Search found 13 matches

by ephemeraldog
Thu Sep 27, 2018 10:59 am
Forum: Mead
Topic: Beeswax - influence on mead fermentation?
Replies: 5
Views: 4752

Re: Beeswax - influence on mead fermentation?

You were lucky with your cappings; they are much wetter than what my wife produces. She drains the cappings to avoid too much give-away. I have so far about 24 buckets of cappings to deal with from about 900 kg of honey produced this year. At 1.1080 I would reckon your mead will be fairly dry and y...
by ephemeraldog
Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:46 am
Forum: Mead
Topic: Beeswax - influence on mead fermentation?
Replies: 5
Views: 4752

Re: Beeswax - influence on mead fermentation?

Thanks Carnot, I might give the filter bag a try the next time I use uncappings (I have about another 10kg to use), which might be a hopped honey ale. By my calculations about 8.6 kg of 'cappings' gave me 1.1 kg of washed wax, so there was roughly 7.5 kg of honey in 5 gallon. S.G came to 1.108, whic...
by ephemeraldog
Sun Sep 23, 2018 7:15 pm
Forum: Mead
Topic: Beeswax - influence on mead fermentation?
Replies: 5
Views: 4752

Beeswax - influence on mead fermentation?

Back in 2012 I made about 7 gallon of mead from uncappings - the sticky mixture of the wax seals of sealed-over honeycomb and a bit of honey. All came out really well & we still have quite a few bottles. Since moving to Wales I've had a couple of buckets of the same stuff in honey buckets kicking ar...
by ephemeraldog
Sun Sep 16, 2018 9:33 am
Forum: Hops
Topic: Reusing dry-hop hops in a boil
Replies: 3
Views: 1907

Re: Reusing dry-hop hops in a boil

Thank you both, I'll be chucking them in later today & will post tasting notes here once it's drinkable.
by ephemeraldog
Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:36 pm
Forum: Hops
Topic: Reusing dry-hop hops in a boil
Replies: 3
Views: 1907

Reusing dry-hop hops in a boil

My latest 23L brew is currently in its FV2 being dry-hopped with about 150g of leaf hops. It's smelling good, but being the Cardi smollholder that I am I got to wondering if these hops would be of any use if I used them as bittering/aroma hops. I've got an old "Winter beer" kit in my cupboard, if I ...
by ephemeraldog
Fri Sep 14, 2018 7:05 pm
Forum: RIMS and HERMS
Topic: Anyone recognise this pump?
Replies: 3
Views: 3816

Re: Anyone recognise this pump?

Thanks Mark, yes it does. That'll help me in a search for instructions. How is yours powered, if I may ask?
by ephemeraldog
Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:46 pm
Forum: Cleaning, Sanitation and Sterilisation
Topic: Kindest sterilisers on septic tank system
Replies: 11
Views: 4546

Re: Kindest sterilisers on septic tank system

Are you sure the blockage was lime and not fat? If the septic tank is more than two metres from the house there should be a grease/fat trap installed before the septic tank. Quite sure, we had the whole building repointed & rendered in lime 18 months before the blockage. I guess some of the work cr...
by ephemeraldog
Tue Sep 11, 2018 11:01 pm
Forum: RIMS and HERMS
Topic: Anyone recognise this pump?
Replies: 3
Views: 3816

Anyone recognise this pump?

I bought a magnetic drive pump (I think) some years ago to go with my 3 vessel system I'd bought & never got around to even trying it out. As I'm now planning to set up the system I've started wondering what exactly I bought. I think it is a reconditioned March pump, does anyone have an idea which, ...
by ephemeraldog
Tue Sep 11, 2018 10:49 pm
Forum: Cleaning, Sanitation and Sterilisation
Topic: Kindest sterilisers on septic tank system
Replies: 11
Views: 4546

Re: Kindest sterilisers on septic tank system

Thanks for the comments. Yes, ours is an old 2-chamber brick setup hidden in a field about 20m from the house, takes all wastewater. Its been emptied once in the 4.5 years we've been here. There was a blockage in the outflow pipe (a fist sized ball of lime!) that I had to rod from 2 sides before it ...
by ephemeraldog
Tue Sep 11, 2018 11:12 am
Forum: Cleaning, Sanitation and Sterilisation
Topic: Kindest sterilisers on septic tank system
Replies: 11
Views: 4546

Kindest sterilisers on septic tank system

Hi, Any advice on kindest sterilisers to septic tanks? I have an old 2-chamber & soak away system that I BioBoost with digesting bugs each month, but we have a holiday cottage here too & guests sometimes use a whole bottle of bleach in a week(!!!), therefore I want to be as kind to our bugs as possi...
by ephemeraldog
Sun Sep 09, 2018 3:33 pm
Forum: Brewdays
Topic: Impromptu brewday
Replies: 4
Views: 2397

Re: Impromptu brewday

[quote=vacant post_id=836681 time=1536305498 user_id=743] I've not had much luck with the two cheap probes-on-wire thermometers I've tried. Dipping the cable in hot wort seems to kill them. You can try a few rounds of boiling the probe/cable in water and drying it out. Didn't work for me. What works...
by ephemeraldog
Thu Sep 06, 2018 11:15 pm
Forum: Brewdays
Topic: Impromptu brewday
Replies: 4
Views: 2397

Re: Impromptu brewday

Apologies for the lack of images, I thought I could add them in options after I pressed Submit. I'll get the hang of this someday!
by ephemeraldog
Thu Sep 06, 2018 11:11 pm
Forum: Brewdays
Topic: Impromptu brewday
Replies: 4
Views: 2397

Impromptu brewday

On seeing the weather at 7am today (heavy hitting rain as they say in Ceredigion), I put all thoughts of working on the smallholding firmly away and decided instead to brew a beer. I took delivery of a freshly milled sack of propino, various specialist grains and some tasty hops last week so was itc...