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That's nice to know, because 12.86% would probably suit me. I'm glad for you, but a sweet beer or stout is not my cup of tea, speaking for myself.

Thank you. It's encouraging to know I may produce beers which are so much stronger in alcohol. 20% is more than enough. I should probably be happy with 15% abv. I have very limited space in my house to keep all the bins and barrels which I need to keep on the go as work in progress. With a...

Can one keep increasing the alcohol content just by adding more and more sugar to the original mash/ the primary fermentation? Is it possible to add too much sugar at the beginning of the mash/the primary fermentation ? What will happen if one adds "too much" sugar then ? Will the final beer...

What would happen if you primed the brew with too much sugar? Would the beer taste too sweet? But if one left the primed mash to ferment out completely, would it not simply produce a beer with a higher alcohol content, instead of being any sweeter?

Thank you for all that info.

Regarding your barrels, do you not have to put any CO2 gas into the barrel to maintain the pressure and keep the beer lively?

I am slightly concerned that if I do not prime the barrel, as I always do for a second fermentation, then there will not be enough natural carbonation in the barrel, and insufficient pressure in the barrel from natural carbonation. I want to avoid introducing CO2 from a gas cylinder into the...

Thanks. It all sounds sensible. But I never want to wait too long before I start drinking the final product. To use the proper slow methods I guess I should have to have more than one brew of 25 litres in progress at the same time.(probably more than two brews in progress), but I haven't the...

I use a fine mesh bag at the end of the siphon.

My secondary fermentation is always in the barrel, after introducing priming sugar into the barrel. When shifting the liquid from the fermenting bin to the barrel I normally use a fine mesh bag to catch the sediment. As regards fermenting, after reading the comments here and after doing some...

Thank you. But I don't want to leave it for more than a couple of weeks before I start drinking it. I suppose that is not enough time for it to clear, and I wonder if sieving each pint from the barrel after only 2 weeks will produce a pint just as good as it would if I had filtered the liquid...

It's a plastic barrel, not a metal one, or a wood cask.

I have just made the stupid mistake of not filtering when I barreled for the secondary fermentation. Rather than siphoning back from the barrel to the fermentation bin and then siphoning again to the barrel, tonight, I should prefer to let things lie, and then when the beer is ready (fully...

FOLLOWING COMPLETION OF SECONDARY FERMENTATION, IN A KEG, THE BEER WENT FLAT BEFORE I PUT A GAS BLANKET ON IT. i HAVE NOW PUT GAS ON TOP OF IT, BUT IT IS STILL LIFELESS. THE FLAVOUR IS GOOD, AND THE BEER IS BONE DRY (NOT SWEET), AND THE O.G. IS AROUND 5 PER CENT, BUT THE BEER IS DEAD. SHOULD...