Recent content by budwhite5

I went from kit to AG last year. Made my own mash tun for around $80, made my own heat exchanger (which you may already have) that cost about $12 for material. It costs me about $25 per 5 gallon batch, but I do it because I love it! I'm slowly but surely improving my kit this weekend was a...

I wouldn't mind having a go at this recipe. A question before I do though... Once bottled I don't have space to cold crush. Should I therefore pasteurise to stop fermentation of the fruit sugars I.e the same as with cider making? I learnt the hard way with my first batch of cider, ended up...

As we speak I'm getting a cider ready for the fermenter. I tried one last year, but it dried out. I left it too long to pasteurize and ended up with bottles that we're very interesting to open and I had to add syrup I every glass before drinking. This time I'm planning to not let it ferment...

I guys, The pic below is of a German Pilsner it's been in the fermentor now for around one month. Around two weeks in it stopped fermenting and the crust on top did not drop to the bottom. I left it for a week still nothing happened so I moved it to a warmer room thinking maybe fermentation...

Thanks it's still going strong as we speak. It's the first time I've used yeast with nutrients (the packet you smack to activate). With the beers I've made fermentation is normally finished by now, but I think this cider will be bubbling for at least another week! Can't wait to try it, and I've...

This reciepe is currently fermenting away nicely thanks for the great instruction :) I've picked a load of fresh strawberries which I've juiced and I'm going to use with half a gallon of apple juice. I'm due to do this on Saturday which is when it's been fermenting for two weeks. My question...

I'm also new, but I find bottle conditioning good. 5g of sugar per 500ml bottle seems to be enough to get good carbonation. I use bugle style bottles and get a real good 'pop' when I open them. Next I'm trying to master head retention. Bought some Irish moss for my next batch.

I found this article useful... http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/06/25/enhancing-beer-head-retention-for-home-brewers/

This is my label designed to be used on all my brews

It was the latter a tin of extract, hot water, sugar, and yeast. I hope it is the low quality stuff that's the issue and not something to do with the water. I've since bought two all grain recipes and they cost marginally more than the extract kits! I'm also going to try a Apple Cider and a...

It was yeast that came with the kits in a plain silver sachets

Hi, I've made two beers from kits a brew Ambriox and a Yorkshire Bitter. I've just started drinking the Yorkshire Bitter. It tastes very similar to the Ambriox. Is this because I've used the same sugar for both batches? Has anyone else noticed this brewing from kits? I did my first all...

Thanks, I'll be doing my mash in my cooler box mash tun the temp control is for when I'm doing the wort, but I take it a similar theory would work? Get my wort up to temp and then kill the heat? Or do I have to be more accurate with my wort temp?

I guys, next weekend I'm doing my 4th batch. It wil be my first all grain and first wort. Probably a bit in the deep end, but no risk no fun! The question I have is that I will be doing my wort on an electric hob. It has the power, but I prefer to cook with gas and I know it would be easier...

Hi all newbie to brewing, here is my new hop plant. Planting outside middle of May Any tips welcome