a home brew extraveganza

not so much a blog post as my thoughts on all the local home brew
tasting at Benji and Sevares

Benjis black ipa7 on cask... deep brown ... thin tan head ... soft a dark malts ... big pine nose ... dark roast... bitter chocolate ... nice roast .... maybe a little too much charcoal .. but otherwise lovely ... 8 4 8 4 15

benh black ipa ...deep brown black ... creamy light tan head ... sweet roast ...light pine ... creamy toffee malts ... light roast ... light bitter chocolate... its ok but not really a black ipa for me 6 3 7 3 14

paul #20 amber ...thin white lacing ... soft creamy maltyness ... in both nose and flavour ... some sweet fruits ... not really me 6 3 6 3 11

Blind benh vas pauls amber

benh
amber ... thin lacing  ... light soapy pine nose ... light fizz ... light creamy malts ... soapy pine and orange  ... juicy and zezty quite dry ... fruity floral ... very citrus  7 3 8 3 15

paul  #27ca
amber  hazy ... thin white head ... soft orange nose ... light bitter front ... soft orange ... light lemon ... something odd in its linger .. quite a medicinal finish thats not working for me ... some pine in linger ... 7 3 5 3 12


Blind paul #28 vs benjis Bamburg black

Benji
deep brown ... no head ... soft milky coffee ... hints of cola  nose ...  light cola ... quite fruits ... huge green apple... thats quite remarkably green apple...  6 3 7 3 13

Paul
black ... thin tan lacing ... light chocolate malt nose ... light dark chocolate malts ... soft roast  ... mellow roast ... light oak ut there no oak in there ... 7 3 7 4 15


Paul #26 original to 28 ...
deep brown black ... thin tan lacing ... stir fry soya nose ...dark malts ... and some soya .. hint of fishyness .. odd roast ... we think its gone past best  6 3 6 3 14


Benjis supper frulli 8.9% vs anime rose


well we can tell this right off
Benji peachy coloured ... thin white nose ... gorgeous peach strawberry nose ... really amazing  nose ... sharp front ... followed by juicy fruits  ... sweet body ... big rich apricot peachyness ... good solid body ... 7 3 8 3 15

anime : pink rose ... thin white head ... not pleasant  red berry nose ... fizzy ... light metallic ... sweet fruits ...
mellow soft and juicy ... light dulll flavour ... maybe a little strawberry ... little sugars ... its a light fruity beer. 6 3 7 3 12


drakes vs ben h imperial stout

Benh ... dark black ... no head ... sweet malt ... mellow coffee roast ...little vanilla ...  juicy malts ... big roast ... light coffee and vanilla ... mellow malts...  easy roast ... very nice ... but a little to flat ... 8 4 8 3 17

Drakes ... dark black ... thin tan head ... dry coffee roast .. a little of than American malt nose... dark roast ... light bitter malts ... some chocolate .. again a little of that American malt ...  8 3 8 3 15


Benjii dry hop series ... cascade , simcoe and NS

1 Non Dry hop ... copper clear ... big white head ... soft mellow ... light lemon zest nose ... soft  fruit ... juicy fruits ... light sweet .... orange front ... very mellow and juicy   7 3 8 3 16

all hopped slightly darker  and hazer
2  (cascade) mellow fruit nose ... soft fruits ... less orange ... dryer than base 8 3 7 3 14


3(simco) passion fruit nose  ... NS hop ... again the orange is killed ... mellow fruits ... more toffee malts
well i know f... all  its Simco 7 3 7 3 14

4  (NS)  dry mellow fruit nose .. mellow  sweet fruits ... light dry linger ... quite bitter 7 3 6 3 13


i found 2 and 4 quite similar (and those are the main hops in the base beer) though the score oddly dont  add up

Paul 31 A(cascade) & B(fuggles) ... hoppy red
Both red copper ... both thin tan head ...
A sweet toffee malts ... light vanilla .. and that creamy toffee malts nose ... light zest and that sweet toffee malt ... quite bitter 7 3 6 3 13

B sweet toffee malts ... juicy fruits ... blackcurrant fruit nose ... sweet fruits .. again blackcurrant ... juicy fruits ... soft sweet malts ...less bitter  7 3 8 3 16

2/3 of a good Idea

Well im all for more choice in the serving sizes, in fact im all for complete deregulation in this area, but from the only place ive seen 2/3 introduced, it seems to have pushed up prices.

Beer 1 Jan 27  : £2 a 1/2          Feb 7 : 2.80 2/3   (£4 vs £4.20)
Beer 2 Nov 21 : £2.50 a 1/2     Feb 7 : £4 2/3      (£5 vs £6)
Beer 3 Nov 21 : 2.50 a 1/2       Jan 27: £3.90 2/3 (£5 vs £5.85)


Maybe 2/3 glasses wasn't such a good idea after all.

1 Light Year

Well thats its Its been a Light year since i got my Solar Panals Installed, and boy had it been a Great year.

First off i expected to get about 2600 Units in the First Year according to the Estimation tool at solar_estimate
See my earlier blogs for more info on this and the Fits Scheme.

But my first year total came in at 3223 which is a Massive 20% over the Estimate, now i dont know if 2011 was a particularly sunny year, or if the Estimate was just to conservative, only time will tell. but al told year 1 was a great year.  3223 Units equate to a Payment of £1444 , and i estimate (and this is really difficult to work out) that i use 1/3 of what i produced over the year, and this gives a saving on my Electric bill of about £100, so all told my Return in Year 1 is £1544 or greater than 10% of my £15000 investment.

So all told depending on if my Estimate was accurate or low over all, i am still on track for a return of between 8-10%

Better yet as far as im concerned.  Solar Prices have dropped in the Last Year, and There is no longer (in Edinburgh at least) any need for a Building Warrant. That mean that my system would now cost in the Region of 12-13K. This drop means that even if the Fits system was to be totally scrapped. If you can use all power the system produces or, at least sell any unused units at the same cost that you buy them, then Solar Power is cost effective over its 25years, if we assume a 6% increase in Electric costs per year.

years in use	system power	Estimate	kWh cost	Year saving	total saving
1	3.6	2,592.00	0.11	285	285
2	3.6	2,569.97	0.12	300	585
3	3.6	2,548.12	0.12	315	900
4	3.6	2,526.46	0.13	331	1231
5	3.6	2,504.99	0.14	348	1579
6	3.6	2,483.70	0.15	366	1944
7	3.6	2,462.59	0.16	384	2328
8	3.6	2,441.65	0.17	404	2732
9	3.6	2,420.90	0.18	424	3157
10	3.6	2,400.32	0.19	446	3603
11	3.6	2,379.92	0.20	469	4072
12	3.6	2,359.69	0.21	493	4564
13	3.6	2,339.63	0.22	518	5082
14	3.6	2,319.75	0.23	544	5627
15	3.6	2,300.03	0.25	572	6199
16	3.6	2,280.48	0.26	601	6800
17	3.6	2,261.09	0.28	632	7432
18	3.6	2,241.87	0.30	664	8096
19	3.6	2,222.82	0.31	698	8794
20	3.6	2,203.92	0.33	734	9527
21	3.6	2,185.19	0.35	771	10298
22	3.6	2,166.62	0.37	810	11108
23	3.6	2,148.20	0.40	852	11960
24	3.6	2,129.94	0.42	895	12855
25	3.6	2,111.84	0.45	941	13795

All told while no one is likely to install a system that takes the whole 25 years to pay back, it is clear that Solar energy is becoming more and more cost effective and while the Fits Scheme exists (even at the reduced rate) its really a no brainer about installing Solar panels and i am very glad i have.

Craft thats it sorted

According to the dictionary Craft is defined as

1. An activity involving skill in making things by hand: the craft of cobbling : art and craft
2. Skill used in deceiving others: her cousin was not her equal in guile and evasive craft
3. A boat or ship: sailing craft

 So if your Brewery fits one of those three then your a craft Brewer.


Glad to have sorted this one for everyone.






Ps. If you think hard im sure you can find some that fit Two.

Ready Steady Brew : The ingredients

Ok the bag of ingredients for the Ready Steady Brew is Choice 2 Oolong Tea and Chilli

Can anyone interested in brewing this let me know (if you havent already)
I will pay postage on at least the first 5 who want to post up a bottle for the tasting.

But even if you want to just brew it and write about it i will cover your brew in a roundup of the event.
We are aiming for a July tasting (date nearer the time) as homebrewers have told me that should be enough time to allow people not to have to rush.

Let the Brewing commence.

Oh for Nogne O Sake

I know many of you are Familiar with the FANTASTIC Nogne O Beers, but Nogne do more than just Beer.

Nogne are the ONLY European producer of Sake, and damn fine Sake at that. So if you havent tried any sake, or enjoy sake, do yourself a favour and look out for the Nogne O sake that James Clay have brought into the UK.

Go hunt it down, for Nogne sake, My sake and your sake.

The Session 59 I Almost Always Drink Beer, But When I Don’t..

I should sum this up in one word Tea. But i wont. I will ramble on about my love of tea.
I was into Tea long before i was into Beer. I probably drink more tea than beer most days but i am not promising that thats actually true :-)

Like Beer i like my Tea in a huge range of Styles. Black, Green, White, Oolong, flavoured, spiced, hot , cold you name it i want to try it. But Oolong is my Favourite.

I love tea so much i even went out and bought a Japanese tea ceremony

Here are just a few of the roughly 40 teas i have at home.

Tea is a comfort drink, Tea is a tasty drink, Tea is a versatile drink. Tea is a non alcoholic drink, Tea is Great.

Drink Tea, you know your worth it