The recent heat has played hell with my brewing. Beers that seemed to be almost finished have kick started themselves back into life and resumed their bubbling, and with temperatures hitting 35 degrees who knows what flavours are being produced. I don't have the refrigeration options to chill the fermentors down to sensible temperatures, and although I could have taken steps to kill the yeast and stop the fermentation I'm not happy adding anything like that to my beers.
Anyway, who knows - maybe something interesting could be produced? I think that in these days of 'always on' internet it's too easy to look things up on line instead of just giving it a go. There are a whole host of instant experts out there telling you what you should and shouldn't be doing, and with all those professional views out there it's easy to think 'Unless you can do it perfectly, why do it at all?'.
I say 'Pah' to the experts. There's no harm in reading up on something but don't get freaked out by all the things that you 'should' be doing. Just follow your gut, work on getting the basics sorted first and then start playing with the finer variables. If you fancy making cheese, cider, bread, beer, kimchi, lime pickle, knitted beanies or your own portable yurt constructed entirely of plaited body hair - just give it a go! It may not turn out to be perfect, but it will almost certainly turn out to be interesting.
Following on in the spirit of experimentation, my lemonade may not have turned out as well as it could have done and is falling on the side of 'interesting'...my garage looks like a BYO party for US Postal riders ten years ago.
It tastes very dry with a slight back taste of hop. I think the cloudiness is due in part to the use of wheat malt, in part to the cloudiness of real lemons and also due to a fair amount of yeast in solution. I'm hoping that over the next couple of weeks they will fizz up and then it will taste tart and refreshing when served ice cold. We'll see but I feel that further experimentation may be required, possibly with a smaller batch...
Anyway, who knows - maybe something interesting could be produced? I think that in these days of 'always on' internet it's too easy to look things up on line instead of just giving it a go. There are a whole host of instant experts out there telling you what you should and shouldn't be doing, and with all those professional views out there it's easy to think 'Unless you can do it perfectly, why do it at all?'.
I say 'Pah' to the experts. There's no harm in reading up on something but don't get freaked out by all the things that you 'should' be doing. Just follow your gut, work on getting the basics sorted first and then start playing with the finer variables. If you fancy making cheese, cider, bread, beer, kimchi, lime pickle, knitted beanies or your own portable yurt constructed entirely of plaited body hair - just give it a go! It may not turn out to be perfect, but it will almost certainly turn out to be interesting.
Following on in the spirit of experimentation, my lemonade may not have turned out as well as it could have done and is falling on the side of 'interesting'...my garage looks like a BYO party for US Postal riders ten years ago.
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