Recent content by Lukesteroo

I'm pretty sure Lager Malt (as opposed to Pale Malt) needs a lid-off boil to guard against DMS, regardless of UK/Europe or USA, so this could be your problem.

Sounds like I am in the same boat as you. I am experimenting with AG brewing prior to Father Christmas bringing me a 40 litre boiler. I have done 7 1 gallon batches over the last few weeks. If you are interested you could look at my recipes http://www.brewtoad.com/users/44112. I have found it...

Well... I use my STC1000 like this all the time - I haven't yet bought a digital thermometer so I use it to measure the temperature of my strike water and to work out when mashout temperature is reached. Depending on the temperature setting of the STC1000 it will activate the relays to cool...

Personally I would acknowledge that you are far better leaving the beer for longer than it takes for fermentation to stop before bottling. This is because it will be a lot clearer once bottled/(kegged?) and will ultimately be easier to pour. Therefore my advice would be to wait two weeks and...

The schedule was as follows: 7:05pm: Water put on to heat in pan. I also used 2 * 1.7 litre kettles to reach strike temperature quickly, so... 7:20pm: Strike temperature (72C reached) and grain doughed in. 7:25pm: Achieved temperature of 66C and pot goes in oven. ~ Children then put to bed ~...

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement. Just to answer a few questions: Yes, I watered down to 5.5 litres as this brought my O.G. to 1.049 which is what I wanted. It is a bit more than a gallon (which is 4.54 litres) but when I designed my recipe (using Brewtoad - I can't paste the URL but...

I've done 3 kit brews so decided to go for it with a simple 1 gallon BIAB batch. My wife has a 10 litre stockpot which is the perfect size for boiling on the hob, and I knocked myself up a grain bag made from a piece of voile net curtain. I was all set! Bearing in mind I had never even seen the...

Absolutely nothing to be worried about - cloudiness is perfectly normal. You didn't say how long you left it in the fermentation vessel but assuming anything under two weeks @ 20C then it won't have had a chance to clear. It may take a while, but it will definitely lose its cloudiness over the...

Thanks for the welcomes everyone. The three kits I have brewed have all been two can ones: Woodforde's Wherry, Munton's Gold IPA and Wilkinson's Golden Ale. I haven't deviated from the instructions at all other than leaving them in in the FV for twenty days rather than 4-6 days as per the...

I just thought I would post some thoughts on the wondrous pastime of homebrewing and also take the opportunity to introduce myself. I have recently taken up the hobby again after a twenty year break, when I used to brew up Boots kits and flog the resultant potion to the sixth form. It used to...