I've taken onboard the advice from PROLIX, PARVA, ERIC, PDTNC, and SPIN and was a bit more prepared than I was for my Sarah Hughes brew. I drilled 3 mm holes in my H&G hop strainer between the slits. Using a nail to 'dink' the point before drilling worked brilliantly. The drill bit didn't skid off once.
The amount of stuff that I sanitised was cut down dramatically thanks to advice from the above and therefore the amount of time 'lost' was also reduced. The amount of water I heated up was also altered from my last brew to take account of boil losses etc and I did it with the lid off. Opened the garage doors so there was no steam problem. Just boil snip the bags and note the time. Add the late hops and the protofloc tablet.
See Pics
Draining off the wort into the fermenter was an absolute breeze and only took about 5 minutes leaving all the hop 'trub' behind (See Pics)
The result was an almost clear wort (See Pics)
The Yeast I used on my first brew was Gervin Ale Yeast. This time the kit used Safale 04 and the starter I made up from it was very lively (See Pics)
I remembered to take a starting SG and I've 'pitched' the yeast, added the brewbelt put the lid very firmly on and adjourned indoors to write this and enjoy some cheap Innis & Gunn original from ASDA (£1 a bottle)
Many thanks to everyone for the advice
Fermenting - A Bitter & Twisted clone
Maturing - Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild
