Recent content by MZonard

#On the day, prior to bottling. 👍🤣🤣

OK, I’ll stop using the bottling bucket and: 1. I’ll carry on dishwashing the bottles and cling film (for ease of storage) but Starsan them on the day prior to bottling. 2. I’ll bottle direct from the fermenter into bottles primed with dextrose. Thanks all…! MZ.

Oh, it tasted good from the SG thingy after fermentation. So that gave me confidence that it would be a good brew. Bummer.

Thanks for the comments. I add dex to a jug of boiling water and add the finings. Put this in the bottling bucket which was previously cleaned and ‘Starsannned’ and then gravity feed from the fermenter. Lift the bucket onto the table and use the wand to fill the bottles. Bottles go through the...

Colour? Yes it’s a bit brown for a Pale Ale.

It comes out of the bottle fine. Good colour, carbonation and head. I forgot to say I use Harris finings but I doubt that could affect things(?). I’ve just read the post on reducing the headspace in bottling - I rely on the wand space which is OK for my other ‘brews’ (up to 80 now)

This is the second time I have made a 20L brew using the Simply Pale Ale kit. And on both occasions it has turned out ‘cardboard’ and undrinkable after leaving it to mature at 20C for two weeks and then in a fridge for a further two weeks. I’m quite experienced with kits and bottling and have...

Yes, got a Tefal Air fryer. Just use it for frying potatoes (cut any way you like), sausages and chicken drumsticks. Also for roasting root veg like carrots, parsnips and beetroot (tho everything turns red😯). Good bit of kit - I like gadgets that really work.

I don't hang on to grubby bottles as my mates provide clean bottles as well as empties. I swill bottles out, de-label and stick them in the dishwasher as soon as possible. Then pop them in crates (covered by a tea-towel) and bulk sanitise using a 'tree' ready for bottling. Reckon I've got 400...

Asbestosis is a lung condition caused by significant exposure to asbestos fibres in the air. So just drinking asbestos filtered beer would be OK... wouldn't it...

I drink about 50% of the production as friends neck the rest. I brew two fermenters twice a month which totals some 140 bottles. So I drink 70/4 a week - 18 bottles. A tad too much so should I give more away...

I'd say be careful as I added two small cups of espresso to a 21 litre brew and it was way too much. The effect has not diminished - I did the brew last Christmas. I sip it with chocolate. Might be good for adding to a home made curry.

Slow news week? There are other terms for engineer such as mechanic or technician if they want to reserve 'engineer' for graduates or institution members. I'm perfectly proud to say I worked as a technician. Doc in Back to the Future was an inventor and there's definitely a place for that too.

My thoughts are that it doesn't matter where the apple juice comes from, it'll make cider! Back sweeten if the cookers make it too tart for your taste. You will need to press or juice the apples - I don't think you can bung chopped apples into the fermenter. A good idea in a year when apples...

When it came out of the FV it tasted OK then after three weeks in bottle it tasted a bit weird which I put down to what a Saison might taste like. Then it got worse, tasted cardboardy. So I dumped all but two bottles. I tested one a couple of weeks ago - awful. I've got one left which I'll try...