Jim's Beer Kit

clarets7 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 16, 2023 10:43 am

illness in the family has meant I'm a bit behind in the garden,

Sorry to hear that

clarets7 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 16, 2023 10:43 am

ash tree which sadly has die back that might be perfect for hops to climb up.

We lost a Photinia around 3 years ago but using it for a First Gold in exactly the same way

Surprised you lost a First Gold. I've had to move my original plant twice (and the Northdown and Cascade once) and it now grows in all three locations. I know what you mean, my original Challenger plant has spread all over the hillside but no sign of the First Gold. I suspect it never got fully est...

Successfully growing First Gold (Prima Donna), Cascade, Fuggles, Northdown, Styrian Golding and Santium. Understand you going for dwarf varieties but (apart from First Gold) I grow all mine within a 6 foot frame - running them zig-zag wise so they ultimately end up about 25ft (+) 'long' rather than ...

Evening 1st time with this yeast and using a smack-pack. Read the instructions, watched youtube and proceeded to 'smack where I perceived the inner 'pouch' to be. No joy 1st, 2nd - let's cut a long story short, knocked the sh$t out of the pack numerous times and finally thought I'd 'smacked' it in t...

Lovely

Hi Eric Firstly, many thanks for the time and trouble you put in to the last post - much appreciated. Do you treat your water to compliment your grainbill and style? A typical Bitter should be a pretty safe bet with suitable water treatment. Yes - treated using Grahams calculator but with the occasi...

happy to drink and make balanced beers of any shade and modest strength. Likewise - just seem to be more successful at brewing more hoppy beers although I suspect the hops mask some imperfections that would be noticeable in a mild or simple bitter - the latter of which I have until now been less th...

WalesAles wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 17, 2022 6:56 pm

Global warming my arse.

What an image that conjures up

How did the brew turn out? It's no earth-shaker but I am pleasantly surprised bearing in mind I've never been happy with any bitter I've brewed - for my sins, I'm mainly a hoppy IPA guy. If I'd thought to dry hop - treating this as if it were my usual IPA, I think it would have been very, very good...

Hop Bill ---------------- 40.0 g Olicana Leaf (5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (2 g/L) 30.0 g Olicana Leaf (5% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (1.5 g/L) 30.0 g Olicana Leaf (5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (1.5 g/L) Interesting you got such a good 'fruit' impression given the 'citrousy' element of the oils supposedly evaporates ...

Bittered my green hop using bought hops with quoted AA%. I think those picked wouldn't have much bittering property, always a gamble with unknown hops. For bittering, I work on the basis of the lowest potential AA% for each variety based on published data and my experience from the previous year. I...

How do you find your cascade compare with those from USA? I've had conflicting views, but have always used those grown in America. No idea to be honest - been that long since I've bought anything I use for bittering or at flames out and only ever use my cascade in the latter. This next wet hop will...

My Cascade were picked on Sunday afternoon. Not an especially warm day, but at least dry. Picked 2.5kg (wet) late afternoon Thursday. Onto the multi drying racks with 20" fan beneath expecting the usual 2 full days drying but then the weather went downhill with rain and cooler temperatures. Had onl...

Brewed 50 litre Green Hop beer today. Used Brewers Gold and Challenger for bittering and 750 gm of freshly picked Bramling Cross for aroma. No idea how it could turn out. How are things looking? I've been staring at the best Styrian I've ever grown and the remaining Fuggles - some cones of which ar...

All in all I don't think growing hops is worth the effort when compared to commercial cost and quality, but that is true of so much in life and hobbies. Wouldn't argue with that. All too often what starts as a hobby becomes a bit of an obsession. The realisation this year is that I've got to the po...