Sail and Anchor Pale Ale - the beer journey begins again

So it's been some time a very long time between reviews. As I explained in my previous post, one particular sense was taking a good year off on long service leave. But now it's back, the beer reviews have begun anew and we start off with the last beer on the fridge left over from a pool party on New Years Eve.

Yes it's a beer that I reviewed back in 2017 - but would my newly installed turbo nose and beer consumption since then change the way I see this one? Let's find out!

Long time no brewing

So it's been close to a year since I last wrote about beer, last did a proper beer tasting, last boiled up some stuff and rolled my own (and ultimately turfed a lot of it out in the end because it really wasn't that great...)

But what happened? Where did I go? Did I give up beer entirely?

In a nutshell:

Making something out of (next to) nothing

...in this case beer. After a big house move to a completely new neighborhood and a sizable whack to the credit card in the process, I currently don't have any money for beer (or purchase additional ingredients) but what I do have is a unique set of skills a few leftovers from previous beer making projects.

'Have you got any leftover grains by any chance?'

Can we make a brew that is true with this lot?

Guybrau - the best all year

It was a lesson in everything - a new style, new hops, getting a proper temperature control setup in place and a rush to get everything done to be ready for the feast that was Christmas Day.

But after all that, did we nearly manage to poison another family member with bitterness ala last time? 

One Helles of a brew for the brotherhood

My brother is joining me for Christmas and so my lovely wife suggested I brew up a small batch for his arrival. A brilliant idea! So I popped out the very handy Brewdog recipe book and decided (once again) to do a style I'm completely unfamiliar with complete with unfamiliar grains, yeast and hops!

Pop round in a couple of weeks Jeeza, they should be good to go then.

In an echo of the great Jeremy Clarkson "What could possibly go wrong here?"

Hola Raspberry Cerveza! What you need after a heavy lawnmowing.

So my first ever adventures with an extract can are all done and unlike my all grain brews, this was one destined to be a lawnmower beer - namely something cool and refreshing to cool off with after a hot day toiling away in the sunshine.
It's not meant to win awards, just to hit the spot on a hot summers day.

We've just hit summer now here in Australia so did we manage to land on target?

One man, one can = half a plan

So since kicking off the home brewing thing earlier this year, I've been an all grain type of beer maker. Mash and sparge the grains, boil the wort, throw in some hops and hope for the best. The thought of using an extract can (where the mashing, boiling and sparging have been done already for you - you just add water, yeast and other bits and pieces to the goop in the tin) has never crossed my mind. 

Until one went on special for a ridiculous price... 

Red X Gone give it to ya (now it's not sadly..)

Grains, yeast and hops we've never used before. Oh and a broken hydrometer at the end of it. What could possibly go wrong here as we brew up our latest work: the Irish Red Ale we've 'Red X Gone give it to ya?'

The Bazweigan - bitter and dry like an angry desert

The color was gorgeous, the dextrose worked overtime to turn it into a bubbling delight.

But in the end it was three times as bitter as it should have been and tasted like a dry barren landscape. What the ###k happened with this one??

Gage Road Atomic American Pale Ale - some days are made for beer

Rise, shower, drive, grunt, work, lunch, swim, sleep, beer. That's the shortened version of my day ending with a bottle of Gage Road's American Pale Ale. Thankfully for my day and the brew, there's a little more to it than just that..

Making my brews just that little bit classier..

I came to drop off some clothes and bits and pieces that didn't even belong to me, I left with a couple of new vessels to add to my growing beer bits and pieces collection. Welcome to Wednesday!

Almigo brews a beer #3 - The Bazweigan

A visit to the local brew shop, secondary fermenting and learning to love some pink looking powder. It's all happening here in our latest brew, a blonde ale just in time for the visiting Father in law...(That's of course him in the funky head wear..)

Temp control to major Tom

Something a little different this weekend - playing around with some bits and pieces at home to make a small scale temp control container. The idea being that if small scale worked then I could work on building a bigger one as a place to store my fermenting carboy and keep it at constant temp.

Trust me, I have half an idea about what I'm doing. 

AKA I don't have a spare fridge and let's see what we can build hey? #genius