Brubox North German Pilsner

I started writing this back in june and it got left behind for some reason, probably as i finished the beers and moved onto newer professionally and competently made ones.

Following on the from the disapointing effort that was the London Bitter, my fault not theirs, I cracked on with the Pilsner.

resisting the urge to let out gas!

Instructions were similar, with small variations on the Bitter ones.
This time you actually place the grains bag into a pan off boiling water, take of the heat and leave before pouring into the cube. This is then repeated with the same bag, but you then remove the grains bag replace it with the hops one and boil for 15 minutes before adding the liquid to the brubox.




Adding the malt extract, attaching the air tube, adding yeast and storing at the correct temperature was as the process as before.
I was able to keep this brew at a pretty even temperature this time, at 16c, the recommended range being 12c - 16c.

After approx 10 days when it had slowed fermenting enough remove the tubing and closed the tap. Following the advice in the commenst from the previous blog post I released as little Co2 as able, only when the bag looked seriously straining at the seams!!

After a week I sterilised bottles and equipment and started to bottle. I quickly realised that popping sugar into bottles required a funnel of some kinda so quickly fashioned one.

Otherwise, three hands would have helped, but bottling was quite straight forward. They were kept in a warmer place for one week then moved to the shed and stored in a much cooler corner.

The end result.

Actually I was quite impressed, pretty spot on carbonation in all bottles, good fluffy head, light flowery aroma which also came subtly in the finished product. Good colour, a little haze noted.
To be critical it still had a little yeasty twang, but eminently drinkable still. I wouldn't say the Saaz hops came through with any bitterness as in the description though.

I'm currently debating whether to order the Irish Stout or the Scottish 80 Schilling pack.

Brupak's BruBox

So following on from the homebrew memories post, i left it talking about my dad's Xmas present, a Brupak's Brubox. This is an all in one beer kit,  a plastic cube with a tap that you ferment in and dispense from, unless you decide to bottle it. My dad  bought me an extra fermenting bucket and siphon tubing, being concerned about it sitting in all the sediment and dead yeast whilst pouring your pint.
This one was the London Bitter kit.

I looked the kit up online for reviews and found two interesting entries, one who enjoyed it and thought the end product not to bad but the instructions a bit confusing, and this one which is a retailer (who no longer sells refill kits though) who gave a great step-by-step guide to brewing with the kit. On the Beoir forums some people had also posted questions regarding its use.

I agree with the first poster, the instructions were a little unclear in the draught or bottling section with regard to adding sugar. I started with the sterilizing, then onto the grains and hops bags which are left stewing basically for 25 minutes in total.



Malt extract added, water, yeast and then should be placed in a warm place for 7 to 10 ten days, tube in place in the water.
This is where it got me in trouble with my wife. The problem is i have no where really to brew beer, no where safe enough from childrens fingers, or out of the way enough to not annoy my wife. I found however that our bedroom keep a pretty constant 20 degrees that was required so i moved the Brubox and water jug into my wardrobe.
All was fine until i was awoken at 4am by my wife elbowing me asking what that noise was. "what noise?" i reply until 30secs later i hear loud bubbling coming from the wardrobe area.
Like a proud father i lovingly claim "oh good its started fermenting" to which i am briskly ordered to move a big liquid bag of beer down the stairs in complete darkness.
Placed under the stairs its temperature was an average 16 degrees, and i did try to insulate it, and sometimes moved it back up stairs during the day to bring it back up again to nearer 20 degrees.

Between days 7 - 10 after the bubbling had slowed down i then added the sugar, removed the tubing and left it to settle, removing some gas via the tap when the bag looks like its about to explode!
Eventually i poured myself a glass, two days after moving it into its dispensing position in its box.

Not a bad colour, but a bit murky, little carbonation also. Taste wise, well its wasn't dreadful. It did have bit of a twang to it, reasonably malty but being a bit flat didn't help. I may have drunk a pint or two but i think it would be difficult to have the whole lot. I do see how it was described as a softer version of London Pride though, shame it didn't come out right.

I am assuming that the fluctuations in temperature during the fermenting stage didn't help, i do not think it was the kit that failed but more my process. And i was reasonably encouraged to defiantly try again. Homebrew experts please comment if you think that was probably the fault.

Whilst it was brewing i looked at the BruPaks literature for other kits i saw the pilsners require a lower temperature, ideal for the spot under the stairs, and its better bottled. So with a holiday in March with some friends in mind i ordered and started over again!
Update soon on the North German Pilsner.

Home Brewing = Memories

Home brew conjures memories of childhood for me.


Utility rooms, full of muddy football boots and bubbling airlocks. Drawers full of tubing, wooden spoons, bungs and foil packets of yeast. The aroma of fermenting beers and wines pervading the house, and garage shelves lined with dusty bottles marked 'Elderflower 1986'.

My dad was the brewer, mostly it was wine but he did also brew beer. He helped found the local wine circle which went for many years until he lost interest, more people were going with bought wines and looking for a wine appreciation club than making it themselves.


I remember summers traipsing through fields, my brother and i eagerly gorging on ripe blackberries, my mother filing large ice cream tubs full, shared for cooking and brewing once home. 
Damsons, pea pods, elderflowers, all were used, staining work surface tops, occupying huge white bins.
 Visiting my grandmothers house, Sherborne in Dorset, and whilst we played in the overgrown and frankly probably dangerous (did anyone service those old parks, rusted Witchs Hats, bottles in concrete tunnels in hill sides?). The fields at the back there grew elderflowers and nettles, all used.

The Wine Circle barbeque's, an annual event. The ones when i was 10, 11, 12 years old all evoke memories, long summer days with trestle tables heaving with blackened sausages, burgers galore and home labeled bottles everywhere. These BBQ's were probably my first introductions to his beer via 'the half a shandy'. My dad or another of the adult men guarding their home brew would pour us a generous helping of lemonade and top up with their own beer. And then at opportune moments when our glass was half empty we would scoot over and top it up from the barrel, gradually thus increasing the beer to lemonade ratio in the alcoholic favour. We all thought it was terribly naughty and daring,  in truth i bet the dads saw it all and thought it funny, the distraction methods we employed.


Why the nostalgia trip?

Well when i bought my first house i went 'home' and entered my dads attic, the space that grows and never empties. Its so full of stuff that might one day be useful it gives my wife shivers fearing our attic will end up like it too. I acquired some of my dads old brewing equipment to take back with (thus proving my wife right!) but the truth is we literally do not have the physical space to attempt to brew properly. 
But last xmas my dad gave me for a present, with the words 'i hope it doesn't get you in trouble with the wife', a Brubox. 
Currently as i type i can hear the bubbling of air through water every 20 seconds or so. 
I'll post soon with first efforts at brewing my own beer, and why it got me in trouble with the wife.

Summer picture pinched from The Tortise Tearoom