Jim's Beer Kit

I use pellets as well as leaf.

You need marginally less pellets in a brew, by weight.

They have a tendency to clog the strainer though. I changed to a home-made stainless-steel mesh filter to get around this with great success.

The Savinja valley is around 80km from me as the crow flies and is on a southern wind route - ie, interconnecting valleys. I've done a taste test with hop teas and they do taste quite green, although smooth. I think its worth a couple of small brews just to find out if they have potential. I compare...

The other thing to think about is the cross-reference to paying tax or claiming relief. No doubt HMRC will cross-reference it. If you file separate accounts for the businesses or have joint premises with your house, you can claim a fair share of lighting, heating, building repairs, rates, rent etc e...

I pass several wild hop plants when walking the dog and this week they were perfect to harvest. I live in southern Austria not too far away from the Slovenian border if that helps. These are two types I have picked so far, and are distinctly different in terms of leaf and also cone: The first one is...

Thanks both,

Troublebrewing doesn't do these any more. The other link isnt bad and a good second option to the one from Australia. Just a pity that one isn't available in Europe as its ready made.

I am finally getting around to building my own temp controlled HLT rather than rely on my slow and aging Burco type boiler (with its inaccurate temp control). I'm tired of getting up teh ladder to keep checking the temp manually. I have a spare STC-1000 that I'd like to use, but I'm a bit worried ab...

Managed to get some delivered from the U.S. after all. There are a couple of suppliers on Ebay!

that's bad news

Hi, Does anyone know where to source Ahtanum hops from? I have tried all the usual places and they either don't deliver to Europe, or the ones that are in Europe don't stock them or are out of stock. I bought some when I was in the U.S. last year and I loved them. They are lovely as a late addition ...

I got the data from here: http://www.wasserwerk.at/home/wasserqualitaet/wasserhaerte-oesterreich (I'm in Wolfsberg). I've asked them for a more precise water analysis, so hopefully then I can use the various calculators. I'm going to take the advice and halve the gypsum, but let it rest overnight be...

I live in South Austria where we have unbelievably soft water. In fact I've never known our kettle ever have calcium on the heater element after 4 years use. We have a reading with the water board or 4-8 degrees dH (whatever that is). I've been adding remarkably high amounts of calcium sulphate (28g...

Cheers Kev888,

The advice and the link are perfect! I'm off to replicate it

Hi all, has anyone built a hand-pull kegerator fridge? I'm thinking of getting a second-hand fridge and adding a thermostat to ensure the Ale stays around cellar temperature. However, I want to use a Angram hand-pull system rather than use C02 to dispense the beer. Having said that, does a C02 set-u...

I wasn't overly impressed with the beer there in truth. They also do a lot of fizzy pop production under licence. The staff were great though and the tour was good. Many thanks for your advice. Looks like I have a plan now for the feel of the beer! Would anyone have an idea of the hops in Tyneside B...

wow. ok. 68C is quite high compared to what i normally do which is 66C. I was actually thinking of going lower - perhaps to 62C after a trip to camerons brewery (where i found out that 62C is their mash temp) to get a dryer flavour, but happy to take advice here. Have you had good results on the cre...