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£40 delivery to France for 4 rhizomes! What planet are they on? I was just checking out with PayPal, and then that came up. Shame, cos I would have liked some Fuggles and Cascade. I don't suppose anyone has any rhizomes sitting around doing nothing? I'll do you a swop with my no-name wild...

Just ordered 5 rhizomes from Willingham's. As I was afraid of, they have run out of a number, so I didn't have as much choice as I would have liked. Got to start digging now!

I had a wild one start growing up the side of the house that I'm building. At first I thought it was a marajuana plant, as it was exactly in the area that a 'musician' had helped me lay some concrete, if you get my drift. It has come up every year since, but every year I've had to cut it...

I picked up about 100 kg of grain from a brewery recently. It was all uncrushed, and everything that was dated was about a year past the sell by date. I went to use some of the opened bag of Maris Otter, and that was all mouldy. It had got damp at some stage. All the rest seems ok, and I...

The good thing about fermenters with taps is you can take a little snifter, to see how things are going! Just a mouthful, but it gives you an idea. Surely I'm not the only one? I have to say, it's tasting not bad! It took about twenty hours to chill down to pitching temperatures, and on...

Your best bet, in the situation you are in, is to spend a little time sealing the Hoover cupboard, in order to reduce drafts, then see if you can get some slabs of polystyrene for the vessel to sit on and around it as much as possible. If you have the room in the cupboard, slab it out and...

You could just keep venting it off a few times a day until it calms down a little. The fact that it continued to build up pressure in the keg proves that fermentation wasn't finished. If you time the point of kegging just right, it should nicely carbonate, and you shouldn't need to add any...

Just for interest, I did have the usual problems mentioned for this boiler, and decided to take a look inside. You can see where the thermocouple is attached to the base of the boiler. You might notice that mine is just kicking up a little, away from the base. I cut an old spade connecter, and...

Incidentally, people seem to go on about how the Burco is a better boiler than the Buffalo (and maybe they mean the older ones), but from what I can see the Burco Cygnet is built exactly the same as the Buffalo. Apart from the lid, and the stamping of Cygnet, and the volume difference, the...

I've just managed to burn a hole in my brand new bag, just trying to get the mash temp up a couple of degrees, concealed element and all - be a little cautious!

Temperature corrected it is just about spot on 1.050, so for the sake of argument I think I'll call that my target gravity. A bit like hitting a bullseye with your eyes closed!

So, it turned out to be 1.047. That'll do pig!

I went for a bike ride today, followed by the inevitable pint or two to rehydrate. Sitting outside I was getting burnt by the sun! Now, unfortunately, it is 5 degrees! I think I'm losing maybe less than that, so I might not get down to 25 litres. I don't mind really if it isn't too strong. Can...

It was a beautiful day today, but it's getting rather cold on this terrace now! I can't wait until I finish my 'Brewgarage'!

I have SO4 and US-05, so I'm ok there.

Yes, it looked a rather large amount! I mashed with around 25 litres, and I didn't really sparge, due to the problems with the bag, and not having four arms! I took a hydrometer reading before the boil, and it was 1.060, but I subsequently added water to take it to around 35 litres for the...

Thanks MyQul. I think it'll have to be called Biscuit Ale then - cos that's what it smells of! I suppose my main concern is that I subsequently read that Cara is not normally used any more than 10% of the total grain bill. I don't even want to work out what my addition is!

Was desperate to get a brew on today, and make use of some of the equipment that I've recently purchased. When I took delivery of my digital scales, I wasn't happy that you could only choose kg and not grams. Today proved why. Well, actually, it proved I'm an idiot! I'd recently picked up a...

I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but I can't find it at the moment. Can anyone give me a simple explanation of what the additives such as pectolase, malic acid, raisins, tannin etc bring to a cider. I made about 20l of cider just before Christmas from supermarket apple juice and cider...

Ok. 1.055 - 1.010 Smokestack Lightning