After the success of last year’s Glen Affric and Liverpool Beer Collective collaboration brew (Morning Lemon; a lemon and lactose oatmeal pale ale which has since become part of the brewery’s extended core range and is being sold in cans), we were delighted to brew a beer with them again this year for Liverpool Beer Week 2019. It is a busy time for Glen Affric at the moment, as they fine tune and expand their operations, even though they were busy they were all so welcoming and patient with us all day long! (The Glen Affric in-house sodas were immense!) Keep your eyes on these guys; we expect huge things from them going forward! |
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.
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!
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.
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!
A higher target ABV required a longer-than-usual boil, following the completion of the boil, the spent grains were bagged up and stored all ready to be donated to local farmers for feeding their livestock or use in composting. At the end of the boil, the precious sugary liquor was cooled down to a yeast-friendly temperature and then transferred to a ready-sanitised and prepared fermenting vessel. At this point, WB-06 yeast was pitched and the vessel sealed ready to allow the microbes to do their work!
This marked the end of brew day for Neil and David, but as follow up and to provide the final flourish to the Imperial Wheat ale, Blueberry was to be added close to the end of fermentation to give it a punchy blueberry flavour and aroma augmenting the fruity characteristics provided by the yeast.
Ladies and gentlemen, Glen Affric and Liverpool Beer Collective present to you, Breakfast Pancakes – a 7.2% Imperial Blueberry Wheat Beer.
Neil Ashton and David Stephen Michael.
This marked the end of brew day for Neil and David, but as follow up and to provide the final flourish to the Imperial Wheat ale, Blueberry was to be added close to the end of fermentation to give it a punchy blueberry flavour and aroma augmenting the fruity characteristics provided by the yeast.
Ladies and gentlemen, Glen Affric and Liverpool Beer Collective present to you, Breakfast Pancakes – a 7.2% Imperial Blueberry Wheat Beer.
Neil Ashton and David Stephen Michael.