Jim's Beer Kit

I shall certainly give that a go.

James

First post for a long time. Been busy with life and suchlike. Fortunately at no point have I run out of beer :) For many years I've used one of these twin-lever things for capping bottles: https://www.tanstaafl.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/capper1.jpg It does a good job of crimping the cap on ni...

I have bought a fair bit of astronomy gear from First Light Optics. They also sell microscopes and should be able to offer advice and help in choosing one. They have a very good reputation in the astronomy community.

James

A friend donated about four dozen bottles to me yesterday. They've been sitting around in his shed for longer than he can remember. He used to collect the empties to return for a deposit (yes, they've been there that long). The bottles are the original swing-top ones used for Newquay Steam Brown Ale...

I realise they're not a true SMaSH, but using a single bittering hop makes life so much easier. If I'd done the bittering with the aroma hop I'd have needed to do five full separate boils, which probably would have meant doing several separate mashes as well because the boils would need to be done o...

I think normal plywood would delaminate fairly quickly. If you could find a decent offcut of a single piece of timber that would probably be better. Or maybe an offcut of kitchen worktop might do the job, face down with all the edges sealed. I have a vague recollection that the material used for the...

Someone posted images here of a lid made from a chunk of wood which might be a viable alternative.

James

Had a busy weekend in the beer shack, initially bottling what was already fermented, but finally got around to starting a SMaSH experiment that I've been planning for some time. I have a large selection of hop varieties and my plan is to make small batches with each so I can compare the different ho...

For batches that size I reckon you can probably get away with a much smaller diameter pipe if you need to, though the convenience of a flexible 100mm tube may be tempting. Thinking about it, one limiting factor on pipe size may perhaps be the power of the element. A given size element can presumably...

If you do go for the type shown make sure you remove it before the end of the boil - water will condense in the flexible hosing and drip down into the beer. The inside of the hose will be far from sanitary. I'd have thought it would be by the time it has had steam passing through it for an hour or ...

What size boiler are you going to be using? You can get away with something far smaller on a boiler for 25l batches than you'll need for, say, 100l.

James

scott78 wrote:All apples are different, if you go with a 50% yield of juice you should be OK.

I'd agree that's a fair place to start.

James

Just started the JBK brewalong myself

James

Yes, I've not been unhappy with the Beaverdale kits (as you can tell from my sig I think the most important thing is just not to rush with them.

James

Jim wrote:And ---breaking news---- Beer Engine appears to work perfectly in PlayOnLinux.

Now that I am going to have to have a go at

James