Category Archives: Beer-making

A comparison of bottle cappers

Posted on May 14, 2018 by james

For many years now my favoured bottle-capping tool has been this two-handed capper that I bought longer ago than I can remember: It can be a little awkward and isn’t ideally suited to employment by a handy young assistant, but … Continue reading →

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Checking on M’aidez brew

Posted on May 14, 2018 by james

After a week in the fermenter I checked my recent brew. Fermentation still looks to be going on at a reasonable rate: And a quick check with the hydrometer shows it’s got a bit of a way go to yet: … Continue reading →

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“May Day” brew

Posted on May 8, 2018 by james

I’ve been meaning to get back out to the beer shack for a while but there have been so many other things going on of late that time has escaped me. This bank holiday weekend however I put aside a … Continue reading →

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Old Speckled Hen bottled

Posted on August 16, 2017 by james

Much of this evening was spent in the beer shack, bottling the “Old Speckled Hen” that I started the weekend before last. It wasn’t ready to bottle last weekend, so I left it a couple more days and got it … Continue reading →

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First brew in a while

Posted on August 12, 2017 by james

I’ve not had the opportunity to spend a day in the beer shack brewing for a while and stocks are running low (for some values of “low” 🙂 so last weekend I decided it was time to get some more … Continue reading →

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Time to crack on with the mash tun

Posted on February 8, 2017 by james

My new stainless mash tun is made from an insulated stock pot, the tricky bit being to fit a tap to allow it to be drained. I opted to go for a tap fitted to the bottom of the pot … Continue reading →

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The mash tun can wait

Posted on February 4, 2017 by james

Time for a brew. Have to have something to drink to celebrate getting the mash tun made after all, so I put as much of my old kit back into service as I needed. This brew was a beer called … Continue reading →

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The postman hates it when I order brewing ingredients

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

Can’t really blame him, to be honest. It’s very decent of him to carry this little lot all the way from the drive to the front door…

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100l stockpot HLT conversion

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

Starting with the easier one first. The first part of the plan was to fit a 2.4kW heating element: It needs a big hole, obviously and stainless isn’t the easiest of stuff to work with, so I used a Q-Max … Continue reading →

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First batch fermenting nicely

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

Just a quick photo of the first batch of beer made in the beer shack fermenting away nicely in my fermentation cabinet despite the cold temperatures outside.

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