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Looking good. How sour did it turn out, & do you know the final PH or FG? What seemed thin, fruitiness / body / maltiness ...? What was the recipe batch size? Was clogging from blackberries, and were you bottling straight from the secondary fermenter? When doing country -hedgerow wines...

Real Ales for the Home Brewer. Marc Ollossen 2nd Ed. 2014 Majority of book is taken up with the recipes The first 79 recipes, are based on info supplied by the breweries. The final 51, he describes as his own equivalents of commercial beers, but the commercial beer's name cant be given...

If the switch was already in the on position, and then you plugged in some load. It would handle 20A, no matter if the supply was 125V or 250V. As it's the switch resistance and current, that governs heat generated, which is the limiting factor. It's the arcing, that largely happens when the is...

If doing recirculation, you'll definitely need added heat, to maintain temperature. On my AIO, with a foam jacket, glass lid and partially insulated pipe. I'd say it's using around 300 to 500W to maintain mash temperature. It's thermostatic, and cycles the 1kW heater, on maybe a third of the...

Does that mean, in future, you'd only boil the initial berries? And still add them, at 5min before end of wort boil? I'm not sure my BZ4 filter, would cope with a kilo or more fruit. Is there something special happening when boiling wort and fruit together? Or could the boiled fruit, just go...

Yes, that would work if you're feeling fit. I'd worry about causing grain bed compaction, then getting a struck mash. Especially with large grain bills, or wheat beers. Once the grains aren't floating, the base layer of grain takes most of weight, from all the wet grain and wort above. Thats...

The spent grain, if tasted and chewed, does seem to have slight flavour and sweetness. But it's probably not much, birds hardly touch the stuff, if it's left out. Results of your experiment, checking for sugar and flavour, could be interesting. Might need a fair acid addition, as there's...

If you're getting the efficiency you're after, there's no need to worry. I don't know all the complexities of mash extraction efficiency. Sometimes a thicker mash, with higher enzyme levels can help. But whatever the initial mash thickness, a thinner final mash should help efficiency. When...

As the discepancy, between Rapt probe readings, and the built in sensor, is often so large. I'm surprised, that brewers can be getting consistant results. I often wonder, if the various (historical) recommended mashing temperatures, would be the same if they'd had systems with Bluetooth probes...

Outer flow, helps maintain core temperature during grain bed rest, and speeds up any temperature steps (as it gets rid of the surrounding, cool water, sitting at previous step temp). It can also improve mash efficiency, as the surrounding water / deadspace, becomes part of the the mash water...

A picture when the brew is finished would be good. This sounds a nice use for some of this year's blackcurrants, and finishing last years frozen ones. Is Philly Sour, reckoned to be a good choice for soured fruit beers? Is pectinase needed to avoid a pectin haze (as with fruit wines)? I...

Cairngorm Stag, (draught) is always my favourite ale at the Inverness 'Under Canvas' festival. Glad to find there's a recipe for Stag, so have ordered Olosson's book. Shame link to buy the pdf version, doesn't work any more. Apparently because the book rights are now with a new publisher. PDFs...

Some recipes in his British Real Ale 2nd edition, 2009, are slightly different from same beers in the first ed. But still a great book. eg. Hook Norton - Old Hookey, was for ABV 5.4%, is now for 4.5%. 10min hops was Goldings, now Fuggle. There's now a 3rd edition, but I've not looked there.

Increasing the reservoir (lifting the malt pipe) won't solve the problem, just delay its appearance. This can make matters worse. A difference in liquid levels, between that inside the malt pipe and that outside, gives a differential pressure. Where the levels are the same, it is a floating...

I measured BZ G4 35L, pump flow today. Via original recirc arm & hose, and via the second recirculation hose added (a 10mm internal dia. hose from drain tap). I only measured times to fill a 1L container, so figures very approximate, but still give an idea of the flow. Time to fill a 1L...

Have wondered if pump OK at high temps, but couldn't find a definite answer. I run it high temp, at times. 1) in getting to boil, to avoid overheat burn under HED. If was easy to remove false bottom + HED before boil, that wouldnt be an issue. 2) for a while, after each addition of hop pellets...

Seems a good idea. What size holes work - without any grain clogging, and is it silicon that can remain on during boil?

Yes that's it, with the original pump configuration. The silicon tube I'd ordered was 10mm / 16mm (recirculation arm silicone is 10mm / 13.5mm). The new one just fits the lift holes, but is too large to slide in, to make it secure. So I always use the original hose for outer recirculation, and...

My BZ gen4 now has recirc mod. Giving split recirc, between inside malt pipe & outside malt pipe (via one lifting hole). This allows max flow at all times, even during the initial 15min grain bed rest. Original recirc pipe goes to outer recirc, with valve usually left fully open. 2nd...

Flex straight out, through a strain relief connector, can meets specs; needs a smaller hole; & is less likely to fail or cause power loss (while overheating). Contacts in any power connector will corrode/tarnish with time. A heavy load can bridge corroded surfaces by making temporary micro-spot...