Recent content by Budgie

Looking good. Congrats on your first brew!

So quick update on this. I took a gravity reading after 2 weeks and it was at 1011. The sample tasted amazing! Still early days with this one but definitely promising. It’s now lagering at about 4°C, which is the coldest I can get it, I’ll probably give it another 2 weeks before bottling.

I’ve used oats in a couple of stouts. As @Clint said with pale ale, it gives a silky creamy mouthfeel. I preferred the stouts with oats to the ones without.

I ask people to save them for me. Maybe I just have alcoholic friends but I’m never short.

Most lager kits come with an ale yeast, rather than a true lager yeast. Lagers are fermented pretty cool, about 9-13°C. If the kit says 18-25 it’s definitely an ale yeast, but I’d still keep it to the lower end of that. 18-20 and you’ll be grand.

I usually check after about 15 minutes. I remember reading somewhere that you should wait at least 10mins. Sooner than that can give an inaccurate reading as the science stuff it still happening.

I often use acid malt in lighter beers (dark bees tend not to need it) and always hit close enough to target mash pH. I punch my figures into EZ water calculator and it has a section for acid malt additions. You can adjust the amount till the pH is where you want it. As @Drunkula said, it’s mash...

I was planning on brewing on Friday, but you know, life. So today finally got round the Munich Helles from Greg Hughes’ book. Managed to get my water profile pretty close the the one suggested on Braukaiser. I used Lidl bottled water and added 1.2g CaSO4 and 2.6g CaCl2 to the mash and another 2g...

Thanks for the replies guys. @MyQul I was all for your idea, but then I was informed that we’re having a bbq so didn’t get the chance. I’ve stuck it back in the fridge for now and I’ll make it later today. My main reason for wanting to use the stir plate are it’s a lager yeast, and I haven’t...

Good advice above. As for temperature, the kit will have included an ale yeast as opposed to a true lager yeast (which require cooler temps) so your 20-22 will be absolutely fine. Keep us posted on how it turns out.

I'm planning on brewing on Friday. I've smacked the yeast packet and it's swelling up nicely. I was intending to make my starter tonight, but my home made stir plate has decided to stop working. I've managed to get another 12v fan on next day delivery so I'll get it back up and running tomorrow...

One other thing you might want to consider is the alpha rating of the hops. If you’re following a recipe that uses hops with a different alpha rating to the ones you’ve got you can use This calculator to find the right amount to use.

This article sums up the difference between the two pretty well. The main takeaway, though, is this.. “Both the surface area and alpha acid availability [in pellets] translate to a 10 to 15 percent increase in utilization over whole hops. Though, technically this increase is not high enough for...

There’s little bits of all sorts really. Some Minch pale, a couple of different crystals, acid, torrified wheat, chocolate etc. Other than the 5k of wheat it’s mostly just little bits and pieces though to probably not worth bothering with. I’m all for reduced conditioning time though!

Cracking. German Wheat on the way then. :D It was worth a shot! However I’ll have to respectfully decline. :laugh8: