Recent content by BackToBasics

Okay, I've done plenty of pseudo-lagers using either lager yeasts at ale yeast temps or "clean" kveik yeasts (the less said about the latter the better IMO). I thought it was about time I tried a "proper" low temp fermentation with a lager yeast. My brew ended up with a wort with an SG of...

Pretty much this. My first canister of CO2 lasted about a year but I was getting through a keg in about a month/six weeks. More recently, I'm brewing less and less is getting drunk so CO2 lasts longer. Your regulator will let you know if the pressure in the canister is getting low and...

Lost my dad to sepsis in Feb '21. He was 81 and also a cancer patient but that (the cancer) was being managed. The sepsis first presented on the Friday and he was gone by Monday. His only real symptom before being taken in was a loss of appetite. If he hadn't had cancer they wouldn't have...

General advice - keep a close eye on things if you're doing this as a cost saving exercise. I've enough bits of shiny, new equipment in the spare room that I'll be old and grey before I see a saving (currently middle aged and only slightly grey).

It's not a bucket. It's one of these 10l fermenter genius But point taken.

I've just bottled a small batch of oatmeal stout which I'm fairly sure is infected (white film on top of beer with some flakey white bits floating in it). I tasted it and it's okay at the moment so I decided there was no harm in bottling and seeing how it turns out. However, I suspect the...

Okay, it's definitely bitter rather than astringent. It is lacking something - maybe it's a bit thin. Still quite happy to drink it when I'm having a night off the booze though. I suspect the keg will be emptied before the 2 bottle of Becks Blue in my fridge get drunk.

I don't think I got astringency from it. It was overly bitter though - possibly I'm confusing hop bitterness with astringency? I've still got it on tap. Give me a while to finish my current drink and I'll report back.

David Heath has a video on a low ABV IPA using a 80°c mash + Windsor. It is a smaller grist than usual but he adds body with lactose. I had a go at it a while ago and the beer is okay. Not mind blowing but decent and an acceptable substitute for the real thing. It's far better than other low...

First brew in a good while yesterday and it was ... "interesting". The intention was to do an amber lager but I didn't have the saaz in that I thought I had and no other noble hops either. Ended up using cascade and thought I might as well embrace the hoppyness and did a small hopstand...

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Okay, so life got in the way of this one for a while. It's in the keg now though, and I've got the first pint sat next to me now. I think I'd class it as a partial success The bitterness needs taming - should be easy to address that in future brews. Lemondrop was, perhaps, not the best...

I'm not confident that my sourdough starter is ready to go so I'm trying another poolish recipe - ciabatta this time. Traditionally made with a biga I believe but I had the poolish started before I decided what I was going to bake so I've adapted the recipe I have for the extra water in the...

Hmm, there was more to your post earlier - I definitely mean poolish and not Polish. It's a pre-ferment made of 50:50 flour to water and a very small amount of yeast left to ferment for at least 12 hours before adding to the rest of the ingredients to make the dough. My understanding is that...