Shere Khan IPA

Regular readers may have noticed by now that I've got a deep appreciation for the work done by the Thornbridge brewery.  I was blown away the first time I tried one of their beers - it was draught Jaipur at the Sheffield Tap. Jaipur has gone on to win award after award, and is often credited with spearheading the recent resurgence in strong hoppy IPAs in Britain.

One of my favourite Thornbridge beers is the India Pale Ale called Kipling - it's a blend of classic IPA strength and bitterness, but using New World hops to impart a fruity slightly floral character.  It really is a cracking beer, and I heartily recommend you try it if you haven't already.

I found a recipe that purported to produce something not too far away from Kipling, and decided to have a go.  I've called it Shere Khan IPA after the chief antagonist of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book stories.

HONK! IPA

This is a seriously hoppy, seriously strong American-style IPA.  It's called HONK! because it's going to absolutely reek of hops.  Lovely.

This is another self-devised brew, rather than follow someone else's recipe, but I got my inspiriation for the hops schedule from a recipe I read for Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, which had Chinook hops for bittering, then combinations of Centennial and Cascade late on in the boil, and then some for aroma after the boil.  I've also thrown in some  Nelson Sauvin in the aroma hops, and in dry-hopping.

Thornbridge Oatmeal Stout

To celebrate their forthcoming Great British Homebrew Challenge the good people at Thornbridge have come up with a new recipe for an oatmeal stout to get everyone's imagination kickstarted.

Thornbridge are well known for their innovation in brewing, and it's brought them award after award in the industry, and well deserved those awards are too.  And their slightly radical thinking extends to this stout recipe which is, at first glace, unusual.

"London's Burning" Red Ale

With seemingly half the capital city's youth currently setting fire to cars and wheelie bins so that they can empty the shelves of the nearest Footlocker or Curry's, I didn't have to think hard to name my first attempt at a ruby red ale.

I'm using a base of pale malt, backed up by a good amound of Munich malt, some Carared malt, a little pale crystal malt for body, and a very small amount of both black and chocolate malts - hopefully this should give me a deep red-brown ale.

Gobhoblin

With apologies to the good people at the Wychwood brewery, I've had a go at a clone of their lovely Hobgoblin ale.  It's for my brother for Christmas, as he rates Hobgoblin very highly indeed - I hope I've done it justice.

I found a receipe on the Jim's Beer Kit forum, attributed to Orfy, and used that, as it came with a good reputation for matching Wychwood's brew.  I heartily recommend the forum at Jim's Beer Kit for picking up recipes and brewing advice.

Kölsch

Kölsch, or Koelsch if you're not into umlauts, is a traditional beer of  Cologne, Germany.  I've heard it described as a half-way house between lager and ale, in that it uses pilsner malts, like a lager, but it is fermented at warmer temperatures more like an ale.

This is a bit of a departure for me, and comprises a number of firsts in my brewing career: the first time I've used Pilnser malt, the first time I've used just noble hops, the first time I've used a Wyeast smack-pack of yeast - in fact the first time I've brewed something which isn't a true ale.

My inspiration for this recipe is to make something my brother-in-law will appreciate at Christmas - he's a fan of his lagers, so I'm hoping the pilsner malt, noble hops and Kölsch yeast will make something he likes.

Yeast Washing

After primary fermentation of my Christmas Ale, I wanted to recover and store the yeast sediment for use in a future brew.

I'll detail the process, but it's the first time I've tried this, so if anyone can tell me where/if I'm doing things wrong, leave me a note in the comments at the bottom of the post.

Cascade Amber Ale - "Promised Lightning"

After brewing this year's Christmas Ale, I was left with 70-odd grams of Cascade hops.  After reading that it's Cascade that gives Sierra Nevada Pale Ale its aroma, I thought I'd brew up a pale ale to use them up.

This isn't supposed to be a SNPA clone at all, just something nice and hoppy.  I'm using a bit of Munich malt to supplement the grain bill too, for the first time.

The yeast is a starter I've been culturing from the dregs of a few bottles of Hop Back Summer Lightning.  Reculturing yeast from bottle conditioned beers is something I'm going to try to do more, because it's cheap, and I get to call the drinking of the beer "research".  Yum.

I'm calling it "Promised Lightning" because of the Golden Promise malt and the Summer Lightning yeast.  Also, it's more like an Amber than a Pale.

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Christmas Ale

I found a Christmas Ale recipe on the BrewUK forum (link). It was an extract recipe, but it piqued my interest and I thought I'd have a go at an All-Grain version.

I'm getting this done in the summer so that it has plenty of time to condition in the bottle before Christmas.

I decided that I'd scale the strength back a bit - the expected 8% - 9% abv was a bit stronger than I'd prefer.

Steel Gold IPA

This was my first brew-in-a-bag all-grain brew.  And it was a catalogue of mistakes, but the end result is a beautiful, potent golden ale.

Just goes to show.

I've called it Steel Gold IPA, because it's golden coloured, brewed in Sheffield, and very strong.

7kg Golden Promise Pale Malt
35g Challenger Hops (90 min boil)
35g Challenger Hops (60 min boil)
30g Citra Hops (10 min boil)
1tsp Irish Moss (10 min boil)
20 Citra Hops (30 min steep after boil)
45g Citra Hops (dry hops after 5 days in FV)