Compliments....

Compliments of the season to everyone out there that's been keeping an eye on us through this blog and to all of the people who have helped us in one way or the other through the past few months. Without your efforts we would be weeks behind. As it is the first brew (which for some strange reason I want to temporarily name 'Nigel') is fermenting well and we will crop some of the yeast for the next brew tomorrow.

To go back a couple of days, the day of the trial brew was long, exciting, educational, cerebral, physical but above all else, pervaded with a massive feeling of relief that we're brewing again. It felt bloody good even doing the simple things like loading up the grist case and weighing out the hops. It was bliss to climb into the mash tun and empty it out, though I expect this particular 'pleasure' will soon wane. All in all it was a fantastic day with little in the way of a catastrophe though at times the learning curve was a little steep. We won't know if this brew is good enough to keep for at least a couple more days and the chances are that it won't be. That means of course that there is a small possibility that it will be!

To go back a couple more days there was a job that Ray and I had been putting off and that was the placing of the flue from the copper. This had to rise through two levels of the building and then through the roof where it had to be flashed onto the roofing sheets. Now neither of us are that great at heights in fact to be brutally honest we are crap. We asked around Wallops Wood and somebody let slip that the foreman and one of the builders had been born with wings. Enter Ross and Phil! Thanks gentleman for putting one of the final parts of the jigsaw in place. A scant twelve hours after your efforts there was steam gushing from the flue and the scent of fragrant hops drifting down the valley. And now.... Wallops Wood Nature Watch.

The buzzards are back and yesterday their mewling filled the air. It's just the pair now, so it looks as if they have managed to get rid of their clinging offspring. Only another two or three months and they will be nesting again. Having said that, the small flock of feral pigeons that live around the farm have not stopped nesting all year. You don't have to listen very hard to hear the 'peep-peep' of the squabs and the egg shells are dropped all over the site. We haven't been buzzed by the Sparrowhawks for a while but there is a rather splendid Kestrel that hunts down by the Hambledon road. In the early morning I often see him perched on a fence post right by the lane so I can get a really close look at him as I drive past. Very dapper.

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE (OR WHAT OTHER FESTIVAL YOU CELEBRATE AT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR) AND HERE'S TO 2007. CHEERS!

First Brew

Click for larger image

Well they're off! After a couple of months of incredible effort Martin and Ray set their first brew off yesterday. It was an auspicious day, Martin's birthday. Steam visible from the chimney. No it wasn't the announcement of a new Pope, just that Hampshire has a new brewery. Welcome back boys, we missed you.

And........

We're off!

Today is our trial brew

Ask for cask

Yes, we are now in possession of 400 of the most splendid casks, coloured in our own special banding (or cresting as an archery chum tells us) and with our name embossed into the chime (another new word for you). The poor driver who brought them down from Burton had to brave some terrible weather which culminated in a large tree branch smashing into his cab. He was very philosophical about it though.

Our splendid chiller (thank you Paul) should be up and running tomorrow, Phil has very nearly completed the process pipework and and in the process (get it?) managed to burn his hand rather badly. The laggers have left and it's all shiny shine! The carpenter has fitted all the doors and there's just bits and bobs left to do.

We have an office and a palatial toilet with hot and cold running water. (That's in the basin, not in the toilet) We've picked up our spanking new van (thank you Julian) and that will be branded (or is that crested) soon (thank you Steve). Robin the boiler man commissioned the boiler yesterday and that all went without a hitch. There were one or two tiny leaks but a tweak with the Harold Wilsons soon sorted them out. We had Sooty down from Farrams the hop merchants last week and had a great evening with him. He really is a fount of knowledge when it comes to hops and we've decided what hops will go into our first beer. And more of that later!

There are still buckets of Pied Wagtails around and they seem to spend all their time feeding on the corrugated roofs. They must be searching for insects etc under the little bits of moss. There's been no sign of the buzzards at all over the last week but there has been quite a bit of shooting up in the woods so that may have scared them off. As they are very territorial creatures I have no doubt they will be back soon. The storms of the past few days have brought rafts of sea gulls up from the Solent to shelter on the barley fields and from a distance it looks as if we've had a snow fall. It really has been stupidly mild and there are masses of White Dead Nettle in full bloom in the hedgerows.

Coming soon....... A Trial Brew!

P.S. If you want to know what Harold Wilsons are then why not drop me a line.

Shiny shine!

The laggers (one word the spell check doesn't like) have been in and even though they are no where near complete some very shiny surfaces have appeared. I didn't actually know that the cladding on the vessels would be of the very shiny variety. I had kinda assumed that it would be a satin sort of thing. Reflective surfaces can be a God send or they can be a trial. As, in this case, they reflect my image as a much much slimmer person then I think we must say "All hail the Laggers" and all power to their elbows and tin snips.

Ray has been hard at it with the plumbing and this afternoon we turned on the mains water to all parts of the building. This means (oh happy day) that we now have our own facilities so we don't have to traipse all the way over to the offices every time you want to wash the tea cups or attend to a call of nature. Luxury!

Phil and his mate have been attending to the process pipework and there's a lot of dead straight lines and perfectionist welding going on. Neil has been much in evidence and, as another total perfectionist, has been applying his efforts to the steam and the cooling system. Rob is here to generally assist and spread bon homie, Paul popped in for a few hours and many, many people just pop in to see how we progress. And boy! Do we progress......

If anyone thinks I'm using too many exclamation marks then please let me know!

As we are surrounded by wonderful open country I thought that a low key and occasional natural history observation thingy might be in order and this will be in green. I hope that it's going to be a bit like Big Cat Diary but without the big cats and it won't be much of a diary because it won't be every day. In addition (or subtraction) we are not in the middle of the Masai Mara, it's not that sunny and warm and a herd of Wildebeest doesn't appear over the hill every five minutes, just every month or so.

The buzzards were back again today, For the last month or so the parents have been trying to lose their single offspring. He or she has been continually mobbed, not just by the parents but by just about every other thing that can fly. It just isn't taking no for an answer and always returns to the parents even though they obviously can't stand the sight of it anymore.

There is probably some stormy weather on the way as the adjoining field was white with gulls. They are a lot more accurate in predicting a good blow than the weather service. Let's see what happens.

Coming soon:

CASKS!