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Q. What you would like for your birthday? A. Peace and quiet to be able to brew some beer. Probably not the answer my wife was expecting but she's given it to me anyway. I have an Old Speckled Hen on the go for AG#16. Brewed it a couple of times before so am just hoping to tweak it here and...

totally inappropriate or not? I made a Dubbel in October which I'm just starting into now and it's great. Probably the best beer I've made to date and most likely down to using White Labs Abbey Ale yeast (WLP530). I've already re-used the yeast in a Triple which is currently fermenting but I'm...

I made a Dubbel with WLP530 a few weeks ago and am drinking my first pint now. Its very bananary and, whilst I like bananas, I'm not sure I like them in beer. Anyone have experience with this yeast and know if the bananas are likely to fade with time (admittedly it has only been in the bottle...

I brewed a Dubbel using WLP530 Abbey Ale yeast in late Sept, bottled it two weeks ago and washed the yeast from the trub saving it in the fridge. I'm planning to brew a Triple on Saturday and was wondering if I should bother making a starter tonight or just use some wort from the boil on Sat to...

I read somewhere that it's best to add (strike) water to grain rather than grain to water (so as not to shock the enzymes or summit) but are there any other advantages to underletting... do you still need to give the mash a good stir to wet all the grains? :cheers:

I'm planning a Leffe style Belgian and am wondering about the invert sugar. I've read much about candi sugar including but not limited to this great guide showing how to make it and this discussion on the chemistry. My question... is it worth making candi sugar or will golden syrup or even...

I brewed a Brooklyn Brown Ale today from a recipe I put together a few weeks back... http://thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=39436 Yesterday I made up a 1L starter with 100g of DME and some washed US-05 from my previous brew. It's been on a stir plate since 11pm last night and I was...

HI, I'm in the middle of brewing an American Honey Pale Ale. I have two 2.4kW kettle elements in my lagged 50L SS boiler but only use one when the boil is reached. The boil is on... and then some. The wort is nearly climbing out of the pot and I'm thinking it would be useful to be able to...

I currently mash in a converted picnic cooler with a copper manifold and it works fine. I loose only 0.5degC over a 90min mash but... its not shiney. It's a while since I built anything and I'm thinking a thermobox mash tun might be next on the agenda. I brew ales exclusively and am happy with a...

I'm resorting to dried yeast today and only have Safale S-04 and US-05 which I'm going to bung in together. I usually use Danstar Nottingham when using dried yeast and it specifies the temp of the water in which to rehydrate it on the pack. The Safale packs don't so... any idea? If all else...

Had a pint or two of Brooklyn Brown Ale last night and it was lovely. I'm trying to put a recipe together along the same lines and, having read this on their web-site... I've come up with the following; 4300g Maris Otter 500g Crystal 120 300g Aromatic Malt 150g Wheat Malt 100g Roasted Barley...

How is it that when my youngest does a wee in her bed my wife is very supportive saying it's not her fault etc and yet when I sanitise the kitchen floor with approximatley 15 litres of a mild videne solution she is not at all supportive and, for some reason, blames me? I tried to explain that...

I've been reading Mr Malty and his description of how to make a starter using a White Labs vial of liquid yeast... http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php. I've also read a guide on splitting a liquid yeast to make multiple starters... http://uk-homebrew.tripod.com/id45.html. The second guide...

...if I leave it in the out-house? I don't have a problem with mice but am slightly concerned that if I leave 25kg of food in a sack in my out-house they might sniff it out. Should I be worried? If so, any ideas as to what container they can't chew through? :cheers:

I'm conscious that speciality grains do not need to be mashed and yet, in every AG I've done (admittedly only 6 or 7 to-date), I've included them in with the mash. I recently read in Gordon Strong's book that doing this with dark grains can result in a harsher bitterness in the final beer and...

I saw James1988's write up of this recipe (http://thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=30820) and decided to give it a go. I've added a bit of black malt to get the colour up but apart from that it's pretty much the same. 4750.00 g Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) 475.00 g Barley, Flaked...

Just finished AG #4 and, as usual, used my homemade immersion chiller to chill after the boil. It's made from 10m of 10mm microbore copper tubing and is pretty good and getting the temp down to 40degC (in about 20mins) but pretty ineffective thereafter. This means I have to drop the wort into...

Got a hangover from last night's Christmas party but got a brew going anyway. I'm kind of winging it today and just hoping I remember to do stuff as I go along. Here's the recipe; 3500g Crisp Maris Otter 650g Crystal 600g Munich 28g Cascade at 60mins 20g Cascade at 10mins Planning to batch...

...time to bring the beer in from the shed?

I'm using Beer Smith to design an American Amber Ale but am a little confused by the estimated OG. I don't want a 7% beer so would like to keep the post boil OG in the region of 1.050... do I just reduce the amount of malt in the recipe to bring the OG down and if so, is there not a risk I'll...