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Ordinary Bitter: winning recipe

medal winners

Eli Appleby-Donald’s bitter recipe from the 2016 club competition.

Eli has been working on this recipe for the past 3 years using the feedback from the judges at the competition to perfect it. It must be working as this recipe took silver last year and gold this year.

Bespoke Bitter

Beer Style: Ordinary Bitter
Recipe Type: all-grain BIAB
Yield: 10 litres
Original Gravity: 1.034

Ingredients:

  • 1.4 kg – United Kingdom – Golden Promise (84.8%)
  • 0.1 kg – United Kingdom – Cara Malt (6.1%)
  • 0.1 kg – United Kingdom – Dark Crystal 77L (6.1%)
  • 0.05 kg – United Kingdom – Munich (3%)
  • 7 g – Challenger 6.5% Boil 60 min
  • 5 g – East Kent Goldings 5% Boil 60 min
  • 8 g – Styrian Goldings 4.2%Boil 20 min
  • 15 g – East Kent Goldings 5% Whirlpool 20 min

Additional Instructions

Boil: 60 Minutes

Mash: 67c for 60 mins then 75c mash out  for 10mins.

Ferment: 2 weeks at 18c

 

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Articles Events Recipe

Best in show recipe: American IPA

best in showSteven Beattie who won best in show for his American IPA has kindly agreed to share his recipe with us. So here you go folks, a chance to recreate that cracking recipe at home.

Crackhouse IPA

Beer Style: American IPA
Recipe Type: all-grain
Yield: 21 litres
Original Gravity: 1.060

Ingredients:

  • 90% Pale Malt (Grain)
  • 7% Caragold (Grain)
  • 3% Wheat (Grain)
  • 20g Simcoe 11% Boil 15 min (Hops)
  • 25g Amarillo 9.6% Boil 15 min (Hops)
  • 25g Simcoe 11% Boil 10 min (Hops)
  • 30g Amarillo 9.6% Boil 10 min (Hops)
  • 55g Simcoe Flameout (Hops)
  • 45g Amarillo Flameout (Hops)
  • Dry hop 4g per litre

Additional Instructions

Boil: 60 Minutes

Mash: 66c for 60 mins.
Aimed for a mash ph of 5.2 and a sulphate/chloride ratio of about 2:1.

Ferment at 18c for 2 weeks before cold crashing and kegging.

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Best in show prize

ushers

Big announcement: Best in show prize

You’ve heard a lot about the clubs big annual competition recently, but we’ve saved the best till last so buckle your seat belts and get ready for the blast!

As well as 1st, 2nd and 3rd awards for the categories of Ordinary bitter, English IPA, American Pale Ale, American IPA and 80 Shilling… there will be an award for the beer judged to be best in show. A chance to brew your beer with Digger (legendary Brewmaster at Ushers) and have it on sale at Andrew Ushers & Co.

The guys at Ushers have been so impressed with the quality of beer brewed by our club members over the last year that they are offering for our best of the best to get the chance to have their beer on tap in the pub for the punters to enjoy.

Now if that doesn’t get your blood going then you are not as mad obsessed passionate about beer as you should be.

Before you grab that mash paddle and get creating your most elaborate frankenbeers, remember that the beers in these categories have to match the category styles laid out by the BJCP style guide for 2015 (you can see these on the competition page of the website: http://scottishcraftbrewers.org/?p=1591 ).

Also, please remember that Ushers brew on a much bigger scale than your average homebrewer, so costs weight up when you upscale that perfect IPA you’ve been planning with all the crazy ingredients you’ve found on ebay. The guys at Ushers have the right to refuse or ask for you to revise your winning recipe if it proves too expensive or difficult to brew on their set up. So if you’d like a shot at having your beer on tap, brew like a pro.

Go get brewing!


 

Want to drop off your beers before the competition day?

The guys at Ushers are happy for you to drop your competition beers off at the bar in the week leading up to the competition if you don’t think you’ll make it on the day or if you have too much to carry.

Please just ensure that your bottles are properly labelled with your competition labels and in a bag or a box so they can be stored easily.

However please remember, if you drop your beers off early, they will be in a working pub. Ushers can’t take responsibility for any accidents that may damage bottles. If you drop them off early, you do so at your own risk.

Ok so now the doom and gloom bit is over…. Brew my pretties, brew!

 

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Articles Events General

Scottish Craft Brewers Competition 2016

Date: 24th January 2016
The club meeting starts at 12 noon but beer for the competition should be dropped off at 11:30.
Judging starts sharp so make sure your beer is there at 11:30.

Details of the day are available from the event section: The Big January Event

Venue: Andrew Usher & Co, 32b West Nicolson Street, Edinburgh EH8 9DD

What beer Styles can I enter?

Click on the category title for more information.

Overall Impression: Low gravity, low alcohol levels, and low carbonation make this an easy-drinking session beer. The malt profile can vary in flavor and intensity, but should never override the overall bitter impression. Drinkability is a critical component of the style Aroma: Low to moderate malt aroma, often (but not always) with a light caramel quality. Bready, biscuity, or lightly toasty malt complexity is common. Mild to moderate fruitiness. Hop aroma can range from moderate to none, typically with a floral, earthy, resiny, and/or fruity character. Generally no diacetyl, although very low levels are allowed.

Appearance: Pale amber to light copper color. Good to brilliant clarity. Low to moderate white to off-white head. May have very little head due to low carbonation.

Flavor: Medium to moderately high bitterness. Moderately low to moderately high fruity esters. Moderate to low hop flavor, typically with an earthy, resiny, fruity, and/or floral character. Low to medium maltiness with a dry finish. The malt profile is typically bready, biscuity, or lightly toasty. Low to moderate caramel or toffee flavors are optional. Balance is often decidedly bitter, although the bitterness should not completely overpower the malt flavor, esters and hop flavor. Generally no diacetyl, although very low levels are allowed.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium-light body. Low carbonation, although bottled examples can have moderate carbonation. Emphasis is on the bittering hop addition as opposed to the aggressive middle and late hopping seen in American ales.

Vital Statistics:

  • OG: 1.030 – 1.039
  • IBUs: 25 – 35
  • FG: 1.007 – 1.011
  • SRM: 8 – 14
  • ABV: 3.2 – 3.8%

Commercial Examples: Adnams Southwold Bitter, Brains Bitter, Fuller’s Chiswick Bitter, Greene King IPA, Tetley’s Original Bitter, Young’s Bitter Tags: session-strength, amber-color, top-fermented, british isles, traditional-style, amber-ale-family, bitter

Overall Impression: A hoppy, moderately-strong, very well attenuated pale British ale with a dry finish and a hoppy aroma and flavor. Classic British ingredients provide the best flavor profile.

Aroma: A moderate to moderately-high hop aroma of floral, spicy-peppery or citrus-orange in nature is typical. A slightly grassy dry-hop aroma is acceptable, but not required. A moderately-low caramel-like or toasty malt presence is optional. Low to moderate fruitiness is acceptable. Some versions may have a sulfury note, although this character is not mandatory.

Appearance: Color ranges from golden to deep amber, but most are fairly pale. Should be clear, although unfiltered dryhopped versions may be a bit hazy. Moderate-sized, persistent head stand with off-white color.

Flavor: Hop flavor is medium to high, with a moderate to assertive hop bitterness. The hop flavor should be similar to the aroma (floral, spicy-peppery, citrus-orange, and/or slightly grassy). Malt flavor should be medium-low to medium, and be somewhat bready, optionally with light to medium-light biscuit-like, toasty, toffee-like and/or caramelly aspects. Medium-low to medium fruitiness. Finish is medium-dry to very dry, and the bitterness may linger into the aftertaste but should not be harsh. The balance is toward the hops, but the malt should still be noticeable in support. If high sulfate water is used, a distinctively minerally, dry finish, some sulfur flavor, and a lingering bitterness are usually present. Some clean alcohol flavor can be noted in stronger versions. Oak is inappropriate in this style.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, medium-light to medium-bodied mouthfeel without hop-derived astringency, although moderate to medium-high carbonation can combine to render an overall dry sensation despite a supportive malt presence. A low, smooth alcohol warming can and should be sensed in stronger (but not all) versions.

Vital Statistics:

  • OG: 1.050 – 1.075
  • IBUs: 40 – 60
  • FG: 1.010 – 1.018
  • SRM: 6 – 14
  • ABV: 5.0 – 7.5%

Commercial Examples: Freeminer Trafalgar IPA, Fuller’s Bengal Lancer IPA, Meantime India Pale Ale, Ridgeway IPA,

Overall Impression: A pale, refreshing and hoppy ale, yet with sufficient supporting malt to make the beer balanced and drinkable. The clean hop presence can reflect classic or modern American or New World hop varieties with a wide range of characteristics. An average-strength hop-forward pale American craft beer, generally balanced to be more accessible than modern American IPAs.

Aroma: Moderate to strong hop aroma from American or New World hop varieties with a wide range of possible characteristics, including citrus, floral, pine, resinous, spicy, tropical fruit, stone fruit, berry, or melon. None of these specific characteristics are required, but hops should be apparent. Low to moderate maltiness supports the hop presentation, and may optionally show small amounts of specialty malt character (bready, toasty, biscuit, caramelly). Fruity esters vary from moderate to none. Dry hopping (if used) may add grassy notes, although this character should not be excessive.

Appearance: Pale golden to light amber. Moderately large white to off-white head with good retention. Generally quite clear, although dry-hopped versions may be slightly hazy.

Flavor: Moderate to high hop flavor, typically showing an American or New World hop character (citrus, floral, pine, resinous, spicy, tropical fruit, stone fruit, berry, melon, etc.). Low to moderate clean grainy-malt character supports the hop presentation, and may optionally show small amounts of specialty malt character (bready, toasty, biscuity). The balance is typically towards the late hops and bitterness, but the malt presence should be supportive, not distracting. Caramel flavors are often absent or fairly restrained (but are acceptable as long as they don’t clash with the hops). Fruity yeast esters can be moderate to none, although many hop varieties are quite fruity. Moderate to high hop bitterness with a medium to dry finish. Hop flavor and bitterness often lingers into the finish, but the aftertaste should generally be clean and not harsh. Dry hopping (if used) may add grassy notes, although this character should not be excessive.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light to medium body. Moderate to high carbonation. Overall smooth finish without astringency and harshness. Comments: New hop varieties and usage methods continue to be developed. Judges should allow for characteristics of modern hops in this style, as well as classic varieties.

Vital Statistics:

  • OG: 1.045 – 1.060
  • IBUs: 30 – 50
  • FG: 1.010 – 1.015
  • SRM: 5 – 10
  • ABV: 4.5 – 6.2%

Commercial Examples: Ballast Point Grunion Pale Ale, Firestone Walker Pale 31, Great Lakes Burning River, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Stone Pale Ale, Tröegs Pale Ale

Overall Impression: A decidedly hoppy and bitter, moderately strong American pale ale, showcasing modern American or New World hop varieties. The balance is hopforward, with a clean fermentation profile, dryish finish, and clean, supporting malt allowing a creative range of hop character to shine through.

Aroma: A prominent to intense hop aroma featuring one or more characteristics of American or New World hops, such as citrus, floral, pine, resinous, spicy, tropical fruit, stone fruit, berry, melon, etc. Many versions are dry hopped and can have an additional fresh hop aroma; this is desirable but not required. Grassiness should be minimal, if present. A low to medium-low clean, grainy-malty aroma may be found in the background. Fruitiness from yeast may also be detected in some versions, although a neutral fermentation character is also acceptable. A restrained alcohol note may be present, but this character should be minimal at best. Any American or New World hop character is acceptable; new hop varieties continue to be released and should not constrain this style.

Appearance: Color ranges from medium gold to light reddish-amber. Should be clear, although unfiltered dryhopped versions may be a bit hazy. Medium-sized, white to offwhite head with good persistence.

Flavor: Hop flavor is medium to very high, and should reflect an American or New World hop character, such as citrus, floral, pine, resinous, spicy, tropical fruit, stone fruit, berry, melon, etc. Medium-high to very high hop bitterness. Malt flavor should be low to medium-low, and is generally clean and grainy-malty although some light caramel or toasty flavors are acceptable. Low yeast-derived fruitiness is acceptable but not required. Dry to medium-dry finish; residual sweetness should be low to none. The bitterness and hop flavor may linger into the aftertaste but should not be harsh. A very light, clean alcohol flavor may be noted in stronger versions. May be slightly sulfury, but most examples do not exhibit this character.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light to medium body, with a smooth texture. Medium to medium-high carbonation. No harsh hopderived astringency. Very light, smooth alcohol warming not a fault if it does not intrude into overall balance.

Vital Statistics:

  • OG: 1.056 – 1.070
  • IBUs: 40 – 70
  • FG: 1.008 – 1.014
  • SRM: 6 – 14
  • ABV: 5.5 – 7.5%

Commercial Examples: Alpine Duet, Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale, Fat Heads Head Hunter IPA, Firestone Walker Union Jack, Lagunitas IPA, Russian River Blind Pig IPA, Stone IPA

Overall Impression: A malt-focused, generally caramelly beer with perhaps a few esters and occasionally a butterscotch aftertaste. Hops only to balance and support the malt. The malt character can range from dry and grainy to rich, toasty, and caramelly, but is never roasty and especially never has a peat smoke character.

Aroma: Low to medium maltiness, often with flavors of toasted breadcrumbs, lady fingers, and English biscuits. Low to medium caramel and low butterscotch is allowable. Light pome fruitiness in best examples. May have low traditional English hop aroma (earthy, floral, orange-citrus, spicy, etc.). Peat smoke is inappropriate.

Appearance: Pale copper to very dark brown. Clear. Low to moderate, creamy off-white.

Flavor: Entirely malt-focused, with flavors ranging from pale, bready malt with caramel overtones to rich-toasty malt with roasted accents (but never roasty) or a combination thereof. Fruity esters are not required but add depth yet are never high. Hop bitterness to balance the malt. No to low hop flavor is also allowed and should of traditional English character (earthy, floral, orange-citrus, spicy, etc.). Finish ranges from rich and malty to dry and grainy. A subtle butterscotch character is acceptable; however, burnt sugars are not. The malt-hop balance tilts toward malt. Peat smoke is inappropriate.

Mouthfeel: Medium-low to medium body. Low to moderate carbonation. Can be relatively rich and creamy to dry and grainy. Comments: Malt-focused ales that gain the vast majority of their character from specialty malts, never the process. Burning malt or wort sugars via ‘kettle caramelization’ is not traditional nor is any blatantly ‘butterscotch’ character. Most frequently a draught product. Smoke character is inappropriate as any found traditionally would have come from the peat in the source water. Scottish ales with smoke character should be entered as a Classic Style Smoked Beer. Characteristic Ingredients: Originally used Scottish pale malt, grits or flaked maize, and brewers caramel for color. Later adapted to use additional ingredients, such as amber and brown malts, crystal and wheat malts, and roasted grains or dark sugars for color but not for the ‘roasty’ flavor. Sugar adjuncts are traditional. Clean or slightly fruity yeast. Peatsmoked malt is inauthentic and inappropriate. Style Comparison: Similar character to a Wee Heavy, but much smaller.

Vital Statistics:

  • OG: 1.040 – 1.060
  • IBUs: 15 – 30
  • FG: 1.010 – 1.016
  • SRM: 13 – 22
  • ABV: 3.9 – 6.0%

Commercial Examples: Belhaven Scottish Ale, Broughton Exciseman’s Ale, Orkney Dark Island, Pelican MacPelican’s Scottish Style Ale, Weasel Boy Plaid Ferret Scottish Ale

Overall Impression: Refreshing wheat beers that can display more hop character and less yeast character than their German cousins. A clean fermentation character allows bready, doughy, or grainy wheat flavors to be complemented by hop flavor and bitterness rather than yeast qualities.

Aroma: Low to moderate grainy, bready, or doughy wheat character. A light to moderate malty sweetness is acceptable. Esters can be moderate to none, although should reflect relatively neutral yeast strains; banana is inappropriate. Hop aroma may be low to moderate, and can have a citrusy, spicy, floral, or fruity character. No clove phenols.

Appearance: Usually pale yellow to gold. Clarity may range from brilliant to hazy with yeast approximating the German weissbier style of beer. Big, long-lasting white head.

Flavor: Light to moderately-strong bready, doughy, or grainy wheat flavor, which can linger into the finish. May have a moderate malty sweetness or finish quite dry. Low to moderate hop bitterness, which sometimes lasts into the finish. Balance is usually even, but may be slightly bitter. Low to moderate hop flavor (citrusy, spicy, floral, or fruity). Esters can be moderate to none, but should not include banana. No clove phenols. May have a slightly crisp finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light to medium body. Medium-high to high carbonation. Slight creaminess is optional; wheat beers sometimes have a soft, ‘fluffy’ impression.

Vital Statistics:

  • OG: 1.040 – 1.055
  • IBUs: 15 – 30
  • FG: 1.008 – 1.013
  • SRM: 3 – 6
  • ABV: 4.0 – 5.5%

Commercial Examples: Bell’s Oberon, Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer, Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale, Widmer Hefeweizen

How do I enter my beer?

Rules

• All beers to have been made by the competitor (both extract brewing and all grain brewing are accepted).
• Any style brown 500ml or pint glass bottle (please remove previous labels or markings).
• Any colour crown cap.
• Minimum of 3 bottles per entry.
• Entrants will be provided with their entry numbers via email. Please affix the number to the bottle (printer paper stuck on with milk is suitable)
• Labels: Bottles must only have the registration label that has been sent by email.
• Competitors may enter more than one entry in each class.

Registration Process

• All beer must be registered prior to the event.
• Please use the online registration form either from here or the link at the top of the page. You must register each beer individually.

Please Note

• Judges feedback will be provided for each entry.
• Beers will be offered for sampling to other competitors and visitors after judging.
• Care will be taken of all exhibits but the organisers cannot be held responsible for any loss.
• All bottles not claimed at the end of the show will be disposed of.
• Judges may enter any class but cannot award themselves a placing.
• All judges’ rulings and placings will be final.

Is there a cost for entry?

Scottish Craft Brewers members –  FREE
Non members – £3 per entry

Useful material to help you prepare

Judges checklist: http://www.bjcp.org/docs/Beer_checklist.pdf

Style guidelines you will be judged on: http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php

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BUILDING A PARTY BAR

Club member Kate Appleby-Donald has kindly shared a blog post she wrote on how to build your own bar.

WEDDING 3Any home brewer who says they wouldn’t love a bar to pour their beer from is quite frankly a big fat liar. So we finally gave into the desire  and had a go at building our own party bar to serve beer from and forgive me for being smug, but I think it turned out pretty damn awesome so I thought I’d share the details with you so you too can have your own party bar.

This blog post is written specifically as an instruction guide for building a bar as a DIY project so forgive me for being a bit boring as I go through step by step guides and show you my little doodled plans.

Hey you’ll thank me if you have a go at building your own bar – and if you do, I’d love to see photos of the finished build.

 

EQUIPMENT FOR THE BUILD

  • Workbench and clamps
  • Saw (I used a handsaw but a circular bench saw would be quicker and neater)
  • Power Drill +22 mm cutting bit to make holes for taps
  • Power screwdriver
  • Hammer
  • Spirit level
  • Tape measure
  • Pencil

MATERIALS

  • Floorboards -20mm X 120mm
  • Framing- 19mm X 38mm
  • Feather boarding – 100mm wide
  • Pressure treated boards 100mm x 20mm (used for bar top and tap board – make sure these are a suitable thickness relative to the length of the shanks on your beer taps)
  • 4 Heavy duty casters
  • Screws
  • Panel pins / ribbed nails
  • Sandpaper
  • Wood stain
  • Felt or other dark fabric to cover the beer lines and kegs to prevent skunking or unwanted fiddling with the set up of your kit

 

STEP BY STEP GUIDE

Okay, here I’ve included my hand drawn doodles but I’ve also typed out my instructions, so don’t worry if you can’t read my handwriting, it’s all here. Now remember, we built this to fit the sizes we needed to fit four kegs inside buckets of ice, and to fit the space on our patio etc., your sizes might be different. Also, I’m a Librarian, not a joiner and my woodworking skills were mostly developed during time spent building stage sets for an amatuer theatre company, so Chippendale I ain’t!

 

STEP 1 – THE BASE

The base is essentially a big square frame with 2 inner bracing bars to keep the shape rigid and also to support the flooring and spread the weight once the kegs are in place. The framing is formed by screwing together lengths of 19mm x 38mm framing, the flooring was made using 20 mm x 120mm floor boards which we had left over from another project. You could use a solid piece of mdf or other boarding for the floor – the key issue is to ensure it will be strong enough to hold the kegs – we had 4 full kegs plus buckets of ice water and the CO2 tank so the total load was about 120kg. Whichever type of floor is fitted ensure that space is left at either side to fit the uprights which will form the tap board and for the corner posts. If your bar is to be mobile, it may be worth fitting the casters at this point as it will help with working out heights for the bar top/back board – depending on the casters you use they can add 6 inches or more to the height of the finished bar.


base

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The floor is screwed onto the frame.

floor

wpid-imag3677.jpg

casters

STEP 2 – THE TOP:

The top frame is constructed in a similar way to the bottom, however the bracing runs in the opposite direction to support the boards which will form the bar top. As with the base the corner joints were formed so that the “front” of the frame overlaps the sides to form a neater looking finish. We left the screws/nails etc visible but you could counter sink these and then use wood filler to conceal them.

top

STEP 3 – CORNER POSTS

The corner posts were formed by doubling up 2 pieces of the framing timber to form square posts – we used contact adhesive and screws to hold these together – as with many of our measurements and methods we were making the best use of the materials we had to hand rather than purpose buying additional timber for specific purposes – this kept the build costs down, but did mean a bit of extra work/ingenuity at times! You could just buy square posts in the first place.

The length of the corner posts will be determined by a couple of factors:

  • the clearance height required to accommodate the kegs in their cooling buckets and the connectors, with space to reach in and attach/adjust these
  • the desired height for the bar top

These measurements will vary depending on your kit and your own preferences (and height) but in our case we have corny kegs with pinlock connectors and Eli is 5′ tall so we settled on a height of 900mm for the posts, adding in the height of the casters this makes the bartop 965mm from the ground.

Depending on the dimensions of your bar you may also want to put in some additional posts in the middle of the longer edge of the frame. This might be good to prevent the bar top from sagging or bending if it’s quite long – we put one in the centre of the front – mostly to act as an extra contact point for the cladding – we didn’t put one on the back as it would have made putting the kegs inside a bit trickier.

corner posts

wpid-imag3680.jpg

brace

 

STEP 4 – UPRIGHTS & BAR TOP & TAP BOARD

Two uprights, roughly centre of the frame (sides) will form the frame for the tapboard – their positioning relative to the front of the bar and their height will depend on:

  • What type of taps you have – you need clearance under the taps for glasses
  • What your reach is for pouring – ie how high can you reach and how far back (so how deep will the bar top be)
  • Do you want extra height above the taps – to put tap labels, a bar sign or in our case to display the handmade mash paddle we were given as a wedding present. Best to err on the side of caution and make the upright too long and cut it back rather than find yourself short.

We went with a bar top that is 3 boards wide, and the tapboard is 7 boards high. The bar top is wide enough to accommodate a bar runner/drip tray etc. All the boards are screwed in place to ensure a tight fit and stable surface for the taps – last thing you want is to go to pull a pint and have the whole board come away in your hand!

Fit the planks for the bar top and tap board into position – remembering to drill the holes for the taps into the correct board before fitting that one in place – its easier to do this on the workbench to make sure the holes are straight and level.

uprights

top section

wpid-imag3687.jpg

wpid-imag3683.jpg

STEP 5 – CLADDING

Now that the basic frame is complete you can start adding the cladding. We used pressure treated featherboard as this is an outside bar and we wanted it to withstand the  elements – featherboard will allow any rainwater (or spilled beer) to run off the sides easily. As with the rest of the framing, we allowed an overlap either end of the cladding on the front of the bar so that it hides the ends of the pieces fitted to the sides. When fitting the last piece at the bottom of the front face, this piece is set at an slight outward angle due to the flooring protruding over the edge of the frame – however because we used feather board this was easy to accommodate and the addition of an additional piece of framing as facia plate covered over the small gap.

bottom section

wpid-imag3703.jpg

STEP 6 – COVERING YOUR REAR

To protect the beer lines from light and to prevent unwanted or accidental tampering with the lines/gas tec. we added side cladding above the bar top at the rear of the tap board – adding a small upright to the rear edge to help anchor the boards. The final protection is a sheet of black felt the width of the tapboard stapled above the taps which drops over the beer lines and kegs to keep them out of the light and out of sight.

beer lines

wpid-imag3812.jpg

STEP 7 – FINISHING TOUCHES

Once the build is complete you can then sand down all the outer surfaces and paint/stain/varnish as you wish. As our bar will be for outdoor use, we used Ronseal exterior woodstain which has given the wood a nice warm color and also gives a good waterproof protection.

EQUIPMENT FOR THE BAR SIDE OF THINGS (TAPS ETC)

Our bar holds four kegs and has four taps. Remember that without the actual beer dispensing equipment your bar is just a big wooden box.

You would need;

  • Taps
  • Shanks
  • Beer line & Gas line
  • John Guest connectors or sankey connectors
  • Corny or sankey kegs
  • Co2 tank
  • Gas management board or regulator

 

STEP 8 – ENJOY!

That’s all there is to it – now connect up your kegs and enjoy a well earned beer!

I hope this guide will encourage some of you to take the plunge and build your own bar – if you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to get in touch.

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bar

 

 

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Brewing up a batch – The craft beer kitchen

Scottish Craft Brewers brew up a beer in the Stewart Brewing Craft Beer Kitchen

Well, what a day yesterday!! I felt like a kid in a sweet shop!!

15ish lads and lassies from Scottish Craft Brewers turned up to brew 3 beers, an IPA/lager, a Christmas beer and an American rye at the craft beer kitchen at Stewarts.

Boy what a welcome to get us started, the guys at the brewery shop gave us each 5 beer tokens to use on the 10 or so beers they had on tap, and if that wasn’t enough they had a cask of “hopricot” sitting in the brewing area for us to quaff away at with no supervision:)

So enough of the beer drinking onto the brewing. We had a few newcomers to the group that were chucked in at the deep end with the usual mixture of seasoned kit brewers and all grainers but they seemed to relish the challenge and within half an hour were sounding like experts.

We split into three groups and each group was allotted a member of the Stewart’s team as help and a steam powered 100-120l boiler to brew in. Then it was down to ingredients. Malt extract to measure, speciality grains to grind and hops to weigh. The bulk of sugars for these brews came from malt extract meaning  we could all get a brew in without having to hang around for 6 hours, but we steeped some grains for some extra taste and colour and added various hops (in vast quantities) to make the beer our own.

Most of us aren’t used to brewing on this scale so even simple tasks like stirring the malt into the boil was a new experience with huge mash paddles and brute strength needed.

As if all that beer and brewing wasn’t enough, onve our brews were sorted we also got a  fantastic trip around the brewery with a guide telling us the history of the company and all about the kit they use to brew. Even the seasoned brewers amongst us learned a thing or two.

So after brewing 80-100l of beer, a trip round the brewery with all the facts and being sat getting fed their beer, could say it was a great day! Need to get some more of the group out there next time and maybe do an all grain session.

By Bruce Stevenson

 

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The inaugural AG story

Oh, how the days of anticipation and planning have flown past!

A brief history – if I may be so indulgent – late in the year 2009, for some forgotten reason, but possibly because of some time wasting chat at work, a rather tall scotsman started to take an interest in the world of homebrewed beer.

Despite the search term ‘homebrew’ fetching back some rather perplexing sites talking about unpaid software developers writing code for various electronic devices, eventually THBF was discovered, and a login procured.

Now as this tall scotsman’s Mrs wasn’t exactly keen on the idea, he instead proposed a starter kit as a Christmas present. Not that his wife was swayed, but his almost equally unfeasably tall sister did, and one plastic barrel and some odd tubes and a very long egg flipper were gifted on that day.

Full of enthusiasm, but woefully short on knowledge, the two cans of concentrated wort in the Scammonden Dark kit were diluted in the plastic barrel, and then the dawning realisation that you couldn’t drink it straight from the barrel!! Oh, the naivety!!!

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SCB 2011 January Meeting

scb_yeast_trial_feb_20111It had been a few years since the last SCB yeast trial so we thought it was time to try it again. We selected the January meeting as traditionally it is a well supported meeting and we were sure that this type of experiment would attract some of the local brewers.

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Skipton update

The Scottish Craft Brewers had a small but successful visit to the National Craft Brewing festival at the Copper Dragon Brewery in Skipton on Saturday 18th September.

The event was organised by the Northern Craft Brewers who were rekindling the event after a break last year. Steve Taylor, the owner of the Copper Dragon Brewery and founder of the Northern Craft Brewers, has kindly offered to host the event at his state of the art brewery in North Yorkshire so the NCB had grabbed opportunity with enthusiasm and laid on a memorable event. This turned out to be perfect as the festival was able to spread out across an enormous warehouse which had plenty of space for the entrants, visitors and also the retail partners who supported the event.