Brewed Something New

My first attempt at a Belgian-style Blonde Ale here in Bangalore went off without a hitch yesterday. I think we'll call it Summerfest as it should be pretty refreshing and a real drinker in this hot weather. I used Weyermann Pale Ale, CaraBelge and Vienna malts from Germany and some flaked barley from England. Hops were Czech Saaz and American Centennial. But what really gives this beer the Belgian character is the special yeast strain I used (no. 3944). A new one for Craftworks that came courtesy of my friends at Toit brewery. The original gravity was a respectable 13.8° plato and the fermentation is peaking as I write. The quickest way to find out when it goes on-tap at Craftworks is to follow BangaBrew on Twitter. Cheers !

Beery Factoids

• The International Bittering Unit (I.B.U.) is a numeral rating that brewers use to indicate how much bitterness is in our beer. The figure translates to how much alpha acid (the bittering component in hops) is present. One I.B.U. is equal to one mg. of alpha acid in one liter of beer. The higher the I.B.U. number, the more bitter the beer will be. Of course the amount of residual or unfermented sugar in a beer will play a large part in how we perceive that bitterness. Industrial lagers typically have about 10 IBUs, Hefeweizen 15, Pilsners 35 and American-style India Pale Ales over 50.
• In ancient times, before brewers knew what yeast was and what it did we referred to it as “God-is-good” because of the divine things it produced.
• UK breweries still using dray horses for beer deliveries: Hook Norton, Samuel Smith and Wadworth.
• UK breweries still using wooden casks: Samuel Smith, Theakston and Wadworth.