Jim's Beer Kit

If you want to go for a hop forward water profile I've used this to good effect:
Ca=110, Mg=18, Na=16, Cl=50, SO4=275

It's a fair drive but I use Mr Fizz in Uxbridge... although I other members might know of somewhere more local.

I would be worried that it would heat the starter too much. Even if the temperature does stay below a lethal temperature it's best to let yeast grow at fermentation temperature for whatever you're making. This 'lets the yeast become accustomed to the correct temp' and ideally you're starter will be ...

I've only washed yeast as an experiment. The scientific way to do it is to count the yeast per ml with a microscope but I think most people use Mr Malty with the slurry setting. Use thick slurry and adjust the non-yeast as you see fit... for the first jar I'd set 5% to be cautious.

I've almost exclusively kegged but from reading I think I can offer my 2 cents. If you open the bottle you will lose a bit of CO2. The gas that collects in the head space is dependant on the volume of CO2 dissolved in the beer. Since the head space is small in comparison to the beer you won't lose m...

Looks really good! If you look closely at no. 4 and 5 there is a hetrogenous looking band of 'stuff'. Below this will be the highly flocculant yeast, in it will be the yeast that dropped at the same time as the trub and above it the yeast that dropped after the trub. So it's likely that as you go cl...

I have three of those as well, they're great. The instructions/manual might be useful for those interested.

I once decided to just turn my fermenting fridge to the lowest setting to crash cool. This resulted in a partially eis'd beer, I was in a rush to keg so I just went ahead and siphoned through a hole in the ice. Beer turned out really well. I've read about other members who have thawed and didn't tas...

I agree although I have had trouble doing this with a wheat beer. The combination of high carbonation and high (foam stabilising) protein content mean I have to turn the pressure down for that one. I know many people do use a different serving pressure or even turn the gas off to serve, instead turn...

I've been waiting 2 and a half weeks for an order from them and although this time last Friday (1 week ago) I was told they would arrive in a 5 days max, I am still left waiting. Has anyone had any success with them or should I be posting in ' I Wish I Hadn't Bothered!'.

Going from the original link they'll deliver internationally for $50.

Haven't heard of them before but would be very interested to find out more. They will probably be a not dissimilar price to the plastic conical tanks most people have converted to fermenters.

how long will it take to bottle a whole batch (assuming you aren't trying to video each one)?! Looking at the video the actual filling takes about 1 minute for a 500ml bottle. Add on to that 15 seconds to swap bottles and gas with CO2. That should give plenty of time to cap and sanitise the next bo...

This might be of help - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byet5Y ... sp=sharing

It took a few days for them to get back to me. Assuming a reply hasn't gone to your spam folder just send them another email. I guess they're just a bit busy.