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I did a brew on Wednesday and, whilst it seemed to be going smoothly for 30 mins or so, the sparge plate then clogged up. I cleared it, then completed re-circulation with the splash guard in place. It seems I haven’t widened the slots enough. As yet.... On another subject, for the last few...

How did you get on, Rob?

Where do you live, Andrew? I’m in London (usually one of the warmest places in the UK), and we’re forecast to have sub-22 deg C temperatures until Sunday. Hence my brew just done. Fermentation takes place in the spare (North facing) bedroom with the door and blinds closed. If the room’s temp...

With the same weight of grain, water volumes, mashing time, temperatures and boil, I got 1.052 last time. However the make-up of my grain bill was slightly different, with some of it from a different supplier, so that might explain the difference. Not a huge fall, by any means, but worth noting...

6kg of grain is far too much. Go for 4.5 kg to 5.0 kg max. Even then you’re likely to get 5.0% to 5.5%. I have the Bulldog too. Whatever grain bill you decide on, multiply the kg by 4 to get your water vol. Thus 4.5 kg of grain means 18 litres of water in the Bulldog. After that, sparge up to...

After doughing in, I vorlaufed about 6 litres, inserted the sparge plate, then placed the splatter guard on top of the malt pipe. After 20 minutes of recirculating this is what it looked like: I had sprinklered the R-T tubing around somewhat in order to spread the debris, and the wort was...

My splatter guard has arrived. Here it is: Fits nicely, and it’s a pretty fine mesh. I will let you know how it goes in operation. It looks like there might be a temperature window starting on Sunday, so I may go for it then. If anyone else is interested, it’s a 29 cms Splatter Screen from...

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I have not used the bazooka since the first brew. I have only got a clogged pump once in the 9 subsequent brews, which was when I used whole hops commando. I was asking for trouble, wasn’t I?

I was a bit dubious about crowbarring my way around the sparge plate, in case I damage it irreparably. But if you’ve had success doing it, I might take a leap at it. Yesterday, acting on Andrew’s idea, I ordered a 29 cms splatter guard (with a centre, fold-down handle). It should rest happily...

Yes, Andrew. A splatter guard would probably work. Or a fine mesh strainer, and either would probably cost less than a second sparge plate.

Here’s the colander sparge (reconstructed). Definitely not ideal, but at least I didn’t have to stand there waggling the tube around!

Hi Andrew 1. I brewed up a new batch yesterday. I didn’t do the Vorlaufing, as I concluded that recirculation basically does the same job. I started the recirc as soon as I’d finished doughing in but, to distribute the wort more evenly, I used an improvised homemade sparge plate - a kitchen...

Many thanks, Mr. Brews. Some great tips & info there. Yes, I've tried to keep shifting the re-circ around the grain bed to avoid "holes" too. Kind of like trying wet all the urinal while having a piss.

Hi Guys I too have the Bulldog MB, and have done 8 brews with it since its arrival last October. I’ve got a couple a questions for you. 1) Do you use the bayonet filter? I used it for the first batch, but it clogged up badly during transfer to the FV. Then I watched a YouTube video in which...

Quite right too! Some clarifying agents are not chemicals, though. Irish moss is a seaweed, for example. I’ve tried that, as well as isinglass (fish bladders!) with varying results. But I’m very happy to drink hazy, even cloudy, beer. Someone I know hates it, however, so I serve his beer in a...

According to Homebrewing For Dummies, chill haze is “a temporary cloudiness that forms in beer when it is refrigerated, caused by the combination and precipitation of protein matter & tannin molecules during secondary fermentation.... It does not affect the flavour and eventually settles out on...