Three stalwarts of the London Drinker Beer and Cider Festival - Steve Barnes, Trevor Unwin and John Cryne - were made assistant brewers for a day at Brodies in Walthamstow to brew a 25th anniversary ale for 2009's Festival. Being novices, brewing only got underway at around 10.45 (as opposed to 6.00am!) and we went through the whole process to pitching the yeast for fermentation, as the photos below reveal.

We had full involvement in determining the recipe and decided on a mix of three malts - pale, crystal and black (the latter of which should come through in the final colour) together with some flaked maize. For boiling hops we chose a 50/50 split of Pilgrim and Goldings and, at the end of the boil, we then added three finishing hops - Goldings, Challenger and Northdown. So far all the ingredients were sourced from this country; the only import was the final ingredient, Windsor yeast - a British Ale yeast produced in Denmark! All of this was for a five barrel brew length.

Just before pitching the yeast we measured the original gravity which came out at around 1045. We will have three kils of the beer at the Festival (as well as their regular mild) and Brodies are then likely to have a small amount on sale at their pubs, the King William IV in Walthamstow and two West End pubs - the Old Coffee House in Beak St and the Cross Keys in Endel St. Thanks are due to Jamie and Lizzie Brodie plus assistant Maddie for all their patience and help.

Adding malt to the hopper.	Steve adds yet more malt.
Jamie shows Steve where the malt's going.	And here it comes mixed with hot liquor.
Nearly there with the use of the special mixing shovel.	Jamie, Maddie and Lizzie enjoy a short break, Steve enjoys a beer (Brodies Sunshine).
A bit of sparging.	Time for some hops.
Trevor helps clean up the spent grain.	Brewster makes her fashion statement.
Maddie digs deep with the famous shovel.	John lets go of the camera to insert a yeast trap.
More hops after the boil.	That's the OG measured at 1045.
It's that Danish British Ale yeast waiting its turn.	In it goes.
Yet more cleaning.	Job done - take a bow. Jamie's already headed home. John takes the piccie. Time to go to the pub.