Brewing

In the words of Homer J Simpson: "Mmmmmm, beer."

On arrival, we noticed the beer stocks were dismally low as they'd been ravaged by the hordes on the vessel L'Astrolabe. I think I mentioned in a previous post that L'Astolabe was used for the station resupply of food, personal affects, general cargo and food and that the Aurora Australis (AA) mainly supplied all the gear required for MIPEP.

The beer, therefore, had to replenished. Quickly. As such, the brew committee decided to use the two 120L fermenters and fill the delicious health into the four 20L kegs provided and any clean bottles we could lay our hands on. The only way to achieve this was to push the beer fairly hard at a touch below 30°C and have the fermentation completed within 5 days. It was a gamble, but it paid off. Within 10 days we had drinkable beer - including a stout.

That was at the start of the trip, now that we're almost 6 months in and have endured frozen water supply (no washing bottles, kegs or fermenters) and a monthly consumption when the hunters and dog handlers return to station, our stocks are up to a more manageable level.

We've now brewed approximately 2930L of beer. Delicious.

L to R: Draught, Stout, Ginger (front), Cider (rear). The stouts have always been problem children.