Recent content by bbslaw

Cool, cheers :thumb:

nobyipa - just wondering, how do you get the syphon started when using the little bottler? Do you suck the syphon to get it going then attach the primed little bottler?

I always fill the little bottler up with boiled water before attaching it to the tap. Then open the tap and run out the water and a little beer into a bowl before starting bottling. This has always kept the bottler bubble-free and usually fast-flowing. It was quite slow last time though, so I...

How long had it been in the primary before you added the hops? The instructions for the Festival Porter I did recently wanted the hops adding after 5 days and then dry hopping for another 5 days. So has it actually been 10 days in primary before you racked it? If so, it's probably just about at...

I would think you don't need to worry about the original use-by date of the AJ once it's been turned into cider. The use-by date is to protect the consumers from drinking AJ that's past its best flavour; with all the mucking about you'll do to turn it into cider it won't resemble the original AJ...

Thanks for the advice everybody. I went for 70g in the end - can't really explain my logic apart from I wanted to keep a few back for another beer I've got planned. Will let you know how it turns out.

Just cracked my first bottle of this that I did for £6. £2.24 (£2.74 with a voucher) from Tesco's for the kit plus £4 for beer enhancer. Brewed to 18l with S-04 trub rescued from another brew and stored unwashed in the fridge for ~6 weeks. See...

Sorry, I'm all out of ideas then! Maybe an AG brewer can help

I would have thought that 11-12oC would be cool enough to cause a chill-haze if that's what it is. Does it clarify when brought up to room temperature?

This topic has pitched me over the edge and convinced me to buy my first lot of StarSan. Hoping it arrives in time for a bottling day on Sunday!

The lager seems to be fermenting well, unfortunately a bit warmer than I was planning. It's between 14 and 16 under the stairs. Not a lot I can do about that as there's nowhere else for it to go. It's been kicking out sulphurous smells, which I was sort of expecting with this yeast. I was...

Thanks for the replies and support everybody. Sounds like I'm on the rightish track. This was all worked out thanks to learnings from this forum, so double-thanks! Glad to hear the kit is OK in itself; I wish I'd bought a few more at that price too! :cheers:

I picked up one of those Young's harvest Pilsners for £2.74 in November. I've just put it on with 1kg of extra light spraymalt and 500g brewing sugar. I used Saflager S-23 yeast. My plan is to try to recreate a temperature profile for lager using only the ambient temperatures around my house. I...

Bottled these on Sunday. The beer fermented really smoothly with no hitches and tasted pretty good out of the sample jar. The TC also looked good - very dry at the moment. When I added the Youngberry juice the fermentation went crazy; it was like it was carbonated in the bottle (also a 5l water...

+1 to this. I am allergic to mussels and crayfish and get the same reaction the OP describes. I also get the reaction when I drink some white wines (particularly prosecco and Italian whites) and very occasionally with some commercial beers. I blame chitosan finings, but have not had it confirmed...