A termite walks into a bar...
FAQ w/ NIC I don’t get it. What even is craft beer? There are many debates as to what constitutes craft beer. In general, it is thought of as smaller breweries making small batch beer, and very hands on. Each batch is made to produce the most flavour and the best ingredients, with no shortcuts to make the process as cheap as possible. My mates bang on about hops all the time. What do they do? Hops do quite a lot for beer. As well as providing us with
the bitterness, some of the flavour, and the big aroma, they also stabilise the beer and prevent spoilage, keeping the beer nice and fresh. 5.6% ABV doesn’t sound all that strong. Is it really that different to 4%? ABV is the percentage of pure alcohol as part of the beer, with the rest being made up of mostly water with a small percentage of solids. That difference can be quite large, even so much as having to have a pint or two less. lainebrewing.co.uk
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Sure they look great, but all those tin cans in the corner of the pub are for making beer. It’s a long and complex process, involving lots of looking at dials and cleaning mainly. But we’ll talk you though it month by month.
1. Grist Conveyer 2. Mash Tun 3. Head Exchange 4. Kettle 5. Hot Liquor Tank 6. Cold Liquor Tank 7. Fermentation Vessel
FOUR THIEVES BREWERY 5
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lainebrewing.co.uk
MASH TUN There’s a load of equpment over there and then there’s beer in your glass. Somewhere between the two voodoo happens. We thought we ought to describe it bit by bit. So this month let’s start at the begining. The mash tun is where all of the malt enters as a dry ingredient. It’s hydrated on the way in, to make our delicious porridge-like mixture that we call the mash. We let these grains steep at around 60-70c,
depending on the brew, for an hour. This allows all those tasty sugars and starches (lots of enzyme activity, giving us both long-chain and short-chain sugars) to become a liquid, which is called WORT (pronounced wert/wurt). It is also known by some as ‘Brewers Breakfast’, as half a pint of that gives you more energy than a can of Red Bull. Once this is done, we slowly drain off this liquid of the gods into the underback, which we’ll tell you about next time. lainebrewing.co.uk
THIS MONTH’S BEERS What we’ve been making in those massive silver tanks over there
Session IPA 4.3% Light Ale 3.5% We all love those big hop flavours, but some great craft beers can knock you sideways after a few. Our session IPA is brewed so you can enjoy that American IPA taste and still be together enough to order another. Slightly sweet, thin bodied, a little bitter and with a floral, fruity hop finish. Yep, all of that in just 4.3%. Same again please barkeep. In A Nutshell: All the flavours of an American IPA at a session strength. Hops: Galina, Amarillo, Chinook Great for: A sunny day in our Gin Yard
All hail the first beer ever brewed at the Four Thieves, which Dan, the head Thief, rates as the best light ale brewed in London in recent years. There’s a genius balance of hop and mouth feel so you don’t miss the alcohol, rather than spiking it in bitterness. Instead enjoy the grass, pine and hint of citrus. In A Nutshell: Low ABV thirst quencher for when you have to operate heavy machinery* Hops: Admiral, Cascade Great for: That cheeky lunchtime pint * Don’t really
Porter 5% London’s street and river porters have been drinking their namesake ale for 200 years, so we made sure we paid homage to all the history of this classic ale. Traditionally drunk at 4am at the end of a shift, the darker style Porter has enough strength to keep you going, but not to send you back to sleep. Our take is brewed with roasted and chocolate malts, all English hops and yeast, producing a variety of flavours. Depending on your palate you may taste anything from chocolate to coffee, dark berries to plum. In A Nutshell: When it’s dark and wintery – chase those cold feelings away Hops: East Kent Goldings, Admiral, Target Great For: Pairing with steak, soft cheese or sweeter desserts
Cuddle-MeBuff 4.1% Our head brewer is a real beer historian (there ain’t much this Aussie doesn’t know about British ale) and he fell in love with this old Yorkshire slang for a drink right away. So here’s his tribute: an English Pale Ale, dryhopped with the fantastic US hop Chinook. It’s got low bitterness, medium body, and a ton of aroma. So channel your inner-Yorkshireman and ask a mate if they “fancy a couple of Cuddle-Me-Buffs tonight?”. Coming ‘baht ‘at’ is entirely optional. In A Nutshell: A traditional bitter with a modern twist Hops: Admiral, East Kent Goldings, Chinook, Target Great for: When the weather gets a little bit colder – everyone loves a nice warming Cuddle lainebrewing.co.uk
Lime & Lavender 5.5%
Fruit Bat 4%
A regular greengrocer’s stall of fruit goes into our range We absolutely love of infused pale ales at some collaborating with other point or other, from passion breweries, and this is one of fruit to cherry, and even the most interesting pairings pineapple. If you’re not sure we’ve done so far. Joining us that you even like beer, this at the Thieves tanks were is a great fun start to test Celt Experience, amazing the water as they’re lightly brewers from Caerphilly in hopped and all the fruit Wales. The resulting saison, flavours make it into your under the Cell Rebirth brand glass. The fruit used reflects for Celt’s more experimental the season and the brewing beers was brewed with process changes to match it. lavender, in recognition of They sell quickly, so get them our heritage. We decided while you can. Check the that the lime would work pump clip for the fruit that’s perfectly with the lavender in the current batch, or have and from there very few a chat with the bartender. hops were needed, taking a As for whether this counts back seat for just a hint of as one of your five a day, bittering. you might have to consult a medical professional on that In A Nutshell: A fun one. experiment with our Celt Experience’s Cell Rebirth In A Nutshell: Fruit in beer Hops: Just a hint of – what’s not to like? southern cross Hops: Amarillo Great For: A day in the Great For: When you want a garden refreshing change
School Of American Hops: Chinook Bitter 4% & Mosiac 4.2% Yep, that’s right, American This is great for ale geeks and for those just starting to explore proper beer. Our very own single hop showcase does exactly what you’d think – it puts just one type of hop in the brew and lets its flavour do the talking. We use a simple malt base to show off the qualities of each individual hop that we use, which month sees the both Chinook and Mosaic, depending on when you manage to get to try them. Chinook is first, so if you see that on, grab one. Get in quick as these fly out. In A Nutshell: One beer, one hop, one lesson in the elements of ale Hops: Chinook, with mosaic coming soon Great For: Discovering the characteristics of each hop
Bitter. This one is a real case of old world meets new world – US hops and yeast on an English malt base. If you’re into your English beers then it’s a perfect way to ease into those hoppy US beers you keep reading about. Or conversely, if you’re part of the new school, try out a little bit of Brit history. It’s an experiment to please all parties. We’re bring people together like the Rodney King riots brought the Bloods and Crips together. Truely a pint you can enjoy with your dad. In A Nutshell: A true cross between British and American styles Hops: Amarillo, Mosaic, Cascade, Citra Great For: When you want a warming pint that doesn’t skimp on the hops lainebrewing.co.uk
A SOUR IS BORN There was a time when getting a pint of beer that turned out to be sour meant that the beer was off, or not well looked after by the publican. While you can still find the odd pub that hasn’t looked after a beer, the sour beer craze has taken over. Earlier this week, I brewed up a batch of a sour beer, a bastardised version of a Berliner Weisse which is one of my very favourite styles. To do this, I used a process
called ‘Kettle Souring’. Berliner Weisse are traditionally quite low ABV and have very little hop characteristic, and as the name suggests, contain wheat. Now, I’ve brewed a few different styles of sour beer before, using the Sour Mash method, with a cultured wild yeast strain, and also by inoculating an oak barrel with wild yeasts, but never before have I done the Kettle Souring method.
To Kettle Sour a beer, the initial part of the brewday is the same as a regular brew. Mash-in, sparge, lauter as normal into the kettle. From there though, it becomes a completely different animal. You get the wort to a boil for 10-15 minutes to sterilise and de-oxygenate the wort, before recirculating it through the heat exchange to hit ~45c and holding the temperature steady there. You then bubble through some Co2 to make the wort as anaerobic an environment as possible, to prevent the growth of certain nasties that we do not want inside. Then comes the weird part. We take some Fat Free Natural Greek Yogurt and mix it with some 45c wort before pitching back into the kettle, along with suspending some muslin bags full of fresh grain inside, putting a layer of Co2 on top (again to make it as much of an anaerobic environment as possible) and sealing the kettle up. At the start of this process, just like any other brew, we monitor the pH level. The starting pH inside the kettle should be between 4.5 and 4.8. From there, it is a long and drawn
out process of topping up the blanket of Co2 sitting on top, and checking the progress of the pH dropping. To finish off the ‘brewday’ (which can be a couple of days), once the desired pH has been achieved (3.2pH for this one), the grain bags are removed and the wort is boiled again for a full 60 minutes, a very minute amount of hops are added (seriously, it felt like I was homebrewing again), and then cooled and transferred into the Fermenter with regular yeast pitched. What sours this beer, is the introduction of Lactobacillus through the yogurt and grain. The reason that I used both was because the yogurt will give you one strain of lacto, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, and the grain will give us 2-3 more strains, making it very much more than a onedimensional experience when drinking it. This brewday had me as nervous, anxious, scared and excited as I remember my first ever brewday being, and for those reasons, it has been one of the most enjoyable in recent memory. By Nic. More on the blog lainebrewing.co.uk
Beers You Missed
Gone for now, but some may return
Random Pale Ale Ever changing hop combinations in a 4.5% Pale Ale. ESB Our take on this classic English style. Malty, copper coloured and all English ingredients. Black IPA The ultimate brewing oxymoron. An India Pale Ale that uses darker malts to, you guessed it, colour it black. Coffee Porter A coffee milk stout brewed in collaboration with Sambrooks Brewery and Climpson & Sons coffee roasters.
Thieving Monk A Pilsner style beer hooped up with a healthy dose of Citra hops. Brewed in collaboration with Northern Monk Brew Co from Leeds. IPA 5.6% of hop bursting joy. SaisOn Point Range of Saisons brewed with or without seasonal fruits, depending on the season. Saison does mean ‘season’, and like the name suggests, this one is ‘On Point’. Redrum Red Ale conditioned on Plantation Rum soaked American Oak.
... and says, ‘Is the bar tender here?