Recent content by sifty

23 litres Oyster oatmeal stout Total 2432 litres

23 litres Black APA 2369 L Total

At least he can rest knowing his wife's killer is dead...

No definitely got caught up. Was a hell of a job untangling it for the farmer. (Had to break one leg off and use crowbar to untwist fence wires). He wanted the head too which was slightly unpleasant. Matches the fallow stsg skull he has hanging on his shed. There's a few deer about the place...

Wasn't all death. Lots of walks, abseiling down cliffs (one bloke is a rope course instructor) and sitting round a driftwood bonfire with a good book, marshmallows, quality home brew and a good single malt. Kids and dog loved it... 🙂

And this 8 point red stag got itself caught leaping a fence and met a grisly end, poor bugger...

Wildlife abounds. Penguins, seals, deer. We caught blue cod and sharks off the rocks. Found this NZ fur seal skull, looks like a land based predator...

Spent Easter camping on the south coast of mainland NZ. This spot is the back of a mate's dad's farm...

I usually bottle 2-3 PETs to check carbonation. I've compared squeezed ones to normally capped ones. No appreciable difference apart from seeing the distorted squeezed bottle reform as pressure rises. Maybe a long term difference but I always drink the PETs first so who knows?

As others have said it varies depending on the label. Instead of using my good PBW sometimes I just use a cheap oxy-type laundry detergent. Fill the sink with hot water and detergent, sink or stand the bottles so the label is covered and leave. All going well the labels come off, but if not it's...

Ah good point, they probably could. I pretty much left them alone this year, previous years I've fed them manure, compost and flower fertiliser. Given the rate they grow no doubt the soil is a bit depleted...

They are great companion plants... 🙂 And yes think it was the mixed weather, had some hot days but a lot of cold spells in between, and rain was either none for days/weeks or torrents.

Yeah I'm not organised for a green hop brew so threw some in the dehydrator at 35 degs last night, will do them in batches, vacuum pack and freeze. Regards being ready, there was a lot of brown tips not apparent in the photos, they were papery to the touch, and popped off the plant in one piece...

Guess who ordered some Windsor today... 😄

Yeah I'm pretty sure the Cascade has taken over and the Fuggles have gone? Not even sure that's possible, but the first year I could readily identify the 2 different varieties (Cascade a pointy, loose flower shape, vs Fuggle a tighter, rounded cone). All look like Cascade now, and a nice almost...