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AG recipes are only ever an approximation, depends on your brewing method, your equipment and your grain crush - they certainly aren't "plug n play". What works for the brewer who created the recipe will almost certainly not be 100% for those trying to replicate it, you need to understand how...

Bumping this thread again, really been getting into HPA again lately in the local pubs so have given it another go. Comparing to the real thing, on reflection I think I had the bitterness a bit too high so I've dropped it to 30 IBU this time, will see how it turns out.

Time of year I reckon: I occasionally get this and can never pin it down, but it always happens in summer so reckon it's air-borne. I'm meticulous with my cleaning regime and it still gets in. I haven't changed my FVs just used diluted bleach as suggested above. I don't think there's a lot you...

Crikey I'd forgotten about these kits, made Colne Valley Bitter 11 years ago: my notes say it was good but needed a bit of maturing time, 6 weeks at least. Did a few of these kits and they often finished with a slightly high FG, I didn't make a note of the yeast that came with them but it might...

Well, good news (for me at least): wandered into Wilko today and the homebrew section was back and fully stocked, loads of yeast, kits etc. Better than I've seen it for years. The rest of the shop was pretty well stocked too.

Ressurecting an old thread as it occured to me that I haven't ordered from HBC Ireland since Brexit: am I liable for VAT when the order arrives or is everything covered at the checkout?

As was said above, what were your OGs and what attentuation figures are you getting? S-04 and US-05 are very reliable yeasts, you should be getting mid-70s attenuation figures, so if OG around 1045-1050 you should be getting down to 1010-1012. As your FG is around 1020 either your OGs are very...

Steller German Style Pils

I've got black fly on my broad beans :-( Also growing French beans, garlic, onions, sweetcorn, courgette, pumpkin......and of course hops. In the greenhouse chillis, peppers, tomato, aubergine, cucumber.

If you store bottled beer in the garage or shed like I do, get them into the house, you might be surprised how hot they can get: heat forces CO2 out of the beer and can result in exploding bottles, either that or it re-starts the yeast. Get a few go bang every few years unless I bring them into...

Went into my local Wilko yesterday and couldn't find anything, asked one of the staff to be told "the homebrew section has gone". Needed some seeds for the garden, only 60% of the rack stocked, looks to me like they're running things down.

Need some crushed Maris Otter but not a 25kg sack, more like 10-12kg: just that and maybe a few more grains but not enough to qualify for free postage from the main suppliers. Got loads of hops and others grains that need using up, hence just needing the base malt. Need to run down my stocks as...

The regulars here are based on the hops I grow in the garden, as I always have loads of them: Styrian Goldings, Cascade and Challenger. Styrian and Cascade Pale Ales are made every few brews, in fact Styrians go in most things as I can never use the quantity my bine produces every year.

You can do, but then you need to make sure the 2nd batch is very close to the temp of the first batch before you tip it in, else you could cause too much of a temp change that would have an adverse affect on the fermenting yeast.

You don't have to brew 20 or 23L, you can brew any size you like: like 10L. I'd be a bit worried doing 2 batches separately and mixing them later, especially this time of year with wild yeast in the air, which could get to the 1st batch before you get the 2nd bacth mixed in and yeast added. Or...

Short answer - 90min boil was the norm in many older brew books including the one that recipe came from (Graham Wheeler's book). Many of us do shorter boils now by upping the hops to achieve the same IBU. It can be really hard to replicate British ales with their subtle hop/malt balance, I've...

Half a teaspoon should be fine, I've done that with over 200 brews and every one has gassed up. It might just be that the room you've used isn't warm enough, ideally 18C or more for 2 weeks then store cooler. It's nothing to do with the actual brew (Nog), that fermented out just like any other beer.

I guess our tastes are all different: was only saying yesterday how Abbot Ale is the only ale I really dislike. Yet I love Landlord. As above, Styrian Goldings as a late hop are the key, I grow them and they are my go-to hop for late hopping. Landlord has been around for decades, well before...

Many of the recipes came from the Graham Wheeler book and there are other companies out there doing the same recipe kits e.g. Worcs Hop Shop Kits | Worcester Hop Shop (I thought they did Extract as well as AG kits but can't seem to find them). Or buy your own ingredients. The malt extract is...

Sadly no. Have you every been in the USA? It's so ingrained in their culture, bit like them banning a cup of tea in the UK. It would need a seismic shift in their culture to change things, and can't see that happening any time soon. That's not to say it's right, far from it, but it seems to be...