Sensible Mole Brewery

[MashBag]

Different folks different strokes.

I'm told that some people have the site open 'on the bench on brewday' which I guess is the modern equivalent of printing out a pdf.

Yes it's a shame really, that a perfectly serviceable human now needs to be connected to the Internet else it can't operate!

With you on curry sauce good shout that man (sorry can't find a curry sauce emoji)

[bitter_dave]

Hi Col, fwiw I like your website! It's always interesting to see the subtle differences in how people brew and the message that you can try brewing using inexpensive equipment is a good one. Nice repurposing of a milk container into a sparging device as well!

[Meatymc]

Nice site Col - clearly a lot of work gone into it

I'm one of 'the more the merrier' brigade and see nothing wrong in adding your own slant on the subject of trying to brew good beer.

[McMullan]

I second the call to loosen up. McMullan, correct me if I’m wrong, but reading between the lines of your posts I somehow get the impression that you don’t like sensible mole dot com. I wonder what I’ve done to engender such angst.
As someone else has kindly pointed out, my site isn’t anything other than “an honest attempt to add to the already huge amount of literature on home brewing.” Which sums it up beautifully. I’ve been brewing for 30 years, a lot of it in my kitchen using minimal equipment. I remember how many questions I had when I first started and how much reading I had to do so I thought it might be helpful to put under one roof everything someone needs to turn out quality beer without spending a fortune on shiny equipment. As you will know there are lots of different ways to brew beer and this is my take on it. That’s all.
I’m not pretending that anything is ‘new’. I’d be surprised if any guidance on homebrewing pretended to be ‘new’. But surely there’s nothing wrong with people writing about the wrinkles and tips they’ve picked up over the years and detailing how they go about things.
I really do think you’re overreacting to be fair. 1984? Really?

Actually, anyone who acknowledges the infamous chancer David Heath as an ‘online resource’ for home brewers is actually promoting dystopia. I kid you not. This clown (who pretends to be a ‘qualified Master Brewer’) would have us believe he and his fellow YouTube ‘double glazing’ salesmen, grifters, con artists, or whatever you want to call them, are home brewing experts. They clearly ain’t anything of the kind. Far from, in fact.

I’ve viewed your website. Nice presentation. I appreciate it when people bother to make an effort layout wise, but it fails to detract from the lack of informational content or the clear lack of understanding throughout. TBH, if you posted advice on Jim’s, I don’t think I’d be the only one ‘loosening up’ I could almost sense how uncomfortable you were with water treatment. To an extent you’re likely to put off novices from good (all-grain) brewing water practices. You recommended yeast nutrient, , but you don’t seem to know what it is or what it’s used for. ‘Many brewers don’t bother with this as there is more than enough sugar in the wort for the yeast to do well’? No mention of the importance of a yeast starter either, which is a key good fermentation practice, when using wet yeast, which you seem to favour over dry yeast You mention ‘brewing sugar’ too, but, you don’t seem to know what brewing sugar is. There seems to be an American bias, oddly. There are better free software available here on Jim’s. Including Graham Wheeler’s water treatment calculator.

I think your website needs an awful lot of effort to make it a useful online resource for novice all-grain brewers, to be brutally honest. I’m not going to bullshit you. It's not in my nature. I can even see how you’ve been misled to believe in a clown like David Heath. I hope you appreciate constructive criticism.

That’s me loosened up then. Cheers!

[Col Robinson]

McMullan, for example you take issue with me saying 'many brewers don't bother with this as there's more than enough sugar in the wort for the yeast to do well'. That is a direct quote from Graham Wheeler, who I hope lives up to your expectations. I'm not uncomfortable with water treatment at all and that, along with other points you raise, seems a strange conclusion for you to arrive at. And goodness knows what your beef is with David Heath (not that I want to know). Chill out man! As the kids say these days, haters gonna hate and looking at some of your previous posts it's evident that you do enjoy spreading your bile around, so there is little point in me engaging with you further.
The feedback I've had from people in many countries in the last 14 years is that a lot of people have enjoyed using the site as a first step in dipping their toes into having a go at all-grain brewing for the first time and for me that makes it worthwhile.
Sincere thanks to everyone else who has found something positive to say about the site; your comments are greatly appreciated.

[IPA]

I could not help but notice that you are promoting the paranoia concerning lifting the lid of an FV to see what is going on inside. For many years open fermentation was practiced at major English breweries.
Once fermentation has commenced I always lift the lid and only close it once primary fermentation has slowed. That way you avoid yeast trying to climb out. For the record I have not used an airlock in the last seven years. Preferring a foam bung which allows transfers to be made without admitting airborne bacteria.

[Good Ed]

Quite right Ian, and as well - recommending secondary fermentation and 2 weeks primary and 2 weeks secondary, completely unnecessary in almost all instances.

[McMullan]

I’ve been struggling to find a bung for mine