Friday, October 29th 2004
Greetings Friends and Crustations,

Welcome to the Chicken Beer Blog - somehow the word "blog" feels particularly appropriate for tracing a project which has already struck horror in the stomachs of many fine drinkers. However, undaunted by the neighsayers preparations for the Beer continue apace. I hope you can stick around and enjoy the brewing and drinking process as much as I do!

Yesterday I emerged from the tunnels to walk amongst the "surface folk", while doing so I purchased the necessary ingredients for making a reasonably heavy ale. [Precise recipe will be posted once I invent in on Sunday morning.] I have decided that I will boil 5 [five] chicken wings tomorrow, refridgerate them over night [to allow for fat removal] with the stock being added to the brew on Sunday morning. Every recipe I have found on the web so far seems to have different instructions - so essentially I am ignoring them all and going my own way. This fits well with the fine Pyssedas Brewing Tradition of "inventing beers which have never been tasted by the human tongue".

Names: I have been struggling to think of a name for this brew for some time. I had been thinking of Cock-a-Hoop or Half-Cocked [references obviously to cock ale] but in visiting my dictionary I found the phrase "Cock-A-Snook" which seems much more appropriate. But if you have a better idea please deposit it in the guest book.

PS - I don't really know what the liitle pictures mean either - but geocities seems to think they are necessary!
DGr

Sunday, October 31st 2004
Litte progress on brewing front on Saturday due to attending company co-founder JCa's 30th on Friday night at the Dan O'Connell.

However, on Sunday with the help of OQu and the Head of the Brewing Division RLu things really started to rock.

The initial boiling and brewing [see below] complete, we did hurry to The Retreat Hotel on Sydney Rd for the 17th Company meeting. At this meeting RLu presented an excellent brewing division annual report [click here to read it] which bodes well for all people into boding!

On Saturday - prior going to an unsucessful bowling day - the chicken broth was made. While there were some sensible suggestions at Oliver & Geoff's brewing forum about the broth -sadly they arrived too late. As this is the first brew of chickeny goodness it was never designed to be overly flavoured - and thus it has proven to be.

The broth was made by boiling three chopped chicken wings in 2 litres of water [eventually reduced to 1l] skimming fats off as we went. This was then chilled overnight - allowing for easier fat removal this morning.

Speaking of fat - [RLu forgets what he was gooing to say - thus proving that company meeting did take place this arvo]incientially he blames alcohol.

In the new brewing pot [bought since the incident involving setting fire to the old one while making stout] we boiled 8 litres of water, 200g crystal malt, one can of amber ale mix, one can of amber malt, and 500g of dextrose/malt dry mix. It smelled nice - even SWMBO said so.

In a separate saucepan 12.5g of fuggles hops were boiled and added.

We added ice rather than water to reduce water temperature in time for us to add yeast before going to the meeting.

Apparently it is bubbling nicely!
RLu & DGr
PS - You surface folk have the nicest sunsets!

Monday 1st November 2004
The reports of bubbling beer from my good lady wife were enirely well-founded. It is bubbling most steadily, which combined with the 30 litres of apple cider next to it serves to make for quite a noisy kitchen. [It must be noted that the good lady wife is particularly good in terms of letting me actually brew in the house rather than in the shed.]

The beer is smelling good at the moment - as mentioned previously I have erred on the side of less rather than more chicken - this can then be increased in future beers until we find the magic moment of chicken balance.

Mr Snorkels from the bowls club has now booked himself in for a bottle of beer, having heard that Karen S. is getting one- she remains convinced that it is some kind of assination attempt on her. The good lady wife remains very unconvinced by the concept of the "Mallard & Malt" duck beer which was mooted this morning as the successor to the chicken beer.

If it fails to rain between now [11:09pm] and racetime tomorrow a couple of dollars on Mummify - at least for a place might be worth the investment. Happy Punting!
DGr

Wednesday 2nd November
Just a quick note tonight - having arrived home late I made getting the pubcrawl pics up my priority. But rest assured gentle reader that the beer continues to burble quietly in the corner. [Nowhere near as much as it did in the early heady rush] I am guessing that it should be right to bottle on the weekend - it smells good if not overly chickeny!
DGr

4th November 2004 - as written by JKa (wife of DGr)
10.32pm
Well Oaks Day may be known as ladies day, but from my experience tonight, i  think it better be known  as Men's day (with occaisional lady observers). There were many 'lovely ladies' (thanks Joe) at Chloe's tonight and, despite our best intentions, none of them left with us or our chosen Tom. Tom was doing the groundwork with our favourite redhead with the black lined dress but confessed that they just didn't click. We managed to find Tom two other lovely ckickies complete with sequenced headbands and pin striped jackets (sounds a bit pedestrian i know but trust me they were good accessories). Unfortunately Tom was booted out kicking (literally) and screaming (figuratively) and didn't end up with any of our chosen girls. Which goes to proove that despite a cool haircut, groovy orange tie and matchmaker help from DGr, JKa and NSm you can still end up drunk and alone on Oaks Days.  Anyway, enough of the chit chat there is one  important things to note from tonight:
1. NSm is willing to declare Chicken Beer vegetarian
which oes

Sunday 7th November 2004
While it is more than a little difficult to tell what was on JKa's mind on Thursday night - I think it was something along the lines of NSm declaring that he thought that vegetarians [ie him] could legetimately drink chicken beer. This is of course disappointing news that will probably require the slaying of deer for the next beer. Tomorrow night will be bottling night for the chicken beer so stay tuned for a groundbreaking entry.

Thurday 11th Noveber 2004 - Lest We Forget
Tonight the chicken beer was bottled, and a number of open cold beers were accidently recapped.  But in the end, all was present and accounted for.
Preliminary tasting notes are:
In a travestic displacement of canine equnanimity, Mr Happy Cat raised his completely negelected, but legally recognised, position of Brewers Division Mascot.
Sergeant Ritchie is investigating this scurrilous state of events, in between being an absoute bastard to all slightly late motorists, and erecting joke speed cameras on Victoria's ring roads.

Saturday 13th November 2004
OK, now we shall actually put in the tasting notes - as recorded while bottling.
DGr: Dusty on palate
BCa: Mmmmm.....chicken is on the aftertaste!
JKa: MMmmmm!??! (No comment)
BCa: Dextrose tastes like sugar. Oh I like making beer.
RLu: Smells like urine with fizzy undertones. Earthy flat and warm. Could be good if cold and carbonated.
NSm: My pants have been on the line for two weeks.

Stand-by for proper tasting notes in a few weeks time!

2/12/04
Well tonight has been a big night for the brewing division in many ways. First NSm reveals his Salmonella Stout, then BCa begins work on his Birmingham Bathwater and then NSm and MSm announce their pregnancy.

Somewhere amidst all of this legitimate excitement came the tasting of the chicken beer which has been eagerly awaited by DGr at least. And he would like it noted that in comparison to RLu's first egg-beer attempt that this one did not induce vomiting in those present in the room.

Some semi-serious tasting notes then. Far more so than I thought it would the chicken taste comes through. On the nose there is some elements of the kind of cold chicken that one would find in a chicken sandwich should one re-use last night's roast chicken again today. [That made sense when I started the sentence.]

It was even more obvious when drinking  [to me, DGr, at least, others in the room could not locate it] and my earlier plans to make a second brew with more bones etc to get more of a chicken flavour - I now think that this is not necessarily necessary. There is plenty good chicken taste without it being revolting. To all of those who think that this whole concept sounds foul [sic] I say think again - it may well be better than what you think.

The chicken seemed to add an extra level of smoothness and roundness to the brew, while detracting very little. It has to be said that it was much nicer when heavilly chilled, and got somewhat repetitive by the end of a tall beerglass. Whether that was due to warmth or inherent dullness will require further tasting.

There will be another round of tasting notes when this beer has settled further in the bottle but that may be another month or so away yet. In the meantime I leave you with the words of the Pentagon tonight,when commenting on why they lied to CNN. The reports, as per this entire blog were "technically true but misleading".

Mmm tasty and nutritious.

5/12/04
For those who are interested my stomach and I are still alive post-tasting - huzzah!