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What alcohol base are you using? Sugar, nutrients and yeast or something more involved?

Sounds like it's doing fine! But keep an eye on your FG as lower temps can cause fermentation to stop prematurely (so I believe anyway!). But don't check too often as it'll cause risk of infection.

It sounds quite low. Is it fermenting ok? The brew itself will raise a couple of degs if its happy, but are you seeing activity from the airlock?

I tried mine yesterday - really really good! I made mine with 1kg BKE (beer kit enhancer) and 1 tin of Tate & Lyle treacle. Absolutely fantastic. Only been in the bottle for 2 weeks (2 weeks in the FV, primed with brown sugar) but oh so good! I'm not a big stout drinker but it definitely tastes...

Reuse them - I sterilise in boiling water before use - that also expands them a little so you can get a nice tight seal.

We all make mistakes sometimes! As long as we learn from them.

Interestingly, in store the offer says free sugar with ANY 40 pint kit. When I bought my Coopers stout from Wilcos the sugar didn't register as free so I challenged them on it and they went and got the shelf sign which did indeed say any kit (as in not limited to Wilco own brand kit) and the...

Malt Miller every time - the service is fantastic, the quality excellent and he pretty much has what you need. I echo the other sentiments - get a 25kg bag of your base malts, then 1/2 or 1kg packs of the specialty stuff. Don't forget things like protofloc and yeast as well!

Let it be I say - it'll just be a tad stronger and may be better as a result!

Yep - don't rush it - I sometimes leave my beer in the FV for a total of three weeks - a few days here or there aren't going to hurt it.

The Coopers Euro lager kit is quite good - brew with ordinary sugar or BKE - comes supplied with a lager yeast and comes out pretty good if you are able to maintain lower temps whilst fermenting (5-10c is ok).

Vinegar solution or bi-carb might work - otherwise flush very well with loads of water?

What are you idle temps like? I gave mine a little bit of maintenance today - took the heatsink off, gave it a good hoovering, then cleaned up the paste, reapplied and put it back on. Clocked it up to 4Ghz and sitting at about 47c idle (which seems high to me), but the cooler is a hefty Noctua...

Well, I bought a Samsung 256GB SSD (£140) and did the upgrade yesterday. Took about 15 mins to install (via USB) and another 20 mins or so to get all my other bits and bobs on. Metro is ok; it isn't perfect and to be fair, Win 7 is a fantastic OS. The NVidia drive install took a big dump the...

I'd suggest something like Lalvin RC212 (Burgundy) or maybe Lalvin K1V (all purpose) as they're good quality and (probably) more readily available than a more specialised one. http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/ingredien ... c-212.html http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/ingredien ... rpose.html

The kit will have everything you need (and some you may not - such as the oak, finings etc). Worth getting some campden, pot sorbate, pectolase, yeast nutrient and citric acid etc in any case when you start making your own brews.

I believe the better kits can be left for quite some time! Although how much you enjoy them will factor in how long you keep them for! I tend to make the smaller kits so I can have a variety to hand as storing lots of bottles can quickly eat up space...

I think they come with some oak, although I quite like them as they are - might be worth (on the first try?) to keep it basic, then try little additions here and there. Are you getting the 6 or 30 bottle kits - 6 bottles is a safe place to start with the more expensive kits :-)

The Beaverdale or Calif connoseur Barolo is a top kit - I bottled some up late last year and it really is superb now. I've done most of the Beaverdale kits now - the Merlot was good but not outstanding. One thing I would always advise - chuck the Beaverdale kit yeast away and use a Lalvin...

You've racked it twice already? For what it's worth, I tend to leave my wines in the primary for 3-4 weeks before racking, then stabilise and rack for at least 1, usually two months for further clearing. I don't do much in the way of degassing and don't bother with finings and most of my wines...