SUCBS Brewing Competition

A little update on progress with SUCBS (Stirling University Craft Beer Society).....

Around a month ago we were extremely lucky to have Jon Gamble, the sales director of Spiegelau UK, come to visit us in Stirling. We did a comparative tasting evening which I will be writing about when I have the pictures sent on to me! We had a great evening and I will give you a run down of the beers and the reaction as soon as I get some of those photos.

Another event which we are just getting ready to launch is our 'Brewing Competition'. All members will be invited to submit a recipe idea for a beer to be brewed on the pilot brew plant at AllanWater Brewhouse in Bridge of Allan, Stirling. The actual recipe can be as specific or as vague as members want, depending on their specific knowledge of writing home-brew recipes.

The winning brew will be served at our Xmas party for everyone to taste. We are very grateful to Mr Douglas Ross, the owner, for allowing us to do this and we hope the ideas don't cause him too much of a headache.

So Chai infused milk stout anyone? Dry hopped wheat? Ale with locally foraged Stirling goods? Or just a simple balanced winter porter? The brewer, Douglas and his staff will be the judges and the winner will even get to go along and help brew the beer.

I will make sure I personally take the photos this time! Members will be contacted by email to get the ball rolling

What will I brew in 2012?

I started home brewing in 2011. Whilst I have had experience brewing with an actual working brewery, I had never taken it upon myself to brew any of my own. I only managed two brews in the second half of the year and they were really just my trial run's but I was so pleased with them that I am going to set down a bit of a brewing plan for 2012.

First up will be a Simcoe dry hopped Ruby Red IPA (name suggestions welcome) which I think will probably take my FV  up to early Febuary if I kick off soon. Nothing particularly fancy here, no extra ingredigents and just a regular ale yeast but I think it will be a good spring beer which is hopefully when it will be taking shape in bottle after a few weeks conditioning.

When the FV is ready for action sometime in early-mid Feb I will be going for my first ever beer using a lager yeast. I figure that even although I do live in Scotland I probably shouldn't leave it too much later in the year before attempting a lager yeast without some decent cooling equipment. So a Kolsch it will be. Nothing challenging but a good beer to stick away and forget about about for a bit until our (hopefully) very hot summer comes along.

Next up (probably not till April) an I/APA hopped with something big and tropical (I haven't decided what yet). I brewed an IPA as my last beer of 2011 and it was great but I thought it was a little darker than I wanted it to be. This beast will be golden with a tropical nose and a decent amount of carbonation. If I get bored of my Kolsch on those long hot Scottish summer days (ahem) I can always switch to something more hoppy.

                                                      Something like this would be very nice

Next up I want to do something with a bit of fruit but this will be totally dependent on how hot the summer is. I don't plan on having a FV full of beer and fruit if we do actually get a decent summer. No extracts, no concentrates, REAL fruit. Probably something like pink grapefruit or blood oranges. I will likely have to ferment with an ale yeast unless I invest in some better cooling but I might go for one of the fancier yeasts rather than the usual one I buy. 

I figure that with my own life, university work, my job and other commitments that should take me up till the end of the summer. With the uncertainty of what I will be doing after graduation its probably silly for me to plan any further ahead than that right now but winter will probably see me drinking home brewed Nespresso Stout (probably not the cheapest way to do it I know) and if I get a bit braver maybe an Imperial Stout.


Any suggestions for names or ingredients are more than welcome. Have a great 2012 whether you are a home brewer, a beer drinker or you stumbled upon this site by accident.

It is my beer.....

It has been a long time in coming. But it is here. My very first home brewed beer.

It doesn't have a name and it was made using a kit but I don't care. Its my beer.

It took a few weeks to make and then I had to be patient and watch it condition.

It is in PET bottles just in case it was crap and I was no good at making beer kits.

It has been consumed over the past few weeks by myself and some friends and now there are a sorry 12 bottles left.

It now has a little brother or sister on the way as today I brewed a Nelson Sauvin IPA to join it.

It's sibling will be a bit better looking as it will come in glass swing tops. Just don't tell it

It looks like this until I drink it;

It is my beer


This is not an attempt at poetry. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it is just my beer.......