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I toyed with adding sugar. In the original version of the recipe where I was going to use WLP565 which is notorious for stalling/finishing high I would have used it. BE-134 is a diastatic yeast so will chomp through anything and leave the beer very dry so I don't think it's necessary in this case.

I'm planning on brewing a hoppy pale saison. I've come up with the recipe below and wanted some feedback on it. I've not brewed a saison before but I really enjoy a well made one. I'm not trying to brew to exactly to style as I know that it should probably be a bit less bitter and have less...

I'm always impressed with people taking the DIY approach. I like tinkering with spreadsheets but water chemistry always seems like it has too many variables for me to get my head around. Also, the paid version of Bru 'n' water ($10 donation) includes CRS/ARS and is a really excellent...

My star san that I make up with Ashbeck or the Asda equivalent often goes cloudy. I keep mine in the bottle and after it's been in and out of a couple of kegs and fermentors and given a good shake and a dose of CO2 each time it does go cloudy. I always make mine up towards the higher dose rate...

If you use straight sodium percarbonate in hard water you get a white precipitate which gets encrusted onto stainless steel. PBW contains a chelating agent and other cleaners. It's great stuff.

How do you store the PAA? Doesn't it have a very low flash point? I know it's meant to be a very good sanitiser but I'd didn't seem like a good choice for home use, a bit like caustic for cleaning.

I stocked up yesterday when I saw this on Facebook. I'll have enough star san to last 5 years and at least a couple of years of PBW. I really hope that it's just a labelling issue and supply resumes soon. Starsan is just too convent. Short contact time, no rinse, can be stored for reuse...

If you are storing them in the freezer doesn't that decrease the degradation to the point that it is negligible? The hop storage index is based on room temperature as a base line. I think it is also based on exposure to atmospheric oxygen. In a vacuum sealed bag in the freezer I've never felt...

I'm interested to know why you are deliberately aging aroma hops that you will use for dry hopping? Are you aging them at room temperature? Surely you will lose aroma and bitterness and increase your chances of getting cheesey hops. I know they use aged hops in some Belgian styles but that...

I use one of the stainless steel dry hopping cylinders that I got from eBay. You do still get a bit of hop matter in the first few pulls but after that, it clears pretty well. I've noticed that there looks like there is quite a bit of difference between the different hop varieties and how...

I'm just tucking into a West Coast pale ale with 150g of hops in the keg. For the first week of trial pours it was so harsh I thought I had ruined it, but all of a sudden it came good and is now supurb. It seemed to coincide with the carbonation building up but it could have just been...

I second those who said Columbus. You can get Columbus and Cascade very cheaply now and they work brilliantly together in a West Coast pale ale /IPA. My top pick for under rated hops is Brewers Gold. Its quite an old hop but is the grandparent of many of today's American hops. It was...

Glad it worked well for you.

I had an Idaho 7 single hop IPA a while back. Quite drinkable but didn't stand out. A bit fruity but also quite herbal/minty if I remember correctly. Might work well with Citra.

There was an interesting episode of the Basic Brewing podcast a while back where they sampled at least half a dozen beers, all made with the same recipe but swapping something like 10-15% of the base malt for a variety of different grains. I think rye came out as the favourite. They couldn't...

I've never heard a bad word said about Malt Miller. The first order I made with them I bought a precision hydrometer and Rob emailed to let me know that I might need a larger trial jar as the bulb was wider than a standard hydrometer. Then he said they were just about to bring in a new line of...

Exactly. The kegs will be moved on the morning of the party so any sediment will be shaken up. I'm going to try my best to put clear beer into the kegs so they aren't too murky. Primimg and keg conditioning will only add to the murk.

You can get a report from Neil at Phoenix Analytical ([email protected]). My understanding is that he's largely retired now but still does analyses about once a month. His report covers: Sodium Potassium Magnesium Calcium Chloride Nitrate Phosphate Sulphate Total alkalinity...

Thanks. I thought it would probably be fine but as there will be about 100 people serving themselves from the kegs I didn't want any surprises.

I'm brewing some beers for a party later this year. I will be kegging them in cornys but I can't keep them all in a fridge until the day so will probably be carbonating it at room temperature. I'm planning on serving the kegs from party taps with the kegs sat in builders trugs with ice to chill...