Jim's Beer Kit

guypettigrew wrote:Blimey, 220 litres! 50 gallons? And what wattage is your fishtank heater?

Guy

Not what I would consider as homebrew.

As said, it will be fine with quite a few yeasts. Consider buying a cheap plastic trug sightly larger than your FV. Place your FV into water in the trug and heat that water to avoid needing to sterilise the heater. Further, with a bit of manual intervention you can get a more suitable and even tempe...

Morning Guys, I'm consistently having this problem with my beers finishing too low gravity-wise. My last bitter (Pale and munich, OG 1050, Mash @ 67 : 90 Mins, Nottingham Yeast) finished at 1.008 - whilst I know this is within range for Nottingham, I was hoping for a 1.010 - 1.012 finish, as I like...

How accurate need we be Dunc? Better than a point or two? As as been observed elsewhere, I'm a bit OCD when it come to numbers... But the inaccuracy I noticed in my pH strips was certainly of the order of several points. I just can't remember exactly how many. Could even be up to +/- 0.5. Thanks fo...

If your water contains a lot of bicarbonate it will deposit lime on the element to operate the overheat protection. You might need to conside water treatment. Steel wool might roughen the element surface and worsen the problem

If it's a known good cap screwed down correctly, might it be the finish to the top of the neck, either not square or too rough? Much out of square and you've no easy chance but a high spot or recess can be found by placing something flat like a good glazed tile or mirror face down and smoothed accor...

Yeah, I've become extremely sceptical about the value of pH strips since buying a decent meter. How inaccurate have you found the PH strips to be, Dunc? It's been a while, I can't actually remember. How accurate need we be Dunc? Better than a point or two? I don't have a meter and so can't validate...

Knowing your water's alkalinity is the starting point, matching that to the style of your proposed beer will get you going in the right direction. In this case it appears you will have to reduce that alkalinty for virtually every style of beer. Permanent hardness will provide essential minerals need...

+ I get problems with chill haze Chill haze results from leftover proteins if the boil isn't rigorous enough. . You get chill haze when you drink cold beer. If you drink cold beer you need to do extra things to deal with the haze. I'm lazy and fly spage because it's easier. I'd batch sparge if I co...

I've not found calcium chloride at levels above 100 ppm a problem, to the contrary, I would hesitate at any attempt to produce a really decent stout or darker beer made of a goodly proportion of higher kilned malts unless using double that amount or even worse, providing more calcium in the form of...

I understand the theory. But in practice I have seen something else. Add gypsum to water or beer, get minerally taste. Add CRS to drop alkalinity, no minerally taste. Have too much SO4 in source water, no minerally taste. That's whether the water profile is mineral rich or mineral poor. Whether the...

I'd leave it and agree with Hanglow that what you have is probably spot on for that combination. I've found Windsor continues working longer in secondary than Nottingham and you may find that the excess sweetness will subside with time.

Dave S wrote:

Dr. Dextrin wrote:Is Fuggles too obvious?

Fuggles is a fine hop.

Perhaps an example of how taste changes in a generation?
That would be the hop I would choose from which to compare all others.

It probably won't be the clearest beer you'll ever make, but yes, the process will deal amazingly well with what's happened.
Much of the debris could come to the top as the yeast rises and with care can be skimmed off although many feel you shouldn't risk contamination.
It happens.

So, did we reach a verdict on the 60 vs 90 min mash? I think so Dave. A 60 minute mash will generally produce a less fermentable wort, i.e. one with a lower final gravity and less alcoholic potential, than a 90 minute one with identical ingredients and conditions. A mash with a high quantity of low...