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The primary was three weeks and at a constant 22C (water jacket with aquarium heater) Best I could do for the secondary was shifting it upstairs where it's warmer. It's now downstairs in the kitchen, the coolest place in the house most of the time for its conditioning. I'm pretty sure it is...

I don't know where it's actually coming from. The cap is tightly on, and I had tested it previously by gassing the barrel. As I mentioned, I released the pressure last night and that stopped the hissing. This morning it had started again, so it seems like with time pressure is increasing in the...

I brewed a Ritchie's Father Hook a couple of weeks ago. I was a bit concerned as to whether primary fermentation had finished as there was still more airlock activity than I've been used to in previous brews. However, primary had been going on for 3 weeks and SG was stable at 1012 (expected from...

I've got a Ritchie's Festival Father Hooks on the go at the moment. First time using this kit, and it's still going at 15 days. I'm wondering whether anyone has any experience with this kit and can say whether this is 'normal'. OG was 1.040 SG @day 5 was 1.018 (when hop pellets that came with...

It's scaled down from 19L to 11.7L. The original recipe uses 3240g DME, 445g sugar, 125g black malt, 19L final for an OG 1070. I have 2000g DME available. Adjusting hops from original recipe to 11.7L gives 32g 90min; 10.5g 10min. I was wondering that. I've seen conflicting advice regarding hot...

I'm planning my first extract brew. I can't boil any sensible volume of wort due to space constraints so I'm considering boiling the hops in water only (or water+steeped black malt). The recipe is a Belhaven 90/- from Graham Wheeler's book, adjusted to the amount of DME I have. This would give...

It still looks particulate rather than a lump, but I haven't opened the packet!

In a few weeks I'm going to try my first extract brew. I was going to use some dark spraymalt I bought a couple of years ago but never got round to using. I notice the Best Before date is Apr 2011. Might I be better of not using it? It hasn't been opened and has been stored in a shed for most of...

Cheers all. Acutually it turned out to be a leak round the airlock. Blocking it with some Blutac has yielded a happily bubbling fermenter! I'd also put some yeast nutrient in it prior to pitching, which I forgot to mention in my little recipe.

Last year I did my first TC and it was a success, only a 5L batch. With a friend's wedding coming up I thought I'd do a 23L batch. Pitched the yeast last night, still no airlock activity this morning. Should I be thinking about buying an emergency new packet of yeast? Yesterday was 16L apple...

But is that a function of boil volume (i.e. a limit on hop compound concentration) or protein concentration in the wort (which would be high for a low volume boil with an amount of extract equivalent to full volume) Yes, for a mashed wort. I was wondering whether these proteins are also...

Another extract brewing question as things keep occuring to me. Is there any _requirement_ to boil mail extract in terms of either clarity of beer or wort composition in regards to hop utilisation? For example, in a brew containing dried malt extract and a quantity of, say, crystal malt would...

Ah, I see what you mean now. Yes that's obvious to me. So what I'm interested in is this bit.... So if the bulk of my wort is made of malt extract I probably don't need to worry about a decrease in hop utilisation

Well, yes but the hop utilisation occurs during the boil, so if you have more concentrated proteins the utilisation will be lower. What I was actually wondering is whether protein-related decreases in hop utilisation are only really an issue when doing AG brewing where more proteins will be...

Thinking about a first extract brew. I see that Graham Wheeler is happy with having grains present in during the boil, rather than steeped and removed in a bag. People's opinions? Also, if grains in a bag I assume it's worth rinsing the bag out when it's removed from the pot? Cheers

Planning my first extract brew and a couple more questions. I will be forced to do a reduced volume boil given the equipment I have. I'm aware of advice to increase the amount of hops due to a decreased hop utilisation in higher gravity boils. Graham Wheeler's book talks about the decrease in...

Kits = all ingredients (+/- additional sugar) in the tins, add water, add yeast Extract = malt extract + additional malts + hops, boil, chill, add yeast I'm hoping that using dried malt extract and other fresh ingredients will remove a slight tang I've noticed in the two kit brews that I've done.

No chiller unfortunately, so a sink full of cold water and ice packs will have to do! I am aware that I could do my boil in a reduced volume, and dilute afterwards - are there any recommended calculators for reduced hop utilisation efficiency if I do this? Cheers

I've brewed a couple of kits which turned out OK, but with a bit of a taste that I'm putting down to that homebrew tang. I'd like to move on to an extract brew or two. Since I don't have much space, have no large boiling vessels and can't brew very regularly, I'm considering doing a couple of 5...

I bottled my first ever TC and ginger beers yesterday, and very nice they were tasting at the time! I was a little concerned about the ginger beer though. I bottle by filling a batch, loosely placing the caps as I go. Then I get the caps on properly. I noticed that the caps were rattling a bit...