A rebel without a clue.

So this morning I've checked the liquor I left at 10pm last night to see whether the fermentation had begun. It is nicely producing CO2 and I can clearly smell the pears in the brew. I simply don't want to throw away all of the vacuum packed hops that my Mum inadvertently left out after she chucked the faulty fridge. I've soaked the packet, simmered gently and then syphoned off the liquor to reduce in a pressure cooker. Maybe this is a pointless task, but I'd like to see. I'm easily confused these days - I realise the hops are Northdown with an alpha acid of 8.5% and thet're currently being reduced under pressure. I have tasted the reduction and its so so bitter! But hey that's concentrate! I want to increase the volume to put in to the demijohns so I'm going to get hold of some sweet apples from somewhere or get a nice organic apple juice from  Carey Organic , but this might increase the cost too much. I need to be on the look out for more windfal...

I've had enough malts left over to do a 5 gallon batch of ale since the last brew I made in the Spring and its was probably just at the end of its shelf life so it seemed a perfect day to get it used. Mum had returned from a dog walk with 3 or 4 russet like pears which having tried were very sweet if very small. So small they reminded me of the apple varieties used by the cider makers down at Broome Farm near Ross-on Wye in Herfordshire. I should ask if they're a variety used to make perry? Today we took a couple of carrier bags to collect the pears down on Scorebank. On the way down the Old Railway we came across some small cox like apples and purloined a few kilos of them. We continues on to the pear tree and eventually returned with about 5 kilos of fruit. I washed the fruit very quickly in cold water and used the Kenwood juicer I've got to extract the juice from both fruit. I've made a video: I hope this is a more fun and personal video than the very silent ...