Last week I was planning to bottle my London Porter (a kit from Brupak), but since we had been away for a bit, the central heating hadn’t been on and the fermentation took a bit longer. I bottled the stuff last Sunday.

Officially I should have been 30 bottles/10 litres, but the thick yeast on the bottom of the bin was quite a lot, I spilled some and I tasted some, so I ended up with 28 bottles. Still a very decent result, right?

The flavour of the Stout is something that I hope improves over the coming couple of weeks in the bottle. Now the flavour itself was rather OK, but it tasted quite thin and didn’t have nearly enough body to be really good.

The new batch in the bin is a Scottish 80/- Ale (80 shilling), which should be a very decent ale, if the body is right. Rather simple in its flavour, but very drinkable and I could keep on brewing stouts and other heavy beers for quite a while, but they’d be ready in summer. I prefer lighter beers then.

I think when this batch is done I might drive up to Brouwmarkt in Almere to get myself informed on taking the next step and make a pale ale from scratch with malted barley and hops. To counter the fact that our central heating is off when we’re away, I also want to pick up a heat belt.

The logo is still under review, it’s probably going to be the one below, and I think I’m sending out a couple of beers to Boyke ten Broeke when the next batch is done. So thanks, Boyke!