Jim's Beer Kit

Goodness-have you ever thought about getting counselling, PeeBee? Don't be silly. The counselling sessions came to an abrupt stop in March. Probably because half the nation suddenly needed counselling. The nett result being everyone on this forum gets me in the raw. And I guess I'll just be getting...

Just when you thought no-one will mention "pycnometer" again … I'm back! #-o This time dealing with something well outside the ability of a home-brewing hydrometer. The SG of this liquid is very high and I'm switching to 4C water reference for this. It will show up one of the discrepancies in my ear...

… I saw no frothy head I'm familiar with from other yeast starters … I rarely get a "frothy head" on my yeast starters. I always consider such things as indicating I've got the stirrer going too slow and/or I've left it too long. The piccie is a WLP002 starter I used some time ago. It's just a bliz...

... Anyway, you forgot the most important part of my post. Where are the nuts!!!! Guy Ah ... okay. Is that better? 20200620_160816_WEB.jpg 'Tis worrying though, I'm down to my last 1/2 cwt. And I don't get another subscription delivery for 3 or 4 weeks. Anyway. Keeping the thread on track, the beer...

... Yeah, I think the agitator and pump are the same thing. It's a propeller, not an impeller? Actually I've no idea what I'm talking about there! Enlighten me, please. … This is written off top of me 'ead (damn, where did I leave the "top of me 'ead" …), not off Wikipedia as I usually do. So it is...

No worries about changing the schematic, Jef, play away! The concern I had about using the python pump in the way you have was because of my (perhaps erroneous) belief it needed to be on all the time to stop the ice bath completely freezing up into a solid block. Hence using the coil in the ice bat...

On a similar (near identical) vein I did a similar hack. But cheated a little by investing in the lead from GF for interfacing with their hyper-expensive glycol cooler. It then uses the GF's own controller to do the temperature control. It needs a 12V relay to switch the shelf cooler on and off (min...

Interesting! How much pressure would beer engines handle without leaking? What primary CO2 pressure would you recommend? I don't know! My pumps (Angram CO and CQ) complain audibly when subjected to 4-5PSI (judder, creak, etc.). The demand valves I use are rated for 45PsI! But high pressured beer fr...

Established forum users probably already know of my preference of using variable LPG regulators over "breathers" for dispensing "Real Ale" style home brew (emulating "Real Ale", which is otherwise impossible to re-create at home; unless you've plenty of mates to help see off a cask in rapid order). ...

Seen them! There's a little matter of an inconveniently place heating element (all 6KW of it).

I should have said though: This braided SS sleeving is (apparently) no good with hop pellets.

I've an enormous hop filter (once described on this forum as "the mother of all hop filters"). Here it is: 20200614_153138_WEB.jpg It's for a boiler churning out 45-65L batches. But I ran into a problem. I will brew a few 19th century recipes which have big hop quantities of fairly average IBU level...

Every forum has at least one troll Hey, I've dug you out a recent example (ID hidden ... ish). This is "Mark14" getting it in the neck. Remarkably I'm not being referred to anywhere in this one: Kveik lore will do that to you :lol: Seriously, I recognise 3 main groups who promote it online. Those m...

Brilliant, thanks for the link and I shall heed your words :) Good! But be careful of his last sentence: … Except for yeast, you can never know enough about yeast. :) I've spent a good bit of time messing with the complexities of yeast. And sharing this knowledge quickly attracts the attention the ...

… PS Peebee - there's no chalk (white crumbly stuff like the White Cliffs of Dover) in the Peak District, it's all limestone (hard, usually grey qv Buckingham Palace). Chemically very similar but there's a big geological difference! Oops. I should have been giving it the usual "quote" treatment. Ye...

You wont see any "calcium carbonate" reported, because there isn't any! What Northern Brewer was quoting from the water company website was " as CaCO3" but the "as" is often left off. It's a convenient way of describing such things. All "carbonate" will actually be "bicarbonate" at the reported pH7....