New Breweries

[PaulOfHorsham]

I used to love King and Barnes

- well, the beer was ok, I thought. Not terrifically exciting but certainly better than you can get in the town these days.

I do my utmost to avoid having to meet in a H and W pub, as I find the beer depressingly dull.

Me, likewise, although last night's was something of a revelation - Badger beer with a bit of flavour! (Pub review to follow at some point, Conrad).

A great pity, as a lot of the pubs are gems, and I generally like beer from the (smaller) regionals.

Agreed again.

[ROBCamra]

There is a new Brewery in Preston called Arkwrights. Is there something that someone on here isn't telling us about?

There is indeed, I had their Mistletoe Hill at Fleetwood Beer Festival last week. Not bad for a newbie.

[Eddie86]

I can tell you officially now - I own a brewery!

[arwkrite]

Congrats Eddie on a dream fullfilled. Best of Luck for the future.....arwkrite.

[Conrad]

Indeed, congratulations Ed, keep us informed of your progress.

Where is it actually located?

[Eddie86]

At the minute it's situated in what appears to be a Monty Python sketch.

My instructions when I went to have a look were:

Go to Cwmbran
Go to High Cwmbran
Continue to Upper Cwbran
Keep going
(me) In which direction?
Up.
When you stop going up, you'r nearly there....

The brewery has been going, and indeed growing for over 12 years. Whilst nothing easy on the eyes (Pictures when it arrives), the technology involved is very impressive - all custom built.

For example ***WARNING - BREWERY BLAH BLAH COMING UP*** the Copper is designed with a 2" air pocket between the inner skin and the outer. Most coppers have an element and one skin - think of a modern kettle.

This one is flame heated (gas or oil), and the 2" gap means the heated air can surround the copper. Instead of just being heated from the bottom, it's heated from the bottom and sides - roughly half the time I'd planned to get a boil going!

[oldboots]

Good news, so when do you plan your first brew? Have you got a recipe? Do you need any beer tasters quality

control people?

[Conrad]

Excellent news Ed, I look forward to the guided tour with full technical explanation once it is all going.

Are you still in need of planning to house it?

[Eddie86]

The gents at Cwmbran have kindly offered to deliver it - I'll find out when later in the week.

No planning permission needed - they are all happy. The final people to keep happy were the building regs, and they'll get back to me today, although the initial conversation was very positive.

All being well, I'd like to be brewing by the end of April, but that depends on when the brewery gets delivered and if I can get all the fixtures and fittings I need. And the roof, of course. But from what I've gathered that's an easier-than-it-sounds-job.

First recipe is ready - Kilvert's Gold.

2nd recipe I've started on - think along the lines of a rich 4.2%, darker than a ruby. Malty flavour with a delicate hop count just to balance. And you only pay duty on what you sell - I think there may be quite a large 'development period' first, which if all goes to plan I'll let you know about. I'm sure we'll have an official opening etc etc as well, which at the rate we're going in the bar should be in line with the bar being 100% finished! (We got the real bar surface on and secured today instead of the temp one we had!)

As for the technical explanation, imagine soaking a tea bag in warm water for an hour. Then drain off the liquid into your kettle, and add sugar. Boil for 90mins. drain into teapot, add milk, and allow to stew for a couple of days whilst the milk sinks through and mixes thoroughly...

[Conrad]

Blimey, real progress then! Hope it all goes to plan, and I look forward to trying some of the new brews.

Also don't think you are getting off that lightly with the explanation, I want to pretend I can still remember some of my chemistry and apply it to brewing .