Jim's Beer Kit

Used GF for 3 years with an iPhone too. 60 brews done. Minimal software issues, none of which were significant for me and regular updates seem to fix quite quickly. The only lack of functionality is when I use the recipe builder on an old iMac with a deliberately older version of OS. Unsurprisingly ...

I don’t have experience of other systems, but you will find that there is plenty of time within the overall five-ish hour brew day with the Grainfather for example that you can devote to other tasks whilst waiting for it to do its thing! Don’t assume that it is five non-stop dedicated hours, particu...

Find a local club. Someone there will be able to loan you equipment, orr you can go around to another brewer's house, make the wort on their kit and then ferment it at your home. You might find the 5+ hour brew day more of a pain than you care for. Excellent advice usually, unfortunately, the lates...

Agree with all of the above helpful advice. I suspect the no rinse sanitiser will be a game changer for you. If the chemsan is like starsan, it relies on maintaining its level of acidity to work. My tapwater turns Starsan cloudy and reduces its efficacy. I make up a small 500ml spray bottle (from a ...

FWH is thought to provide a smoother bitterness, some might say it's undetectable, but it isn't about hop flavour as such. That tends to come from later additions. Something that I have noticed giving better hop flavour is using the newish Incognito hop "paste", search on Malt Miller or Get 'Er Bre...

Thanks IPA, A couple of liquid yeasts will be on my next Malt Miller order. Although I could easily syringe a sample from the top of the actively fermenting wort, The chance of contamination would be less if I can use the Sample tap at the base of the conical. I am guessing it should be fine as that...

Ethanol, once it reaches about 5%, renders most non-yeast microbes dysfunctional, if it doesn’t kill them, which it does at slightly higher than 5%. I bet President Trump would love to know this groundbreaking research. His Covid-19 could be totally cured by completely submerging him in a vat of 6%...

No offence, but based on what you're asking my honest advice is buy some dried yeast and follow the instructions printed on the back of the sachet. No offence taken. Happily, I've found 95% of the JBK forum members are generous and helpful with their wealth of experience and advice, so I've managed...

Thanks Guy and Jocky,

That's really helpful, Allowing for an adaptation due to an induction hob ( thinking bain marie in a pan) will give that a try soon.

I'm curious- do you pitch the starter direct into 2L or step-up? My brew length is 50 litres and I pitch the yeast into 1200 ml in a two litre flask. If it is over 12 months old then it's 500 ml and then 1200 ml. Hi IPA, About to order my 1st liquid yeast and use your method above. Some practical a...

A friend is considering buying one of these to move from kits to AG; any updates especially re quality / longevity and ease of use would be really appreciated.

I've brewed the Nussdorf St Thomas or variations of a few times now, I think I might even be guilty of the brew Demig mentioned. Having brewed it with both European and British versions of Vienna and Munich I prefer the versions with European malts, I've used Ireks and Weyermann with good results, ...

Welcome back. You obviously have lots of previous experience brewing, I had never brewed and jumped straight in with a one pot Grainfather G 30 system a couple of years ago and haven’t looked back! Great fun, I keep Considering Going to wet yeast and starters, but I’ve been very happy with some of t...

Have you got mains water, a sink and drainage set up already in the garage? Sure you will have power. I almost moved from the utility room (1 pot all grain Grainfather) on brew day to the garage a year ago but continue to ferment and store all kit and beer in garage, but move to utility room adjacen...

Had 30 litres yesterday as above, no problem just watched carefully as it came to the boil; especially as I had 60gm of (leaf) first wort hops already added, that made a potential boil over slightly more likely as they form a floating raft at that point