Recent content by IdiotBrewing

A brief update on this. I ventured into the brewery yesterday and the Chronical has slowed down. When I first raised the heat from 17 degrees C (62.5F) I inadvertently cranked it up to 28 degrees C (82.5F). Having let it go for 9 days it has dropped from 1.056 to 1.010. It's currently sitting...

Last weekend included a brew day. The Melange Lambic(ish) has been made, and initially emerged into the world more with a limping gait than a full throttle charge towards funky sour goodness. It has now been officially classed as an experiment (some might say cock-up). I opted for a malty...

I recently chucked together a Bavarian Weiss, which was the first use of the sinks in anger. The brewday was certainly enhanced, to the point that the clean-up which usually adds an hour of misery sailed by like a thing that sails by as you sit, smiling, beer in hand. My next task is to make...

I haven't been doing much work in the brewery, because my Missus wants me to do work on the house. To be fair, I do have form for this! Our last house was purchased against her wishes, but I promised her faithfully I would do it up. I did, although much of the work was finished 17 years later...

Another vote for S-04; good in beers and great in cider.

I don't know that four weeks is a long time; it's more common than I at first thought! The interesting thing is that if you take the general issues that many new brewers have, they seem to be based around similar issues: off tastes in the background, haze or cloudiness, minor infections...

Many years ago I used gelatine as a fining and it created as many issues as it solved, such as slithers of congealed gunk in the beer! By finding consistency with mash temperature, sparging methods, fermentation temperature and time (4-6 weeks) and watching how transfers occurred, my beer...

I prefer a moderate boil; it doesn't affect the beer quality. You just need to get consistency so the pre-boil volumes are right.

If the mash was too warm that'll create more body (unfermentables). However, I'd agree with the comment above about allowing four weeks. That's the minimum I leave any beer before taking a reading!

The most important thing is to not let the bubbling be a significant indicator of whether fermentation is over. I leave all my beers a minimum of four weeks before even considering taking an FG reading. The yeast need time to clean up after themselves!

Never understood why people buy starter kits. Buy the shiny stuff on day one. Buy it all in one hit. Take the pain and then move on! You have one pang of guilt as your family looks on disapprovingly, but you're all set to brew. Also, the kit starts paying you back from the very start.

I've done a few ciders with ale yeast and they can act a bit different to how they act with beer. For example, I've had S-04 drop clean in beer every time I've used it. However, my S-04 ciders were clear but there was slurry up the sides of the FV to the top. It looked like a dirty protest...

I finally managed to find a few hours to test, taste and rack the remaining Perrider (perry/cider hybrid) fermenters. Similar to the first three, the final three checked in at 1.009 which, given the unfermentable sorbitol in the pear element of the cider/perry mix, was pretty much what I...

Last year I moved from a small tiny cramped house in the South of England to a sprawling money-pit in the Northest bit of North Lincolnshire, where amongst the acreage was a small orchard including apple and pear trees. The original plan was to split them and produce cider and perry, but as is...

Hi, can I have a bit more info? How old are they, rootstock and price? I'm near Market Rasen.