Easter Ale

Had a good one? Tell us about it here - and don't forget - we like pictures!
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ECR
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Post by ECR » Sun Mar 23, 2008 11:29 am

Hope it's going well, Jim 8)
Andy wrote:Loads more snow than that here in East Midlands. 8)

Just been clearing the folks path/drive.
Where's that, Andy? There's nowt here in this corner of Leics :cry:

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Andy
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Post by Andy » Sun Mar 23, 2008 11:35 am

East Northants - Rushden, on the Bedfordshire border.
Dan!

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Post by Hogarth » Sun Mar 23, 2008 11:35 am

It's been snowing in Saaarf London all morning. Great big flakes. Hasn't settled, though.

Happy Easter Jim and everyone.

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Jim
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Post by Jim » Sun Mar 23, 2008 12:21 pm

Just had a trying moment. :?

I use a John Guest fitting to connect the cfc, but I coudn't get the temporary pipe out (it connects to a bucket with hot water in for rinsing it out). The blooming thing was stuck fast. :shock:

In the end I had to give up, as time was getting on, and improvise with a bit of syphon tube and some jubilee clips.
NURSE!! He's out of bed again!

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Jim
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Post by Jim » Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:39 pm

Well, all done now - here's the final pics.

The 5g of goldings steeping:

Image

Running through the cfc:

Image

via the improvised tube :roll:

Image

I collected nearly 6gal, as I wanted some extra for a yeast propogation batch:

Image


Image

Final gravity was 42, which given the theoretical maximum of 56 was 75% efficiency - 5% more than I got with the same batch of malt last time.
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Post by Jim » Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:56 pm

Forgot to mention; following my water analysis and subsequent advice I didn't treat the water for mashing - however I delayed taking the pH reading for about 20 minutes and it was spot on 5.2 (well, as near as pH paper will show). I suppose in retrospect I should have taken one straight after mashing in (my usual practice) for comparison. At 6.45am I wasn't thinking straight, though. :roll:

I chucked a level teaspoon of gypsum in the boil as well, as per advice from my water analyst.
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Jim
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Post by Jim » Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:58 pm

Oh, and I had the John Guest fitting in the locked position. ](*,)
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Graham

Post by Graham » Sun Mar 23, 2008 2:20 pm

DaaB wrote:I have 3 layers of camping mat on my bucket to maintain the temperature. I'm not sure what the ideal is but I didn't want to have to dig out the dog blankets every time I brewed so I went for as many layers as I could while till being able to get the fittings onto the bucket :lol:
It looks like the camping shops are going to do better from my new books than the home brew shops - what with camping mats and plastic plates.

Both are ideas that I've picked up from here. I never knew there were such things as insulated camping mats.

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Post by bitter_dave » Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:58 pm

Graham wrote:
DaaB wrote:I have 3 layers of camping mat on my bucket to maintain the temperature. I'm not sure what the ideal is but I didn't want to have to dig out the dog blankets every time I brewed so I went for as many layers as I could while till being able to get the fittings onto the bucket :lol:
It looks like the camping shops are going to do better from my new books than the home brew shops - what with camping mats and plastic plates.

Both are ideas that I've picked up from here. I never knew there were such things as insulated camping mats.
I'm sure hot water-tank-insulation manufacturers did pretty well out of your previous editions, so I guess it's only fair you share the trade around a bit :wink: :lol:

subsub

Post by subsub » Sun Mar 23, 2008 6:59 pm

Nice recipe and great pix Jim, glad to see your day wasn't too trying :D

Graham

Post by Graham » Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:33 pm

bitter_dave wrote:I'm sure hot water-tank-insulation manufacturers did pretty well out of your previous editions, so I guess it's only fair you share the trade around a bit :wink: :lol:
Yes, I thought that was a good idea at the time because they are plastic coated and easy to wipe clean. Trouble is that they are hard to find these days, because everybody has insulated their hot-water tanks by now, and new tanks are already insulated.

I assume that as camping mats are meant to withstand the rigours of outdoor life, they would be waterproof and easy to keep clean. There is both a Blacks and a Millett's locally - I'll have a mosey(?) around them during the week.

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Post by bitter_dave » Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:21 pm

Graham wrote:
bitter_dave wrote:I'm sure hot water-tank-insulation manufacturers did pretty well out of your previous editions, so I guess it's only fair you share the trade around a bit :wink: :lol:
Yes, I thought that was a good idea at the time because they are plastic coated and easy to wipe clean. Trouble is that they are hard to find these days, because everybody has insulated their hot-water tanks by now, and new tanks are already insulated.
I manged to find some on ebay for only a few quid, and they have served me well. Having said that, camping mats may be easier to get hold of as you say.

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Post by Graham » Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:52 pm

bitter_dave wrote:I manged to find some on ebay for only a few quid, and they have served me well. Having said that, camping mats may be easier to get hold of as you say.
Blacks have 180cm x 50cm x 9mm mat for £7.99. The equivalent in Millet's, same dimensions, looks identical, is £9.99.

The above-mentioned Blacks mat is claimed to be a 3-season mat, but they also do a 4-season mat - same specification, looks the same except for colour, but is twice the price. I do wonder what makes it worth twice the price. All will be revealed during the week I guess.

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ECR
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Post by ECR » Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:45 am

Anything (ie brewing) that prevents camping equipment actually being used for camping has to be a good thing :lol:

Graham

Post by Graham » Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:05 am

ECR wrote:Anything (ie brewing) that prevents camping equipment actually being used for camping has to be a good thing :lol:
It beggars belief that two camping shops can survive in Wycombe. I expect that all the Rodney's throw tents into the back of their 4X4's to make it look as if they use their 4X4's for something remotely countrified. It used to be mountain bikes with spray-on mud from an aerosol.

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