Recent content by CiderTropica

Choose your desired SG beforehand. Gradually add water, stir well, and take readings until you hit your SG target. An example is 1.050 SG for a final ABV of 5.25%. Add half a percent for carbonation fermentation (just an estimate), and you will end with an ABV of around 5.75% in the bottle. It...

Hello 😊 Here is a list of equipment I use for all my beers: 23l plastic FV Stirring spoon 5l plastic jug 2 x homebrew heat pads Yeast nutrient Hydrometer and 100ml sample tube 2 x thermometer strips (one attached to side of FV; one goes in the cardboard box when bottle-conditioning for...

Whenever I see a kit that demands adding sugar or one of their proprietary "beer kit enhancers" (which costs almost the same as the kit itself), the first thing I think is: No. Let's brew this short and add some dried malt extract if we need to bring up the ABV. Adding sugar is the primary...

Kasteel Donker is my favourite beer. It is a rich, dark and sweet Belgian quad at 11% ABV with tasting notes of liquorice, banana and raisins. It is expensive to buy in the UK at £4.20 per 330ml bottle, so I wanted to create my own cheaper homebrew alternative. The only recipes I could find...

That's a good point; I forgot to ask about temperature info. 😊 I have a heat mat I can use to keep temperature constant 18-24°C. I have only made a barley wine so far and it was very successful with the fermentation kept steady at 24°C.

Looking around, it seems that a lot of "lager" kits actually come with ale yeast. As I understand it, ale yeast ferments at a warmer temperature and, overall, the process is a lot quicker compared to genuine lagering. My questions are: 1. Has anybody tried brewing the same beer kit, once with...

Very helpful, dad_of_john -- thanks!!

Thanks all for the replies. I am using malt extract kits to make the beer and am looking for a cheap and quick solution for small batches, so won't be going the RO or treatment route. I have ordered some Ashbeck water for a couple of quid and will let you know how it goes. 👍

Googling around, it seems that Tesco Ashbeck mineral water was the go-to for homebrewers for many years. However, I then came across this post which says its composition has changed: Tesco Ashbeck Water Change So, what are people using instead? Or is Ashbeck still the best? For context, I live...

As far as I know, beer can sit in the primary FV for up to 4 weeks without problem. My barley wine was sat in the FV for 2.5 weeks from start of brew to bottling and I think it actually did it some good. Far clearer the longer it sat in FV. I think another heat mat is a sound investment as it's...

I made a barley wine a couple of weeks ago and primed the bottles with 1 tspn of sugar per 500ml glass bottle. I left them in a centrally-heated room for one week, opened one up, and it was flat as a pancake. The temperature variance at this time of year is no good for the yeast, even indoors. I...