Uber Sheddage - super strong dark Eisbier probably 15-20%

The amazingly tasty Uber Sheddage, in all its dark malty glory. I don't know exactly how strong this was, but estimated at about 15-20% ABV. This baby was made using fractional freezing in the traditional Eis Bock style. The original beer it was based upon was one called Sheddage.

Sheddage was already a delicious malty Bok-like beer. It had been brewed to a meaty 9% ABV already, so enriching it by freezing was bound to be dramatic.It had also deliberately only been lightly hopped, as it would be too bitter otherwise when turned into an Eisbier.

You can see the effect of concentrating the beer.

Sheddage (on the right) was a fairly dark amber sweet malty bock-style beer at 9% ABV. Three litres of Sheddage made just one litre of Uber Sheddage.

This probably doesn't mean it was 3 times as strong (which would have been 27%), but it was significantly sweeter, thicker and stronger. I think it was probably maybe about twice as strong, I'd guess at somewhere between 15 and 20% ABV

Fractional freezing is a way to remove water from a beer by freezing the beer, then straining off the alcoholic liquid that doesn't freeze, from the water crystals that do freeze.

Here is a 3 litre bottle of Sheddage in the freezer...

This was not completely filled to avoid it bursting.

Freezers chill down to about minus 15C to minus 20C. Perfect!

Here it is frozen solid after being left for 2 nights. Of course it was not completely solid. Only the water in the beer was frozen. The alcohol was not.

To get the juice out, the bottle was inverted and the juice left to drip out. I had bashed the bottle quite a lot with a hammer to break up the ice to help release the liquour...

Probably the best way to do this would be with a centrifuge, which is a project for another day, methinks...

The first runnings were really intense. In fact they probably were close to 27% ABV. As the collection went on, the ice started to warm and eventually some water will have come out too

You can see how the clear water ice is left behind...

Eventually I got a litre. It was obviously not just much stronger in alcohol. It was allso stronger and intense. The thickened and sweeter taste made it more like a strange malty liquour - delish!

I could have drunk it flat, but I like a bit of fizz, so I soda streamed it.

Such a useful device :)

Here it is, dark and delicious.

Foot note -
There is some debate over the legality of fractional freezing. It is generally assumed to be legal, but it is a grey area. It would definitely not be legal to sell it, but for home brew in your own home, it would be rather OTT to be pursued for this.

There are some health concerns about this but it is not likely to be more than just being stronger and concentrating any trace chemicals that can be present in the original beer in weaker concentrations.

Here is a lengthy and occassionally heated discussion on this matter...
https://www.brewuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=47682

For the chemical science, this experiment featured in the Journal of the Institute of Brewing from 1947 is interesting:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.1947.tb01328.x/epdf

Essery, R. E., Gane, R. and Morris, T. N. (1947), THE CONCENTRATION OF BEER BY FREEZING. Jnl Institute Brewing, 53: 204–208. doi: 10.1002/j.2050-0416.1947.tb01328.x

Ham-stands, home-made versus shop-bought knife carve-off, and leaping pugs...

Well, this post has it all...

• making a very specialist piece of kitchen equipment - a ham stand for a Serrano ham
• a comparison of shop-bought versus hand-made carving knives
• scrounging pugs being made to leap for their supper (shamefully merely that I can have a laugh!)

Here is a preposterously large ham. I was given this on leaving a job recently - one of the most thoughtful presents I've ever had. It is HUGE and weighs 6.5 kilos.

These hams need support when carving and hilariously, there is a specific traditional ham-stand for them. This post shows how I made one and then testing out various knives to see which carves the best. Finally, the greedy pug is shown mid-air attempting to grab ham slices from my fingers.

Here is the finished board. Also shown is a 14" (35cm) carving knife I made especially for this ham. Just realised I haven't written that up yet. It's cobbled crafted from a saw blade and a log - but that is for another post...

Making the ham board

These are pretty simple things - a solid plank for the base and an upright for the hoof, with a few metal fittings to finish it off, and thus... to the shed!

Happily I keep scavenged stuff that contains good raw materials for unknown future use. And so it was, that in the shed I found an oak drawer-front that I'd long ago salvaged from a fucked old chest of drawers. Base plank solved.

While at it, I removed these two rather good old-style handles. They in turn will sit in a drawer for years waiting for their moment...

I had a good oak piece for the upright - a plank, which a few years ago I'd cut off an old fence post found in a hedge. This was even better wood than the drawer, though a little worse for wear, having been out in the elements for decades as a post, and having had nails hammered into it and so on. Super strong though.

Here it is in the vice. You can see the curve for the foot rest (so to speak) prior to cutting.

To fix the upright to the plank I went for a double mortice and tenon joint. Super strong and no wobble. Here are the mortices, routed out. 

They needed cleaning up and squaring off...

with a more traditional mortice chisel (note, only one bevel) ...

Here is the joint being tested for fit. Needed a mallet to get this in, and thus rock-solid

The final fit. So tight, no glue was required. You can see the colour difference between a fairly recent oak (maybe 25 old) and a very old weathered piece (possibly a century old) - much darker...

Next up were the final metal fittings. By convenient chance, I had just skipped a piece of stainless steel from outside my local fireplace shop. Out with the long-handled tin snips...

This bit is the former, for the leg holder on the bottom plank after cutting and filing...

It was quite soft, and thus easy to file, drill and shape. Here it is, being hammered into a curve, on the horn of the anvil...

And a similar piece was cut for the hoof-end top bar. The rather crude nails hold the leg in place and prevent turning as you carve...

The finished ham board in the shed...

And in the kitchen, with ham in position, alongside the ham carving knife...

Carve-off!

Somewhat unnecessarily, I thought it would be good to see how well shop-bought and hand-made knives compare in effectiveness at carving. From top to bottom, here are:

• 14" (35cm) serrated ham carver I made from a saw and an ash log, especially for this ham
• 12" (30cm) Solingen-made carbon-steel specialist carver I bought decades ago
• 10" (25cm) ham carver I had made previously from a bike D-lock and an oak plank
• 10" (25cm) John Lewis serrated bread knife

...and the results were (drum roll)...

actually, pretty much the same. The longer blades edged it (sorry) over the shorter ones slightly - as they allow a much longer languorous cut, but the real result was that cutting thin slices is much more dependent on technique (assuming your knives are all equally sharp).

And finally...

This ham is so big, I'll be eating it for ages (a few days minimum - ha ha)

Someone else was interested in eating it too. I was touched by trusty pug Betty's willingness to help out. Her concern for objective comparison of ham slicers merited some offcuts. 

Who am I to resist those eyes?

So, in the spirit of sharing, we shared the trimmings cut in the test

Still, I confess I did make her jump for her supper...

Go for it, bug-eyes...

she's keen...

 
expertly taken...

The eyes, so focussed...

In my defence, the exercise is good for her :)

Recycling a sofa...

It is great that people will actively give away stuff they don't need on Gumtree and Freecycle.

It is best not to see these things as what they were. So much more fun to pull them apart for their raw materials...

Here's the stuff you can reclaim from a sofa. This one was free if collected (Thanks, roofrack...)

I got it, because I wanted the leather for a stool I was making.

This stool...

Having got a very nice free sofa, here it is being scrapped in my front garden...

And from that, there was about 4-5 square metres of top quality leather...

...and also some big zips...

...and a whole load of bolts, washers, wingnuts and fixings...

...many metres of elasticated upholstery webbing...



...fluffy, upholstery padding...

...and not forgetting foam cushions...

..and even a few bits of hardwood...

All free - nice...

go get a sofa...