, CaliThe reason for that activity is simple: Box Social make a boat-load of really excellent beers. We tried pretty much everything they had, in all honesty (pun intended): Try Honesty a West Coast pale was first, Cry Agony – a smooth peanut bourbon milkshake pale, and Die Tragedy – a berry and marshmallow sour (tip of the cap to Lally @ Mad Hatter on that one) swiftly followed. Incredibly generously, they have donated a range of four-packs for inclusion in our charity raffle – be sure to pick up tickets before the draw at the end of Beer Week.
 
There wasn’t a great deal of time for standing around and drinking, however. All hands to the pump as the pressures of transferring beer, weighing cans, and monitoring the underback: We did our best to muck in where we could to help out with the regular brewery business. It was a real eye-opener for the pressures that microbrewers are under to produce and package beer consistently: Ross, Steve, Calum and co were incredibly calm under what was a highly pressured day. Definitely earned a beer themselves at the end of it – as did we, and we partook back at their City Centre tap, alongside some of the other crafty sights Newcastle had to offer.

The split grain bill (Pale Ale, Carapils and Mild malts - plus Oats) was loaded into Blackjack’s remarkable and oddly shaped square mash tun (the Blackjack brewers love the efficiency that they achieve using this bit of kit and proceeded to give us a lowdown on what that meant – it’s a technical business this brewing lark!).

After the grain had steeped for an hour or so, the wort was then recirculated through the mash tun, whilst an additional 15kg of lactose sugar was gradually poured in to bolster the liquor for transfer to the kettle.  After further circulation - to ensure even distribution of the lactose throughout the wort – the grain was sparged to release any last sugars before being transferred to the kettle for bittering hop additions (Saaz and Marynka) and boiling/sterilising.

Once the boil had started to roll, it was time to dig out the spent grain from the mash tun; This technical task was carried out expertly by our very own Angela and Sam (with the help of Dave and Pedro).  Nailed it.

It was safety first, with dust masks handed out whilst mashing in (we were smiling behind these for the pictures) and while we worked on the mash tun.  Pedro hefted the sacks of malt and grain into the new, larger mash tun which Neptune have recently acquired whilst Angela stirred to ensure no claggy lumps of grain; neither an easy task and a good workout! All lumps and clumps successfully eradicated, it was left to allow all the sugars to release and the enzymes to do their job, creating the wort ready for transfer to the kettle.

The fun part, or so Angela said, was digging out the mash tun with the help of the manway, which is particularly helpful for us shorter folk.  After digging out the spent grain from the tun, we weighed out the hops ready to introduce some heady aromas and big flavour to our beer; an extravagant amount of Citra hops was used in this beer and the single hop. Added to the boil before adding some additional sugar (dextrin), we then waited for the hot liquor to cool down before transferring across to the fermentation vessel.  Our day way done upon pitching of the yeast, but there was some additional dry hopping of the beer by Les, with more of the big, oily Citra hops to introduce yet more flavour and aroma.

A mid-April Monday morning in Birkenhead was bright and breezy as Collective members Neil and David arrived at the brewery before 9am.  The canning operations were already in full swing in the brewery, with the team putting even more delicious sodas into small packages.

Onto the brewing business at hand, the grain bill for the brew was a straight 50/50 split between pale malt and wheat, as you would generally expect in a traditional wheat beer style brew. You’ve also got to love Crisp’s allergy warning on their wheat sacks!  The pale malt was added into the mash tun first, to prevent obstructive clumps of wheat forming (resulting in what’s known as ‘stuck mash’) and complicating the process further down the line.
The well-behaved wort was then transferred to the kettle to boil.
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 Approximately 60 minutes into the boil, a 400g addition of Dana hops were introduced, it wasn’t intended for this beer to be a ‘hop-forward’ ale, so 400g was plenty!

Over the coming weeks, we will be working with (primarily) our sponsors and official partners as well as loads of other venues, breweries and collaborators not just on Merseyside, but some other friends from around the UK!

Get ready for Beer Dinners, Tap Takeovers and Meet the Brewer events, along with some exciting offers to win beery goodies, merchandise and other great prizes.  The Liverpool Beer Collective has also been really busy behind the scenes discussing making some excellent one off beers ready in time for the Beer Week, ready for pouring at select bars across the city.  We'll keep you up to date with blogs in the run up to the Launch Party about these beers, who we are brewing with and what the beers will be!  We can't wait... we might burst!

Stay tuned to our Twitter thread and that of the Liverpool Beer Week official account too (twitter.com/LivBeerWeek) for new updates, offers and other stuff in the run up and during #LBW19.

One of the first offers we have for you is a tidy 20% discount on ticket prices for this year's Liverpool Craft Beer Expo at the end of LBW19. 
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Use the code AMBBEERCOLLECT20 over on this site: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/liverpool-craft-beer-expo-2019-tickets-48696822507 and claim your tickets! 

Some amazing breweries have already confirmed, with more being announced over the next few weeks.

The likes of Verdant, Northern Monk, North Brewing, Left Handed Giant, Black Lodge, Dry and Bitter, Two Tribes, Whiplash, Wylam and many more will be present and pouring some great beers for the Expo party.

This year's Liverpool Beer Week is set to be bigger, better and more colourful than last year's event.

You might just have to book a week off work....