Category Archives: Smallholding

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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The Man Who Picked The Hornet’s Nest

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

I had some empty hives stacked up in the apiary and when I was working there one day noticed a hornet flying about. It disappeared inside one of the empty hives where it had been knocked aside slightly (probably by … Continue reading →

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Chicks Away!

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

Most years I put some chicken eggs into an incubator to add to our flock that provide us with eggs and meat. This year I might try to set up a “chick cam” (somehow I feel that’s not going to … 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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YM1510D battery addendum

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

Once the old battery was removed and cleaned off, this useful part of the label became visible: The replacement battery I purchased claims to be 48Ah and has a CCA figure of 430, so looks to be a more than … Continue reading →

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Yanmar YM1510D tractor battery replacement

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

I have a Yanmar 1510D compact tractor, brought into the UK as a grey import. It’s a great little thing. Does lots of stuff that anything larger would just be too big for. The battery is giving up the ghost … Continue reading →

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First brew in the beer shack

Posted on January 21, 2017 by james

The conversion of my stainless pots to brewing vessels still awaited, so with the beer shack at the point of usability (by some definition — there’s still no water supply) and my old boiler repaired I had to go for … Continue reading →

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Life in the old boiler yet…

Posted on January 21, 2017 by james

I’d given up on the old boiler I used to use for brewing when the thermostat died. When I initially checked, to replace it was going to cost almost as much as a new boiler. Some time after it failed … Continue reading →

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Fermentation cabinet and brewing vessel stand

Posted on January 21, 2017 by james

With the paint dry it was time to build a stand for the brewing vessels and an insulated (and heated) fermentation cabinet. The fermentation cabinet is really nothing more than a double-skin cupboard insulated with 50mm of cellulose board insulation. … Continue reading →

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