The beer has been bottled for two weeks now, and last night I popped a few of them in the fridge so they’ll be nice and cold to test today.

So the moment of truth approaches! Firstly the fizz test: is there a fizz when you open a bottle? Yep! Good sign. Then the smell test: does it smell bad? Nope – more good signs! So time to pour it out.

It’s very cloudy – more than the previous batch we made at the workshop. We think that’s because we didn’t cool it down enough before putting the yeast in. We’ll correct that next time by putting it through the cooling plates twice, rather than just once.

Anyway: time to taste it… And it tastes like beer! Woohoo – we made our own beer from scratch!

The final test is how strong it is. The only way to find that out is by drinking a few bottles…

Update: a few bottles in and I can report that it’s not stupidly strong like the first batch, but there’s definitely alcohol in it :D

While I’m blogging about beer, I should mention that four out of the five hop plants we’re growing are going good.

On the left, and doing the best, are the native Styrian Golding (an aroma hop) and Northern Brewer (an all-purpose hop).

In the middle is the plant that didn’t take, the Dwarf Prima Donna that came from the Palace Pint local beer collective. So unfortunately we won’t be able to join in with them this year. We’ll try again next year.

On the right are the American hops, Cascade (all-purpose) and Chinook (a bittering hop, that gives US IPAs their trademark bitterness).