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Cheers. I know I can go to screw caps, but there is just something about corks that makes opening a bottle more of an occasion. I stuck all the labels on with milk yesterday evening. This morning they had all fallen off again. :( I think I added a bit of PVA last time and that worked better.

From what you've said I will stop using heat. That seems to make them swell up and if they are filled - all the filling falls out. I think that is where I'm going wrong. That just leaves sanitising so I will go with you guys and use cold campden tablets in water as a dunk. Just annoying that...

I had a terrible time corking my last batch of 30 bottles. Please tell me where I am going wrong. I've bought a Ferrari corker - two handled with a circular spring that grips the bottles. This seems to work well, but it's the corks which are letting me down. I had various corks to use up as I'd...

They are in the middle of harvest here, and all the fields are in good shape with little to no storm damage or flattening. Mostly barley grown here. Is this real or heresay as a prelude to food shortages quoting this as an excuse?

Something else that I have noticed in the last 6 months is that more people around me have bought garden furniture, gazebos and BBQ's or have installed decking or outdoor seating and lights. They are creating their own meeting and entertainment areas to invite friends around for drinks or to...

I think that for a lot of us the traditional village pub disappeared a long time ago. I do like an old pub though, even if modern bars on the high street try to mimic them with fake plastic beams and the odd antique on a shelf. I do hope that such places will have ACV protection so that one day...

I can feel a witches brew coming on. 🧙‍♀️

So shaking is good for a martini but crap for a yeast starter. :laugh8: Also airlock is bad so it must need oxygen for this stage of life. Ties in well with aeration of wort needed for the growth phase. Good info.

Ahh. I happen to have a lot of fresh mint growing too. That will probably work. May turn out a little greener too.

Balsa

I'm just about to start a wine based on about half a kilo of my own pea pods, but fear it will be too light. I am thinking of combining it with a teabag recipe but don't know what to pair it with. Any ideas welcome. Also how do you calculate the Original Gravity using fresh pea pods? Thank you.

I would try the kit with 500g white sugar and see where it gets you. I made a very pleasant saison kit like this and ended up at 3.4% before carbonation which was perfect for summer drinking. With most cider kits there is some flavouring going on anyway so the sugar may just boost the ABV. Try...

I might take a second look at kohlrabi then. Didn't like it that much cooked and sort of wrote it off as a vegetable. I've just found a load of butternut squash seedlings coming up in the compost. Probably too late for much but I may be able to build a coldframe around it enough to get...

What are you growing hydroponically? I have a floating raft on a pond and a small pumped set-up using expanded clay in a tray that runs out to two dutch buckets under it. Lettuce does well in the raft, watercress took over it this year so that does very well, mint does well in the tray and am...

You could go retro and fit a centre runner with stair rods.

Have got a cider kit on the go for now and doing well. PB has has a good clean and is now drying out and I've changed the CO2 port to a new shiny one too. Old alloy one was corroded - maybe it lurked in that. Better luck next time I hope.

I'm thinking it is a wild yeast infection as it wasn't there when I had a taste before it went in the keg and is the first time it's tasted like this. Maybe it took a while to become noticeable. It was an old kit anyway so no great loss. I just wanted to prevent it happening again. I do use...

This one has been a nightmare. First it was an old one can kit with yeast. that I added a kilo of dextrose to. OG 1.036. It failed to start within 24 hours so I dumped a jar of mostly yeast trub from a saison into it and it did get going after that - but stopped again well short of target at...

I fitted a PID controller to mine which gives good control doing BIAB with it. Found a stainless "Steamer plate" which fits nicely to keep the bag off the element. I needed 3 bolts for legs on mine because the element had broken and was f'in expensive so fitted 2x 500W elements instead. Kept the...

I've got wasabi rocket flowering at the moment it is certainly on the hot side. Mizuna red streaks mustard is a great little cropper for salads. Goes well with Lolla Bionda lettuce which is very frilly and lime green - ideal in burgers. I think it is my favourite.