Brit Living in Boston, MA

[Blokko]

Hi all

I only became aware of this US site after joining the UK version and having one of the mods point me in this direction.

I'm originally from the West Midlands of England and I've been living in Boston, USA for the last 6 years or so.

When I lived in the UK I was partial to Batham's bitter and Otter Bright, though I must admit that other than the occasional trip to local beer festivals, I was a bit of a lager lout. Not a huge fan of Banks's, but when looked after well (and preferably served from a hand pump) I could manage a pint or two....

When I first moved to the US I struggled a bit with what to drink. The lagers were not to my taste and I couldn't take to the many other beers that were on offer. I started off with Sam Adams lager, but over time, and with plenty of practice, I've learnt to embrace IPA's including some of the very hoppy variants. Founders All Day IPA, Harpoon IPA, Goose Island IPA, Lagunitas IPA are all firm favourites now.

Not Christmas just gone, but the one before, my wife got me one of the Brooklyn Brew Shop kits - the Everyday IPA. The kit has sat unused until recently, when I found I had a bit more time on my hands. I was just at the point of getting ready to bottle today, but I've noticed that fermentation is still ongoing so I've found a warmer place to store the kit.

The mash, sparge and boil stages seemed to take forever (due in large part to me not being well organised and having to make do with less than perfect additional kitchen utensils over and above those provided in the kit) and my immediate thought was that it was a lot of work and a lot of expense to make 10 12oz bottles of beer.

It will be interesting to see how things pan out after the fermenting and bottling stages are complete.

Early days yet, but for the future I'm interested in seeing if I can put together some lower strength IPA's and Brit style session bitters and whether I'll be captivated enough with this pastime to move up to larger production batches.

 

[Ollie8000]

I don't have any useful advice---unless you count saying that you should definitely get into homebrewing, which is probably unsurprising from someone on a homebrew site---but am saying hi as someone with a moderately similar background. I grew up in the West Mids too and moved to Vermont 15 or so years ago. Pandemic (and other stuff) permitting, I'll be working in Boston from August.

I've enjoyed being able to brew British-style beers and found them easier, or at least more successful, than very hoppy styles. Go for it!

 

[Blokko]

Hi Ollie.

Let me know if you make it to Boston and fancy catching up for a beer at some point. I'd be interested to hear your recommendations on what Brit-style beers a newbie to this pastime should try first.

 

[Cyclman]

Welcome to the hobby, and the group, from Colorado

do more batches, you will get better each time.

 

[Ollie8000]

I learnt by trying various recipes here, so I'd recommend that as a good way to explore. That said, my most successful ones have been variants of the following base (5 gallon batch):

8-10lb Vienna malt
0.5-0.75lb crystal malt (40L as default)

2.5oz East Kent Golding and/or Fuggle, adding 1oz at 60mins and 0.5oz each at 30, 15 and 5mins.

WY1098 yeast.

My technique is so-so and I ferment at ambient temps (albeit appropriate ones) and use my well-water as-is, so there are enough reasons for variation that you shouldn't take this as anything other than a personal template. I've had less success with Maris Otter or Golden Promise instead of the Vienna. I don't know why, and it's only a small number of batches, but those choices should make sense. There are plenty of other reasonable yeast choices too, but my best batches have used WY1098.

I've also recently started replacing that 1oz of hops at 60mins with 0.25oz of Magnum, but none of those batches are complete yet.

My most recent version used darker crystals and some chocolate malt (and/or midnight wheat? I don't have my notes here) for something more like a brown ale. Without that it comes out something like Timothy Taylor's Landlord, in style and strength at least.

And I'd love to meet for a drink in Boston, if it all comes together at my end.

 

[QTikiBrew]

Hi Ollie.

Let me know if you make it to Boston and fancy catching up for a beer at some point. I'd be interested to hear your recommendations on what Brit-style beers a newbie to this pastime should try first.

Hi Blokko - next spring, if you're still in the greater Boston area, look up the New England Real Ale Exhibition - it's a beer fest for cask ales, and quite a number of them come from across the pond.

 

[Blokko]

HI all

QTikiBrew - I wasn't aware of the New England Real Ale Exhibition. I'll be sure to watch out for it next year (Covid permitting, of course).

Thanks Cyclman - definitely need a lot more practice (more on that in a moment)

Ollie - Thanks for the info. I'm probably going to do another batch or two from Brooklyn before breaking out into more advanced stuff! Keep me posted if you make it to Boston, it would be great to meet up at some point.

So, after what seemed like ages, the fermenting process finally completed. The bottling was a bit of a nightmare - didn't enjoy that one bit. Just ordered an auto siphon to see if that makes the experience less painful next time. When I get a bit of time I'm going to look into some of the other brewing options - not sure if the Brooklyn kit option is going to be the best method for me going forward.

 

[jschein]

Welcome from Delaware! You should checkout the Boston Wort Processors, Boston Wort Processors
That group has been around a long time