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Meh. Just experience. Hope it's useful for you. Hang out in AHB, ask questions, read heaps, lurk moar, etc... There are some exceptionally good teachers at every level of the brewing learning experience who can smooth out the lumps in the journey and help make sense of what seems sometimes to...

Wanna know something funny? My great-grandmother's fridge, bought in 1960 and in continuous use since, was running fine in my apartment until three years ago when my new gf (now my wife) insisted on a new fridge. The new 'power efficient' Korean made, mega-bucks fridge costs about triple to...

'Purge the tap' just means to clear any crap out of it before you start. I've found the most reliable technique is: * Use some no-rinse sanitiser on a couple of cotton buds to clean the inside of the tap * Use no rinse sanitiser on the wand (inside, outside, etc - a few times is good incase...

401 is OK. I've used it in aquariums long term. Fish are a heap more sensitive to chemicals than humans. I would give it a day or three in the sun to get rid of the odour during curing and the potential that the chemical reaction could cause an issue with your beloved beer. There is a rapid...

Sometimes the last bottle can have a bit of a gulp of yeast and that can cause the issue you're describing. Likewise, if you don't purge the tap before starting bottling, you can experience the same effect on that bottle. Cheers - Fermented.

It's a good tool, as is, and you can make some pretty good guesses with it. Pair it with a sharp pair of eyes and a good set of digital scales and it becomes awesome. Depending on the grain size and density of the sugar which you are using, the weight per scoop can change a gram or two. e.g...

It's fascinating the prices that some folk think they can achieve for some things on evilbay... The worst part is that there are often enough wood ducks who go for it. Cheers - Fermented.

OK - wilco on adding the extras. Will wait until tomorrow as I have beer-foam snakes flying out of the airlock and the head is pressed up hard against the lid. These kit cans go nuts with S-05 slurry! Can't wait to pick up a pail of regular LME in the morning. Greatly appreciate your...

Yep - gotta agree on the 'new' Lowenbrau. It's cold, foreign and contains enough alcohol for a warm afternoon so it's OK - but a far cry from the flavoursome and quaffable steins at the Keller in Sydney ten years ago. Ah - nostalgia! Cheers - Fermented.

Hi Guys Late last night I laid down a Toucan Stout. Was busy on the phone on business and making dinner and... doing too many things at once. Forgot to add my extras, so it was pitched and sealed as a plain Coopers Stout toucan. I realised my error this morning when it was busy ejecting out of...

Carb drops may be easy and moderately predictable as to dose, but they're rather costly compared to other methods. Certainly convenient for the casual brewer. In general, I found they worked better with Coopers' 650 ml (?) bottles and not quite so well with 750 ml bottles. i.e. less...

Happens to me in Firefox under Vista occasionally too. Weird. Someone commented about stale malt giving a metallic taste. I can't say I've had it from a can, but only from the bulk pails of unhopped malt (28 kg). I didn't float some vodka on top of one honey pail of it and left it for about...

Oettinger is at Uncle Dan's for $29.90 at the moment. Not bad for a German mass-market Pilsener and has quite decent tall slim brown bottles. Shame that it's just shrink-wrapped onto a tray and not in a proper box. Is there anything around on the cheap in a proper box and 500 ml or bigger per...

Works a treat. They usually send out one per month via e-mail if you're subscribed to the BWS newsletter. They occasionally have some OK offers, but just stay away from the Barefoot Radler thing they offered last year... tragically oversweet alco-pop tasting teenage girly liquid in a bottle...

Nifty idea but holding the temp stable through the process would be my only concern. Oh - that and perhaps not enough volume of water for the amount of grain. It's usually about 10:1, isn't it? The plastic itself is stable enough as the glass point (when the resin grains become gooey during...

Between 5 and 7 grams. 5 is gently carbonated. 7 is a bit like Coke. Your mileage may vary. There are some online calculators (you might need to search) that are recommended in some threads in here which can help make it easier. If you don't have one, get one of the double sided spoon...

It will be different but it won't be a disaster. Should be a nice bitter drop after a bit of aging. Cheers - Fermented.

No one is disputing that the terroir is unsuitable for hops - it's probably fantastic. And yes, human poo as fertiliser is rather common in the region. Iodine wash to be 100% sure of all nasties being eradicated prior to cooking gets on one's tastebuds after a while... The other bit is the...

Maybe drop the dex and increase the LDME / LME. Give it a bit more body. There isn't really a need to boil the cans for the full duration or at all as it tends to darken up somewhat and add sometimes some caramelisation if there isn't enough water in the pot. It also tends to drive off any...