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Maybe I just need more practice 🤣

I never planned to do dry January this year, and I've never done it before! It's just that my sister-in-law mentioned she was doing it and it just kind-of happened. I've always taken the opinion that it's a good idea to cut back a bit after indulging a bit more than usual over Christmas, but I...

They are pretty good, and yes a few drops of wort soon comes to the same temp as the business end of the refractometer... but even so I seem to get a more accurate reading if I let the sample come to something a bit more like 20ºC first. Where the refractometer really come into its own is...

I’ve got a Munich Helles in pretty decent condition - will PM you athumb..

Blimey, those NEIPAs seem like a labour of love!

I meant to post this before, as it was something I’ve noticed before but really caught my attention during last weekend’s brewing sessions. Basically I’ve now become a bit more cautious about how I take my refractometer readings. It’s not that I’m not already quite careful: my normal process...

Evidently it’s ruddy complicated stuff, this microbiology!

Yes, but that kilo of grain will have contributed a lot of flavour!

How about an Oatmeal Stout? Lovely when it's chilled on a hot summer day... (if we ever get such a thing)

Well done! Is it happily fermenting away now?

To be fair, there’s probably no harm in pitching it: even if it’s dead as a doornail it should be biologically safe (sterile pack etc). Worst case it provides some additional nutrient for your ‘backup’ yeast

Hmmm interesting… I also had a dead one this weekend for the first time ever. Mine was Wyeast Belgian Wit WY3944 from THBS, well in date, delivered royal mail

Welcome Chris - lots of people on here making kits who can learn from your experience: it’s good to set up a ‘brew-day’ thread so interested people can tune in, and also to keep a record for yourself of what you did and how well it worked out :-)

I meant the temp of the brews themselves going higher than the temp of the air… mine do that quite a bit when they are “going for it” at the start of the process

Personally I put the PID probe in close contact with the heater. But I know many people disagree with that and prefer to tape it to the side of the FV under a bit of foam (or even better use a thermowell). The reason I put it on the heater is that I like to make sure it doesn’t get too hot...

Do you ever have them go over-temp due to heat of fermentation? I can only fit one FV per chamber, and I notice it usually switches from heating to cooling, then back to heating again as the fermentation progresses

Whoa … that’s a majestic sight Mr H clapa

Sorry to have been offline for a bit and I lost track… however I have a Munich Helles ready for bottling, and a Bière de Garde in the FV if that helps!

OMG I remember trying to use one of those when our son was a baby… never managed to get the darn thing lined up properly…

Interesting how they suggest using brewing wort for propagation as the hop content will deter bacterial growth... I suppose one could achieve the same effect by boiling some hops in the flask along with the DME...?