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You ended up with 21 litres post-boil at your target gravity. Well done and enjoy your beer. To respond to your first question on boil-off rate, which digiboil are you using? I use the 35 l one (2400 w) as a kettle in a 3v setup, and get 3-4 l/h boiloff. If you have the 65 l (3500 w) version...

Black n Tan on this forum opened Nice Guys Brewery in Richmond. I'm on the other side of town and haven't had the pleasure of visiting but it looks really good. Google says it's a half hour walk or short cab ride from AAMI Park. Nice Guys Is Victoria Street's New 70s-Inspired Microbrewery and...

When a fridge is running as a fridge (rather than a fermenter) in summer, it’s keeping the inside 20-30 or more degrees cooler than the ambient temperature. Good seals are important for that case. As a fermentation chamber the target temperature for an ale is usually within a few degrees of...

That’s the primary ferment. Lagering is storing the fermented beer cold (0-4deg or thereabouts) for an extra period to let the yeast clean up after itself and turn the beer clear. A rule of thumb that works for me is 1 week per 10 gravity points. So if OG was 1.040 lager for 4 weeks. You also...

The inline reg (and the first stage on the gas cylinder) will let gas through to the downstream side. But it doesn’t vent to release pressure (that’s what a spunding valve does). No matter how low you turn the knob, the pressure won’t drop if there’s nowhere for the gas to go. What you need to...

I do hate to be that annoying guy, but actually the pressure in a non-pressurised vessel is actually much less. One atmosphere, or roughly 15psi (or ~100 kPa) is the pressure at about 10 m (not 1 m) depth of water (sg = 1). So in your example the gauge pressure at the bottom of the vessel would...

A heat belt in a fridge is fine for heating. An issue with a minibar fridge is making sure you have enough space to fit the fermenter. Consider the height, including an airlock or blow off tube on top. The base of the fridge won’t be flat (because of the condenser) so you’ll probably need a...

If the gravity dropped and the krausen (foam) formed and the beer tastes good then it sounds like it’s working! A lack of bubbling in the airlock could be because the gas is leaking out somewhere else. Meh. That doesn’t really matter.

I’ve used Wyeast 2206 Bavarian lager for Helles with good success. I’m sure you’d end up with a nice lager with the Bluestone Pilsner yeast but I would expect it to leave a bit less residual maltiness than a Bavarian yeast. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it might not be what you’re...

Many people will say lagers (including pilsners) are hard. They're not really if: a) you can control temperature during fermentation - lager yeasts should be fermented cold at a steady temperature (different yeasts have different recommended temperature ranges, but most lagers should be...

I have no expert knowledge of English (/style) bitters, but I do enjoy them. I've used East Kent Goldings in strong bitters and they have gone down a treat. I'm sure fuggles is great choice too but I'm yet to taste it in my own brews - my first brew with fuggles is currently sitting in a hot...

I had a Hop Nation IPA at my local last night that featured Eclipse. Other hops were in the mix but that was the only one mentioned in the description. It was a very fruity beer and the Eclipse mandarin punch was clearly there but not overpowering and no “urgh” flavour I got when I used it. From...

@KegLand-com-au are you planning on updating the DigiBoil with a centre-draining base and ultra-low watt density elements, similar to the G4 Brewzilla? With a false bottom, jacket, and recirculating pump I'm thinking it could make a decent MLT in a 3V system.

Perhaps a not what you’re looking for, but have you considered two 50-60 litre fermenters (or 4 ~30 litre fermenters) in an old chest freezer or large fridge? Probably cheaper, easier to handle, temp control is simple, and gives you flexibility if you decide to do a couple of smaller batches.

Did hop remnants (the shredded vegetable matter - not the oils) make it into the bottles? I had a couple of batches that did, and plenty of gushers there. The suspended hop matter seems to excite the bubbles, so even if the beer isn’t over-carbonated the CO2 can come out of solution too quickly...

Please report back how this turns out. I brewed an IPA early this year with eclipse as sole flavour and aroma hops (25g at 10min ~14 IBU, 50g in whirlpool and 75g dry) with magnum for bittering (30g at 60min for 31 IBU) in a 23 litre batch. It’s drinkable but definitely the third choice on my...

Many recipes call for a mash temp of 66 deg in an attempt to maximise fermentability. If you use say 68 or 69 degrees the starch in the malt will be converted to a slightly less fermentable sugar, leading to a higher final gravity and slightly lower alcohol content. Palmers How to Brew covers...

Is there any update on this @KegLand-com-au? Check valves are fine, but I'd rather keep things as simple as possible if they're not serving a real purpose.

@KegLand-com-au is there a need to protect the inline regulators with check valves (when used to feed CO2 to kegs)? The site says they are suitable for liquids, so I'm wondering if they could handle a splash of beer, unlike a primary gas regulator.

I brewed an IPA not long ago with nearly all Vic Secret (and just a little Magnum for bittering but it’s hardly needed given the Vic Secret alpha acid). Recipe copied below. I did a few similar recipes to test out and compare some Aussie hops (Enigma, Vic Secret, Topaz). Very fruity flavour...