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Thanks for the ideas guys. Gavo, yeah I didn't realise the difference would be so massive. Cheers

Thanks Grott Yeah... but then at the same time I didn't come up with it so it could be very unrefined. Just asking for opinions how to possibly tune it. It's yum, having one right now btw.

So I wanted to try out something else than k&k and a mate came over with a recipe and we had at it. I'm not sure what it's called, a "mini boil" maybe, 5l boil for a 20l batch. I wanted to keep it simple as it was my first time tipping my toe in this whole boil business. 3kg DLME US-05 700g dex...

Regarding temps, what Quokka42 said ^. I rehydrate and pitch at 22-24c and let it drop down to 18c. Now while some may argue that pitching temp is high, the only difference I have noticed is rapid start of proper fermentation ie. 12 hours compared to 24+ hours. I can't taste any difference...

Interesting, do share the recipe and results if you end up going ahead with this.

One idea is to get a brew fridge. It doesn't even have to work. I survived with a couple of hot water bottles through the last Tassie winter, maintaining 18c for my brews. I got mine off a mate but I've seen heaps given away on gumtree.

1019 is very high, and like you say it tastes sweet. It's definitely not done. These things take time and patience (I lack both btw) but the more you give it the better the end result is. I didn't read the recipe, but my champagne yeast ciders take at least 1.5-2 weeks to finish and they come...

Kit yeasts can be a bit of a hit and miss. I mostly do Coopers kits and sometimes they take upto 2 days to take off, most within 24 hours, but then I've had some that started bubbling in just 2 hours. Go figure. Happy to hear yours is sorted.

So I was sitting at the dinner table with my 6yo boy just then (missing the little one :/) and I was saying that maybe I should find a lady or something to live with us. He said "but daddy you'll need hundreds of thousands of dollars if you do that". That shut me up.

I can't comment on your calculations as I'm too lazy to use a hydrometer, but 1020 is waaay too high. A couple of things come to mind. Were there any preservatives in the juice? What about the yeast, its alcohol tolerance might be really low? At 1020 with simple sugars that sounds like a stuck...

A couple of days ago my 6yo was talking to his mum on the phone ans was whispering excitedly: "Guess where daddy is taking us tomorrow??? We're going to the beer festival!", mum is like "what!? Why? That doesn't sound too good", 6yo: "I'm getting a face paint!". Result: I had 3 overpriced beers...

^^ what grott said. I'd use light dry malt instead of whatever they tell you on the tin though. When I was starting out and cheaped out by using table sugar / dex, that was probably the worst mistake so far. After switching to dried malt my brews improved by an order of magnitude. Happy brewing!

A bit late to the party, but I'm on and off. Usually let it grow, trim it, then get sick of it and shave... only to repeat the cycle as I cbf to shave again!

Damn now this really makes me want to get kegs finally. Argh.

Dog wash and water bath for a FV? No thanks, unless you get rid of the tap and seal it, then siphon the beer out. My tap threads were stuffed after 5-10 brews on my (new) crappy plastic fermenters from the LHBS anyway so sealed them up and I use them like I did overseas as I'm used to...

Could not have said it better. Half the price maybe, with current price levels yeah nah.

For sure. However where mine is it hardly reaches a stable 20c ambient anyway even in summer so for my use it's for the insulation for winter when it hits ~13c at worst. It's in the old boiler room in the middle of the house so temps are quite stable anyway. A very good idea though, picked up on...

Nah, it works fine, previous owners got rid of it as apparently it was freezing the veggies and got a new one. Not too old and in decent nick, not dirty and no smells etc. What I meant to say was I use it for the insulation, not cooling. Free and no running costs = win.

Like a fridge? :) I got an old fridge off gumtree for free and use it for poor man's temp control. It fits two fermenters, insulates when necessary and a couple of hot water bottles are enough to keep them going at 18c even in the tassie winter. Happy brewing! Edit: it's disconnected obviously :P

For the record I use 2l soft drink PET bottles. The beer is for drinking and not keeping it for years in a cupboard right... Sure the last pint is a bit cloudy as the yeast sediment is disturbed but I think it only adds to flavour :). YMMV. Sanitising 12 2l bottles takes like 5 minutes, hell I...