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  1. Ashman

    Grainfather 40L sparse water heater

    I came across the grainfather 40 litre sparse water heater. Is it ‘new’ as I don’t know how I missed it! Looks like standard manufacturer (re-branded?) with ball valve , 2300W element for £140. Does anyone have one, and can it do a rolling boil ? I need to check the dimensions but really...
  2. Ashman

    Fermenting directly in the Grainfather G30

    It would tie up the brewing kettle but I’m interested if anyone has fermented directly in the Grainfather G30 over northern hemisphere winter ? My understanding is the controller is a PID so if one set the temperature to say 18C would it be able to control the heating at that low level or is the...
  3. Ashman

    Counterflow chillers - are they worth it?

    Ok. I currently use an immersion chiller with a split coil of 2x5m 10mm od copper. It works well but in lockdown I thought maybe I should build a counterflow chiller. The reason is partly if I’m honest because I read recently that a 15mm tee compression is likely to have the compression ends...
  4. Ashman

    Grainfather thermowell size

    I’m converting a tea urn with inkbird or old generation grainfather controller and well would rather not drill out original tap hole to take a 1/2” (21mm drill) thermowell if I can. Yes I’d have no tap outlet! However, 1/4 thermowells to take 6mm probe seem rare so expect I’d be looking at...
  5. Ashman

    Brew: The Fool proof Guide to Making Your Own Beer at Home

    James Morton’s Brew: The Fool proof Guide to Making Your Own Beer at Home is available at the works for £6. Worth a read although I haven’t tried any recipes from it yet.
  6. Ashman

    Pressure fermenting - pressure management

    For those that use pressure fermenters how is the pressure regulated? So for example I put the wort in the unit, and pitch yeast. Then is the device sealed up and it runs up against whatever the pressure limits applied to the device or pressure relief valves set? Crude alternative if I had a...
  7. Ashman

    Mixed gas to CO2 connection

    I realised my mixed gas regulator will not fit to CO2. Oops. Plenty of time in lockdown to read up on threads and have a good laugh about it all. Anyway I think most economic and safest for health option is to get a CO2 regulator instead. However, anyone ever seen a convertor from W21.8 male...
  8. Ashman

    Brew - crystal clear but malty (almost like malt vinegar without full acidic tone)

    I did my usual - use a kit 100% no sugar at half the volume. This time it’s given a crystal clear malty drink. I suspect the yeast stalled in the recent cold spell (confirmed by a hydrometer reading). It’s an odd drink slightly dry finish, sweet at first. I think it’s 50% vinegar - the brew...
  9. Ashman

    Ultrasonic beer enhancer

    I was browsing for an all in one system and an ultrasonic beer tap product popped up. Reminds me of quackery. An alternative is to ask Mariah Carey to scream into your fermenter ? “The Nordic Beer Tap uses ultrasonic technology to enhance the flavour and taste of your beer. You will be able to...
  10. Ashman

    Fermentation temperature control, data logging and ambient temperature

    In the process of Building a fermentation temperature control system using the salus iT500 wireless heating controller (for residential boilers, etc). logger: Salus offer a http web interface to the device (zigbee) so I’ve just used a php script on a free web hosting to scrape temperature...
  11. Ashman

    Beers from the hot summer period

    I have a few beers brewed from the hot summer period (allgrain but fermenter at start very warm close to 30C). The beers have a loverly fruitiness but the whole batch has a white film on every bottle. I’m unsure whether the fruitiness is from the heat and or whatever got in there. Do any...
  12. Ashman

    Krausen after a few hours

    Ok I’ve not brewed before at this date in the year. I put a kit together this morning, boiled water and then chilled to 30C then re-oxygenated the water and added kit malt then left for s while but the temperature was slow to drop . Pitched Wilko ale yeast anyway quite high on the temperature...
  13. Ashman

    Bar (Kegs) in a car boot

    Apologies if this was you but I went to a fete yesterday and there was a chap who was selling pints pulled from the boot of a converted glitzy 4x4 type vehicle. The kegs were I think stamped Shepherd Neame - I think commercial type. The only problem was he was pulling pint after pint that was...
  14. Ashman

    Syphon tube mould

    I brew in the garage. I’ve noticed my syphon line tubing from last cleanup has signs of mould. I think my best bet is to bin it and replace for bottling. However, what’s the best way to store the tubing? I know I sterilised the tube as part of cleanup but almost certainly chucked it back wet...
  15. Ashman

    Dry hopped equals grassy taste?

    I’ve experimented with dry hopping homebrew and they have always had a grassy taste to them. In addition a few (not all) commercial dry hopped beers I had recently also had the grassy taste. I remember reading that Brewdog had special equipment for dry hopping. Any tips for avoiding it?
  16. Ashman

    Dual / twin immersion chiller - worth it

    I sourced some 10mm to 1/2 bsp male parallel compression fittings to build an immersion chiller. Really easy build with Output 1/2” is shower hose and input 3/4” washing machine hose. it’s also easy to get from 1/2” to the 3/4” for outside tap or to the kitchen tap adaptor. Anyway I sourced a...
  17. Ashman

    Too cold to brew an ale ?

    I’ve rigged up a heating thermostat overnight in our north facing garage to log ambient temperature. The coding on the date stamp is a little iffy but broadly this is the ambient temperature profile 10.30pm ish to this morning. There was a frost overnight. Is this likely too cold to brew an ale...
  18. Ashman

    Diacetyl (Butterscotch)

    Ok brewed an all grain using the Wilko English ale yeast. It cleared as expected and hit the expected gravity reading. FV the garage for 2 weeks in the primary ( pretty cold). 2weeks carbonation. It’s drinkable and I initially thought it was fruity but I’m leaning towards butterscotch. I can...
  19. Ashman

    16L filter coffee machine- suitable?

    Hi, Completed a kit and it worked Better than expected. Looking to go all-grain but have no equipment. Seen videos with people using an army of pots and tubes. I’ve found a 16L coffee filter machine from Royal Catering ( RCKM-20). A few things are not right like the temperature set (would...
  20. Ashman

    Lifestraw

    Has anyone used the Lifestraw water filtration product on their homebrew? The product was originally for humanitarian use but markets seem to have expanded. I was thinking of either looking at the siphon to see if it generated enough suction. I expect I might then need to carbonate the beer...
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