G'day Boomerholics

Ok so delays in the delivery of ingredients has meant that, soon to be Master Brewer Jason is off on holidays, delaying the brewing of the much anticipated Vanilla Mocha Porter....

Soooooo there was much excitement at the brewery amongst the employees (read Neil) because Neil had the keys to the Pilot Plant & wasn't afraid to use them! A master plan had been devised to brew an English Best Bitter which we decided to christen as our Boomers Bitter Separation Bitter due to the temporary parting of the brew team.

So at 3pm, April 14th 2011 the brewery erupted to the sound of iPod brewing music and a mysterious bearded figure darted from once piece of equipment to another desperately attempting to remember what the hell they were supposed to do.....

It had seemed so easy with soon to be Master Brewer Jason barking orders & smacking me on the back of head while shouting "here's some more training for ya sunshine!" (in a Kiwi accent).

Then all of a sudden a flash of inspiration......I started to boil water! And they said I'd never amount to anything!! It appears the training (read physical violence & verbal abuse) had morphed me into the highly skilled brewing t echnician........

** At this point Boomers would like to apologise to the real brewing technicians who have just thrown up & are looking for a series of blunt weapons. We're sooooorry. OK?

For those unfamiliar with boutique brewing once the process has started it can't be stopped & ultimate success depends on accurate volumes, precise timing, correct temperature settings, constant equipment checks, preparation for the next phases & the addition of the correct supplemental ingredients at precisely pre determined intervals. For this we use a detailed recipe. Unfortunately because I'm dyslexic (read thick) Jason had to draw stick men & arrows. Although I still think 2 laps of the Brewery between each stage wasn't necessary even if beer does brew better in a Fung Shui environment! So panting heavily I leapt into the task of milling the gains. In fact you can see me inspecting the result below with my remaining 3 fingers....

Checking the setting on the temperature controller

Opening a valve.....hmmm....I wonder......should that be closed?

 So what was the result in the end? 

This baby!!! Boomers Bitter Separation Bitter...

who's the man........yeah baby........who's the man??

OK ya know you're hanging for it..............

You lot really do need professional help.

What I mean is here's the educational bit!

Honestly some days the gene pool could do with a lot more chlorine!

Brief history

Bitter is an English term for pale ale. 

Pale ale was a term used for beers made from malt dried with coke. Coke had been first used for roasting malt in 1642, but it wasn't until around 1703 that the term pale ale was first used. By 1784, advertisements were appearing in the Calcutta Gazette for "light and excellent" pale ale. By 1830, the expressions bitter and pale ale were synonymous in England where breweries would tend to designate beers as pale ale, though customers in the pub would commonly refer to the same beers as bitter. It is thought that customers used the term bitter to differentiate these pale ales from other less noticeably hopped beers such as porter and mild. By the mid to late 20th century, while brewers were still labeling bottled beers as pale ale, they had begun identifying cask beers as bitter, except those from Burton on Trent, which tend to be referred to as pale ales regardless of the method of dispatch.  

Style 

Bitter belongs to the pale ale style and can have a great variety of strength, flavour and appearance from dark amber to a golden summer ale. It can go under 3% abv - known as Boys Bitter - and as high as 7% with premium or strong bitters. The colour may be controlled by the addition of caramel color.

Sub-types of bitter

British brewers have several loose names for variations in beer strength, such as best bitter, special bitter, extra special bitter, and premium bitter. There is no agreed and defined difference between an ordinary and a best bitter other than one particular brewery's best bitter will usually be stronger than its ordinary. Two groups of drinkers may mark differently the point at which a best bitter then becomes a premium bitter. Hop levels will vary within each sub group, though there is a tendency for the hops in the session bitter group to be more noticeable.

Drinkers tend to loosely group the beers into: 

Session or ordinary bitter 

Strength up to 4.1% abv. The majority of British beers with the name IPA will be found in this group, such as Greene King IPA, Deuchars IPA, Flowers IPA, Wadworth Henrys Original IPA, etc. Though bearing the name IPA, these session bitters are not as strong and hoppy as an India Pale Ale would be in the USA and elsewhere. IPAs with modest gravities (below 1040º) have been brewed in Britain since at least the 1920s. This is the most common strength of bitter sold in British pubs. It accounts for 16.9% of pub sales.

Best or regular bitter 

Strength between 4.2% and 4.7% abv. In the United Kingdom Bitter above 4.2% abv accounts for just 2.9% of pub sales. The disappearance of weaker bitters from some brewers' rosters means "best" bitter is actually the weakest in the range.

Premium or strong bitter 

Strength of 4.8% abv and over. Also known as Extra Special Bitter, or in Canada and the USA, ESB (ESB is a brand name in the UK). 

Light ale 

Light ale is a crisply carbonated, low hopped, low abv bottled bitter that is mainly used as a mix with another beer, but is sometimes used as a low alcohol beer. 

Bitter outside England 

The term pale ale is used in Scotland though ESB (for "Extra Special Bitter") is more commonly used in the United States. Where bitter is used it indicates a pale ale of lower alcohol content brewed in a less hop-focused style than typical American pale ales. American bitters often use English varieties of hops. 

OK now I have a confession to make. I did do this brew myself however, soon to be Master Brewer, Jason did turn up about 6pm prior to his holiday and gave me a hand to get everything finished. But never let the truth get in the way of a good story I always say! Everything went to plan & although I missed my volumes by a couple of litres it was a process issue that we are resolving rather than an error on my part. So for my virgin run I'm happy with the result.

Although there is one sad event that has to be recognised. See we commissioned the SABCO Chill Wizard!

No that's not the sad bit.

All went very well. Soooo that's not the sad bit either

It's a great bit of gear that will help us refine the pilot plant and be fermenting straight after brewing. It connects to the kettle and promptly drops the wort temperature done to mid twenties so we can decant into the fermenter and immediately pitch the yeast to start the fermenting process.

Now for the sad bit..........nah bugger it. I'll tell ya later!

What's next I here you say? Well remember Neil still has the keys and rumour has it that another beer recipe is hatching. Stay tuned! 

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