Categories
Articles Events

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

 

Categories
Events General

18 October 2014 – Enjoying a tour of Alechemy

chatting with the brewersOne of the only sunny days this October saw us indoors sampling beers and chatting about all things brewing with James and Adam from Alechemy Brewery in Livingston. 15 of the Scottish Craft Brewers group enjoyed a chance to pick the brains of one of Scotland’s finest breweries to learn new skills, improve on existing skills and go away with ideas to try at home not to mention the cases of beer they bought.

James and Adam, brewery founders, led the group around the brewery explaining various pieces of equipment and processes, discussing yeast and talking scary sized boil overs giving the group the grand tour. The guys even had time to spend with individual brewers from our group giving advice and helping to solve various conundrums they had faced.

This was all discussed further over a couple of glasses of Alechemy’s new beer “Merica” and a chance to share and provide feedback on some of the club brewer’s own beers.

A thoroughly good day for experienced and new home brewers alike.

 

Categories
Events General

5th March 2014 – Bring and taste – Edinburgh

Wednesday 5th March – Bring and taste

Location:The Brwestore

Categories
Events General

Pub crawl of good beer bars

Saturday 1st February 19:30 – Pub crawl of good beer bars, starting at Cloisters – Edinburgh. Moving on to the Hanging Bat, Blue Blazer, Bow Bar.

Categories
Events General

Scottish Craft Brewers meeting at Greyfriars pub in Perth on 28 April

Greyfriars pub
15 South St, Perth, PH2 8PG
01738 633036 www.greyfriarsbar.com .

The programme will be:
Talk by Ken Duncan, Head Brewer at Inveralmond Brewery
AGM: brief reports and election of officials
Lunch
Tasting of 5 Yeast Trial beers (Same recipe with only difference being the type of yeast).

Train from Edinburgh 0933-1050 (£16.90 Standard return); return 1529-1644 or 1722-1836
Bus Edinburgh – Perth (Edinburgh Rd, South Inch) 0900- 1039, return 1511-1645(change at Kinross) or 1511-1650; 1714-1849(change at Kinross) or 1714-902

Train from Glasgow 0937-1046; return 1705-1812
Bus Glasgow – Perth (Bus Station) 0900- 1035, return 1510-1645; 1545-1730(7 Bus to Broxden); 1733-1815

Categories
Events General

Scottish Craft Brewers Meeting Sunday 27th January

Brewers

There has been a bit of a break since out last weekend meeting but we are pleased to announce that we will be returning to Elgin House in Edinburgh on Sunday 27th January for a meeting and competition. The January meeting is traditionally our best attended meeting so hopefully we can see as many faces as possible.

Venue Details:
Elgin House, 6 Easter Road, Edinburgh, EH7 5RG
Start time is 11am but if you are bringing beers on the day you will need to be at the hall for 10:30am

Competition:
Arek is going to run the competition again this year and has put together the beer registration website: http://competition.scottishcraftbrewers.org/ . All the details can be found on the competition pages.

Talks:
While the judging takes place there will be a couple of talks up until lunch. We have still to finalise the running order but Brewlab is kindly providing some aroma samples (these help you to detect off flavours in your beer) and also some yeast slants to give away so we will spend some time discussing these.

Lunch:
Davie Martin and his team will be preparing lunch for us again this year. As you know this is always a fabulous lunch so we are thrilled that Davie has offered. We need to provide Davie with number for the catering so if you are planning to attend then it is essential that you let me know.

After Lunch
We will sell raffle tickets during lunch so will make the draw (please remember to bring something for the raffle). It will also be a chance to bring and taste your beers that have not been entered into the competition.

Once the competition is over we will announce the winners and then go on to sample the competition beers.

Cheers

Calum

Categories
Events General

19 December 2012, Edinburgh Midweek Meeting Bring and Taste

Edinburgh Midweek Meeting, Bring and Taste
19 December 2012
Start: 7pm
Mason Hall (Next to Iceland shop)
6 Easter Road
EH7 5RG

Our midweek meetings are intended to be an informal gathering of brewers where we sample and discuss each other beers. There is usually a good mix of new through to experienced brewers along with a mix of beers styles on offer to try.

Meeting are open for anyone to come along and join in. You can either just turn up on the night or drop a note onto the forum so we know to expect you.

There is a small charge to contribute to the hire of the room.

Categories
Events General

17th October 2012, Edinburgh Midweek Meeting Bring and Taste

Bring and Taste

Our midweek meetings are intended to be an informal gathering of brewers where we sample and discuss each other beers. There is usually a good mix of new through to experienced brewers along with a mix of beers styles on offer to try.

Meeting are open for anyone to come along and join in. You can either just turn up on the night or drop a note onto the forum so we know to expect you.

There is a small charge to contribute to the hire of the room.

Categories
Events General

20th June 2012, Edinburgh Midweek Meeting Bring and Taste

Bring and Taste

Our midweek meetings are intended to be an informal gathering of brewers where we sample and discuss each other beers. There is usually a good mix of new through to experienced brewers along with a mix of beers styles on offer to try.

Meeting are open for anyone to come along and join in. You can either just turn up on the night or drop a note onto the forum so we know to expect you.

There is a small charge to contribute to the hire of the room.

Categories
Events General

16th May 2012, Edinburgh Midweek Meeting Bring and Taste

Bring and Taste

Our midweek meetings are inttended to be an informal gathering of brewers where we sample and discuss each other beers. There is usually a good mix of new through to experienced brewers along with a mix of beers styles on offer to try.

Meeting are open for anyone to come along and join in. You can either just turn up on the night or drop a note onto the forum so we know to expect you.

There is a small charge to contribute to the hire of the room and Davie, who runs Edina HomeBrew, sorts us out with some pies for supper.