Jim's Beer Kit

I don't think it's really necessary to leave the Maxi running all the time. The ice bath will stay cold enough to do the job, once it's cooled down.

I control mine to switch on/off with an external STC1000, set at 0.3C difference in temperature in the fermenter.

Anyone remember Superflavex?

It sounds like you have a #2 pump in your Maxi 210. It has a red wheel on the top of the shaft. I have a 210 with #2 pump. It can start to struggle a bit if you ask it to move a fair bit of liquid around. Test the pump with a short length of beer line, fed back into the reservoir. Does it pump well?...

I use a heated tray underneath a 100L s/s stockpot.
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How many kilos at a time do you put into the communal sewerage system? 6kg or so. Takes a bit of washing away but it goes eventually It’s really not what the public sewer system is intended to handle. I know it makes it go away conveniently but sticking it in the bin would be greatly preferable in ...

Freegle/Freecycle is your friend, if your don't know anyone who keeps chickens/pigs etc.

You should find someone who's only too happy to regularly collect your grains.

I use stackable "mushroom" trays, which I got from the local green grocer and farm shops, for free. Usually found out back, they're happy to get rid of them. I've accumulated about 50-60 over the years. I lay a sheet of tabloid newspaper in the bottom of the tray, open it out, add a single layer of ...

I use wild hops regularly, so I just guesstimate that they're going to be about 4% AA. It's not going to be far off. The hop tea will give you an idea. You won't ruin your beer, but if you like hoppy beers, then it could be less hoppy than you'd like. I don't like over-hopped beer, so it works fine ...

Website now up and running... http://wehomebrew.club/

They should all be female, so no cross pollination as far as I'm aware.

A brand new homebrew club is starting up in Windsor next month. WE Homebrew will meet from 7pm, every last Wednesday of the month, starting September 2019. The club is being supported by Windsor & Eton brewery, and will be hosted there. Thanks to Paddy for providing the facilities. The aim of the cl...

I used damsons in a porter some years ago. What I didn't realise was that there is a hell of a lot of pectin in damsons. Pectin is great for making jam, [which is what is do with damsons now], but not so good for beer. That brew looked like mud. It took a couple of years, at least, to clear enough t...

Update... For those of you with the CQ model, please note the reply that I finally got from Angram this morning. Unfortunately we do not sell cylinder seals for the water jacketed cylinders due to the risk of cross contamination. We do however sell new cylinders, which I have provided the prices bel...

Well, Angram never called yesterday or today, so I just went ahead and fixed it. The pin wouldn't lever out with a small screwdriver, but a pair of pincers did the job easily, with a bit of a twist. The pin is just a push fit, but has a kind of thread on it. Pin removed, and re-bent return spring......

Thanks, a useful diagram, that. I'm waiting on a call from Angram technical dept. at the moment, so I'll find out what they have to say. I do have an older, spare CQ, which I could swap the top plates over if need be, but I reckon that it should be repairable. I have noticed on the ones that I've se...