The First Taste

I threw a bottle of my home brew into the fridge last night to chill it in preparation for the first taste. I have not yet sampled it yet as I didn't want my initial reaction to have time to change between tasting and blogging.

First, the look...

It looks quite pale, like a wheat beer (I'll have to check, it may well be!) and I'm surprised that it is so light. The head looks good and it poured well - it didn't foam over or anything.

Second, the smell...

It smells like beer, and has a good head (about twice as much as in the photo - it has built up over the last minute). There's another smell there as well which I can't quite pick. I read some stuff recently about fermenting wine (that's not something I'm interested in) which said that if your wine had a sulphur smell, it was because of some yeast thing where it ate all the sugar - as it should - and started eating the wine itself, or something like that. I'm wondering if it's the same thing I'm smelling in my beer, although to say it's sulphur like is a long shot.

Now for the taste ...

Mmmm... tastes like beer! It does seem to have a lot of bubbles in it (can hear them as I swallow) but if you leave the brew for longer the bubbles get smaller (it's been a week). The after taste is good and my mouth is left feeling clean. I'm very surprised that it tastes so good. I'm not an expert when it comes to beer tasting so I can't give a good opinion but I was convinced throughout the process that it would not be a good brew. My calculations had it sitting at about 3.5% alc/vol and I took that as a sign that something had gone wrong. Quite possibly it has, but not at the expense of taste.

Overall, I'd be happy to inflict this on others. I'm going to repeat this exact recipe, but be more careful with getting the start temperature right and sterilising the equipment to see if there's a difference. I'll have to rock on and get my beer labels printed too, I've got the design finalised :)

Mmmm ... beeer ...

The brew is coming along nicely - it looks like it's almost in the range for bottling to occur. I have a collection of PET bottles that are ready to receive the golden liquid (although a few more wouldn't go amiss).

I've started work on a brew logo too and have come up with a tentative first name for the first brew, however these will be firmly under wraps until they've been finalised. I think bottling day is possibly tomorrow, if not Thursday.

Woohoo!

OpenTTD Scenario: New Zealand

I've been a fan of Transport Tycoon ever since I was introduced to it by Glutnix back in 1998 or so, and it seems that many people still are - so much so that an open source version has been developed so you can play it (complete with bugfixes and lots of new features) on your Windows or Linux PC (multiplayer even). You do need the graphics files from the original game however.

A while back I remember naming the towns on a random map the same as some NZ towns. This was really neat because when it said that a subsidy was offered for passengers from Dunedin to Christchurch, I instantly knew where to go, rather than scrolling around to find the default (and amusing) town names (such as Little Prudford, Great Chundington etc)

This time I've gone the whole hog and created a New Zealand scenario. You can edit it to suit your own needs or play it as is. My only regret with this scenario is that it should be 4 times bigger which would allow more room for industries and towns and transportation networks. Let's hope there's a rainy day coming soon!

Anyway, here's the relevant files:

• A medium sized preview (142kb)


• A full sized preview (966kb)


• The scenario file itself (place in your scenarios directory in OpenTTD)

Feedback is welcomed :)

And now wait...

I mixed it all the ingredients up last night, taking care to ensure that all the things went in at the right time etc. There were some things in the instructions that implied a sense of urgency, but failed to indicate a timeframe, for example "It is at this point the wort is most vunerable, but it is more important to add the yeast than to get the temperature right". Err, in the next 10 seconds or 10 minutes? Fortunately that didn't apply for me.

Linda helped with pouring the mix into the barrel, which is of the consistency of malt, and as she discovered is also quite sweet, until you swallow it and then it has a bitter party at the back of your throat. I tried some too after being threatened with being called a wuss. She was right, it was bitter.

After mixing it all up and topping up to the final level, we hoisted it into the hotwater cupboard where it will remain for the next week. It started at 23 degrees C, but has now settled at 20. I checked with the local supplier today and he says that will be just fine.

Here's the vital stats:

DOB: 5.12.06
Water added: 23.5L
Sugar: Brewcraft Brewblend No 20, 1kg
Yeast Code: 17906
Temp before adding yeast: 23 deg C
Original Gravity: 1032

The Brewing Begins

I've finally got all the bits and pieces that I need to kick off my first batch of home brew:

• A 25L brewing barrel
• A hydrometer
• A can of Coopers Ale Home Brew 'stuff'
• A thermometer (from a pet shop!)
• Some sterilizing tablets
• Several empty 1.25L PET bottles

There's probably other stuff that I've got that I haven't mentioned here but that's the gist of it. I spent a fair bit of time traipsing around town over the last week getting the various bits and pieces - and the hardest bit of all was the brew barrel. I started with a cheap $7 bucket which I tried to drill a large hole into, but in my exuberance I managed to crack the bucket. I then got a proper barrel figuring that if I'm going to do this I should do it right.

Yesterday I ended up dismantelling part of my hot water cupboard to fit the brewing barrel into it. The next step is actually mixing the ingredients which all going well I should be able to manage tomorrow night. Once the brew is on I can then get to work designing a label (all brewing attempts should have a label!) and coming up with an appropriate name.

Here's a pic of me and the happy barrel.