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How long has it been in the secondary? Did you add straight sugar instead of dissolving it in boiled water perchance? Adding sugar to the beer will release the dissolved CO2 and may be the source of your bubbles. Bottle it now.

The Pale Ale kit is great with 1-1.2kg light dry malt extract and 15-20g East Kent Goldings boiled for 10 minutes. If using the Beer Enhancer try about 10-15g. Other hops can be great with it as a flavour addition as well - Nelson Sauvin and Ella come to mind. Again small late additions, as the...

It looks like the break material coagulated by the Irish moss. Many take care to take the beer off the top when transferring to the boiler, and I do now I have a proper one, but left it in for many years and never detected an issue when I was partial mashing.

That's not a solid block of ice, it's a collection of ice crystals, which tend to form around -2C. Remember that your thermometer is probably out by at least 2C at this temperature and it is easy to see why. BrewDog have a recipe where they intentionally do this in order to increase alcohol...

Someone reviewed a "Brewie" system here recently which does just as you describe for about 1000pounds, but I wouldn't call it the ultimate. For me brewing is about saving money and the pleasure of doing it myself - both of which you lose with such a system. All the current technology also limits...

Just be aware that regular cornflakes are loaded with salt. I use cheap rolled oats for flaked oats, and have experimented with cereals in the past.

What temperature did you ferment at? 35C is a bit high to rehydrate at, but shouldn't kill much yeast and any infection capable of dropping SG that much would have notable flavours. So I suspect fermentation temps were a bit high for the yeast.

I wondered where the myth of half the cells dying from dry pitching came from and am not surprised it comes from someone who sells an overpriced "liquid" yeast product... You should read a little more from Lallemand, not just pick out the bits that seem to support your beliefs.

Yes, certain comments are again a bit strange and fly in the face of the experts and popular experience. If all this mysterious bad stuff was going to happen to the dried yeast in a starter, it would occur when pitched into a full volume. Llalemande have a blog where their scientists answer...

I've re-used yeast a heap of times after fining with gelatin and had no problems.

No the yeast won't drop out until it goes to sleep. BTW - my full grain kegged beer is crystal clear after about a week - are you using whirlfloc, cold crashing and gelatin fining?

I've never heard of it being a bad idea, nor of dry yeasts being loaded with "nutrients and food" - there just isn't enough room in the packet, especially if 96%+ is yeast cells! If you don't have two packets for a high S.G. beer at least a mini-starter is a good idea and I have done it a lot...

Some people have more money than sense...

Yeah, you're being a bit of a Nancy. I kept my old fermenter for about 10 years before it picked up scratches. I currently have one that I bought second hand a few years ago as part of a set so I don't know how old it is, but it is the old "VB style" so must be pretty old. I sort of retired it...

If you are going to rack to a secondary, don't use your mouth! rinse your hands or gloves with starsan solution, insert the hose to fill it with beer, put your thumb over one end while holding the other below the surface and release it again when the tube is at the bottom of the secondary. I...

The foam is produced by the sulfanic acid, it allows the solution to stay in contact for the required 2 minutes contact time. If used at the recommended no-rinse concentration of 1.5ml per litre it can be left there, in fact I purge my kegs with CO2 and let the beer push the foam out of the top...

Similar to Druncan, but add some weight into the bag to sink it. Marbles, ball bearings and large S/S nuts/washers can usually be sterilised by boiling.

If you are only boiling some extract to get proper hop utilisation then it doesn't matter if the lid is on. A partial mash boil probably has a low ratio of base malts so problems would be less prevalent, but I do find the break is much better with the lid off, hence boiling harder.

Yes, if the bottles explode use less priming sugar. Seriously, those bottles are nice and thick so the top would leak first. Don't worry so much - drink more beer if necessary.

Only a dozen cases? :-? I don't think I'd survive, so it had better be bloody good! Given it's a desert Island so it will be hot and I'd probably be living on fish, I'd say a Hoergaarten. Then again I haven't tried it in a bottle...