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Terrific point - personally I'd look to fit one of those plastic taps Bunnings sell in the water container section, the thread on them should be long enough that by fitting a back nut and some washers (can make from silicon baking mat or just buy) - you should be able to get a water tight seal...

Yes, thats it. The lid has no gasket so would not be airtight. Personally I would go with a double layer of clingfilm and a large rubber band. They're very nice construction, uber smooth on the insides and would be a dream to clean - easy to pickup. I eyeballed them to use as a fermenter but a...

@livo Wow nice pickups - I tell you home brewing gear must be THE worst thing for depreciation out there. The haircuts folks take on it - having to giveaway old gear is crazy. Nice scores by you. I think the PET bottles are particularly prone to splitting and issues if they're placed in...

400 PET bottles? Yikes. Are these your specialise HB PET ones e.g Coopers or just soft drink one's you've 'repurposed'? That is an awful lot. Yes, that was the batch I ended up dumping - hopefully the septic tank enjoyed it more than myself. In my defence was my first ever GB batch and used...

There's been a plethora of GB threads lately. Alas it seems very few of them have been even vaguely happy with the results, particularly if bottling. I had to dump an entire 30L batch after using an artificial sweetener - which was extra disappointing as the fermented product was terrific and...

@livo FWIW great job popping up your GB Chronicles, not sure if it will ever make it to paperback BUT is a good read: - love the childhood memory stuff about your Father doing it and the smells in the house, am sure many of us can relate to that. - like your candid admission of things that...

9 year old thread resurrection? Thats the stuff of Lazarus! Umm I think you'd be worried about crushing or putting a hole in the coolant tube when you folded it - as one hole or block in that and the entire fridge is fubar. Personally I'd have gone for a more squat vessel to use as my...

I strongly considered Stevia - however the reports on it was that it was very polarising even amongst folks who use and enjoy artificial sweeteners. Having a distinct bitterness to it for many. That said it cannot be worse than the Cole's brand sweetener I used in the end...ugh! Had my first...

The cost per weight was far higher for me - living rural. I might have those figures off as being that I ended up 'fluffinf' on the whole brew, despite the intial primary ferment being quite delicious - I might have unconscious 'purged' it from my memory. I just recall it wasn't cost effective...

Nope, ummm standard in door temps for that period. My original sentiments remain - I believe the Coopers bottles, in good condition can take a lot of pressure - but embarrassingly for them they will not discuss this and will swear black and blue they can only be used up to much lower levels...

Both ways will work - the probe on the fermenter is regarded as superior - this is pretty obvious. That said a thermowell or in fermenter monitor is regarded as superior to this. Now that said @livo 's way is simpler, cheaper and can be done now - I'd hazard that it'd take nailing a LOT of the...

Oh thats ok - I didn't take it as disparaging - we all have our own opinions and I know there's been times when I just need to 'try' my way to find out it wasn't the best idea - so I've no issue with others doing the same - and that said you might find the results more to your liking than I did...

You can get reptile heat mats from Ebay for well under $20 delivered - very safe to use and within a fridge you won't need a very strong one to keep good temps, even in the middle of winter. Here's just an example - have several of them and use for making yogurt etc - worked well for many years.

No thats less than ideal but if you compare this pretty benign task compared to losing an entire batch (which I think is a real risk with the wrong artificial sweetener or cleaning up just a single bottle bomb, it's the better option IMHO). I respect if you want to try another way but I took...

FWIW as someone who recently had to bin an entire batch of ginger beer (brewed from scratch with home grown ginger) - I'd backsweeten upon serving with a concentrated sugar solution. I read up on all the options and went with sweetening the lot with an artificial sweetener (Aspartame) - ended...

Hi All, Just thought I'd toss this up - I bought and brewed with these recently - had no issues at all - very quick fermenter, the scouting report is it's incredibly neutral at 16-18c - allow it to go to low 20's and you will get your classic Belgian characteristics (cloves, spice, banana)...

You worry me with your use of 'interesting'.......I'll agree it wasn't a dream combo of ingredients, rather using up a bunch of stuff that I wish I hadn't bought - hopefully it's drinkable, enjoyable would be excellent. As upon hearing I was doing another brew my wife said,"Now you just did a...

Ugh.....well emergency averted for now. It was definitely the probe that had just shat itself - which is amazing as the whole unit is in a project box and the probe is external only, all taped to the brew fridge - literally never moves more than a few cm - but its just kaput. I unwired the...

Hi, Murphy's Law has kicked in - I've used this temp controller with zero issues for several years (only around 20 times used!) - just put a brew down 2 days ago and walked past and noticed the temp controller was saying it was 85c temp!!! Opened up and it was colder than it should be - due to...

Ok well this is the bit where folks get to say ,"You did WHAT???" Was champing at the bit to put a small brew down after several months off - alas I'm still trying to use up my cache of LME cans (sucker for the free postage Coopers offers at times for $xx+ spend!). So after reading about...