After the Boddingtons, we decided to move to a stronger slightly darker ale. So at the end of December we brewed a beer based on a recipe for Moorhouses Pendle Witches Brew.
To be honest, I don’t recall what this beer is like, although I think I have had it at some stage in the past. But Graham Wheeler’s recipe book describes it as “a deceptively pale strong bitter”, with a “deep, dry finish, good hop character and vanilla notes”. Sounds nice, so that is what will keep the beer engine busy through February. It has finished fermenting and is ready for going into cask tomorrow.
We’ve developed a process for re-using the yeast from previous brews, by pitching the next brew right onto the yeast cake from the last brew. We reckon we can do that at most three times, and each time we move to a darker and stronger beer than the last one. This is why we started with Boddingtons (very light), then moved to the Pendle Witches brew, and tomorrow we’ll be brewing… well, that’s for another post! By the third brew the number of yeast cells is huge, which means a really strong brew can get off to a good fermentation very quickly.
Incidentally, if you’re into making your own beer and you like British ales, you really should have a copy of Brew Your Own British Real Ale by Graham Wheeler. This is a hugely comprehensive collection of recipes. They all work to basically the same process, so if you can brew one successfully you should be able to do them all.
Image: Amazon.co.uk
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