Recent content by DarkIsland

Took a gravity reading today and a wee taste, I'm pleasantly surprised. I think it's probably done but I'll give it another week or so and if the gravity hasn't changed, I'll rack and bulk age for a bit. The cider is dry, VERY dry, too dry for my tastes so I'm going to backsweeten. Tried a...

Yep! I also consider this brew a bit of fun really, an experiment, a learning experience, not something I'm going to lose sleep over if it goes **** up. If I end up with something drinkable I'll be happy. ...then go back to ales which is my more serious side of brewing.

I was actually going to do exactly this but got the offer of a load of fresh for nothing, I'm a Scotsman, free wins every time.

Mine is bubbling away furiously. I have to admit, 9-10% is too much for me, I reckon mine will be 5-6%...ish. More of an easy drinker :)

Fair shout. I'll wait and see for now.

Too late now :laugh8: I used four punnets in the end, even if there's a hint in the final brew I'll be happy. Still tasted good.

Got this in the fermenter tonight. Took led_zep's advice. The juice, blitzed fruit, tea, and a wee bit of nutrient went in. I couldn't get Young's yeast so got hold of some Harris cider yeast, no idea what it'll be like. The taste seemed maybe a little too much lime and not quite enough...

Good advice mate, many thanks.

Thanks for the reply, is it worth sieving do you think? or just bung it in seeds, skins and all?

I am planning a turbo cider with a hint of strawberry, never made one before, a bit of fun really. 10L apple juice 2 cups tea 2 punnets of strawberries from next door's patch 2 limes (juiced) Young's cider yeast I like my cider on the dry side and I'm not bothered about haze so I haven't...

Never measured a pH. Never whirlpooled, don't know what it does or why. Never used non homemade vessels. Never used a plate chiller. Never made a lager (shortly to be rectified.) Never fly sparged. Never worried about trub in the fermenter. Never used a refractometer. Never kegged. Never...

Ok, this is perhaps a habit I got into years ago based on some (possibly ****) advice. When I brew a pale beer, I condition and carbonate in the bottle for about 2-3 weeks at warm temperatures, then chill the bottles to encourage clarity. Side by side experiments have shown the beer to be...

I set mine +/- 1 degree with a compressor delay of 3 minutes...but then I have my temp probe hanging in the air, I know this is controversial. The air temp varies slightly and slowly and the liquid varies hardly at all.

Apologies if this is in the wrong place but I would like to get some thoughts on the following:- My fridge is not big, it's big enough to hold a fermenter but when it comes to chilling bottles, I can't store too many at once upright. Is there any downside to cold crashing with the bottles on...

I've never bothered, I just use and reuse bottles till the original label falls off :) A friend of mine however uses labeley.com, he seems to think it's ok for a free app.