Jim's Beer Kit

Thanks NB - as it happens there was enough in a couple of bottles of other lager I brewed to make a starter in quick order and all has worked out fine. Has been at 1 degree for a week so will be bottled soon. I used tapioca instead of rice flakes as we had some. Doesn’t seemed to have caused too muc...

I just made a brew thinking I had some lager yeast but I can’t find it I do have 04 05 M44 “Craft cider yeast” probably it is actually champagne yeast Or I have a few lagers with a yeast ring in the bottles but I would like to pitch yeast as soon as possible so might not have time to make a starter ...

Picked this thread up a bit late. Is it just that the first American hops that I brewed a really nice beer with happens to be Apollo or is it really as good as I think it is? I've tried the citra and cascades etc but Apollo just seems to have a lot about it. Was very cheap a couple of years ago but ...

Thanks guys. Fermenting nearly complete now so I'll try and work out how much sugar I need to get .002 gravity points.
I like the idea of lightly tapping one of the seals in just in case it blows.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Will

Hi all had my first firkin delivered yesterday - when i ask the vendor about priming the beer, he said they don't they just fill the firkin and whack in the shive. Should I just follow my usual brewing process, and prime as per pressure barrel? I've got 9 gallons that have probably just finished the...

You're welcome to stop by for a try - with my wedding coming up I've got 2 pressure barrels of each of the Cascade Hophead style thing and my Apollo APA. Not that much difference now to be fair.

Hi Floyd - ended up using the real stuff, but with some apollo for bittering (when you look at apollo at c.20% AA next to a huge pile of cascade, it seems a shame to tip all of that cascade in!) I've used Apollo a lot for my pale ales recently (lack of imagination) and my observation would be that i...

Great shout that - I've got some wheat malt I can roast. Got to be worth a try. Thinking of using the hophead recipe with say 5 pc roasted wheat and a fair slug of dry hopping. Any comments on that anyone?

Does it work to make something like an apollo smash or darkstar hophead and simply add roasted barley (or even home roast some pale malt). I have no cara 3 and can't think I'll get any in time.
Thanks in advance
Will

Quess what - after all that it went clear (might be this lovely cold we've had) and I took the barrel on a trip out with the boys.

Their first taste of homebrew from me and they all put in orders for their birthday/wedding presents!

I'm planning on following a hophead type recipe I found somewhere - it calls for all cascade, but i'm doing a 40l brew and have a bit of a mix of hops: 100g cascade pellets 100g amarillo pellets 100g mount hood 100g brewers gold shedloads of apollo I just don't know what order to use them in - I'm n...

Extraordinary to remark, after little more than week and a half in the primary it's fairly clear, without any finings. Has been in the cold garage for nearly a week. I was definitely NOT expecting that. Another home brewing lesson learnt. As with the advice above, I'll repitch a little bit of yeast ...

Cheers Gnutz2. I have a pot of isinglass in my box of tricks. Is that what you're thinking? Or maybe gelatine?

well, I'll bottle it and serve it as witbeer (kind of tastes like it actually, pale malt and lots of citrusy late appollo hops) - and then not be such a tool another time!

It was a 50l brew, but yes it is a lot. I directly replaced the 500g wheat malt with flour which was admittedly stupid!

Thanks for your advice on the priming, I guessed that would work but good to hear it.