Update #2: Boxshed Snow Drop

Time to wrap up the updates for Snow Drop ahead of a couple of looming brews (more about those very soon). This one has actually been conditioning for some while. I’ve even had a couple of sneaky bottles. Just to check it’s okay, you understand…

The Snow Drop fermented out as expected and was moved into secondary for a further five days. We added a good chunk of Goldings dry hops in both fermenters at a rate of 100g to 50 litres. After hoiking these at the end of secondary, we racked 20 litres into a Cornie, filled 24 glass beer bottles and put the rest into clear bottles for ‘test drinking’ over the next few weeks!

One week priming with light Spraymalt in the warm then four weeks cool conditioning.

Anyway, here are the last few photos for this brewday before the next one, which will get its own overdue post in a few days…

After primary fermentation it’s a good idea to get the beer off the old yeast cake…

…and into a nice clean secondary

Nine gallons or so transferring from primary to secondary

In it goes…

…leaving behind the dry yeast slurry

We use weighted muslin bags to dry hop. First boil and sanitise some hefty marbles, some thread and the muslin

A ten minute rolling boil in a saucepan should do it

Here are the Goldings, weighed to provide 100g per 50L of fermenting beer

Bag ’em up with nice clean hands

Tie ’em up with sanitised thread

Dunk the bags in gently

They’ll sink if weighted, but rise again with expansion over next few days

Hoik ’em out after five days or so and you should smell the difference immediately

These hops aren’t completely spent but have done their job. Have a taste so you can judge the effect

As you can see, a week in secondary also allows the beer to drop clearer still

We racked 20L to a Cornie, filled a couple of crates of glass bottles, and several plastic cider ‘test’ bottles for monitoring haze etc…

These will be drunk at a friends 40th in late March