Jim's Beer Kit

I too have used this yeast for a recent brew. My yeast calculator told me I only needed a 0.6L starter for my 23L batch :shock: I only used the dregs from a single bottle in about 30ml wort and then stepped up to 0.6L in one go. The starter really did seem to grow nicely, perhaps due to my stir-plat...

The most important bit for me was the extractor fan. I have this on my list; otherwise I have to put up with a bit of steam or open the (double) doors and windows on my shed. I need to add more "storage" in my shed; there's so many odds & sods in there I need to "organise". I have electrics, water,...

My sparge water heater is a cheap 30L tea urn I bought when I was doing BIAB. I modified it with a proper tap, but if it's only for sparge water, I don't think I'd bother if I were to do it again; and insulated with a £5 foil-backed camping mat from Tesco (Other supermarkets available). sparge.jpg P...

I have a jar full of Voss Kveik yeast slurry. Tempted to try a lager-like ale/beer with this yeast. Anyone tried this yeast in a faux-lager? Guidance on fermentation temp? The slurry is from a English style ale fermented at 33C. It turned out quite full bodied - creamy even - but with a very slight ...

I get the point about water usage; it's an issue in beer production. IIRC the most efficient breweries use around 2L of water for every 1L of beer produced, but at our scale I suspect it's nearer 5-6L per 1L. Or maybe even higher. I've already said that I use the GF CFC to cool my wort and certainly...

Why can you not put your boiled wort in your fermentation fridge set on cold to speed up the wort cooling? Obviously not as good as immersion chiller, CFC or plate chiller, but better than leaving it to cool at room or garage temperature. Failing that, buy or make an immersion chiller. I made one fr...

That sounds interesting. Please let us know the quantities used and the result.

I might have to experiment with ginger chilli and basil though...

Trying to work out whether I'm smoking something or not, but been thinking about slightly wacky modern-ish craft beer using Thai flavours of lemon grass, basil, ginger and chilli, and maybe coconut. I was thinking of a saison base (already a little "spicy" and dry enough for the more subtle flavours...

@PeeBee, loving the analytical approach you're taking to this. As I've said before, I do like my Tilt, but it certainly is not without its' issues! Hazelweiss Tilt log.jpg This log from a recent Hefeweiss brew in my fermentasaurus shows some very odd "behaviour". I've highlighted two areas which I t...

I went to Brewcon in London last November and Muntons had a stall there where they were giving samples of beer made in one of these. To be honest, it reminded me of homebrew of old, i.e. unpleasant! If you can't or don't want to brew AG, buy a decent quality kit or buy some LME/DME, some fresh hops ...

0.5g cacao nibs? I very much doubt anyone would notice that in a beer this big!

Are you suggesting that I could get 2kg of liquid malt extract add some hops and choose a yeast and potentially make a nice brew? This is precisely what I used to do before I moved to AG. Made some decent brews. I reckon the biggest steps to improving beers are 1) Sanitation, 2) Temperature Control...

I put supermarket frozen raspberries in secondary with my strong Belgian blonde. Took a while for them to sink to the bottom - in fact they may not have totally done so - but the beer ended up lovely and clear given time. Based on that, I reckon no need for either purée-ing or cold crashing. Time - ...

Slightly off topic, but I couldn't resist...

Do you think the Supreme Court verdict today has left a "slight off taste" in the PM's mouth?

I'll get my coat.

I did see that you can buy the Kindle eBook version for a more reasonable price.