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Off out to the fleshpots of Alderney with some fishin' buddies. Not expecting too much good beer out there so cracked this as a warm up. Very nice and citrusy.

First try of my Proper Job clone, the one which I cultured the yeast from a bottle of PJ. Really nice, malty but can't really get the Citra. Can't remember what the original tastes like though!

Nipped to France on my Dad's boat yesterday. Stocked up with some "homework" 😁

Judging by the Alpha percentage I'd say half the amount is correct.

Also I was very suspicious that the grain supplied could give the quoted 20 litres at 6%. So I ran it through Brewersfriend and it came out at a lowly 4.64%. I've added another 1kg of pale malt to boost it up to 5.78%.

Mashing in my second Christmas beer, Black Magic Biscotti Breakfast Stout. Lovely free running mash despite 750g of flaked oats.

All done. 24 litres at 1.062, so a couple of points above. These are the flavour spices left after transfer. Still smelt amazing!

Just mashing the Wreck the Halls kit from BrewUk. After a long spring and summer making pale ales and saisons it nice to see some colour!

I thought you'd upgraded to the 65 litre Brewzilla! Tiny little pup. 😁

Yep, pretty close.

That looks pretty close to the Wreck the Halls recipe!

Great articles there Hazelwood. Unfortunately with totally conflicting methods, or maybe there is no best way. One advocated nuts in the mash, the other post fermentation. But both mention the need to reduce the oil content. I'm doing the Wreck The Halls this weekend, so I'll do some more...

Sounds like a plan! I might use cold brewed coffee too. I'll read a few stout and porter recipe equivalents to find something I like. I thought the oil from the almonds might affect head retention though.

Just checked and yes they do, also a bag of spices. Great value I think.

Both are AG kits from BrewUK. The Biscotti Stout has Pale Malt, Flaked Oats, Chocolate malt, Crystal, Carafa 3 and roast barley. Magnum hops. Then 50g crushed coffee beans and 75g Almonds in the secondary. The late additions are a bit vague. I assume it means ground almonds though!

I've got the Wreck The Halls AG kit and Biscotti Breakfast Stout to do for Christmas. Not just for me but as gifts too.

I do it a lot, for a few reasons. Yes it saves money. Postage to where I live takes up to 2 weeks, even for yeast from CML (NOT their fault, I hasten to add)! I enjoy the process and fiddling with things. 😂

If these wild ones I found are any good I'll see about looking after them a bit next year to try and increase the yield. But they are North East facing, which isn't ideal.

Do you know what they are or have you used them before so know they taste good? I've no idea what these are but like yours they smell great.

I totally agree Sandimas. It was just that I found these wild hops on Sunday and was planning a brew on Monday. There really wasn't enough to dry and freeze plus I've no idea what they are! So a simple (cheap) brew seemed a good idea and get them used. I chose a pretty pokey IPA so they've got...