Harvest ale hits the bottle!

Every year the VF Brewers make a Harvest Ale with the hop harvest from their hop garden at Bordertown in the SouthEast of SouthAustralia. This year the harvest was effected by severe hot weather and not as potent as we wished. Nevertheless we brewed and finally it is in the bottle. A single malt recipe with the selection of Cluster, Chinook & Columbus flowers across the boil. The resulting flavour when fermented with a British Ale yeast is a clean, slightly grassy and fruity ale that will be perfect for the pending summer. It stared at 1.054 and finished after a week of cold maturation at 1.012. So hopefully we have an easy going harvest ale to suit the hops and their effected character.



Giles

New Season's growth - Hop Garden.

Columbus Hop Plants bursting out of the ground!

Cascade on the way!!

Giles

Harvest Ale - A test of Freshness vs. Flavour.

There have been a few lessons learnt in past harvest brews. Filter the hops out of the kettle so they do not enter the pipes or pump, nightmare!! Freshness is key, and I think as happy as we look I am certain that a vacuum sealed poly bag would be a good idea... These hops looked a bit sad. Any way the malt was Simpsons - Golden Promise and healthy English ale yeast. Will post the method soon, maybe the "goblin" could do it for us?
Giles

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