Recent content by Parva

Yep that's fine. You only really need to shake it if you wish to carbonate it quickly (ie. if wanting to drink in a matter of hours). Otherwise, just give it 20PSI and either leave the gas on at that for a day or two or do as I do and just turn the gas on and off periodically for a couple of...

If it's still gushing out then it's still under C02 pressure. You will instinctively know when you need to give it a burst of gas as the flow will slow right down. Indeed if you run it low enough air will start glugging back in via the tap and you certainly don't want that!

That's because there's always a 'numty' (or numpty) that leaves himself wide open to such frivolity. :) Gas in or out of the fridge is just fine. Your regulator contents guage will show much lower content if the gas is stored in the fridge but you still have the same amount of gas available.

You'll want to gas it to about 25PSI (assuming room temperature and you want a fairly gassy lager) and leave at that for a couple of days before disconnecting and storing until you intend to use it. Alternatively I turn the gas on and off a few times a day for two days (prevents losing a bottle...

+1 though I use 1/2 a level tsp of granulated sugar per bottle and syphon in the beer onto that.

Mash tun and boiler all in one? Forget it. I'm lucky in that I have a HLT, MT and boiler as seperate pieces of equipment but I know that people easily get by on less, that being using the boiler as both the boiler and HLT. For me the mash tun is the most critical piece of all as the resulting...

As long as you use an airlocked FV or one with the lid only very slightly cracked open and either cover the tap (if it has one) or spray sanitiser into the tap before opening it then it's fine. :)

If you want beer with some carbonation in, yes. :) Half a teaspoon per bottle is the general ideal although you could also disolve 80g of sugar in a little boiling water and mix this with the beer prior to bottling instead, others will advise better on that strategy. Videne solution is a...

You can get most of the water out via the python recirc if it has one. :)

70% is a good baseline figure to start with. Once you get brewing you'll be able to work out whether you are achieving higher or lower SG's than the estimates provided and can then adjust your efficiency up or down so that the program adjusts your grain bill to suit your efficiency. Or something...

To be fair my grain does sit in my kitchen rather than a damp garage so that probably has a large bearing on its longevity.

Using a sack of malt that's nearly 18 months old now (pre-crushed) and got my expected OG and the beer smells good. :)

Isn't that what's known as underletting? Wouldn't work for me anyway unfortunately as I don't measure my water anymore, I go by what's in the mash tun both for the mash and then batch sparging and usually hit my preboil target to within 1 litre. :)

Reports elsewhere suggest that it does and if it doesn't it's a simple screwdriver adjustment to change the point at which the element knocks off. Not tried one myself however.

You lucky bugger! :) I wish I had a chinese girlfriend to drag me around chinese supermarkets. I've been in them and marvel at the stuff they have to offer, I only wish I knew what you were supposed to do with it! Chinese food I absolutely adore and it's one area of cooking that I have a...