Westgota Nidbryggeri – Dynamitardens Kardemummaporter

Our own brewery’s second beer was a little of an experiment and although it didn’t turn out as good as Bonnatwist Bitter it is still an interesting brew.

Westgota Nidbryggeri Dynamitardens Kardemummaporter
Sweden
ABV: 9.7%
Rating: 3
Scents like vanilla bread with cardamom. The cardamom is even strong in taste but is accompanied by liquorice and some sweetness. Oily, almost fat towards the end but the cardamom taste gets milder and more pleasant. Too few nuances to be a great imperial porter but a very drinkable attempt.

Aleganten från Vidderna - Brewing

I promised a little more detailed report on this brew and hopefully you will understand what we are doing in the different steps of the process. This time we brewed some sort of IPA, a hop heavy ale, using two different hops from New Zeeland and genuine Westgotisk Nidhumle donated by my father from my parent’s garden.

1. Steeping Malt
 The first step is steeping some caramel malt. This is done by gently crushing the grains and making something similar to tea from it. The process goes on with 16l of water for about half an hour at 65-75°C. This gives our ale a darker colour and a base taste and sugar for the yeast to feed from.

2. Boiling
The mash is removed from the brew and heat is increased to reach a boil. When boiling starts it will go on for one hour. At the start of the boil we added some kilograms of Extra Light Malt Extract (dried processed grains) as the main sugar source and main malt characteriser. We also add the first batch of hops, called bittering hops – in this case Pacific Gem from New Zeeland. Bittering hops boils with the brew all the way to give the brew its main bitterness and the after-taste will be very dependent on these hops. Pacific Gem has a heavy bitterness and should do the job well.

 
After 30 minutes of boiling its time to add the second batch of hops. Extra exciting since we used our own brand Westgotisk Nidhumle for the very first time. The second batch is the taste-hops that will mostly effect the mouth feel of the brew.

After 45 minutes we added our cooling device to the brew to sterilize it. After 50 minutes we added Granulate, a decoct with the same active ingredient as Irish Moss that will eat protein making the brew clearer. We also added Muscavado sugar to hopefully give the brew some nice anise notes. After 55 minutes we added the last batch of hops, called aroma hops. We choose Riwaka from New Zeeland for this and I’m very curious about the result since it promises interesting notes of citrus and passion fruit. Aroma hops are mostly for scent and first impression but I feel it is important for the beer’s overall impression, especially for hop heavy beers like IPAs.

3. Cooling
The cooling device we use is a home bent spiral formed copper pipe that with a constant flow of cold water does the work really fast. Beer takes bad taste when being below 100° and above room temperature so it is important to get it down as quick as possible. As you can see we had to manually attach the tube to the water supply this time but we will work it out till the next brew.

4. Fermenting
Time to filter the brew into a fermentation bucket and add the yeast. We used liquid ale yeast this time. First we filtered the brew over to the bucket and then added fresh water to a total amount of 25l. Then we measured the gravity of the brew to be able to calculate its ABV when it is done fermenting. The difference in gravity shows how much of the sugar in the brew that has been transformed into alcohol by the yeast. Lastly we added yeast and shook the bucket around some to mix it out evenly. In about a week from now it is time to pour the brew over to a second bucket for secondary fermentation and maybe then we add some seasoning but we haven't quite decided yet.

Dynamitardens Kardemummaporter - Bottling

Three weeks ago we added cardamom and vanilla in the secondary fermentation of our porter. One week ago we also added coffee. Today it was time for bottling and we now only have to wait for about a month until it should be ready.

Gravity is measured and we seem to reach a pretty strong 9.7% ABV.

Some yeast is mixed with sugar for carbonation. The reason for using yeast is that with such a strong brew it can be hard to make sugar alone manage the carbonation process.

Jonas and Erik mixing the porter with sugar and yeast.

If nothing else, we are getting a great colour.

So many bottles, still so few.. We managed to fill 60 33cl bottles this time for a total of 20l.

Westgota Nidbryggeri - Finalising Bonnatwist Bitter and brewing porter

Finally it was time for Westgota Nidbryggeri to brew again. And on top of that, Bonnatwist Bitter is finally ready and fully drinkable. Let’s start with my (fully objective) review of that one:

Westgota Nidbryggeri Bonnatwist Bitter
Sweden
ABV: 4.5%
Rating: 4
Strong Amarillo-taste that mixes nice with the bitter style. Notes of sweet liquorice adds to the experience and it is very well-rounded and mature. A very good first brew.

 

 

 

 

As mentioned we decided to brew a porter this time. We are going to spice it up a little in secondary fermentation but lets keep those ingredients a secret until time is up for that. As you can see a lot of malt extract and later even 500 grams of sugar is needed to give the porter its character and strength:

We used Pearl as bitterness-hop and here is what the starting stages of the cooking looked like, after steeping some chocolate malt, adding the hops and malt extract:
After 30 minutes we added Northen Brewer hops for taste and some Irish Moss for clarity:
This time we didn’t make as many mistakes cooling the wort and with the help of some ice we managed to stay on the critical temperatures for a very short time:
As you can see the brewery is now sponsored by Luana AB and here is a group photo taken during the successful brewing session:

Bonnatwist Bitter – Beta-taste

Yesterday it was time to open up the first bottles of Bonnatwist Bitter for an exciting tasting. All five of us, including our new member Jesper, gathered at Erik’s place to finally get a first sip of what hopefully is the beginning of a great era.

To our amusement it tasted quite good already. We knew we had added too much brewing sugar for a bitter but the carbonation wasn’t disturbing. It tasted little like a bitter with a (bonna)twist of strong Amarillo taste. When this have been on bottles for a month or two more hopefully it will be a really good brew. I’ll keep you updated.

Contrary to the doubt my face is expressing, I’m actually enjoying it.

Westgota Nidbryggeri has a logo

Our new member Jesper designed this logotype that is a modern version of our region’s heraldic symbol. You can see the original below:

Westgota Nidbryggeri - Bonnatwist Bitter, Part 2 - Bottling

Yesterday the yeast had done its work and it was time to start bottling. The brew smelled nice of Amarillo hops when we opened the bucket. First we used a hydrometer to see how much sugar that had turned into alcohol and if our calculations are right Bonnatwist Bitter will have an ABV of 4.1%. We mixed a small amount of the brew with brewing sugar for it to carbonate while on bottle. We then pumped the rest of the brew into the mix in a second bucket. Then we started pumping the brew on bottles sterilised primary in an ordinary oven. We filled 54½ bottle, most of them being 33cl and some 50cl. The bottle cap-tool worked out fine and everything is now stored and should be perfectly enjoyable in about two months. We will gather and open a bottle or two already in about ten days to see what it tastes like. In that amount of time it should be fully carbonated and drinkable. These are exciting beer times!

Westgota Nidbryggeri - Bonnatwist Bitter, Part 1 - Brewing

So after only drinking for a while its time to enter the world of beermaking. The idea started on our Belgian beer trip and the same bunch who travelled then today gathered for our first experiment.

Left: Lars, pot stirrer.

Right: Me, document-ation.

Left: Erik, brewing host

Right: Jonas, brain

First time we decided to make it simple. We use a Black Rock Bitter homebrew kit, exchanging the yeast, adding spray malt instead of sugar and hopping it up for taste and aroma.

Left: Beer Kit
Right: Spray malt

Right: Granulate and Amarillo hops
Below: Yeast

We cooked about 10 litres of water together with 30g of Amarillo hops and 2x500g spray malt for 15 minutes. We then added the beer kit and 30g more hops for another 5 minutes of cooking.
The time-consuming part was to cool the brew down. We quickly added more than 10 litres of cold water to reach a total of 23 litres. That way we avoided the critical temperatures but the cooling from 38 degrees to room temperature took a long time even though the barrel was surrounded with cool water.
Now it is time to let it ferment for two weeks before bottling and then another two months before it is ready to be consumed. I have a feeling Bonnatwist Bitter will be interesting but probably a little too bitter and we have to keep in mind that this is our first attemt.