We're back making beer this week as we head up to S43 to create the first of a pair of IPAs we're brewing together, and we want you guys to help. On Wednesday morning we're going to be brewing the beer LIVE on my Twitch channel, and you guys can help us. We've got the base recipe nailed down, but we're going to be tweaking it on the day based on your decisions. You'll be able to vote throughout the brew on what goes in the beer (and who cleans out the mash tun). You can learn all about how the beer came about by watching our latest YouTube video here: In other news, Mike and I are off to the London...
Having known each other for 25 years now, Robbie and I's relationship is filled with idiosyncrasies. One of those random, but much-cherished, peculiarities is a game we lovingly refer to as "How much? $@*£ off!" (Pardon our language.) The premise is simple: one person spots an item that is (seemingly) ludicrously over-priced and contacts the other, who then tries to guess the cost of it. The thing is, there's a twist. Because we know there's going to be a whopping price tag attached, the guessing quickly becomes an effort to rationalise the item as being as cheap as possible (deliberately distorting everything you can as you go on). It all gets very silly. Here's a genuine example of a recent...
Hi, Mike here. A year ago, if you'd approached me asking if I wanted to sparge with you or collect your vorlauf, I'd have politely declined on the basis I'm married. Don't get me wrong, I'd have been flattered. But those wild days were over. Little did I know that, just year on, I'd not only be sparging with anyone who would let me, but I would also be climbing inside another man's tun to give it a good scrub. There's a point to all this (beyond proving you can make anything sound filthy if you try hard enough); that is to illustrate how little I knew about beer before I joined Robbie on this beery adventure. Of course, I...
I brewed my first beer a year ago in my kitchen with a Brewdog Elvis Juice kit I bought online. I made mistakes that would no doubt horrify professional brewers but, with the exception of a bottle that exploded in Blue Van Man's wife's lap on the M1, it went surprisingly well. My memory of home brewed beer comes from the kits your mates' dads bought from Boots in the 80s. I'd go to friends' houses and there would be a bucket in the corner full of fermenting beer. I didn't taste the output (being a child) but reviews were never great. The original beer I made, Bin Day IPA, was good though. It tasted nothing like Elvis Juice, but was...