EP13 - CRAFT BREWER - Dan Harvey

Craft brewer and founder for Radio City Beer Works and Radio City Social venue. Creating beer alchemy with just four ingredients to make loads of different flavours, colours, bitterness, gravities. Beer magic! Learning about wort and brewing process. Being self-critical for growth and improvement. Aromas, head retention, drinkability - all the factors to consider in brewing. Having a flavour vision in your head and working out how to achieve it. Hops and different fruit flavours in them. Knowing how to extract the different flavours from the hop oil at stages of brewing. Beer drinking as a hobby for craft beer drinking. Working with the correct yeast to get different flavours. Making beer from beard yeast. Is there a Chelmsford yeast? Graveyard yeast - for vampires? Achieving consistency in brewing. Climate change and hop growing in England. All about the Citra hop - it’s a popular flavour. Switching careers to do something that you love. The craft brewing revolution and spotting the trend in London, then bringing the vibe and flavours to Essex. Brewery culture in the US. Falling in love with the flavours of beer. Improving the beer experience. Starting brewing in Dan’s Dad’s shed with minimal equipment, a tea urn, and instructions from YouTube and home brew books. Moving beer to the airing cupboard for the right temperature. Using colleagues as guinea pigs developing the recipes. The eureka moment when the beer was good. The early adopters for Radio City Beer - Hopsters and Hot Box. Early adopters and supporters are vital for new businesses and creative ventures, both financially and for motivation. Scaling up the brewery. Control the controllables - yeast and hops can change because they are natural products. Writing down recipes and parameters - temperatures, timings, quantities, pH, gravity. Developing a consistent core range of beers for Radio City Beer Works. Cool To Be Kind beer to raise money for the homeless charity in Chelmsford. Making fruity beers. Untapped app and people reviewing beers, good reviews, bad reviews and weird reviews. Tasting Dan’s beers. Collaboration between different craft breweries - spreading the beer love. Collabogeddon with twelve breweries. Making beers with bands like Allfather’s ‘Take Their Eyes’. Branding beer and standing out in the craft beer market. Starting an independent community bar for craft beer, Radio City Social. The Chelmsford beer metre. Building a whole new community. Making sure that every band ghat plays the bar gets paid. Giving young bands a chance to play their first gig. Booking bands from Japan! Creating an inclusive and welcoming vibe at a bar. What’s an imperial stout and why does Dan want to brew one? Consistently challenging yourself to improve. Helping others to improve. Pride in your creative craft and output. Balancing being independent and professionalism. Beer can art, branding and marketing. Dan offers to brew a Gary Macaroni beer to honour the inventor of radio - Gary Macaroni - Pasta la vista BABY!

Big up to Hopsters in Leigh on Sea. Hot Box. Aerograft Brewery. Allfather. Werewolf Beer. In The Abyss.

Radio City Beer Works
Radio City Social
Recorded at City Sound Chelmsford by Nick

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Thanks to NGDA, City Sound and Essex County Council for their support
Recorded in Chelmsford, Essex, UK