Jim's Beer Kit

Brewed on 22nd Dec. I was waiting until the Christmas holidays to do my first all-grain recipe. For the first time ever, not a gram of extract will go into my beer. Not having a mash tun, or even the expertise for conducting a mash using a 3-vessel system, I’ll be using a BIAB method using my two po...

I'm looking for some suggestions for a blonde ale recipe. The intended audience are fairly conservative drinkers who normally drink lager and aren't mad into the American hoppy thing. I'm thinking Maris Otter, wheat malt, small addition of CaraMalt and hopping with something like EKG or Northern Bre...

I am going to make one from one of these http://www.colchesterhomebrew.co.uk/colchesterhomebrewshop/prod_1069655-60-ltr-Brewing-Bin-and-lid.html Looks good. One element or two? Did you have any thoughts about going stainless for the boiler? I've been debating this for months now and I still haven't...

Watching with great interest Monks. What are you going to use for your boiler?

Those three hops will go fantastically well together, in any combinations, in any amounts. You can't really overhop an IPA with flavour, just watch your IBUs. Recently, I've started using only two flavour/aroma varieties in my hoppy beers - the theory is that I'll be better able to taste both variet...

Nice post, especially with the pics. Always great to see others' equipment setups.

Can you tell me more about your mash tun and boiler? Is that a converted Blimchmann I see? Nice...

Steve, have you calibrated your fermentation vessel? The measurements on the plastic fermenters are notoriously inaccurate. Just a suggestion.

Having done my first all-grain brews (small batch BIAB) over the Christmas hols, I'm more determined than ever to go all-grain in 2013. The best bitter I did was so good I could have drank it warm out of the fermenter! Plenty more of those small BIABs to come - a mild, some more bitters. I'd like to...

My preference would be for Safale US-05 (or its liquid equivalent, Whitelabs WLP001/Wyeast 1056), but a lot of American craft pale ales are fermented with a dry English yeast. So, the "Whitelabs Dry English ale" would be most suitable. That's the WLP007 isn't it? Are you doing extract/partial mash/a...

What yeast did you use?

Have tried sticking a couple of bottles in the fridge for a few days?

It's often recommended to reduce the amount of crystal malts in hoppy beers, but I find my palate likes a good caramel sweetness in hoppy beers. I do 19 litre batches too and use about 350-450g of crystal. I'd recommend you use a lighter crystal to begin with (<40L). For hops, you can't go wrong wit...

Looks nice deadken. Is this a clone of a commercial beer?

It's very unlikely to an oxygen/aeration problem. I'd say your problem is temperature related. Use your thermometer to monitor your fermentation temperatures. Failing that, try a different supplier. It's possible your supplier is storing the yeasts at less than optimum temperatures, decreasing their...

When I did this kit it was pretty early in my brewing career and I used an S-04 instead of the kit yeast. I'd never even heard of attenuation so ended with a pretty sweet beer. Dry-hopped the fock out of it with Cascade and NS, so that helped! The yeast that Coopers supply with this kit is pretty dr...

It all depends on what sort of beers you enjoy drinking. You could do a lot worse than buying Jamil Zainasheff's book "Brewing Classic Styles". It's got an American slant on brewing but gives a great (and award-winning) example of every style of beer you're likely to come across. My recommendation i...