Jim's Beer Kit

Quick question - what's the golden syrup for?

Fair play, I've had some amazing beers brewed with dried yeast too. I've just never had great results myself :) I've had great results with Danstar Nottingham. Just overpitch (2x sachets for a 20-odd litre batch), rehydrate well beforehand and control fermentation temps to 16C or so. Beautiful, cle...

If you're patient enough, chill haze will drop out with cold conditioning but it can take several weeks. If I want a beer crystal clear in less time, I use about 5g of polyclar along with 40ml of auxiliary finings, blend em up for a few minutes in about 500ml of boiled water and add that to an empty...

I couldn't comment on the whole sustainability thing, but I agree with other members that sugar is an integral part of most Belgian ales as it dries the beer out and lightens the body and in dark Belgian ales, dark candi sugar (syrup) adds a unique flavour too and there really is no substitution for...

pdtnc wrote:I hope it turns out nice and red

Thanks, me too! I think it might be into brown ale territory actually, but I'll only really know when I can pour a pint.
I didn't really accurately know how dark my roasted barley was, so I've had to take a bit of a shot in the dark!

Nothing wrong with BIAB, I've made some great beers that way...

Actually it works brilliantly well! The thing is to remember to preheat it first. Also, as you can see, I have it full to the brim which also helps a lot. I also wrap it up in a blanket for the hour and it loses at most 1degC over the hour. I could really use a bigger MLT for the 10 gallon batches b...

this made it down to about 1.014, for an ABV of nigh on 5%. It tastes pretty good now, dropped clear and green hop taste just about gone, quite full-bodied. the beer has a brilliant head on it and laces all down the glass. Very pleased.

Will try grab a picture of it.

Came home yesterday to find this had bubbled up through the airlock and made quite a mess. This Irish yeast is a really strong fermenter! I've had to fit a blow-off tube and clean up the mess, probably lost a couple of pints but such is the cost of brewing beer eh? Smells great though, can't wait to...

@spud - care to critique my recipe? Never made one before so took a bit from here and from there to get something drinkable..

Cheers! No, I do like the odd stout, just dunno if I like it enough to get through 40 pints of it in a reasonable time. Might give it a go anyway as I have 900g of roast barley lying about now and a big pitch of WLP004... Maybe I should do an all pale-malt mash split into two kettles, then steep cry...

This is my nod to St Paddy's day next month. We are spending it with an Irish mate and so I felt it was appropriate to brew something for the occasion. I was originally going to brew a dry stout but I'm not sure I want 40 pints of stout so Irish Red it is. I want something along the lines of Smithwi...

Honestly, I think that's a really good thing. Firstly, remember that you'll probably never actually achieve that FG, the full batch won't have such a high pitching rate, oxygen level or fermentation temperature. You'll probably only get 1.014-1.016 or so, at a guess. Also, more importantly, the bigg...

Hmm, well my experience of brewing lager anyway is that they take some serious time to taste right. The higher the gravity and the hoppier the lager, the longer they take to come into balance. I find, *generally*, that it takes at east eight weeks of lagering before a lager starts to taste good, oft...