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Yes, wort was a touch high, but thermometer in wort said it was 24 degrees, whilst the stick-on one on the FV said it was 26 degrees still. Room was quite warm so getting it much cooler would have been difficult, unfortunately. Yeast had been in same room for 3 hours, having previously been...

Hopefully no problems like that Godfrey - I stored the yeast in the fridge, took it out 3 hours before pitching as per instructions, and pitched at 25 degrees C. Let's hope it is a slow burner.

Morning all! Attempted my first full mash brew yesterday, and almost everything seemed to work out - ended up at roughly the right OG, and with almost the expected volume (21.5 litres instead of 23, but close). The only thing is that, as yet, no apparent reaction from the yeast at all, after 14...

Cheers all for the help. All finished, and as was suggested, learnt a lot simply by doing. Ended up with about 19 litres of wort after the boil, with a gravity of around 1044. Was aiming at 1040 so added some cold water to get it about right and ended up with 21.5 litres at about 1040...

Ah, I should have planned ahead on this then. I'm brewing upstairs in the bathroom! Need to work out something as it is the 'wrong' kind of tap, unfortunately.

Cheers guys. I am well underway now and it all seems to have gone to plan. With the combination of mashing and sparging I ended up with about 25 litres of wort in all. Boiling away nicely now, with the aim of ending up with 23 litres by the end of it all. I guess I'll only know if the...

Cheers all. Very useful to know. So, to be clear, even if only 10 litres of the 32 litres of liquor are used in the initial mash, you would expect to end up using all of the rest in the sparging? And when you start the boil you'd usually have well over the 23 litres needed by the end, because...

Afternoon all. It's been a while since I've been on, mainly for good reasons. I'm three homebrews into brewing, all kits beers so far, and all have gone well. Tomorrow I'm planning a bash at the real thing - full mash brewing. Woo hoo! One thing still confuses me, however. How much water/liquor...

Evening all! My second brew (Woodforde's Norfolk Nog) has just finished fermenting, and I'm not certain about the best way forward if I want to bottle this one rather than keep it in pressure barrel as I did with my first brew. I've seen conflicting advice! A number of things I've read say I...

All the very best with that. As far as I can tell, it's a pretty fool-proof kit to start with, and it seems it'll taste pretty nice too.

Hi guys, Thanks again for all the advice. Quick update on progress - the beer is in the pressure barrel and all seems well. Had a nice little sip of the sample I siphoned off for reading the gravity to check it was ready for the barrel, and that tasted pretty good even then. Woodfordes...

Thanks Pittsy. I do have CO2 but would prefer to avoid and go au naturelle if at all possible first time around. It seems best for me to cask it then, and ensure I have reasonable pressure. Presumably I could bottle some to hand on to willing guinea pigs once it's ready in the cask, on the basis...

Hi all, My first brew is underway as a newbie, and I'm very excited! And even though I'm using an allegedly simple and foolproof starter kit, I still have plenty of questions. The main question is to do with post-fermentation. I have a 5 gallon/40-pint pressure barrel. If I choose to use that...

Thank you, all of you, for the welcome and the hints and tips. I can happily report that my first brew is now on, and bubbling away nicely despite the coolness of my house. A camping mat round the fermenter seems to have done the trick and I've got it at around 20 degrees C. Possible even a...

Thanks Bob. Sound advice. Clean it will be, in that case! Finger's crossed!

Thanks Kyle. Fear not, I am a bitter man myself. Ale all the way! I wondered about the duvet idea. I'll give that a go. And great to hear that the beer will last well even once 'accessed'. I suppose what's confused me there is that I know when you tap a cask of ale, you need to get through it in...

Hello all, A new brewer here, about to start my first homebrew tomorrow, finger's crossed. The easy route to begin with for me - a Young's Home Brew kit making Woodfordes Wherry. But still so many questions.... Like how to maintain the temperatures needed at different times in a house that is...