Recent content by CJV8

Dipping my toe into wild and mixed fermentations. I racked off 4 demijohns from a recent grisette I did, 1 got a few heads of fresh elderflower, 1 got maybe 200g of rhubarb from the garden, and the other 2 are waiting. I plan to add some of a friend's sourdough starter to one and some bottle...

Just to close the loop on this one should anyone be searching this topic in future, parts are available directly from March May, though it's best to email them rather than use the contact form on the website. Great service from them, my pump's now sorted and back up to full strength.

I gave the porter a gentle stir, raised the temp to 20°C and nothing. Made up a 1 litre starter of SN9 wine yeast to see if it was the alcohol content (7.7%) that was part of the issue, but amazingly no action from that either. So it's on chill and will be bottled later this week. My best...

A half leg of lamb smothered in harissa, beer can chicken and some hot smoked salmon fillets today.

It was a single pack, but put into a 1 litre 1040 starter and run on the stirplate for 48hrs.

Mash was stepped, can't remember the steps but think it was something like 55, 65 then 72.

I've got a baltic porter in the fermentation fridge coming to the end of its fermentation schedule, however it's sat 8 gravity points above target FG for a week (1026 when the target is 1018). It's at 16°C at the moment, it had a cold start with a gradual ramping up of the temperature over a...

Possibly an allowance for ullage (the crud at the bottom), as I was always taught "fill to spill" for racking to cask.

I've kept one of them, the one that looked least infected (just a couple of small floaters), but the others were visibly furry with sizeable rafts of mould growing.

Another week, another fail... BUT, I'd also say there's a degree of success this time. 2 of the jars had signs of fermentation (I put a sandwich bag over the top held on with an elastic band), but both had mould starting or established. 2 smelled pleasant and fruity, one smelled of stinky feet...

That's the way a lot of commercial breweries brew so no issues at all.

Does anyone know of anywhere that sells replacement parts for March May pumps? I've got a pump (SS-4R-MD) with a knackered impeller (blades are worn down and the cylindrical magnet has split). Can't see anything online, I've contacted March May directly, just waiting for a reply and wondered...

Due to be dry and breezy tonight, down to about 6°C, so 4 jars of wort out, fingers crossed. No pH adjustment, yeast nutrient (Fermaid O) added and the cheesecloth cleaned with only boiling water and not Starsan (just in case the acidity of the Starsan was being a barrier to the yeast). Placed...

Cheers everyone, I'll give all these another go. Sadfield thanks for the tip on not dropping the pH. I dropped the pH as it's meant to inhibit bacterial growth, as suggested by Antidoot in Craft Beer Brewing. But as a couple went fuzzy anyway it's clearly not foolproof!

I've been trying to capture some wild yeast from the garden, but after 8 jars I've had zero success. Does anyone with successful experience of this have any ideas as to my lack of success? The garden is full of fruit trees currently in blossom. I made a 1040 worth with light DME, with a drop of...