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Gastro-intestinal disturbances are quite common and seems to be the live yeast that is the culprit. I know someone who suffers quite badly and has subsequently taken to pastuerising his bottled brews. I think this involves dunking them in hot, close to boiling water for a short time to kill...

I had a 1.044 brew recently finish in just two days. If conditions are just right it can be quick sometimes. I allow a couple of days 'clean-up' (at around 20ºC) and then cold-crash for a few days then bottle. And some quotes for those that leave there beer sitting around in the fermenter...

I found there was a difference in temp (around 0.7ºC) between the Inkbird probe (taped and insulated to the side of the FV) and the actual temp of the wort itself as measured with another digital thermometer. I consequently re-calibrated my Inkbird to compensate for this offset and set it to...

The conversion from a mash over time is a logarithmic function where the 'knee' of the curve is at around 60 minutes. Mashing at times beyond that is really just chasing the last few percent points. Some like to get the absolute most they can out of their grain! Mashing for for a shorter time...

There can be a bit of uncertainty when I brew finishes a few points higher than expected. My last few have all stopped at 1.014 where really, based on the attenuation specs for the yeast used that should have gone a few points lower. E.g. a very recent pilsner fermented with Mangrove Jacks M54...

I've used both methods but tend to bottle prime more these days. Bulk priming is handy though if you're bottles are different capacities but it does involve extra work and extra risk. Sanitising and later cleaning the priming bucket and associated hoses etc. add to what is already a rather...

Another option is to insulate your fermenter. Wrapping your FV in a sleeping bag or similar will also help hold the temperature overnight. Fermentation, being exothermic generates it's own heat which you can utilise during the first few days when it's at its most vigorous. However, once the...

Sampling my NZ Amber Ale....

There's certainly no good reason to leave the beer sitting around once fermentation is complete and a couple of days allowed for the yeast to "mop up". My brew cycles for 1.040 - 1.050 brews which are in part dictated by life circumstances, are typically 7 days or 10 days from brew day to...

I do PM brews exclusively these days - typically 50/50, mash/extract. I mash around 2 - 2.5kg of grain adding the LME at the very end of the boil. One thing to look at and factor in is your boil volume and pre-boil gravity as this will have an impact on hop utilisation.

NZ Pale Ale - a 50/50 partial mash based on a Coopers OS lager can. Gladfield's Ale and Supernova malts along with Taiheke and Southern Cross hops. acheers.

A British Golden Ale on the go today using 'left-over' hops. My usual partial-mash approach i.e. 50/50 grain/extract where the pre-hopped extract on this occasion is courtesy of a Coopers OS Lager can. First time using Gladfield's German Pilsner Malt. 1 x 1.7kg Coopers OS Lager 1.5kg...

I was once plagued with a similar issue - over-attenuated in bottle, gushing when opened. Checking the SG of these brews it was obvious that something had got in and continued to fermented them dry in the bottle ending up well below FG. In my case it turned out to be a recurring...

This may be of interest: http://brulosophy.com/2016/03/21/kettle-hops-loose-vs-bagged-exbeeriment-results/

What do you do with your bottling bucket tap in terms of sanitation? I had a similar issue a while back which I eventually pinned down to tap contamination on my bottling bucket (fermenter). Although sanitised it seemed the starsan wasn't really penetrating inside the tap - these really need...

Yeast autolysis is a possible concern and one possible reason why you shouldn't leave the beer on the yeast cake too long. "...for an ale with a healthy yeast you really don't need or indeed want it to linger too long on the yeast cake. The length of time we had to leave the beer in contact...

It's never a fun thing having to tip a batch :( While there's a possibility that your hops were to blame for this unfortunate off-taste, it does seem from what you say about their storage they should really have been OK. But who knows? I wonder though why your would blame the variety and...

I think this depends on the nature of your hop sock. I found with the one I had that once the hops had swollen up they actually became quite compacted inside the hop bag I was using. I do believe this was having a negative impact on utilisation - even more so when used for dry hopping where...

It's hottly debated for sure, but after some more digging I'm starting to agree - Starsan can and does kill off yeast. So, if that is indeed true then in my case it must be that for whatever reason starsan was not penetrating into my taps' inner workings. I suspect now that it was the heat...

Yup... I think contaminated taps were responsible for my regular over-carbonated brews. I now not only boil the taps but also nuke them with diluted bleach just to be doubly sure. Haven't had a problem since.