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Hi Simon, I recently saw a new line of these "American style" small batch all grain kits on a website where I normally order ingredients from and I was reminded of this thread. My intention is not to offend anyone, but I realise I cannot really express my opinion without someone not liking...

I made my second one gallon BIAB stove top batch earlier this week and if all goes well, then it should be a great beer. It's an 8.2% Imperial IPA with some Saaz for bittering and Amarillo right at the end. I hope those two varieties blend well. My next test batches will involve coffee or...

Hi, My wife picked up a "Foraged Herb Heffeweise" the other day. I have never tasted a beer made with herbs instead of hops, so was quite eager to try it. It was quite bad on every level. The most noticeable thing was the carbonation. There was no mention on the bottle of how it was...

I pretty much exclusively brew from GW's book. I made the American IPA, Saaz Single Hop Ale and Amarillo Single Hop Ale for Christmas. Wow, did I have a great time enjoying those three batches over the Christmas break. I had a bottle of the IPA last night and had to pause and utter a couple...

I was quite concerned about buying more than I needed. I was more concerned with not using the left overs and having it loose it's flavour. I reached a stage where I had a bit of everything in the shed (including some base malt). This then turned into an obsession to brew a monster of a beer...

I have seen some of his recipes, since I started brewing and had to laugh at the approach they suggest. I'm sure they get decent results, so who am I to criticize. I wasted my own time between using kits, wanting to be a purist like yourself and making the move to all grain. My wife got...

I cannot quite see how you can get the ABV so high if you are making a 23L batch. Did I miss something or did you just remove the candied sugar from the recipe and forget to adjust the OG and ABV? I have never brewed a beer like this before, but I am eager to try it. I love Belgian beers...

I cannot find it on their website at the moment. I was lucky enough to pick one up in store one day. I do not recall the exact price at the time, but I remember checking online afterwards and finding out that I got a great deal. You can pick one up for £85 here (not cheap)...

While a bucket without an airlock is probably fine, you may want to look at other options you wish to continue brewing after the first batch, I think it is really important to create a drinkable beer from your first batch, which will inspire you try again and create something even better.

After reading this thread, I realised that I was quite lucky in the mash tun department. Mine worked like a charm since I got it. I started doing AG and was using a standard Argos cheapy 40L cooler. I did not want to drill holes in it, so I used two grain bags inside it. I would pour the...

I have been criticised for this on another forum, but I never take gravity readings at all. My recipes gives me an idea of the IBU and ABV and that is enough for me. For me using a glass FV makes it quite easy to see what is going on. I can look at the airlock as well as the wort itself...

Personally I would not play around with changing the amount of hops too much without entering the recipe into something like this: http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/myrecipes/ I would then compare this against known recipes to decide how to make adjustments.

I recently got loads of left over ingredients together and decided to make a small batch with a bit more of a kick. I used 1.2kg of maris otter, tiny amounts of specialty grains that I cannot recall at the moment. I added about 4 different kinds of hops at various stages, loads at the end...

Hi, The first thing to think about is the fermentation temperature. About a third of my brews are lagers and I go through a lot of trouble to ferment at around 12C without a brew fridge. I do not lager the beer afterwards and I am happy with the results. I will probably be corrected on...

I am now convinced to have another look at kits. I recall how easy it was to open a can or two, pour it into a FV and away you go. I would have to steep grains and add plenty of hops to lift up the flavours quite a bit. More realistically I will probably do more stove-top BIAB batches in...

In my experience, yes. I pitched an entire yeast cake from a previous batch, so I reckon some of those almost solid bits may be spent yeast from the yeast cake. I'm no expert. All I know is that batch turned out really well. It is interesting to see what the wort looks like at different...

I always triple rinse each bottle when I open it(to drink the previous batch), so they do not need to be washed on bottling day. Prior to getting the bottle rinser and bottle tree, I would make up a 6L batch of starsan, pour that into a large plastic tub. One side of the tub would be lifted by...

I received my bottle rinser and bottle tree last week. I was as surprised when I saw the base of the bottle tree. Now that I have cleaned a batch of bottle, I regret not ordering it a year ago. I wasted so much time and sanitiser.

Well, your viewpoints on the subject has put things in perspective for me. I do not personally know anyone who brew their own beer, so I tend to think about something (obsess over it), do research and latch on to what I think is correct. I can do with some relevant outside influence. I...

Hi, my suggestion (for the same reason I created this thread) would be to find a simple recipe (I can help you with this if needed) and make a small batch with equipment you already have available in your kitchen, using grain, hops and your choice of yeast. I'm sure you will be so blown away by...