Tuesday 30 June 2009

2.9%

Today I’m brewing our weakest beer; Mawkin Mild at 2.9% ABV. Everything seems to be happening slowly today. Having casked up a load of beer to make space in a fermenter for today’s brew, I realised that yesterday I must have taken more heat out of the store than I’d thought. This means lighting our wood boiler to bring to store up those few more degrees I need to mash at 66°C sparge at about 78°C and then final heat to 80°C+ before the boil.

As for the beer, well it’s black (almost) and modestly hopped with a Fuggles and Goldings. The malt gives this beer its flavour. I think its 11 different types I all, lots of dark malts give it a good roasted flavour, while I use malted oats to impart some body. I had no idea what this would turn out like first time I brewed it, but it was good (well, I liked it, so it was good).

Mild is not an easy sell to the free trade but we sell it all the time in our pub and a few outlets take the occasional cask and of cause it fly’s out at CAMRA beer festivals. Some people bemoan CAMRA and their beer festivals but without them small breweries would less adventurous in the styles of beer brewed. Unless a brewery is into bottling in a big way it will struggle to sell beers that aren’t brown or gold between 3.5-4.5%, beer festivals give these beers an outlet. For that I forgive the socks, sandals beards and farts!

3 comments:

RealAleBlog said...

Not sure I could forgive the sandals and/or the farts, and I speak as a member!

tommy n said...

Maybe your right! What i was trying to say was that they do a good job with the beer festivals. I really like going, ones held in nice locations are the best. Locally (Suffolk) we have Chappel, held in the railway museum and Stowmaket held at the Museum of Eat Anglian Life in a 14C barn. These locations are also well ventilated for farts.

Paul Garrard said...

Due to a little local difficulty I didn't make it to Stowmarket, but I go most years. Yes it's a good location.