Recent content by Shed

I found using 'satincraft' rods made life a lot easier for me. I'm not sure what's different about them but, i found it made striking the arc and getting going much easier. They just seemed to not stick so easily. These rods have a blue coloured flux coating. Cheers, Andy

PoMo, Mine was 16months old and I still got another one in the fridge as well. There was no activity at all for the first 24Hrs. I probably should have started small and stepped it up to a litre but, it's powering away now on the brew I put down last night. How old is your sample?

Thanks POL, Knew I could count on you. That's all I needed, It will be pitched inside an hour. Thanks again, Andy

Hi guys, I've got a WLP001 starter going that was a bit old and took a while to get going. It's now at 48Hrs and appears to be at high krausen. Does this look ready to pitch or should I give it another 24Hrs? When is the best time to pitch, at high krausen or after it's fermented out? Cheers...

I agree Kungy, I avoid aeration until the temp gets down to under about 26deg What sort of 'off' taste do you get from aeration? Is that a 'grassy' taste? Cheers, Andy

Hi POL Is 'Hot side aeration' an issue here? with all the straining through colanders and splashing of hot wort etc. Is this something that needs to be minimised? Cheers, Andy

An excellent day/evening. It was great to meet up an match a few names to faces. Got home at 1:30 after catching the last Manly ferry, then missed the last bus and ended up walking about 5km home (All the taxis were going the other way) I was a bit dissapointed not getting into the Lord...

I survived.... sort of! It was a great night, tried some great beers We had a good turn out, there were around 17 of us. We managed to get to all the pubs bar one.... The Lord Nelson. The doorman reconed there was a 'private function' on, I think that was BullS@!& and he didn't like the look...

Welcome Oddball, I think it's important to keep things fairly simple for your first brew. Follow the instructions for the kit, don't worry about it too much, rely on the hydrometer readings and don't worry about if it's 'bubbling' or not. Keep the temperature as close to 20 deg as you can...

I thought molasses was just black treacle? (available in most supermarkets)

Merry Christmas fellow AHB'ers, Hope you spend some quality time with your families (specialy the little ones). Stay off the roads! Thanks for everything you have all taught me over the past year. Relax and have a brew, Andy

Hi pumpy, I have a 3.5kg extinguisher too. \ This is my understanding of the required procedures; The first thing you need to do is get a regulator to fit it It's going to cost you about $90 You dont have to drain the CO2 in the extinguisher but because its got a dip tube fitted, you`ve got to...

I used to have a pub like that that had special memories because my dad and I used to drink there. I went back a few years ago and they had stuffed it up with palm tree pot plants, polished aluminium chairs and poker machines. Such a shame, it used to have a nice friendly pub atmosphere.

An easy way is to drop the batch size down a bit, make up to 18-19Ltrs instead of 23. Adding more malt will both increase body and alcohol. It all depends on what style you are after too.

Excuse my ignorance but, .....What the?????