Matthew's Journal

My good friend and hard-core drinking buddy K runs a blog on "country skills", and also produces some very fine home-brew. For Christmas, they gave me some brewing kit, with the promise of instructions to follow. Said instructions are online, so I thought I'd have a go.

A while ago, I took part in their bacon challenge, which resulted in a lot of pictures and some tasty bacon. I planned one big blog post at the end of that, and never quite got round to it (I still have the notes and the pictures, so may yet!), so I thought I'd write about this as I went along. Which may mean a post-of-fail in due course...

The first stage of any brewing operation is, sadly, a lot of washing up! I assembled the necessary bits, along with a bucket to sterilize the smaller pieces in:



I soaked everything in sterilising solution (mmm...chlorine!) for 15 minutes or so, then rinsed vigorously while trying not to get too much on my hands! Then the apple juice, tea, and yeasty stuff went into the demijohn, and the airlock put in the top. I have some more apple juice, which will need adding later in the process, and will (if I get a hydrometer later) enable me to estimate the starting gravity (and hence the final abv). Now the waiting begins...