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Hope everyone's hops are growing well. Here's a picture of the First Gold I planted last year. Should get a lot more hops this year.:p

I'll try it in the next couple of days and let you know. It's a Beaverdale Merlot kit.

Hi all, I've just found 3 bottles of red wine that I made back in August 2012 (so it's a year and three quarters old). It is bottled in PET bottles and the bottles have 'shrunk' a bit (i.e. the plastic has pulled in a bit and the bottle isn't fully sized). Is it safe or advisable to drink it...

I put a Prima Donna in last year and it has put up about 5 short shoots so far. How far do the roots spread underground? I was digging about 4 feet away from it today and there were some roots coming from the direction of the hop plant. I'm guessing this is the hop. If I wanted to take a cutting...

Thanks. How important is the choice of hops for this style? I guess almost anything would do for bittering. I thought the roasted barley was almost a prerequisite for a stout?

Evening all, I'm hoping to brew a milk stout tomorrow using the extract method. Steeping some specialty grains plus some LME for the base. I've got the following in stock and will go to the LHBS tomorrow morning to add anything else I need. Lactose Maltodextrin Roasted Barley Chocolate malt...

Got on with it very well. Bottled it 2 weeks ago and tried the first bottle on Thursday (after about 12 days conditioning). Tasted fantastic I must say - came out a darker colour than the box photo.

Yes, this one smells great in the fermenter. Especially after adding the hop pellets on day 5. Should be ready for bottling next Saturday (day 14).

Finally got around to brewing this recipe today. Changed it slightly to the following: 500g Light DME (12 EBC) (dissolved in 6 litres water at start of boil) 1.5kg tin of Coopers Malt Extract Wheat (65 EBC) (added at start of boil) 30g First Gold (homegrown hops) unknown% AA @60mins (at start...

No pictures I'm afraid but I put on a Old Suffolk Strong Ale kit today. My first brew since November as I've been too busy so I thought I'd do a quick kit instead of my normal extract method. Smells good and can't wait to get back to drinking my own beer!

I took a hydrometer reading on about 14th December and it was still at 1.017 and tasted yeasty. Looks like I've experienced my first ever stuck fermentation. Its been in the fermenter for just over 6 weeks now. I've been too busy at work to keep and eye on this brew and might have to chuck it if...

I've currently got a brew fermenting that is taking way longer than the 10 batches I've done before. I know that it's a standard newbie question to ask 'is it ready yet' but I'm not a complete novice! All my other brews have been done within 14 days (verified by hydrometer) but this one is still...

Cheers pittsy, I'll amend the recipe and the name

I've had a look around various wheat extract recipes and would appreciate any comments on the version I've thrown together using the ingredients I have on hand and a bit of help from Beersmith. I'm not sure the hops are right for this but that's all I've got without buying more. 500g Light DME...

My First Gold hops (planted last winter) are now producing cones. I wasn't expecting too much in the first year but I'm not disappointed with a healthy, but dwarf, plant and and what's looking like a few fresh hops in a couple of weeks time.

Decided to join the hop growing community this year with a Prima Donna (First Gold) rhizome from EssentiallyHops. Planted in early February and now showing signs of growth.

I think I need to get something like this set up for my next batch. One question though - presumably the FV can't have a tap on it (a closed one!) as there is some risk of contamination of the wort from the warm bath water. I always brew in a FV with a tap and bottle directly from there (with a...

Thanks, I'll do that. I'm only on my 5th brew and the other four finished between 1.006 and 1.010. I ksort of set that as my expectation and thought that maybe the temperature had something to do with it. Do you think the lack of steady temperature will impact the taste much? I know people say...

I've been fermenting a brew since 2nd December and of course it's been pretty cold most of the time since. The room temperature has probably moved between 15C and 20C depending on the time of day, or it might have been even lower at night. I normally brew on a Sunday with the hope of bottling 2...

I made this last Saturday and it took what seemed like ages! Mostly went ok but two things weren't ideal. 1) Not sure that I got a good hot break. Certainly got a decent rolling boil going but was expecting more 'fireworks' in the pot. Will probably check out some videos/forum posts to see what...