Jim's Beer Kit

Unfortunately I didnt have a ph probe then so I am unsure on the ph.

I mash in a cooler for 60mins then drain and sparge (give a very good stir), however I am probably draining the sparge too quickly, maybe only leaving it for 10mins?

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you, that's interesting to know. What can you tell me about your local geology. Your water profile is reasonably balanced which confirms it is possible and therefore probably correct, but it's certainly outside my experience. I am in Bohuslän area of Sweden (west coas...

Well, it looked that way by assuming you live somewhere in UK. Where are you? Salt Lake City? But to be serious for a moment, that water would be quite alien to UK brewers where even rainfall has more calcium and magnesium than your well water. You didn't send your water to Muphy's? My rough and re...

Thank you all for the replies, especially Eric. Why are you putting what appears to have been decent brewing water through an ion exchange water softener? I am not using a water softener, I have well water and it is very soft. I had my water tested. I think I have some more reading up to do on water...

Thanks Eric, I had forgotten about the chloride:sulpfate ratio, it has defiantly made a difference before in my ales. I have to admit I find the water chemistry side of brewing very hard to get my head around :) Looking at my brew'n water, I have Mashing water Profile: Calcium 51, Magnesium 0, Sodiu...

I am planning making my first stout. I would like to get it similar to Guinness but with just a little bit more flavor/complexity. As stated on here before Guinness’s grain ration is 7:2:1 and would look like this for a 24L batch 3.5KG Pale malt 1KG Flaked Barley 0.5KG Roast Barley Im thinking of do...

Thanks for all the replies. I think I need to look into IOB a little, I have not heard of that. In future I will have to go by the EBC/L values stated. Luckily I had some of Crisps light crystal on hand too. Crisp is the only crystal I can easily get hold of (live in sweden and buy from Humle.se) so...

I wanted some medium crystal malt so ordered some of Crisps Crystal malt, ( called crystal 240). When I put it into Beersmith it told me this was an extra dark crystal! Looking at Crisps data sheet it says their medium crystal is 250-290 EBC 95-110 °L. Looking at other maltsters their medium crystal...

Could someone give me a comparison between a beer engine and a valterra RP 800 pump As far as I can see they should work the same. Obviously a beer engine looks nicer but I can get a new valterra pump compared to an older second hand beer engine. The valterra pump I assume also has a smaller pump ca...

Update from the above comment. Used IKEA's Teresia curtain in a cooler and it worked great, first runnings were crystal clear.

I would put that down to the yeast to be honest, I find s-04 quite sharp fruity and pear droppy and lacks the nice bready vanilla flavours you get in the bitters round here. If you're after a proper regional bitter then yeast is king. No need for sugar or carafa 3 imo, try caramel 20, Munich or car...

Thanks for the tips TheSumOfAllBeer Get the beer bright. Nucleation points are not helpful, beers that I have actually lagered and fined came very close to the cask effect when conditioned right. Focus on condition and serving temp. A poly pin gets you a lot of the way there I have not normally been...

I have come up with a cunning plan (need to say it in your head like Boldrick) regarding my hopping rates. Im thinking of making a larger 30L batch then splitting it. 10L Boil and chill as per receipe 10L Boil and chill and keg hop The above two can share a fermenter 10L Boil, chill and whirlpool ho...

For bitters you’ll want your sulphates higher than chlorides if you want that typical bite. A 1:1.5 ratio is the lower end and 1:2.5 the upper end, imo. Yes you are right, had the terminology the wrong way around. Good that you noticed as I need to change what I had in my recipe, it was totally mes...

WARNING! Don't connect these LPG regulators directly to a CO2 cylinder. They are only rated for 10BAR max (not the about 60BAR found in a CO2 cylinder). They are fitted as "secondary" regulators down stream of the bottle or cylinder regulator you might already have (the "primary" regulator). I was ...