Jim's Beer Kit

Hi Moc, Don't think that you're doing anything different to most homebrewers. You wrote "live and learn" and that is spot on my friend. There are no "pig easy" brews, it all depends what happens on the day but it will get easier as you gain knowledge and confidence. What is likely is the reward cons...

There's nothing wrong in the clarity from the boiler despite my concern about what's going into it. The boiler filter is 15mm copper pipe with saw cuts, homemade after looking at pictures on this site and it works a treat. My beer drops bright without fining having used SO4 yeast about 10 days in th...

I used to get fairly good results with Irish moss and just a sieve but now use Protafloc and a homemade hop filter and the results are much better. Which of those has had the greater effect I can't say. Before this year I'd not brewed since about 2001 and have introduced many changes to give substan...

Thanks Scooby, that's just the sort of message I'd hoped to get. The first few litres are quite muddy but if I wait until getting anything like the pictures I see the flow rate is dismal.
Does anyone hold a contrary view?

1020 does seem a bit high. With these temperatures I'd expect 1015 in 3 to 4 days. 6 gm yeast is low and could be the problem.

My beers have improved beyond expectation since reading and joining this forum but I have always struggled with the run off from the mash. Now I mash in an unmodified 24 litre coolbox with extra insulation and it is simple and ideal. The mash is transferred to a fermenter with tap and dinner plate f...

The result would be better without the lid but that doesn't mean the end product will not be enjoyable. The degree would depend how tight the lid was. You should have a vigorous boil at the start and expect to lose by evaporation maybe of the order of 10%. It is likely that 1020 is too high but that...

It seems you're looking for trouble that in all probability doesn't exist. The yeast will first use the oxygen in the wort to grow (multiply). [Aerobic] When the oxygen is exhausted it will convert sugars into alcohol and produce the large volumes of CO2 you expect. [Anaerobic] During this second st...

More likely sex.

In a word, yes.
Lightly hopped but the roast barley would make up for some of that and should suit my tastebuds.
As already expressed it could be stretched and will be dark.
If I read that in some brewing book it wouldn't think it was out of place.
Good luck.

Thank you, and maybe I should try Ciabatta, thought if I could make drinkable beer I could make edible bread. Not necessarily so. Our youngest daughter likes Ciabatta for her lunchtime sandwiches although I can't remember trying it. Doubt if she'll be the guinea pig though, got too much sense. Cheers.

Thanks for that and can now confirm I made bread using SO4 slurry. However, the high density burnt offerings produced were not quite to the desired quality. A surprising amount of hand and arm muscle effort was necessary to knead the dough as I have no mixer. All in all it seems a lot less forgiving...

Hi Sam, well done and many congratulations. Two in one weekend is proof of dedication. I wonder how you measure temperature? It shouldn't rise without energy input and so it can only be that your mash isn't all at the same temperature when you took one or both of your readings. I would have expected...

Excellent DC. OK about your second sparge. I'm not so sure everyone is as honest as you. I still have problems with my run offs and sparging always takes longer than I allow. It's getting better but mine starts off fast and cloudy and shortly after it's clear, it's running too slowly. One day I'll c...

As an office boy at the start of the sixties, I would go up Stoney Lane to get the men their "bate". This would often consist of something within a round, non-crusty piece of soft white bread about 8 to 12 inches in diameter and an inch thick. We called them flat cakes but on the next river north, t...