Jim's Beer Kit

Alternatively according to your preference, you would leave in the primary FV and add the hops towards the end of fermentation and leave for 3 days at fermentation temperature. If you are using a lot of dry hops (over 50g) you would want to do this in 2 batches.

Bit of an update…Entered this beer into my first ever home brew competition this weekend just gone (Welsh National - BJCP). It scored a 44/50 and got placed 1st in its category and 2nd in best of show. Going to be brewing it again very soon as I finished the last bottle on Friday :D Well done, that...

As Ben says, you have under pitched your yeast. A White Labs vial will contain ~100bn cells if fresh, and the standard for 23L of lager is ~450bn cells. You would grow the yeast by doing stepped starters. You do have time on your side as due to the low fermentation temperatures, fermentation can tak...

You would add both CaSO4 and CaCl to the mash and boil. I add 2/3 to the mash and 1/3 to the boil, others I know split 50:50. As noted CaSO4 doesn't readily dissolve, but for the mash I mix the salts with a bit of the hot liquor before adding and stirring into the mash.

The BX go very nicely in this beer Hi Ed, have you brewed this one many times - any pearls of wisdom to offer? I notice that nearly all the recipes on Rons blog suggest a much higher predicted FG than I get with any brewing software. What did your version of the Kidd AK finish at out of interest? I...

Piscator wrote:I'm toying with having a go at a take on the Kidd 1934 AK from Rons blog

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... dd-ak.html

The BX go very nicely in this beer

AK came about during the late 19th century as a result of demand for lower ABV beers and was the forerunner of todays bitter. However as gravities dropped due to war and government taxes all the beers (PA's and IPA's etc) dropped down and AK just faded away. They are fairly simple recipes but taste ...

As above, and also using a Salifert kit is the way to test your alkalinity. You can also get one to test for calcium. You can calculate manually for the addition of CRS/AMS by using these figures (they may vary slightly, but will be fine for use) So adding 1ml/L of CRS to your liquor will reduce alk...

+1 to the above, and you are not going to be able to recreate beers from the past, but it is well worth brewing these beers to the recipes that have been preserved in the brewing logs. Most early pale ales were just 100% pale malt and a shit load of hops (Goldings). I wouldn't bother with brett and ...

If you mean crystal rye you can get some from the Copper Kettle

No need to fill them with star san, just swill it out with star san or videne, never had any problems this way. When you want to fill it just swill it out again with some fresh sanitser. I always clean them with PBW after use also.

Looks great, you're making me thirsty

Sounds like a magic trick You may have noticed more difference if in one of the brews your Ca, SO4 and Cl were all around 50 or lower compared with your higher salts.

It will be interesting to see how you get on with the yeasts as they can be a bit Darwinian when combined. Not knowing what your water is, I would use a 1:3 ratio for SO4:Cl and not use the salt, also dry hopping a mild is anathema to me.

Ed - what is the reasoning behind adding some of the main grist to the rye & wheat? Just to provide husks or is there something else? I imagine there won't be a lot of sacc conversion going on at that temp. I think that's the reason, to break up the potential porridge. It's something I've always do...