still very drinkable.

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Another old tutorial but again getting a few views on the old tube so thought I’d post it here as well for reference, lots of people have issues with PBs and they get a lot of stick online but if you get a decent one to start with (avoid the cheapest ones from wilko etc) and follow these methods you should be good. Its the best way to get a handpump style dispense without having a beer engine/cask set up in my opinion and works great with english style ales.

I brewed this as a Christmas beer for 2016 using a Vanilla Bourbon Stout recipe from the Greg Hughes book as inspiration. It was pretty experimental with my first use of oak chips and an addition of rum at bottling but I am pleased to say it came out great and I have been enjoying it as it has gradually matured. It definitely a strong one and the rum addition puts it into 7% territory so one for the small bottles!

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It was a Thursday afternoon and I was watching the clock gradually run down on the day at work.  I was having an afternoon cup of tea and chatting to the MWB lads on messenger.  We decided on the spur of the moment to try a 30/30, quick stove top brew on a school night, just to see how quickly and fuss-free a brew day (ok, night) could be.

I’ve been fancying doing a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale style brew, so quickly Googled a recipe to see what the basic make-up of it was.  It uses Cascade and Perle hops.  I knew I had plenty of Cascade, but I didn’t have any Perle, so Googled substitutions.  The first result I saw said Northern Brewer, as I knew I had plenty of that, I went with that.  The grist on the recipe I saw was 2R pale ale and Crystal 40.  Based on that, I fired up BeerSmith and set about building a recipe.

I have loads of Maris Otter, so went for that as a base malt.  I swapped the Crystal 40 for Crystal Rye (150EBC) and some CaraPils, just because I fancied trying the Rye and I always use a bit of CaraPils.  I’m not trying to create an exact clone after all.  The recipe was pretty much ‘middle-for-diddle’ on the BeerSmith “sliders” for an APA style, so that was good enough for me.  For the hopping, I went for Magnum to bitter to almost all the IBUs I was looking for, allowing late additions to make up the rest.  The Northern Brewer that was in place of the Perle, going in late, followed by some Cascade a minute before I switch off the gas and a bit more Cascade once its cooled a bit.

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