Jim's Beer Kit

Has anyone used one of these beauties? I'm looking to replace my burco element and a 3 x 2000w stainless jobby has got me thinking - so much more control over the power possibly? BTW I haven't forgotten the 13a per socket/ring limitation. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6000W-220V-Wave-Design-Water-Heater...

I'd switch the freezer on with the lid/door open. Watch for the frost to appear on the sides or base or wherever. That'll tell you where the cooling pipes are buried, do not drill anywhere near these. Then you can check where you'd like the wires to run for best convenience and if there's no obvious...

Update: Fermenting finished at 1002. Still very cloudy. Dropped the ferm. fridge to 5c, after 4 days I racked to secondary. Much clearer, bottled with 1/2 tsp sugar for conditioning. Tasted going into the bottle. Very light pear flavour, probably very easy to drink. Didn't taste like a 7% brew but t...

After bottling they went in the ferm. fridge at 21c for 3 days then into my bottle store/cupboard in my shed where temp has ranged between about 14 and 20c. I opened the third one last night and that is after about 3-4 weeks in bottle. I must admit I'm beginning to wonder if I just left the priming ...

Since building my ferm. fridge I've been dropping fermented worts to about 5 or 6c prior to bottling, I bottle by adding 1/2 or 1 tsp sugar to each bottle depending on how fizzy I want things to get. This autumn I've been fortunate to harvest enough apples and pears to make 2 x 20l batches of cider ...

Brilliant Pinto!
Sadly just windfall russets from my tree
Cheers

OK, a bit more hope now, nasty smell seems to have gone, a small krausen has built up and general fizzing from the fermenter, gravity down to around 1035ish.

OK progress so far, after sitting for 2days 2 fermenting bins full of whole pears plus about a dozen apples all scratted and pressed giving about 20l dark brown juice. 4crushed campden tablets added and juice left a day. About 200ml Yeast slurry from cider made last week added, into fermentation fri...

Putting the element in through the curved side of the pot adds a degree of difficulty in getting it to seal, is the base a single skin? You could fit a burco element clone in the base. ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BURCO-3kw-urn-heating-element-CF15L2646-F24L334446-C26HX-C10EH2T-C30ET-18HX2-/361258431...

Agree with the others, the expanded foam will be impossible to clean, and it'll crumble quickly, not to mention I'm not sure how food safe it really is. That said these are exactly what I used for the insulation on my first mash tun. I got a mango chutney barrel free from my local restaurant by aski...

Thanks all, I don't have a mechanical scatter just the waste disposal one, so I think I'll mix some windfall apples in with the pears when I press. And possibly a second net curtain layer around the pulp bag I'll try and remember to take pictures of the day. I picked the pears today and got one of t...

Hi All, Admittedly not strictly a cider but hopefully close enough to qualify for the cider section. After using lots of my elderly mums apples to make two cider batches I noticed her neighbour has a pear tree. I've just asked if they have plans for the pears, they don't, so I have permission to pic...

Do you trust your hydrometer? As you say for both yeasts to stop there is a bit odd, unless it has fermented out. My old hydrometer did this to me. I was wondering why I could never ferment below about 1020 so I tested it in tap water at 20c ish. Guess what .... Water was 1015 or so. A different hyd...

Any mates with plumbing skills? Mind you a connector for the urn and a tap to attach to it is going to come to around £10, so not much less than the finished article. You'll only make a big saving if you can find a cheaper second hand urn. Good luck with your brewing, I know mine took a step up afte...

Looks OK
My cider drops to 1000 or less so I'd wait a bit longer before you start to worry.