Jim's Beer Kit

So you're after more oakiness? Extended contact time with the powder is the way to go, so pop it in when bulk ageing. Tannins in the wood are better left out of the initial ferment. Either way, no real wrong answer so don't sweat it.

No point in secondary unless you want more oxidation problems. The bulldog kit would likely fix the issue yeah. For the white labs go for a warm (15c) pitch with 15m cells per ml then cool it down for fermentation. Hi Jocky It's at serving when i noticed this, once it has been under CO2 in the corny...

You're adding more malt than intended - so more colour These kits are designed to be brewed to their spec and sugar keeps the colour light. You would either need to use sugar, extra light LME, or buy a different kit which is made from extra light LME Other culprit would probably be oxidation, but I'...

Maybe Nelson's revenge?

That looks over complicated for standard ale tbh. Collect a few degrees below target - free rise to fermentation temp and hold it there - diacetyl rest varies by yeast but it’s usually around 15c? - gradually cool once free from diacetyl and sulfur to as close to freezing as possible. Dry hop varies...

Mmm, not a common off flavour. If it’s literally one demi john and everything else is fine though it’s probably an infection through poor cleanliness, or advanced oxidizing as it’s been stored for so long, or if the yeast are smothered by sediment they can autolyse and produce a burning rubber flavo...

Oh. Right you are, extraction issues then probably. Sometimes it can be as simple as thoroughly mixing the grist before adding - a bag chunk of flaked barley will probably just form a gloopy ball and grain needs to be in contact with wort and therefore conversion enzymes to do anything...just a gues...

Brewing Elements Water has it around there too at 600ppm. Pretty heavy however so unless you’re brewing historic beers my taste is personally at at least half that. At work for the basic pale I’m at a much more sensible 3:1 with 150/60ppm and it’s much nicer.

Yeast nackered maybe? Try a repitch

Cask breathers won’t preserve the beer as well as you probably want, unless you’re a big drinker. I have a pump in my house and it’s quite difficult to get a proper level of carbonation in polypins, the simple fact is real ale is designed to be turned over quickly so it may be tough to keep the beer...

Greene King and Guinness have most of it apparently. Someone in the know tells me what’s available to micro and home brewers is around 3% of the crop.
Hereford Goldings = Goldings btw, we’re not big enough for climate to matter! Haha.

I’d guess the peat smoked malt is contributing a higher than normal level of polyphenols in the beer. These bond with proteins and cause big foamy heads, remain difficult to clear after brewing and taste quite acrid. Basically you’ve got a bunch of trub floating around in your beer. I took the time ...

There are better malts to use for lager if you want to no chill. “Extra Pale Malt” by Crisp is somewhere between english and pilsner malts in terms of modification, as is Vienna, and both are much less prone to DMS while retaining light flavour and colour so might be worth a go. You could always bun...

Pilsner malt and no chill is a no-go for me. Gonna be full of DMS with the extended heat time...

Had a lemongrass wheat. Otley brewery? Was nice, wouldn’t want a keg of it. Brew a batch and bung a gallon of it on spices.