Jim's Beer Kit

I managed 16% using K1-V116. Bloody good yeast, that. Planned to a batch step-fed up to 18-20% but never got round to it, might have to do that some time soon

Avoid carbing if I were you. Can be explosive as mead is less predictable than beer, and can continue to ferment very slowly for long periods.

Personally, I've used Paynes honey and found it good.
http://www.paynesbeefarm.co.uk/honey-in ... som-honey/

You just add small amounts of the must to the rehydrating yeast until the temperature is within 10c. No dramas. Rehydration with wine yeast is very important. Having said that, EC118 is pretty hard to go wrong with.

I had a similar experience with loose hop flowers once. I use pellets these days, with much better results. No mucking about with hop bags and weights, just chuck em in and chill down to 2c after a few days. Tidy.

This is a truly superb post. May I suggest this is 'stickied' by one of our mods please?

Some interesting stuff here, maybe you gents can give me a little critiqueing as well. I tasted a delicious porter before Christmas, it was Xporter by Sixpoint. A strong, smooth porter, not roasty but with chocolatey notes and a rich hoppy flavour. Mindblowing, unexpectedly good. Cobbling together i...

Use silicone tube, platinum cured is the stuff you want.

There is much 'Southern English Brown' to be found in Kent, particularly the Medway towns and Thanet...but it is of the injectable/smokable variety.

I would go Chinook, then dry hop with Ahtanum. I know you said one hop, but 200g of hops always goes well

Sorry, reply was a little quick earlier. To elaborate, I would lift entirely until you have the whole amount of wort to the desired temp. I used to do this when I had my Buffalo, reasoning being that you want to ensure the grain is steeped at a desired temp. If the bag is left in (albeit raised of t...

As long as you lift the bag before mash out, no worries

Buffalos are pretty good if you wrap them. Mine was in the shed as well so decent result. I used to raise my mash to 78c with the bag out, if you can't suspend it then transfer it to an empty FV and you're good to go.

I never covered the element in my buffalo and my original bag is still going strong. The only reason you'd need it covered is if you are trying to raise your mash temp whilse mashing, and I'd discourage you from doing this at all. Mine used to lose less than 2 degrees in 90 mins, so with proper insu...

On hiatus from AG brewing at the moment after landlord sold the house from under us! Just kits at the mo, which is even more of a b'stard as I bought a new shiny boiler from Mr Lard just before said landlord f'd us up.
Will try to get down for next one if I can though.