Liverpool Beer WEEK - MELWOOD COLLAB BREW

The Collective has been quite excited about this brew day for a while, as the lucky attendees got to spend a day in the old Gun Dog kennels of the Knowsley Hall estate where Melwood Beer Co do their magic.  

​In the soaring temperatures, the work began with hot liquor transferred to the mash tun where the grain bill was added. 

Pale ale malts, wheat and oats; the mash was a thick and gloopy one, meaning plenty of hard work stirring the tun as the fermentable sugars were drawn out of the grains.

​At this point we were briefly joined by Stan Shaw, another of Melwood’s brewing cadre - it was an honour to meet the man who mentored Mark Yates of Connoisseur Ales brewery, who is sadly no longer with us.  Not only does Stan brew, he is an experienced engineer and has an important role producing parts for and physically tweaking the brewery kit.

​The wort was then transferred to the kettle in several small runs and then the wort boiled away in the kettle to sterilise and get ready for the hop addition.  The unenviable task of digging out the mash tun began in the rather hot brewery, with head brewer John ducking out periodically to add bittering hops at varying stages of the boil; a large amount of sweet orange powder was also added in at this stage.  The hop and orange aromas combined into a fug of heady fruit.

New England yeast was finally added to the cooled hoppy malt liquor, finally the fermentation vessel was sealed up for a week or so to do its magic.  The final touches were to  dry-hop and dose the beer with more fruit.

Many thanks to John and Stan for working with us on this brew day and for making the beer a reality. It was a pleasure to visit the kennels and we’d love to do another collaboration brew in future!

Melwood Beer Company and the LBC give to you: Storm Over Seville

​[If you wish to place an order for this collaboration brew, please contact admin@melwoodbeer.co.uk - supplies are very limited].