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I brew what I like to drink - English/American pales, IPAs, Amber ales and ESBs, Steam beers, Cali Commons, pseudo pils and genuine lagers. If I'm buying I look for proper cask ale in the pub or Belgian, German and Czech beers from the supermarket.

Vienna lager going down well in the warm weather. First one I've made, forward malt balanced with hoppy bitter finish. All Tettnang, cold fermented with MJ84, used up some odds and ends of malt - Pale, Light Munich and Vienna.

I've had a few bags of these, pellets are OK but need to be used quickly as mostly near best before date. I wouldn't bother with the whole hops as I've had at least one bag which I had to ditch as they've were dried out and dusty ( Archer ). Not worth saving a couple of quid to run that risk...

All this talk of bags of dust got me thinking of this 😆

Novalager gets thumbs down from me after fermenting it both warm and cold, I've had much better results using MJ54 for steam beers or pseudo pils and Lalbrew Diamond for true lagers.

I have a soft spot for this as my late father in law worked at Thwaites for most of his life fitting out their pubs. I used to look forward to their best bitter on our trips up there.

Early taster of this Vienna lager I kegged a couple of days ago, first attempt at the style and I really like it. Toasty malt to the fore with floral hoppy bitterness to finish from Tettnang. Cold fermented with MJ84, I'd use this yeast again, it has a lovely crisp lager taste.

Trying to finish a mini keg of Northern Brewer & Cascade APA so I can keg my latest Vienna Lager, I underestimated !

I use both but generally keep whole hops for the boil or hopstand as I find despite cold crashing they sit as an unsinkable raft after dry hopping.

Yesterday I brewed an English IPA with Admiral and Challenger. I did have a bag of whole Archer for late boil/hopstand/dry hop but they were unuseable, dried out and dusty. So had to change the recipe half way through the boil, but I've used Admiral as the main hop in similar brews and really...

I've just done a pale ale with Olicana so I want to brew an IPA. Given Archers low AA% I thought Admiral to bitter, Challenger at 30mins and the Archer at 15mins, hopstand and dry hop. Maris Otter, Caramalt and a little Dark Crystal for colour, fermented with Verdant IPA yeast which should be a...

These are 4 for price of 3 in Asda at the moment. Got a Vienna lager to keg this weekend and planning to brew an English IPA with Archer.

I've always found it to be one of the most reliable and versatile yeasts, usually getting 80 - 85% attenuation. For some reason it wasn't happy - do you have temperature control, was it a high OG ? Glad you've got it back on track 👍

Decent pale ale from my local brewery, Challenger and Cascade.

Impromptu user upper brew today, small 10L batch so nice easy brew day. Batch#52 Vienna Lager BIAB (no sparge) Total water 14.3L OG 1.051 FG 1.013 ABV 5% EBC 22.5 IBU 25 Clear choice ale malt 1kg Light Munich 1kg Vienna 250gm Light Crystal 220gm Tettnang 10gm 60mins Tettnang 5gm...

Olicana pale ale in fine condition after six weeks in the keg Got myself a steak from M&S and picked up this tasty APA by Vocation, Sweet pineapple fruitiness and dry bitter finish - nice !

Lovely pint of session IPA from the local Chiltern brewery at Aylesbury's oldest pub, the Kings Head.

First week back after a long holiday is always a tough one so down tools early today and a few of these, Hallertau Blanc Pilsener. Still improving, it's a hop I'll use again but it would easy to over do it with this one. One left over from Father's day, an IPA that looks like a lager ! Nice...

I've never even thought about using bread yeast for my elderflower wine, is there any reason why it would be a good idea to do that rather than use one developed for the purpose ? I've used mainly Lalvin and Gervin yeasts for all sorts of country wines over the years, my comments are based on...

Bread yeast typically has a limit of around 8% alcohol and tends not to floccolate and clear as well as wine yeasts, also chance off off flavours. If I wanted to experiment I'd rather try a wild fermentation, plenty of people do it that way.but I've always stuck to a tried and tested method.