At the brewery; Brave Gijt

at_the_brewery_brave_gijt_BRAAF_brewery

Recently a few things changed for me. I did it. I took the adventures’ road and I started a brewery. Commercially.

My first commercial brew is a collaboration with De Natte Gijt. My homebrew adventure started with them as well, back in 2013. I remember the day that I contacted De Natte Gijt brothers and just asked if I could come over next time they did a new homebrew, just to watch and learn. Because of them I started homebrewing as well. I built my own setup and kept improving it. At this point, four years later, I’m happy with it as it is.
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Raspberry Lambic Chocolate Chip Cookies

raspberry lambic chocolate chip cookies

Every once in a while I treated myself with a cup of coffee and an ‘American raspberry chocolate chip cookie’ when I still was in school and had to travel by train. And I loved that combo, raspberry and chocolate. Raspberry stouts are one of my favorites, too bad that there aren’t much good raspberry stouts. But I like my raspberry lambic as well, paired with some chocolate…
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Handmade openers #2

Like I wrote in my previous post about the handmade openers;

To fund my homebrewing adventure I try to be creative and earn some money since I can’t sell my beer, yet. So, I came up with an opener that prevents bending your caps, if you like to collect them (like i do). Because of the design you can push the cap back to seal it again while opening, it can be handy when you are dealing with a gusher!

And I got some good news. I made new ones! So there are still some openers left. If you want one or two, they are 5,- euros each and can be shipped with regular mail! Send me a message through the contact page or Facebook.

Please note; only shipping to the Netherlands and Belgium!

Handmade openers BRAAF brewery

Handmade openers BRAAF brewery

A DAY AT THE BREWERY – NO. 2

Another day. Another brew. I got a new personal record for brewing ; this week I brewed 1.023 Liters (±270 gallon) in total, spread over 2 batches. Wednesday I brewed an amber ale, 23 Liters at home. That is happily fermenting at this moment. And thursday I brewed together with ‘De Natte Gijt‘ at the ‘Weerter Stadsbrouwerij‘ a 1.000 Liters (±264 gallon) batch of Imperial Stout.
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A day at the brewery – No. 1

This week the guys from De Natte Gijt needed some help with filling their Zwarte Peper Saison (black pepper saison). It was a great day of working together and helping out at the ‘Weerter Stadsbrouwerij‘. And I couldn’t resist to make a short timelapse of the whole process. It would be fun to make a little timelapse serie called ‘a day at the brewery‘.
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Handmade openers

To fund my homebrewing adventure I try to be creative and earn some money since I can’t sell my beer, yet. So, I came up with an opener that prevents bending your caps, if you like to collect them (like i do). Because of the design you can push the cap back to seal it again while opening, it can be handy when you are dealing with a gusher!
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  • I learned a ton after my previous mead. Thanks to a few people that are eager and passionate enough to get me started. \ Today I started a mead with blackberries. The goal is to make a mead with a intense color as you can see. And a very berry forward flavor and aroma. Also focussing on mouthfeel and body with this batch. Fermenting with a Red-wine strain. \ Yeast will go in tomorrow, so pectinase has some time to do it's job. It's all about efficiency and maximum yield. \ Cheers!⠀ • • • • • #fermentation #knowledge #mixedfermentation #brewing #meadfermentation #liquidfermentation #flavordevelopment #dutchbrewery #brewerylife #blackberry #blackberrymead #blackberries #fermenting #craftbeerporn #independentbeer #drinklocal #beerstagram #saccharomyces #headbrewer #meadstagram #meadery #mead #honey #honeybee #pectinase #enzymes #germentationknowledge
  • Started today on the yeast starter for Saturday. Working with enough yeast cells and a active yeast is such a pleasure! \ We are using WLP500 Monastery Ale Yeast by @whitelabsyeast. Let's see how it will work with the spices we will use. \ Cheers! •⠀ •⠀ •⠀ •⠀ • #fermentation #knowledge #brewing #beerfermentation #liquidfermentation #flavordevelopment #dutchbrewery #dutchbeer #brewerylife #craftbeerporn #independentbeer #drinklocal #beerstagram #saccharomyces #experimentalbrewing #tastingbeer #beerknowledge #belgianbeer #dubbel #spicedbrew #yeaststarter #healthyyeast #activeyeast #yeastcells #yeastknowledge #microbiology
  • ⁣Fermentation has almost finished. In the first few days I did measure the gravity daily because of the TOSNA2.0 schedule. Also I did degas it every time before I took a sample. After my last addition of Fermaid O I decided to measure it once every 48h to stay on track of the fermentation. It's realy important to collect data during your fermentation!⁣⠀ \⁣⠀ The last gravity reading showed 1.013. We went a long way, starting from 1.124. Fermentation is almost done. After that we can stabilize and let it age for a while. Patience we say.⁣⠀ \⁣⠀ Cheers!⠀⁣⠀ •⁣⠀ •⁣⠀ •⁣⠀ •⁣⠀ •⁣⠀ #mead #meadery #craftmead #honeywine #mjöd #oldways #fermentation #honey #meadmaker #wine #winery #beer #brew #brewery #brewing #headbrewer #yeast #fermenting #honeybee #meadporn #fermentationporn #craftbrewery #craftnotcrapbeer #drinklocal #craftbeerporn #brewerylife #craftbeernerd #funkybeer⁣⠀
  • Today I put in my last nutrient addition according to the TOSNA2.0 schedule. I did add it with some extra fruit puree. At this point there is 3kg in primary. I will add even more during secondary. Fermentation still goes very strong. And I did hit my 1/3 sugar break. For now we don’t degas it anymore and let it ferment completely till the activity drops down. Really looking forward to the end result but that will take some extra time. \ Fermentation is something beautiful. How you can change the appearance, aroma, flavor or it’s whole function. This transformation of food is done by microorganisms. Learning about fermentation and expanding my knowledge. The beauty of nature. \⠀ Cheers!⠀ • • • • • #fermentation #knowledge #mixedfermentation #brewing #meadfermentation #farmhouse #liquidfermentation #flavordevelopment #dutchbrewery #brewerylife #fermenting #craftbeerporn #independentbeer #drinklocal #beerstagram #saccharomyces #headbrewer #meadstagram #meadery #mead #honey #honeybee #TOSNA
  • The Mead fermentation goes like a rocket so far! Good to see that pitching the other yeast was a good choice.⠀ \⠀ In my previous post I told you guys about the additions I wanted to do. Apricot and Vanilla for the attentive followers. I plan to do the fruit addition in different stages to not overstress the yeast with an insane sugar boost. Today the first addition went in and that color is so amazing, so vibrant. And that smell! Hopefully it will turn out good.⠀ \⠀ Cheers!⠀ •⠀⠀ •⠀⠀ •⠀⠀ •⠀⠀ •⠀ #fermentation #knowledge #mixedfermentation #brewing #meadfermentation #farmhouse #liquidfermentation #flavordevelopment #dutchbrewery #brewerylife #fermenting #craftbeerporn #independentbeer #drinklocal #beerstagram #saccharomyces #headbrewer #meadstagram #meadery #mead #honey #honeybee
  • So the first batch of Mead is a fact. And I felt just like when I was starting home brewing. Reading, exploring, doing research and everything that comes with it. But it was real fun to put my knowledge about brewing to work. I still have to get used to the degassing and the amount of O² that is needed. Jep, I'm still worried about oxidation. \ The fermentation didn't start right away and that worried me. It's not strange since honey doesn't have all the required nutrients from it's own like malt has. Another big difference is the nutrient protocols that is pretty common in Mead production. But also a big thing to learn and see how I can translate it back to fermenting beer. So my fermentation didn't start at all, luckily a friend could help me out that I met during brewing. He sended me a pack of Lalvin 71B. Thanks Jeroen! \ Also I started to think about the final product. The intention was always to throw some fruit in. A fruit from the prunus gene in combination with the second-most expensive spice after saffron. Can you guys guest the combination? \ Cheers! •⠀ •⠀ •⠀ •⠀ • #fermentation #mixedfermentation #brewing #meadfermentation #farmhouse #flavordevelopment #dutchbrewery #brewerylife #fermentor #independentbeer #drinklocal #beerstagram #saccharomyces #saison #experimentalbrewing #cicerone #headbrewer #farmhouse #mead #meadery #honeybee
  • Tomorrow I will start my first batch of Mead. So far the research fase was very interesting and I learnt so much. Some principles I value with brewing I had to let go. \ I choose to use this mead yeast by Wyeast and the nutrients that I will use are from @lallemandbrewing. They helped me already a lot as you guys know by a previous post. \ Cheers! •⠀ •⠀ •⠀ •⠀ • #fermentation #knowledge #mixedfermentation #brewing #beerfermentation #liquidfermentation #dutchbrewery #dutchbeer #brewerylife #craftbeerporn #independentbeer #drinklocal #beerstagram #brettanomyces #saccharomyces #lactobacillus #mead #experimentalbrewing #tastingbeer #beerknowledge #brewerylife #headbrewer #farmhouse #honeywine #honey #beekeeping #yeast
  • New tool! I use a few types of scales but this one will be the most used one. Correct measurements are so important! \ Think about minerals for a water profile or about spices. You don’t wanna over shoot it. \ Cheers! •⠀ •⠀ •⠀ •⠀ • #fermentation #knowledge #mixedfermentation #brewing #beerfermentation #liquidfermentation #dutchbrewery #dutchbeer #brewerylife #craftbeerporn #independentbeer #drinklocal #beerstagram #brettanomyces #saccharomyces #lactobacillus #saison #experimentalbrewing #tastingbeer #beerknowledge #brewerylife #headbrewer #farmhouseale #farmhousebrewing #barrelaging #sourales #scale #measurements #waterprofile #neipa #spices