Recent content by caleb

Err... just to get back to basics here... You say this was fermented somewhere else... do you mean it was mashed/boiled somewhere else and then you took a cube to ferment in your own equipment or was the whole thing done in someone elses fermenter, from which you bottled? If, as I suspect, you...

'Twas not galaxy but summer saaz... Trust me on this but don't make me quote sources or I may have to kill you afterwards...

Don't stuff around too much. The advice to simply vent the excess gas out of each bottle is the simplest and will have no ill effects on the beer. If you use a decent bottle opener and a bench capper you can probably just crack each one enough to let it vent, then reseal without even replacing...

WTF... wait a minute... I started this thread with the original complaint. How come BitterBullDog is getting a replacement pack and I'm not!?! I did get a similar but even more descriptive email from Mr Jones about changes to the product and that it was now back to 100% Amarillo. (so we weren't...

I sent an email to James Squire via their website letting them know just what I thought of the new Golden Ale recipe. I got back a stock reply: Basically what it boils down to is that "we're a big company with lots of people, so we can't make mistakes, and if the beer IS no good, blame the...

Just one question - apart from the thermometer on the wall, you DO have one on the actual fermenter too, don't you? You want to make sure the actual wort itself is the right temperature, particularly when you pitch the yeast.

Don't worry... as long as you wait until the brew has finished fermenting before bottling, then add only the correct priming sugar (generally no more than 1 teaspoon) you will not have exploding bottles. Your kit should also come with a hydrometer with measures the change in the wort as sugars...

Depending how "west" you are, there is Country Brewer in Girraween as well. With their kit you get one of their own Wal's concentrates, which are actually dry hopped - there are whole hop pellets or flowers floating in the "goo". Basically, most home-brew kits are pretty much the same -...

Well I have bought it within the year, but not for a while because, you know... it's WINTER. I only picked it up today because it was cheaper than the rest in the range. And while it may have been going downhill slowly, I was shocked by the obvious sudden drop in quality - during the downhill...

I just bought a 6 pack of JS Golden Ale from 1st Choice, because it was on special as part of a win a holiday competition. On taking my first sip, I noticed something was wrong... gone was that sharp crisp bite and the lovely amarillo hop flavor and aroma that we all know well. In it's place...

You have a very cliched and inaccurate view of Japan... :rolleyes: My Japanese father-in-law just gave me a 1/4 acre of "spare" land to build a house on. It was being used as a rice paddy but he was saving it for his daughter in the long term. The builder apologized profusely that it used to...

I went to 1st Choice yesterday to get another pack of Hop Thief, only to find it is already sold out! NOOOO! So, looking for a replacement ale for my Yule feast this Sunday, I came across this Fat Yak, and decided to give it a go as it promised "hops, hops, hops, hops... and a truckload of...

Um... so has anyone drunk mine yet? I've only seen two reviews...

Sounds good - I've made some really nice beers like this. I like the control over the recipe you get without the complexity of mashing grains. The general idea is to have the gravity of the boiling wort the same as the gravity the entire wort will end up, but it's not critical. I bought a...

I never saw any craft breweries in Japan, but I will say that beer is literally EVERYWHERE and nothing beats being able to buy a beer from a stand on the train station and drink it LEGALLY on the train on the way home. Also, as mentioned, almost every restaurant or cafe has draft beer on tap...