Woodforde's Nog - homebrew review

Woodforde's Nog

Homebrew Review

February 2014

We paid a visit to Woodforde's brewery near Norwich in November 2013 and whilst there I picked up a Nog kit plus a few bottles of assorted Woodforde's ales, which we sampled with the able assistance of the crew of AreandAre.

Nog stood out as a particular favourite and it was with some trepidation that I set about creating my home brew version - surely it couldn't compare with that rich hoppy flavour of the original?

As you may be aware, Barry from AreandAre is more than an enthusiastic home brewer. He is a walking encyclopedia on the subject, but more than that he has just launched his new Homebrew Boat so you can pick up your home brewing supplies from the boat or via mail order. 

With Barry's encouragement and technical know how I have been varying my approach.

I have had a few less than great end results recently, where the beers seemed a bit off and Barry's diagnosis was the ingress of oxygen into the beer. They were OK in the fermenting bin but by the time I transferred the beer to the bottles air got into the mix and the rot set in.

So for this batch a new approach was prescribed by the Beer Doctor:

1. Ferment it in a pressure barrel till the bulk of the first fermentation is complete - about 5 days

2. Add 1 tsp of sugar per pint to a new barrel and rack off the brew to this barrel.

3. Add CO2 to the barrel to keep the oxygen off

4. Leave in the warm for 3 days to keep the fermentation going.

5. Put the brew in a cold room to mature and use direct from the pressure barrel

6. Accept that there will be some yeast in the bottom of the pressure barrel but if you use quality yeast the impact will me minimal - better that oxidisation,

Golden rule - oxygen if the brewers enemy - keep it away from the beer.

The above programme went well except for the overflowing wort in the initial stages, welling up and out of the pressure barrel. There wasn't enough headroom for the froth so I have bought an extra fermentation bin from Wilkinsons for this task.

The end result is an amazingly full bodied beer, rich and hoppy almost out there in the stout region. Delicious. The test will be endurance of the beer as we drink it over the next couple of months, with regular top ups of CO2 from my big new shiny cylinder.

Woodforde's description is spot on:

A classic ‘Old Ale’. Wonderful in the winter after a day outside and to be savoured in a great pub in front of the fire. Try it with game; Venison or Pheasant. A worthy former Champion Beer of Britain. Smooth, rich and rounded 'Old Ale' with a velvety texture and hints of chocolate, treacle and liquorice.

Update 23.3.14 - Just completing the last few pints of Nog, which has stayed perfect right down to the bottom of the barrel. A rich heavy brew with licorice notes. Interestingly, the pressure created by the fermentation was enough to push the beer out of the top tap right to the bottom of the barrel. 

Certainly one to repeat.

Combe Hay Locks - central section

Somerset Coal Canal
Combe Hay Locks
February 2014

The Combe Hay locks deserve a higher profile than they currently enjoy, 22 locks packed tightly into a short site weaving up a side valley and performing canal equivalent of a hairpin bend to climb the hillside.

Combe Hay lock 15

The SCC Society have been very active in the area, clearing the debris from the rough hewn chambers and generally opening the place up for us all to see and enjoy.

Combe Hay locks 12 to 14

During my visit it had rained heavily and the canal channel contained a good trickle of rain which all added to the atmosphere.

Between locks 10 and 11 the canal turns through 170 degrees in a space barely wide enough for a full length boat to wind, the outside edge worn smooth from bows being hauled round.

Combe Hay 170 degree turn

Locks 9 and 10 are a bit off the beaten track but are arguable the most fascinating on the flight, shrouded in ferns they have a prehistoric look about them and amazingly the skeleton if the bottom gates of lock 9 remain in place. ajar just wide enough to let a canal enthusiast to wander into the chamber. Not bad for a canal abandoned over 100 years ago.

Combe Hay lock 10

Combe Hay lock 9

Combe Hay area from SCC website.

If you ever find yourself in the Bath area with a couple of hours to kill set Combe Hay into your Sat Nav and take a look for yourself.

The Sea Sisters - book review

The Sea Sisters

by Lucy Clarke

February 2014

This was the last book to be read during our recent holiday in the sun and if I am honest I think it is probably best read from the perspective of an exotic beach, where most of the action takes place.

Its a debut novel by Lucy Clarke, an avid diarist who travels for much of the year with her professional windsurfer husband - so I guess its no surprise that the book is based on a diary which follows the world of the roving surfer.

The book is really about two sisters and the love / hate relationship which can so easily exist. Siblings where one is conventional (Kate) and the other (Mia) a "free spirit", but in many ways they are more similar than they think. 

Mia runs off to travel the world but veers off track and apparently commits suicide in Bali leaving her sister and friends searching for answers. To try and make sense of the tragedy Kate sets off to retrace Mia's six month journey with the tale being narrated in the two voices of Kate and the parallel ghostly account coming from Mia's comprehensive journal.

Perhaps the big leap of credibility is Kate's discipline to only read one day at a time and never to read ahead of her own journey. I find this an unlikely premise, but it is the interweaving of the two strands which makes this book a bit special so I will happily set this observation aside. In fact the story line is so compelling that I read it in a single 24 hour period, completing it during the wee hours as we flew back from the Caribbean, turning page after page till a gripping climax is reached.

It is an insight into the world of siblings and the betrayal which can occur, where relationships fracture, where communications fail but where ultimately love can restore.

Confused? Grab a copy of this book from Amazon - its a cut above the average its skilful delivery will have you hooked by the end of the first chapter.

Combe Hay - upper section

Combe Hay - the top end

February 2014

Combe Hay has a lot to offer the canal enthusiast and justifies a lingering approach, savouring the great remains which are there to be enjoyed.  

Comb Hay top lock and channel to inclined plane / pumping engine

I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours exploring all the sections of the Combe Hay area I could legally access, and a few where legal rights of way had to be viewed as a somewhat elastic concept. What I didn't feel I could do in all conscience, was to go blunderimg around the sites of locks three to eight which are clearly in the grounds of Caisson House and were well protected by barbed wire, indicating that casual visitors are not welcomed.

Given the material to be covered I will divide the Combe Hay reports into three, the upper section (this post), the middle section containing the thick of locks and the lower section which includes the buried/ less restored locks plus the channel to the base of the inclined plane.

Most canals seem to have something unique about them and for the SCC, its USP undoubtedly lies in its varied attempts to climb 135 feet from the Kennet and Avon level to the summit pound. 

Attempt one - The Caisson Lock

The canal builders were working to a budget and wanted to avoid the cost of a long flight of locks. They therefore cast around to alternatives and settled on the untried Caisson Lock concept. This was the brainchild of Robert Weldon and to give its his full title it was the Hydrostatick Caisson Lock. He had made a working model for the tub boat canals in Oakengates, beneath what is now Telford, but its interesting to note that he was never daft enough to actually try and make it work, even for their small 5 ton tubs.

Design for Caisson Lock as found on the SCC website

To be honest you need to see a drawing of this idea, which is explained very thoroughly in the SCC website.

But put simply, they decided to build three super deep locks which would never actually empty. Instead the canal boat would be put into a wooden "submarine" a bit like a torpedo in its tube, and the whole assembly would then be sunk with the boat floating inside. When it reached the bottom the end would lock into a watertight seal and the door opened letting it float out and away.

Fast, quick and uses almost no water. Perfect, fantastic and great - lets order 1000! Oh, but before you do, listen to that nagging word of caution in the back of your head. Its telling you that it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen and so it was. The builder managed to get the top one working and for some reason known only to themselves the SCC Committee decided to take a ride in it. Of course the inevitable happened and it became stuck and the committee was very nearly suffocated before the water was drained off and the caisson opened. Needless to say this was enough to see the whole project abandoned in or around 1794.

Attempt two - The inclined Plane

I suspect that the SCC Committee had contact with the Duke of Sutherland and his canal network at Lilleshall. Not only had the ill fated Caisson Lock come from their operation, they also made extensive use of inclined planes. The SCC therefore installed three locks at the foot of the site and then an inclined plane to raise the boats about 110ft.

Navigable feeder from Pumping Engine

This system was made to work and the long approach channels can still be found and top and bottom. For the purposes of this post we will look at the upper channel which curves around Caisson House and follows the contour round the hill to the site of the old Pumping Engine.

It would appear that the top of the inclined plane was somewhere very close to where Caisson House stands today, but the feeder channel to the Pumping engine was not only a water channel but also a way of getting coal to its boilers.

Remains of the pumping engine

Today the dry channel is apparent and the foundation of the pump house remains to be viewed.

The lifespan of the inclined plane was short, probably less than 10 years, and my guess is that like so many other inclined plane ventures, it failed do the unreliability of the technology with buckling tracks and the cost of maintaining steam in the winding engine. Similar inclines worked well on the Shropshire Canal but these only carried tubs weighing about 5 tons plus cradle, whereas the Combe Hay versions would be carrying 28 tons of loaded craft plus water filled tank and cradle. Even 100 years later in 1900 a similar plan was implemented at Foxton, but this was also abandoned in after a few years in favour of conventional locks.

Attempt three - the 22 Locks

Within a few years the inclined plane was abandoned and by 1804 the funds had been raised to build a flight of conventional locks - the same ones we see today.

A special act of Parliament was needed for the Lock Fund and the end result was a flight which was rugged and almost northern in quality - big blocks of stone all over the place. I bet they were dreadful pi##ers! 

One odd feature of these locks was their narrowness. They were built to carry narrow craft which when strapped together fitted the Kennet and Avon locks. As a result they were built to a width of about 6ft 8in.

 Lock 1 of the Combe Hay flight

From the top at the entrance to Caisson House you can wander around the top lock and see lock No2, its leaning sides held apart with tree trunks and remnants of sagging lock gates - like a surreal Salvador Dali painting.

Lock No 2 - Combe Hay

An old map of the Combe Hay site taken from the SCC website.

I have to acknowledge the SCC website which is a veritable treasure trove of history and which I have used to provide a superficial overview of the area. I would urge you to visit their site for a much fuller history.

The Girl Who Fell From The Sky - book review

The Girl who Fell From The Sky

by Simon Mawer

Another holiday read but this one was something of a let down.

The story is set in World War Two when Marian Sutro is recruited by the  British Secret Service to work behind enemy lines in occupied France.

Ok - I am starting this post again as I fell asleep twice whilst writing the above two lines - literally! In my defence I had a lousy nights sleep and then a very busy day sailing down the west coast of St Lucia followed by an excellent Italian meal in one of the hotel restaurants. I guess sleep was inevitable.

So, back to the book.

Our heroine is recruited from  the communications wing of the MOD and sent to Scotland for spy training, has her first sexual encounter but is then torn with angst about a previous unrequited love. Off she goes to France so recruit said unrequited love who happens to be a key nuclear physicist (like the Nazi's wouldn't have nobbled him already - right).

To my mind the plot chuggs along in a pretty pedestrian fashion with the real place being delivered when she is on the tun from the occupying forces across the streets of Paris. This section takes off, but by then you are 75% of the way through the book.

As for the twist in the tale - there is one and who but a complete idiot with a price on her head wouldn't take the opportunity to get on a plane and live to fight another day. Not this one it seems.

So why did I buy it in the first place? Because of the endorsement on the front cover:

"As good as le Carre. If you read one book this year make it this" Alan Massie. Scotsman.

Le Carre may specialise in spy thrillers but there the parallels end. That said, I find le Carre plots horribly complex so why am I complaining about the flimsy fabric behind this construction?

In finding an image for this review I came across another title for 2010 with the same name which sounds like a much more interesting read: