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I picked up a large number of Mangrove Jack’s Liquid Malt Extract on my last internet order and only now do I realise that they’re all the ‘light’ variety, aimed at lagers, pilsners, light ales etc. Can I still use them on reds and dark ales, or am I mostly better of saving them for their...

Nothing for me I’m afraid - had 4 of these ******* last night and the hangover’s still humping my leg...

So that's about 5g per bottle versus my 4g using drops. Makes sense. I've often thought 2 drops (4g) isn't enough for cider, definitely not enough for perry. Cheers Shirley!

Thanks everyone! I had @Drunkula's link bookmarked already, just never referred to it since I was using predefined carbonation drops and not sugar. Had I read it more clearly at the time I'd have been introduced to the concept of 'vols' as a measurement of carbonation. Just goes to show, you're...

Cheers JCR, though I probably should have said that I have hop pellets, not just hops. I'm hoping that'll negate the need for hops tea. Restarting this particular cider isn't a problem. The FV I'd like to dry-hop is one of three, and the other two have in turn been boosted to 8% and enhanced...

Well, they're bottled now! As usual I'm storing them in a big plastic box while they condition anywhere near carpet, just in case. What's 3.3 vols? (sorry, n00b here)

I've always used carbonation drops at bottling time to add a little sparkle, and the instructions usually recommend 2 drops per 500 ml bottle. In practice this provides a good level of carbonation for the kits I've done so far, Wherry, Honey Porter, etc. For IPAs and cider I'd like another 25%...

Blimey - six weeks!! 😳 I share your view that finishing hops should be added near the finish, though unfortunately when I was near the start of this journey I took "the finish" to mean "when the instructions say it should be ready" and ended up hopping far too early, hence my concern at the top...

Morning Gang! I've a 23 litre vessel of home made cider that's well and truly finished primary, if anything I've probably neglected it a little too long since it's already started to clear. FG is exactly 1.000 which should make around 6% ABV from the 1.046 we started with way back in September...

Cheers for the feedback @chillipickle and @Pavalijo - appreciate it. Out of interest, what made you decide to add hops when there was still Krausen on the brew? I’m pretty new to all this and had assumed (don’t know why) that if there’s foam on top it’s not done yet, and it might be X days...

I'm an ***** - it's not 1.004, it's 1.014. That's the second time I've looked back over my notes to find I've written down the wrong SG. Good job I keep the pictures - will give it another day or two.

Well, here we are 8 days later, and I'm still seeing a bit of foam, though nowhere near as much as there was at the start of this thread. The gravity is now at 1.004 (was 1.015) and according to the instructions this needs to be stable within 2 points of 1.012. I don't want to wait any longer -...

Great, that's good to know. As for "plan" I'm afraid I don't have one yet, it just occurred to me that I have enough leftover cider from September to try and make a blend, and I'm on the lookout for some ingredients which won't altogether ruin the hard work we put in milling and pressing. I'm...

Hey @fury_tea - sorry for the delayed reply. We went back into lockdown yesterday and I got sidetracked panic-buying picking up the bare essentials. When you say "anything that looks like these" I'm hoping that you have a far greater knowledge of chemicals than I, and are referring to similar...

Afternoon everyone! In my continuing assault on good taste I'm going to add some cheaply purchased supermarket blueberry juice to some cider we pressed back in September, maybe a little sugar, then kick her into secondary fermentation. Are there any additives that I need to look out for in my...

Nice one, thanks Scott. Good to know that 6 days isn't going to hurt the hops, though being a proper hop-head I'm going to aim for no more than 2 or 3 days, which gives me less of a window to get the primary out of the way. I'll try to exercise some restraint before I open the first one too. 😉

Got it, cheers. Back when I did Evil Dog I dry-hopped on whatever day the instructions told me to, expecting to also bottle a couple of days later as expected. The trouble was that Evil Dog was nowhere near ready at that point, and I spent 17 days stewing those finishing hops into oblivion...

I got as far as “motorised ball valve” before I had to go stand outside for a few minutes ... phew! Do like the look of those bulbous kegs coupled to what could be a dispensing system (I’m new - can you tell?) as it might free me from having to bottle absolutely everything. Chiller cabinet too...

I’m liking the look of that there shed! Any chance of a virtual tour?

A random can from the stockpile in our fridge ... seems fruity and soft after two bottles of Razorback. ;)