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I gave up using air locks altogether for that reason. I just stick a solid lid on, but only snap it on about half way round. I always found it far too tempting to think something was wrong when the airlock stopped.

Another +1 for Strange Steve’s post. It can seem like a ridiculously complex subject but he manages to make it very approachable. I’m also a fan of bottled water. I use the stuff from Lidl as there’s very little in it so can be adjusted to suit whatever you’re brewing.

Morning all, I'm planing my first brew in just over 2 years, I thought I'd be (probably overly) adventurous and have a crack at the Munich Helles from Greg Hughes' book. I'm ordering a custom grain kit from Geterbrewed but I can't get any DME for a starter. I could order some from elsewhere but...

Thanks @Banbeer The biggest change I've noticed is how much I've forgotten! I was never an expert but a thick cloud of fog seems to have descended over my knowledge. :laugh8:

Hi everyone. I thought I'd stop by and introduce myself again. It's been 2 years since I've done a brew ashock1 and I must admit to becoming a completely inactive member of the forum. Life just seemed to get in the way. But it seems to have done a massive U-turn recently and I've got bugger...

+1 for leaving it alone for a bit. The photo looks perfectly normal and healthy. I never even open the fermenter before 2 weeks. The more you open it, the more chance of infection. If you follow Ciaran's advice, you wot go far wrong.

Mine has cinnamon sticks, ground nutmeg and star anise. I'm hoping it'll taste as good as it smells!

Cheers guys. @JapanBrew I hadn't thought of that. I've probably got some stain knocking about in the shed. :thumb: @BeerCat it's just a cheap 120mm from eBay. Seems to do the trick though...

So with a combination of the two I'm into a winner! It was a bit of a faff like, not sure I'll do it again in a hurry.

7:30 start all was fine till I doughed in. The mash temp was way higher than normal. So I added some cold water, then some more, then some more... I eventually decided to check with a different thermometer and turns out my mash tun was reading about 15°C hot! So I ended up with a watery mash...

Cheers. It was really easy. The only difficult thing was breaking it up. It set into a solid slab, so I ended up putting it in a bag and dropping it on the kitchen floor. Worked a treat!:lol:

I've got one of those Kilner jam thermometers somewhere. Will that do?

I finally got round to building mine, housed in an old cigar box.

The rosemary is definitely worth a look. I've eaten it in the past without problems, but allergies can appear/worsen at any time I suppose. Prick tests and an epicene are the next step. I'm sure those around me would be fine with stabbing a sharp object into me. (Whether I'm having an attack or...

It's beginning to look a lot like, erm.. September. So time to get the Christmas brew on. I'm doing the Christmas ale from the Green Hughes book, (p151) Yeast starter is going nicely, all the grain was delivered today, and I forgot to order Belgian clandi crystals. :doh: I've just read...

I'm thinking a raspberry wheat. I might have to throw it in a secondary for a few days though as I don't imagine the yeast to be reusable after having raspberries on it. Unless of course I do the same brew again!

I'll have a fiver each way on @Dutto getting his mill. :lol:

A low mash temp produces more simple fermentable sugars, resulting in a lower FG, therefore a drier beer. It sure what overall effect something as low as 62 would have though.

Does anyone know when the next instalment of The Grain Mill Chronicles is due out? The suspense is killing me!

Under letting is something I've been thinking about for a while. I've just got myself a pump so I can keep everything on one level and I'll be under letting on my next brew. I'm sure I'll manage to balls something up along the way but that's part of the fun, right?