The way we discovered the rat invasion I wrote about earlier this month was when Jane opened the draw where I kept my brewing malt. It was a big pack, only partially broken into at one end, and, now that problem seems past, I decided it was time to brew again. This time I returned to a recipe based on Exe Valley Spring Beer, which I cooked up a couple of times in 2015.

Cooked up (and christened Spring Trap), I’ve started with an original gravity of 1.043. What I’m doing differently this time is how I’m fermenting it. Normally I put the hot wort back into the plastic jerry can I use for measuring out the water at the start of the process to cool and then back in the stock pot I use for the mash to ferment. This time, I left it in the jerry can but put the jerry can in the stock pot surrounded by water so that the brew belt can do some good if required.

If it works out okay, it will be another change that can simplify the brewing process. Hopefully the result will be another decent beer although it’s going to be the middle of next week now before I can start to think about bottling.