Brew stuff

Elle, the Elswick Tour Anglais

I've got a new project, her name is Elle. She is a very old racer, and the plan is to convert her to singlespeed/fixed gear. That plan also involves 'as cheaply as possible'.

She currently looks like this...




Today I made the first step towards one speed-dom, my good friend Pete helped me shorten the chain and remove the derailieur so that I to have in essence a single speed bike. Eventually i plan to remove the old cassette and replace with a single sprocket. The rear wheel is also set with a flip flop hub, meaning I can add a further sprocket and locknut creating a fixed gear side.

My initial assessment leads me to conclude that my first round of tasks will be:

- buying a new rear tire, it is super fatigued!
- changing the seat post, it's just too short
- flipping the handlebars and making into bullhorns
- retaping the handlebars.
- replacing pedals, and maybe getting clips
- checking and replacing brakepads
- sprocket and locknut for FV
- replacing hub bearings
- sprucing the old gal up, cleaning off rust etc.
- replacing ballbearings in rear hub.

Black Shucks

Well then, I've conducted my first proper wine based experiment. We had picked some hawberries a while ago with the intention of making a straight haw wine.

However I never got round to collecting enough berries, and we needed space in the freezer so I have had a go. I have added about 800g haws to 200g ish blackberries.

These had boiling water poured over them, were mashed and cooled. 200g sugar was also added. When cool, I added pectolase, nutrient and yeast. This was left for 4 days to get going.

I've now strained into a demijohn and added a further 500g sugar. This has brought the gravity up to 1064, acceptable enough I think.

It's a real shame that I'll have to wait months before finding out how well this works.

Part of the nature of the homebrewer though I suppose!

beer beer cider wine!

So I've brewed the milestone IPA. The abv turned out a bit lower than expected but it tastes really good. So I'm really happy with it and would do it again.

I currently have a coopers lager in the barrel which has become a victim to the really cold weather. The standard yeast hasn't been able to cope with the cold, so I've just pitched a saflager S 23. This will hopefully revive it!

The ginger beer didn't carbonate properly but still works well.

Unfortunately I don't think our boiler breaking down helped matters!

The current batch of orange wine seems to be bubbling along nicely.

The vimto wine also is surprisingly drinkable!

running : to update

Monday 1st Nov 3.5 km fairly slow pace, usual cold air breathing issue. 1 minute sprint then same walking

Wednesday 3rd Nov. 4.6 km. Pushed a bit harder. I had to walk for a while, my back hurt. I can't stretch it out. It calmed down after a few minutes so i could continue .

Work in progress...

back on the brewing horse

Right, after quite a break I've eased myself back into the brewing with a couple of DJs of wurzels wine. I've also made an experimental cider from our apple trees.

I juices loads and loads of apples over a couple of weeks, freezing each batch in freezer bags till I had about 6 litres. I defrosted all these packs overnight in some warm water. Unfortunately some had split only leaving around 2.5 litres. So, with a sad demeanour I added my cider yeast to this in anticipation of whether we might get.

Well I've let it brew out fully and clear in the fv. Having bottled only 3 half litre bottles, I'm gutted for the effort we put into juicing, but keen to improve! It's settled out at 6% which ain't bad for pure apples!.

I would be tempted to try this method again, though more carefully. However I've recently found out a method similar to starting a country wine. By soaking apples in a bucket for a week, while smooshing them up daily. They can then be sieved into the fv with minimal fuss.
I'm really excited by this and can't wait to try it!

I also need to plan this around doing my new beer kits. I've got the usual coopers lager and a Milestone IPA 2 can kit.

Think I need to get a beer on ASAP so it can be out of my fv ready for apples in a week or so. I think I read that you should store the apples in the dark for 7 days or so prior to brewing. I need to check this out and get cracking.

Right back on that horse!

ups and downs

well, the ginger beer experiment went well and i'm now onto my 4th demijohn of it. I'm getting closer to a recipe i like!

My ribena wine experiment didn't work, after a long fermentation period, the brew seemed to have a higher gravity than when i started, so i binned it. In hindsight i probably should have stuck with it, so see what happened!

I've realised just now that i've missed a trick in not brewing a beer for drinking during the world cup. What a fool! I also just have realised i should have spent the winter upping my lager stocks,while the weather was cooler. what a fool i am!

We're eager to get on with some elderflower champagne, when our weather gives us some sunshine we'll get on it!