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Been brewing for a while now and set up a brew fridge recently to control temperature via an inkbird. Usually leave beer to ferment for around a fortnight and then rack off and leave another fortnight before bottling or putting in a pressure barrel. Should barrel / bottles be kept and a specific...

Had my first attempts this year at making cider from 100% apples this year. Put some into demijohns and left to ferment naturally and look, taste and smell fine and have bottled today. However, had around 12 litres in a fermenting bucket, fully sterilised and rinsed which again left to...

Managed to get hold of a Burco boiler, taken the tap off and made 15mm hole using max cutter. The outer skin already has much larger hole, and now need to fit ball valve, which I already have. What other bits do I need eg couplers to fit it all together and make leak-proof. Not very technical...

On looking at various recipes, crystal malt is described in different varieties from crystal 15 to crystal 120. What is the difference (I presume one end of this is light crystal and the other dark crystal), but which is which and where just states crystal, which one to use. I am currently...

Have been using an old fermenting bin with kettle element for HLT and Coleman cool box for mash tun. Have now replaced with stainless steel. Have previously used a cheap pump but have to fill via the top of the equipment or rely on gravity. Sure I have seen examples of bottom filling equipment...

Done first brew with a brew fridge and currently fermenting at 20 degrees. Read somewhere about heating / cooling / crash cooling. What's this about and what do I need to do once fermentation finished. Been in fridge a week since brewing.

Having just broken the wifes food processor pulping a load of apples, did hear one method of pulping was to place chopped up apples in a large bucket eg fermenting bucket and using something like a broom handle (not the brush end!) give them a good bashing. Anyone else heard / tried this? Not...

Helped out with some apple picking at local orchard today and came away with 2 boxes of apples. Don't have any dried yeast left at moment, but have 2 demijohns full of cider which have finished fermenting. If I syphon off the cider, will the trub left in the bottom of the demijohn work, or do I...

Have done a few turbo ciders and added a cup of strong tea, plus malic acid and pectolase successfully in past. Have now done some cider from apples (various unknown types gathered locally but look like eaters rather than cookers) and put into demijohns a couple of days ago following 2 days...

Done two lots of apples now and got what I think are pretty poor yields. In both cases had around 25kg of mixed apples. Chopped them up and put through a food processor with a blade on to pulp them and then used a 12 litre cider press. Both times only got about 7 litres for 4 hours worth of...

Tried making cider last year using a normal kitchen juicer which took forever. Looking at purchasing a cider press and not sure whether to go for a 6 or 12 litre one. Saw a 6 litre one and looks tiny! Is it worth going for the larger one or will the 6 litre one do for starters. Initially...

Have various part used malts around "use by" date and looking for suggestions as to what I could brew with these. Conscious won't be able to use all up! Lager malt 650g Crystal malt 320g Munich 200g Special B. 300g Vienna malt 1200g Carabelge 500g Melanoidin 450g Brown malt 400g...

Seen a number of threads on here about not just using apple juice but putting another juice in with it to around 20% Have made before using various other juices, but would prefer just to use apple juice rather than what ends up as a flavouring, which I don't necessarily want. Why is this...

Have had a couple of bottles of Marks & Spencer Citra beer recently and really nice. Brewed by Oakham Ales.Not sure what the IBU is and want to have a go at brewing this, but all of the homebrew shops online I have used in the past have sold out. Anyone know of any shop with stock?

Had my first go at making cider now - got hold of some apples and has made 1 gallon which is fermenting nicely in a demijohn. Have seen various suggestions on way forward once fermenting finished and can't see which is likely to work best. Plan on racking off into a clean demijohn after...

Have done a number of brews and usually do 19 or 23 litre ones. Looking at doing a smaller brew, possibly 10 or 12 litres. Presume scale down ingredients on a pro rata basis? Also wondering about mash & boil times - how much if any should this be scaled down?

Bought one of these last week to use as an HLT, but knew I would have to swap tap out for a ball valve one. When took tap off, the hole in the boiler is an odd shape! "Half moons" at top and bottom, and straight sides. Looking on various threads looks like only option is a Qmax cutter to...

I have recently been given a Swan 18 litre boiler for homebrewing. It was in need of a good descale which I have done. However, whilst it heats up nicely, the plug is getting very hot which I am sure isn't right, so have stopped using. I'm no technical expert and wonder if anyone can give...

Did a brew yesterday (St Austell Tribute) and pitched yeast (Safale 04) at 23 degrees and as warm decided to put into fridge which I haven't done before. Temperature showing as 18 degrees in fridge mid afternoon yesterday. No sign of yeast activity yet - temperature of wort is 17.8 degrees Is...

Did a brew yesterday (St Austell Tribute) and pitched yeast (Safale 04) at 23 degrees and as warm decided to put into fridge which I haven't done before. Temperature showing as 18 degrees in fridge mid afternoon yesterday. No sign of yeast activity yet - temperature of wort is 17.8 degrees Is...