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Oh yeah, one other thing you could try is to take the kit right out of the equation and try a batch based off plain apple juice. There are plenty of threads on here discussing Aldi cider. Or being in the apple Isle, see if you can get your hands on some freshly pressed juice (not really the...

No experience with the kits but my guess would be the temp being too cool for the particular strain of yeast being used. I'd guess it's some sort of ale yeast and would struggle at 10-15c. It's unlikely that there isn't enough yeast to carb it up. Even clear cider will contain more than enough...

Let me know how it goes. I have a similar problem (as my previous rants will attest). One thing I have been told about the zappers is that some dogs who bark a lot do it because they are deaf and can't work out why, when they open their mouth to bark, no noise comes out. In which case a zapper...

There are some power tools that are super fun to use. When you have finished the job you are doing you look around for more jobs just so you have an excuse to use the tool more. Chainsaws are a fun tool. Drill presses are a fun tool. Impact drivers are a fun tool. 80kg vibrating plate...

Perfect is the enemy of done.

I'm in hornsby as well. We bought a great trailer from hornsby trailers but that was 15 years ago. Not sure if they still exist. Used to be down on the industrial estate on Leyton place.

I'm a big fan of 71B.Its a wine yeast. I use it for all my ciders and meads. Can be hard to get in small quantities. Ibrew usually has it in 100g packs. Never seen it in anything smaller.

Any time you use fresh apples you have to deal with skin microbes. I give them a quick wash then chill the juice for 24 hours after pressing to let it settle. Then add a big pitch of yeast. Never had a problem with wild fermentation. Pasteurising the juice will give you apple sauce cider...

Did it start tasting awesome again or did you just get used to the taste?

The biggest problem with pasteurisation is that it's not a great method at a homebrew scale. You either need to set up a flash pasteuriser which is mighty technical and expensive or you end up boiling bottles which is (IMHO) unsafe and due to the long soak times needed to make sure the liquid in...

I really need to learn to weld...

My next door neighbour once removed worked for years in corrective services. First as a prison guard then when that got too much, as parole officer. Was invalided out a few years back with massive depression and PTSD. The department has been screwing him over ever since. Won't give him his...

I net the brassicas against cabbage moth and this year I'm going to try netting the tomatoes against fruit fly. Too much of a hippy to use the vege dust and building the frame out of bamboo stakes and these clever little joiner things I bought from the garden shop takes about 5 mins...

Worst thing is, you will need another couple of cubic meters in a month or so to fill them back up after the initial soil settles. My raised beds settled by about a third.

I'm not sure I can see the point. If you want a double strength cider you can add sugar. And it won't taste like apple sauce.

Like the others my first thought is "where can I get some?"

And hitting them with things is illegal... They are a protected species. And don't the smug bastards just know it. "ha ha... I'm pecking at your eyeballs and you aren't allowed to do anything about it... I'm a protected species".

Apparently if you feed them, they learn that you are a nice person and stop swooping. Just you. They still swoop everyone else. But you are safe.

Yeah... Nah.