Recent content by craigite

I used gelatine for years. I boiled water, dissolved gelatine and added. let stand for 24hrs then bottled. the thing is is didn't improve the taste. I'm too lazy now and don't bother. funny thing is my beer is still clear... One minor issue for me, but a big issue to one of my house guests. A...

adding sugar will up the abv but add nothing to the taste.

If it was me I'd just go with what I got. it might turn out to be the best brew ever! Keep good records of your brew day. if it turns out good you might want to replicate :doh: if it not as great as you hoped, you can avoid the same error.

Good point. Should have said, where I live cooling is not normally needed. I did set the tolerance and compressor delay but still found it did a bit of temp bouncing. by fitting a switch on each output circuit I can override and eliminate to issue, if there is one.:)

No. It is exactly what you need. O2 is a requirement for the initial stage of fermentation. it is about 24 hrs into the fermentation that O2 is no longer your friend.

I use a small greenhouse tube heater controlled by an STC1000 (or is it an ST1000?). google will help.. the other option is a heating belt but that's harder to control. Main problem with tube heaters that if you try to wire the tube and the fridge, so it can cool and heat, then as each...

About time you started brewing. Looking like I might be doing a double decoction pilsner style this weekend if the postie arrives with the grain. Got a wee fridge to allow me to lager without using the fermentation fridge. Should have brewed a special ale for tomorrow seen as it is our silver...

I tried that some time ago. The problem I had was that as you draw ale via the beer engine air need to be drawn into the barrel. My solution was to fit an old polypin with a CO2 inlet then gently fill the polypin with CO2 but not pressurised. at the same time the polypin was connected via tap...

empty it and let it sit for 10mins to cool. refill with cold tap water. when you turn it on listen for the element to sizzle, it should be easy to hear. if you hear sizzle, monitor and listen for the sizzle stopping, that will be the thermostat turning the boiler off. I ended up fitting a...

I find with Polypins the storage is temperature related. I have a nice :wha: cool garage sitting at about 8° so I: Ferment out at about 20° for 4 days then up to 22° for 3 days. Rack into 2nd bucket and let sit on garage floor for a week at said 8°ish Then I rack the clear beer into...

Interesting, might give one a go myself, thanks. The only issue for me might be the tap and connection to my pump. These are the ones I buy. http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Plastic_Beer_Bottles.html :D

I tried pumping wort through a coil in the HTL a few years ago and it did allow the stabilisation of mash temperature, however it did not allow for fine tuning or easy raising of mash temperature due to the difficulty in raising the temp of the HLT quickly. I then built a smaller coil and put i...

I clean the bottles in the dishwasher. Then StarSan rinse before bottling and onto a bottle tree. I've tried straight from dishwasher, vidine (or however it's spelt), steriliser for 20 mins etc but I find StarSan the easiest, cleanest, and it has proven realisable. Rinsing the caps in the soln...

I always batch prime. I devolve usually 80g of sugar in boiler water in a sterilised jug. Pour into by bottling bin which is just another fermenting bucket, via tubing put brew in bottling bin, when the brew is transferred I use the tube to gently stir. Then bottle. I usually bottle near 1000 a...

Lamb Holm; a 4.0% homage to American Pale Ale. Finished with Willamette, Aurora and Citra This one is a keeper and I won't be playing with the recipe. Pale Malt 3.25kg 91%, Crystal 0.215kg 6%, Wheat Malt 0.108kg 3% Mash 2.5 litre/kg 90min @ 64°C; Sparge with 10.4 litre and top up boiler to...