Recent content by silverlegend

As a lover of good tonic water this sounds to me like a welcome addition to the home brewing community.

Lucky Freedom Grapefruit APA, please.

I have used both bags of hops in two brews and can confirm that the hops are not overpowering when added late in the fermentation. I also find that fermentation takes a lot longer than the instructions suggest even when carried out at 68 to 70 degrees F.

Yes, I also used to pour the water from a great height but after one or two accidents, missing the narrow neck (circa 4" diameter) of the F V, and subsequent rollickings from t'other half for flooding the kitchen floor, I found that the stirring method led to less domestic tension. Using a...

I understand that yeast needs oxygen to multiply after pitching so I stir my wort vigorously, entraining as much air as I can, for five minutes having sprinkled the yeast. My local micro brewery use an aquarium air pump to aerate its F. Vs in the early stage of fermentation - a step too far...

Thanks to pms67 and dan125. My preferred bottles are some Fischer ones (20 of them at 700ml) that I collected years ago along with 6 or 7 Grolsch (500ml?). I've not seen the Fischer for years but will certainly investigate the Asda Grolsch offer and have a look at the M & S ones. I'm not...

Thanks Del, for the bottle info. I bought half a dozen swing top bottles at a car-boot sale last year, they turned out to be of Italian origin. They are of relatively thin glass, from their shape do not look as tho' they'll stand much pressure and the top does not seat securely causing easy...

I started my second brew on 3rd August and, despite being kept at 22 - 25 degrees, it's still fermenting - much longer than the instructions suggest. I finished the last bottle of the first batch a few weeks ago and am looking forward to the current one. I'm 'making do' with a very...

I made one of these brews in February of this year and made the mistake of squeezing the hop tea-bags when they'd been in for two days. As a result they burst:doh: and I had a hell of a job filtering the crud from the brew. The result after three weeks' bottle conditioning, though a bit cloudy...

Thanks, LeithR, I have just found that The Brewshop, in Stockport, has the Rotokeg gaskets which, apparently, also fit the old style Beer Spheres at £3:50 but it looks as tho' I'll have to fabricate a new top plate from 1/8" steel plate. You're right about the difficulty in getting a good...

I have a Hambletonbard Beer Sphere, an early one with that uses two painted steel plates sandwiching a gasket lining an oval opening to provide a seal rather than the later screw-on cap. I have not used it for 20+ years and when I recently got it out of storage to recommence brewing I found...