Jim's Beer Kit

Lots of small apples falling here at the moment due to the natural 'June-drop' but even though yours is an early variety I would have thought they wouldn't be ready until August at the earliest? Best to use them as ripe as possible to maximize flavour & sugar content. As they're cookers, they may go...

Hi all Just got myself a fridgefreezer to keep my corny's in. Question is where is the safest place to make the holes for the gas and beer lines? I'm thinking the side for the gas and the door to beer, hoping to fit the tap to the door. Cheers Tom Hi Tom If you specify the make / model of fridge-fr...

Elderflowers go really well in a Saison. They seem to match the spicy notes you get from a Saison yeast. Spicy hops work well too, but you dont want to overpower the elderflowers. Still a few Elderflowers left around here. Make sure you pick them at their prime, fully opened on a sunny day.... like ...

mick, If this has only had 2 days brewing, your stuff is still fermenting. Get it out of the bottles and back into a FV. Leave for 10 - 14 days then bottle it if the Hydro is reading the same for 3 consecutive days, should be 1000. Don`t leave it in the bottles because you will have bombs! #-o WA M...

I know its the wrong time of year, but I just saw this excellent short article on
Hop Plant Propagation from Willingham Nurseries

I'd guess its fermenting. What % sugar is it? Did you pasteurise it at all during making / bottling process. I just made a load of elderflower cordial from ~1.3kg florets. I mashed/ pasteurised them at 85C similar to how I did them last year http://www.data-creative.com/img/other/ef_060.jpg . Initia...

Tesco selling Grolsch at 3 for £5 at the moment
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/ ... =259425924

Pretty unique? What does that mean? ;-) So Keyworth are very similar to Fuggles? Quite similar? A close replacement? Well, taste is very subjective. Other members will disagree with my following analysis, and their impressions will be as valid as mine, so take it or leave it. But to me, Fuggles hop...

All mine have loads of aphids underneath the leaves this year. Green & black

Ladybirds are few and far between here.
Having said that they are all growing at a rate of knots.

Just an update on the gas! I got it from compton gas and garden centre a few weeks ago. excellent service :D deposit was £20 and the gas was £18.99 for a full size pub gas bottle on a bottle exchange. (No rental) :D Thanks for the update. Reasonable price and good they don't charge rental. Funny en...

Ok, thanks. Probably a daft question, but do I just charge the keg up to pressure once, and leave it to carbonate, or does it need to stay connected to the gas? If you can I'd leave it connected to the gas at the target pressure for the temp you're storing it at. Eg if you are carbonating at 18C (6...

Interesting article =D> The other thing to consider is a low ABV brew is much more likely to get infected. Sanitation has to be top notch. The extra starches/long-chain sugars may not be fermentable to std beer yeast but there are lots of nasties that can feed on them. As an aside infection is also ...

Ok, thanks. Probably a daft question, but do I just charge the keg up to pressure once, and leave it to carbonate, or does it need to stay connected to the gas? If you can I'd leave it connected to the gas at the target pressure for the temp you're storing it at. Eg if you are carbonating at 18C (6...

Clean, drain, squirt in Star San from a trigger spray bottle, cap with plastic cap (available at malt Miller or the home brew shop), store. Before use give it a shake, then take cap off, pour out starsan and bottle is ready for use. +1 I initially used these translucent plastic reseal caps http://w...

Almost missed this post! Stumbled across this today - worth reading the fermentation schedule, but also particularly 'how to avoid the saison stall': http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/guide-saisons-and-saison-yeasts And it's a goodjob I noticed it too, cos' it's gold! also kind of answers my last ...