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Thanks for all the responses. By the way the brew was 1029 when bottled but that doesn't change things much. I've pulled out my old records, to see exactly how this one compared. My annual big black beers ( see the photo ) usually have lots of unfermentables but the attenuation has been...

Yeast was Empire Ale M15, wouldv been a single sachet

As the heading says, I've been brewing for 20 years, started with dump and stir kits and now brew about 50/50 grain and extract. I've been bulk priming for a decade or more. Last Xmas I bottled a Dark Ale and extract beer ( my kids bought it for Father's Day so I had to brew it up ) and about...

If you want to lean to the dark side try this: 1 can of dark Ale or Nut Brown Ale 1 can of Sparkling Ale 1 can of Morgans Caramalt Optional ( 1/2 can of wheat malt ) Hops of choice: Try Nelson Sauvin, Amarillo, Cascade, Willemette or all 4 at once! US-05 yeast ( consider a starter or 2...

I created this recipe when my little girl was born, so I call it Sophie's Porter. 1 can Muntons Nut Brown Ale 1 can Morgans Caramalt Liquid Malt 500g light dry malt ( for the hop boil in 6 litres of water ) 50g Fuggles boiled 15 min 50g Goldings boiled 10 min Grains steeped for 45 min or...

Kits N Bits allows you to reduce the boil times dramatically. I do a 15 min hop boil, sometimes 20 min max, add that wort to the fermenter. Within that 15 min I've got the kit and a can of LME in the fermenter already. All done within 45 min. To go all-extract I would need a create my own...

I've been listening on this site for years to those that say " use better yeast - use better yeast - blah - blah - blah..." At a recent session someone remarked at how much better my beer has been lately compared to say 2-3 years ago. And while I've been sure I always use good extracts and...

When my shed gets above 40 deg C even the fridge has some trouble maintaining 18 deg C. There is a limit on just how much power your electric cable can summon from the power station to run the electric motor that pumps the gas that cools the condenser, and so on. One day last summer is was 46...

A big high five for the sanitising effects of the fermentation process. Way back a few centuries ago the masses worked out that drinking low abv beer was better for your overall health than drinking the dirty water they had available. Our modern sanitation system in Australia allows us the...

What a devil of an idea. So simple and a wonderful looking recipe. I can't wait to make it now.

A brew is never wasted, no matter how bad, if you learn from it. In my first years of brewing I would write down what I had learned from every single brew. Bottle it, drink it and enjoy the fact that you made it yourself. And set yourself the goal of doing better next time. My first brew I...

For those new to this recipe I recommend that you be careful NOT to boil the hops for too long. The 1st time I did this recipe turned out the best when I followed the boil times exactly. With other batches I have either got carried away with more hops and/or longer boil times. The extra...

Please note this comment is a slam at JS and NOT at you excellent home brewers. I tasted the Hop Thief 6 last week and I thought it should be called flavour thief instead. My partner gave it a sniff and was highly critical of it for lack of depth. She said it was nothing like some of my good...

Cooling the wort is one of the biggest challenges for going all-extract. It's easy to chuck a litre of boiling water into a kit can and cool with 20 litres of tap water. From a heat transfer viewpoint, one KG of ice can remove about 10 times the amount of hat that one litre of water at 0 deg C...

I use the famous Kit & Extract Beer designer spread sheet made available on this forum. It shows 7.4% but I it depends how much sugar is removed from the grains, depends if it's a rough steep or a proper mash. My OG was about 6 points less than the spread sheet predicts so my abv should be...

A simple trick with the seals on the fermenter lid is to drown the seal and the underside of the lid in boiling water before screwing it on. This softens the seal and kills any nasties lurking there, and allows you to screw it down nice and tight. That way I get my airlock bubbling nicely every...

Yes it's bottle conditioning. I bottled on July 21st, took me a while to get time to brew it. I tried one last weekend but it was still way too early to enjoy. I reckon 2 months minimum.

Tried my hand at making this little known style as it seems attractive to a dark beer lover. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/175/ My recipe looked like this: Volume 21 litres, abv about 7.25% 1 can Thomas Coopers IPA 1 can Morgans Ironbark Dark Ale 1 can Liquid dark malt extract 500g...