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Thanks! I brewed it today taking this advice. Northdown as the bittering hop, first gold and fuggles at 20 mins, and northdown and first gold together at the end. I'll report back on the results! Rod, I may well brew a mild with it at some point in the future, it's a style I like a lot.

I think Zephyr has a point about the % of dark malts here. Half as much will still get you a very black stout, and you could make up the difference with some crystal.

I've ended up, almost by accident, with a packet of Northdown hops, which I've never used before. I'm keen to brew a very 'English' IPA, and from what I've read this would be a good hop. How might it pair with Fuggles/First gold/Target? (the other very english hops I currently have) Any...

Does starsan have a shelf life? My starsan always goes cloudy thanks to hard water, but it doesn't seem to affect the pH, so I agree with Richard - dilute it down, check the pH, and hopefully you'll be good to go.

Say for a standard 21l batch at 5%, that would use about 5kg malt, at about £1.70/kg, so £8.5 total A similar abv from extract would, according to Brewersfriend, take roughly 3.6kg light extract. From what I can see malt extract comes in at about £5 a kilo, so £18, but's that's not counting...

That's what I thought - I completely agree with you and don't generally chill either, unless it's a very hop forward beer. The only side effect of not chilling in most beers is that you do get chill haze (Chill Haze), which isn't really a problem anyway. If the beer stays cold, it will clear...

How do you chill your wort? That sounds to me like chill haze

I've only ever seen this in an elderflower champagne I once made, which was definitely infected...

Not quite the same, but shows how you can actually incorporate this to improve your brewing:

It's a brewbuilder 100l vessel with false bottom, wrapped with a very cheap yoga mat (the cheap ones seem to be made out of the perfect closed cell foam for the job). The volume of mash tends to simply hold its temperature - I've considered HERMS in the past, but to be honest, if the beer is...

2nd for detergent - just make sure to wash out VERY thoroughly afterwards

If you've got somewhere cold to put the bottles after a week or so of conditioning, it definitely helps the yeast flocculate. When using highly flocculant yeasts, I find after a couple of months in the cold the beer can actually look like it's been filtered!

Yeah, it sounds like it would just save some of the faff. A bit of an investment, but then, that's half the fun!

I'd love to know the answer to this too... Like you, I've brewed many hoppy beers (although admittedly my tastes are more malt-wise), and although I've had some great successes, I've never quite achieved that 'modern' craft beer uber fresh hoppy taste. I suspect it's partly due to a vast...

My current kettle/HLT has a 2.4kw kettle element and a 3kw ULWD element - I run them off separate ring mains to be safe. If I had a third vessel, I can't see a situation where I'd be running both kettle and HLT at the same time, which really would overload things

Hi all, I've been brewing for several years now on on a 100l two vessel system, and am now thinking of upgrading to a third vessel. Currently, I collect the wort in two 25l buckets (I usually brew for 60l fermenters) and simply pour it back into the kettle/hlt once sparging is finished. I...

My most brewed recipe is an oatmeal stout with oats as 10% of the bill, and I've never taken any precautions against oxidisation and never had any problems. Maybe someone more knowledgable can comment on lighter beers? I've always taken it that oxidisation in general isn't really a risk in...

Ah sorry - I was thinking the same addition to each bottle. Definitely give it a go, a good chance to experiment with proportions. Regarding coffee, it seems people recommend doing a cold brew, to avoid certain acids.

Just a thought, but would it be easier/more accurate to add the tea/coffee directly to the FV, like batch priming? It would save the hassle of getting it into each bottle and would therefore cut down on risk of infection. I've added tea at flameout before, with great success, but never at...

Manufacturers design these sachets to suit a typical homebrew brew length ~23l, hence their advice: 'Usage Directions: Sprinkle directly on up to 23 L (6 US Gal) of wort. For best results, ferment at 10-15 degrees C (50-59 degrees F).' Obviously this changes with very high OG beers, but at...