Apologies if I stuff this up. This is my first attempt at a Poll.
I recently returned from my honeymoon in England. The wife is originally from there (migrated when she was six) so we got to see all her relatives and I got to try heaps of beers that you don't really find in Oz.
While we were there I was introduced to the beers of the Ludlow Brewery (they only have two, but they were both awesome.) I rang the bloke and he was more than happy to show me around the place the next morning.
Just so you guys can get a bit of an idea where I am coming from, here is their webpage.
Ludlow Brewery
and here is the webpage to the place where they got their system from. He had the six barrel system.
PBC Brewery Installations
He showed me the batch he was brewing at the time and I was surprised to see that he open ferments. I guess it makes sense, as that's the way they have traditionally done it over there, and all he was brewing was Ales, but when I have visited small breweries over here they are all close fermented. I guess I just assumed that it would be the same over there...even though they only really brew ales. It took me by surprise.
Plus, when we all start out with our first coopers kit we pump the temp up to 27 degrees and make sure the fermenter is airtight so that the airlock bubbles away for four days.
So I thought I'd ask my brewing bretheren how meticulous you all are about your own fermenting techniques. I vaguely recall various people posting that they don't even use airlocks any more (was it Ross that just uses a bottle cap??) and I have done this myself in a pinch, but I am yet to try an open ferment, and have decided that this is something I will attempt this year.
Interested to hear all your thoughts.
One last point of interest...there were a few small fruit fly like insects hovering around his fermenter. Beer was still bloody beautiful so I didn't mind.
Cheers,
Thommo.
I recently returned from my honeymoon in England. The wife is originally from there (migrated when she was six) so we got to see all her relatives and I got to try heaps of beers that you don't really find in Oz.
While we were there I was introduced to the beers of the Ludlow Brewery (they only have two, but they were both awesome.) I rang the bloke and he was more than happy to show me around the place the next morning.
Just so you guys can get a bit of an idea where I am coming from, here is their webpage.
Ludlow Brewery
and here is the webpage to the place where they got their system from. He had the six barrel system.
PBC Brewery Installations
He showed me the batch he was brewing at the time and I was surprised to see that he open ferments. I guess it makes sense, as that's the way they have traditionally done it over there, and all he was brewing was Ales, but when I have visited small breweries over here they are all close fermented. I guess I just assumed that it would be the same over there...even though they only really brew ales. It took me by surprise.
Plus, when we all start out with our first coopers kit we pump the temp up to 27 degrees and make sure the fermenter is airtight so that the airlock bubbles away for four days.
So I thought I'd ask my brewing bretheren how meticulous you all are about your own fermenting techniques. I vaguely recall various people posting that they don't even use airlocks any more (was it Ross that just uses a bottle cap??) and I have done this myself in a pinch, but I am yet to try an open ferment, and have decided that this is something I will attempt this year.
Interested to hear all your thoughts.
One last point of interest...there were a few small fruit fly like insects hovering around his fermenter. Beer was still bloody beautiful so I didn't mind.
Cheers,
Thommo.