The London Amateur Brewers (LAB), a bunch of keen homebrewers who meet monthly in London, were invited by James Brodie to come and brew a beer at his brewery. Not surprisingly the homebrewers jumped at the chance. And here are some photos of the day.
The KingWilliam IV is the brewpub and hotel where all the action would take place. Though it was all locked up when we arrived.
Soon we got inside and and started an inventory of the grains and hops.
So off to the cafe for breakfast and discussions on the beer we were to brew.
Someone had to bring out the laptop!
Eventually we departed back for the brewery with two recipes - a Kiwi IPA and a hoppy US-style porter.
Discussions ensued and the IPA was ditched as too close to an existing product so LABrat Porter was born.
Eric the Brewer made some tweaks to the recipe to make it viable on the Brodie's brewkit.
John the brewery assistant looking a bit rock'n' roll.
Mash in starts...any resemblance to projectile vomit is purely coincidental.
The mash tun was nearly full....
...time for a beer. Brodies Summer Special a 1.9% uber-session ale.
The main man arrives..."Hey am I late?"
13 brewers? The brewhouse was a little cramped.
First runnings onto the Warrior and Northern Brewer hops.
Sparging started and the runoff was very slow...so time to grab some lunch.
And take a few arty shots.
By the time I returned the mash tun was already dug out. What a shame!
Important equipment for mash tun cleaning are: Beer, Handleless Brush and Serious Boots.
One of 4 hop additions in the last 3 minutes.
This left about a foot deep of spent hops in the boiler.
That someone has to clean!
So James, what did you think of the beer?
A very fine day was had by all. I look forward to trying the beer when it goes live in a few weeks time. A big thanks to James Brodie for inviting us along and to Eric and John for looking after us during the day.
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