Jim's Beer Kit

Back in September, I bought one of these Brewferm Christmas kits, thinking if I made it straight away, it might be just about drinkable by Christmas. I made it up as per the instructions and set it going but after a brief initial flurry of activity, it seemed to stop bubbling very quickly and there ...

Picked up the yeast from the brew shop yesterday and just dug the kit out of the shed to give it a good clean prior to knocking up the kits this weekend. Tucked away with various bits and bobs in a fermenting bucket, I found a bag of DME with a best before date of Jan 16. Use it or bin it? It would ...

Get one of each and try them in the different brews. Just checked the shop's website and they stock both, so that's what I'll do. i used a tin which was over 12 months out of date recently and it had been sat on a shelf catching some direct sunlight in the PM. This is my concern with my kits, which...

Cheers, guys. Nothing to lose is my way of thinking. Thanks for the yeast recommendations too. Will see if they have those in the homebrew shop (they usually have a good selection so quite likely).

Evening all, I've not been round these parts for a while since life has got in the way of brewing but I've been thinking about getting back into it over the summer. I've got two kits that have been sitting on a shelf in the kitchen since I was last active - a Coopers Stout and a Coopers English Bitt...

Don`t just plonk your FV in cold water in the trug because the heater will have to work harder to get to temp and you will be cooling your beer! What I do is put the FV in the (empty) trug while the wort is still warm, then add cold tap water to the trug. As the temperature of the wort reduces, the...

Exiled Bradfordian wrote:WA: I am assured that there is no current search ongoing for the person in question

Is that because no one wants to find her?

I don't know but I would guess that the remaining 5% largely comprises non-fermentable sugars. Bear in mind also that mead doesn't have things like hops added to balance the sweetness (cf mild and bitter). I believe Fuller's Honey Dew has honey added post-fermentation for flavour, so it may well be ...

Honey is 95% fermentable.

Using a kilo of honey will definitely give a honey flavour to your beer.

Personally, if I were using that much honey, I would boil it prior to adding it to the wort to kill off the natural bacteria it contains.

Wales, with the muscovado and malt extract, surely that adds up to over a kilo of extra fermentables?

OG does sound a bit low though. Maybe it's just not mixed properly?

Made this on Saturday: 1 can Coopers English Bitter 1kg light DME 40g Fuggles hops 1 sachet Coopers ale yeast I boiled the hops for 10 mins in 3L water with 300g of the DME, then let them stand for a bit. Mixed it all together and topped it up to about 16 litres. OG 1052. Smells good. It's now bubbl...

Bottling today. Dry-hopped it five days ago with 40g Amarillo. It smells amazing. Tastes pretty darn good too - has an intriguing hint of caramelised oranges. OG of 1046 and FG of 1008 makes it about 5% abv. You can help it along with the addition of some orange zest. Tbh, I'm not sure it needs any ...

When the fermentation has finished, I have another FV with a hole for the tap, and I've also got a bottle filler on that; I was planning on putting 20 level teaspoons of sugar and gently siphoning in the beer. Does that sound Ok? How long should the beer plan on staying in this new FV before going ...

Fluctuations in temperature aren't ideal but it will probably be fine.

What was the original gravity? Have you tested the gravity again today? This will be the best indicator of whether it is still fermenting.

I've got two cans of Coopers English Bitter that are next on my to-do list. Contemplating doing them together, maybe adding a bit of DME as well, plus some Fuggles hops that need to be used up. The idea would be to end up with something vaguely resembling the classic Fuller's ESB. No idea if it will...