Thanks for the link pf, i’ll have a read when the work proxy doesn’t block the site 🙁 I had no idea that partially covering the pan could cause a prob, so thanks for the heads up.

you have me wondering about my volumes now too, as i added a litre extra to the strike water volume this time over my last brew as it came up a bit short. re-boil vol this time was 13l where beersmith wanted 12.29, so maybe i didn’t need to cover the pot after all. I’ll need to calibrate and mark my FV i think (i have one of the wee 10l ones) so i can tell what kind of volume i’m actually putting into it – i may actually have got >10l into the FV this time, it was filled to about 1.5″ from the top.

i definitely need to extend my brewfridge like the pics on the previous page, doing max 2 brews/month is getting a bit limiting, not to mention stocks run down quickly 🙂

Great shout john on the shot glass. I had some cascade hops in the freezer too, typical!

hopefully the magnum is a decent match for the citra.

so, knocked in brew #5 today – citra double ipa recipe

had to substitute the warrior for magnum, not sure how that will go but we’ll see!

still learning and tweaking though

-had enough of my mashing bag. it fits the pot badly (too narrow and tall) so its hard to secure it to the pot. raining in grain is a three handed affair! Anyone used one of these custom BIAB makers to run up a bag? i’m using the 19l ebay pot.

-my insulation experiments needs work – i think the foam wrap lost about 2.5/3 degrees/hour which is a bit much. needs revisited i think to get this closer to 1 degree/hour

-hit the pre-boil og almost bang on (0.1 down) and the refractometer is just so handy for this. found myself just measuring the OG regularly through the brew to see where it was.

-also reduced my boil off a wee bit as for some reason i was losing an awful lot of volume during the boil. this time i covered the pan slightly and using the refractometer kept an eye on the OG. in the end i think it was 0.3 over and the volume was pretty much spot on too, so hopefully this will be good.

– need to invest in some ss bearings or something to sink hops in a hop bag, my last dry hop effort hardly touched the wort as it sat on the top of the brew:(

anyway still learning and loving the hobby!

“Try Taking Caliper off mount and have it hung low bit more fiddly but i have allways found it a better bleed”

i did this a few weeks ago for my slx rear:

-rotated lever to horizontal, turned bars so the lever was slightly uphill thanks to the sweep of the bars (helps air get out of the lever body imo)
-removed caliper and let it hang directly below the lever, using the yellow spacer to keep the pads away from any gunk
-screwed in the funnel and put some oil in
-opened the bleed valve and let gravity push some oil through
-spent ages “pinging” the lever to the bar (squeezing quickly and letting it go) until most of the bubbles were out (20 mins)
-gave it the occasional hard squeeze too
-gave it 5 mins with lever clamped tight to bar
-removed funnel and replaced bleed screw

lever feels much better now, good solid feel.

whats the spec TRO? great looking bike…

Really liking the look of these banshees now, along with the transition scout. need to get my leg over each of them!

i’ve gone halfies with faither, so only 12.5l each 🙂

As far as i know Nikwax never goes off either, so instead of paying a fiver a wash it will be a fiver a year!

thanks chief. looking for 2015 bike and i think your comments on the banshee led me here 🙂

intrigued by the banshee – whats a typical built weight in old money?

Not quite south yorkshire…[/url]

not sure on your location but these guys have all sorts of tasty brands to demo.

EDIt – thats better.

Boringly I was just going to leave my last VED license in there (renewed Oct)

Would this still be considered an offence for displaying an incorrect / out of date disc?

loving the suggestions above, particularly the stay awesome tax disc size sticker.

good suggestion GrahamS, i like that

I was thinking something along those lines cougar. something like

“insert entitlement status here”

but funny.

that transition scout looks awesome. lots of bikes to check out, thanks for the replies so far!

something wrong with the banshee site unfortunately and its not just their spelling…

http://www.bansheebikes.com/bikes_page/banshee-spitfire-mountian-bike/

Any more suggestions from the Saturday morning crew?

thanks for the replies so far. the vitus does look really nice 🙂

i think in terms of value for money i’d buy off the peg, but i’d not buy something if there were too many things i’d want to change, if that makes sense.

i suppose in terms of a shopping list i’d like the XX1 or equivalent, dropper and preferably shimano brakes. appreciate that i’ll probably have to compromise though.

i didn’t mention a budget, but up to 4k would be doable, if not reasonable :0

keep the suggestions coming!

Next time can you make a POV Go Pro movie and add “Anarchy” from the Pistols as the sound track, it will be be a top viewer, go viral or trending and all that

i like your thinking. stickin’ it to the man, middle age style \m/

do a search for the “brewers of STW” thread mate, tons of good advice in there from some accomplished brewers (i don’t include myself in that category 🙂 )

thanks Drac. i had considered doing 97 through the area but the speeding ticket would have been nothing compared to the flaming from STW’s armchair jury.

Outside our offices at Stirling Park and Ride, there were 19 police officers (plus many minion security guards) this morning, there are a dozen traffic lights waiting, temporary speed limits (20mph on a straight road), cones everywhere, the motorway sports lines of cones and signs and speed limits on and off…And the whole business park is apparently being shut early on Friday so the Golfists spectators don’t have to wait as long…

i work nearby at craigforth and saw more traffic cops policing that ridiculous 20mph zone today that i have for the rest of the year in the area. so bugger them, i went along at 15mph in 2nd gear. the queue was the length of the road by the time i got to the park and ride. luckily i can boost up the m9 north to get away because the roads on tuesday round the fire station were horrendous and that was pre-5pm. friday will be carnage….

this badboy will hopefully help me. I’m going to do a double / triple layer and stick a zip on it for easy application. not sure what the r-value will be but should be better than nothing. will also fold flattish for storage which was a key consideration.

you’ll need a few bits more, but try this one, it’s a cracker…

Thanks very much for the suggestion John – need inspiration for a Christmas brew so this might well fit the bill!

In the end i brewed up an amarillo/cascade brew using the new hops and my malts – recipe was from beersmith but i can’t find it at the moment. Its due to be dry-hopped tonight so hopefully things are good. I hit the pre-boil OG (1.045) bang on, but the post boil OG was 1.070 when it should have been 1.052 ish. I can’t figure out how it inflated so much as i though boil off rates were pretty standard at 1.2l /hr

anyway, using my new toys:

1. the thermapen is superb – my other therms were about 1.5 degrees out. although worryingly it said my mash temp was down at 59 degrees at one point, but i dont think i was getting an accurate reading. now investigating ways to insulate my mash in the pot better 🙂

2. the refractometer was dead easy to use and so much less hassle that the hydrometer. i calibrated it with deionised water and it seemed to be ok. wondering if there is a way of using it to measure OG after fermentation? the hydrometer is a chore to use compared to this!

3. now seriously exploring PF’s link above about extending my brewfridge to accomodate two 10l FV’s – my current fridge can only manage one and its a waste of space really as i could have a brew on the go all the time. i’m brewing less and enjoying the product more so i’m drinking more than i’m brewing which is unsustainable! 🙂

Fast 4G and loads of wifi

sadly 4G in Scotland is a rare thing. The office i’m sitting in at the moment has 2G coverage and no wifi (yet) #firstworldproblems

I agree in principle though, except offline usage will always need storage for music etc.

I’ve managed fine with 16gb on the 4s but I’ll probably go for 64GB at £619

+1. I’ll probably be panned for this but quadruple the storage for an extra £80 seems reasonable. I’v had to do the rounds through my phone a few times deleting pics and videos (some of which was garbage) so this will let me fill the phone with more garbage now. The single HDR shot will be nice. I’m assuming though that Apple will have no plans to up their icloud storage limit any time soon to accommodate all these folk buying 64Gb devices…

Clio 172 / 182? They are cheap now and lots of fun. Not necessarily reliable but look for a good example and you might be lucky.

Can anyone play the flute? maybe take a big base drum with us?

i lolled

See I’d hardly say that was revolutionary. Looked prettier, but that’s about it. Didn’t enhance functionality in any meaningful way.

respectfully disagree – i came from a crappy samsung flip phone to a 4 and the difference in the screen was immense. so much so i started using the phone for a lot more than calls and messaging. i’d say it was revolutionary for me, but not necessarily for those who maybe had a 3gs or so.

so i’ve got a weekend brewing slot lined up to test some new toys, namely a refractometer, thermapen and a 10l FV. I’ve also got a handle on my volumes so hoping to make a good brew. Want to make something better than all my previous attempts as i have a memorial weekend in mid Oct for a good mate we lost 2 years ago and i’d like something to be proud to hand out for drinking.

I have loads of MO, most of a kilo of Crystal, some perle, magnum and Citra hops in the freezer and new 100g packs of amarillo, EKG, Centennial and cascade hops.

Whats does the STW beerhive think i can do that will be simple and good?

On another note a fellow brewer suggested a teaspoon of sugar per 500ml bottle, rather than 1/2 tsp i normally use. How brews did have a much better fizz and head on them. I know carbonation styles vary by volume but what do you guys normally use?

Cheers

Hi Bamboo,

I’m sure others will have different figures, based ingredients, size of the batch and cost of kit used, but a basic kit to brew 40 pints is about £20-25 for a reasonable kit. The equipment needed will probably set you back another £60-70, but the cost per pint comes down the more you brew. If you start going into more complex brews than kit brews then the cost of kit goes up and (usually) your batch size comes down a bit so cost per pint increases. Its difficult to put an exact figure on it. I have well over £200 worth of brew kit, but I’ve only bottled about about 150 bottles in total, so my cost per pint is relatively high. I think PF has brewed >25 batches so his bottle count must be over 250, so per bottle his might be cheaper, although i think he has as much if not more kit than me 🙂

I think most of the brewers on here will say they don’t do it to save money though (much like MTB :)) its more about creating your own brews the satisfaction of steadily getting better at it to produce something thats as good as, or better, than commercially available brews.

Give it a go if you can afford the kits, its great fun!

In other news, the thermapen arrived and itsa lot bigger than i imagined! Calibrated 12th July though and looks new, so happy enough with it.

so i went on a bit of a shopping spree at the weekend:

-thermapen (made a booboo PF and didn’t realise the Amazon one was new, compared to the refurb on ebay. idiot that i am – shouldn’t matter too much)
-a 10l FV (was brewing in my 25l FV and it was a bit overkill)
-refractometer from ebay
-some amarillo, centennial, cascade and EKG hops from brewuk.

going to try a midweek evening brew, possibly a Citra Smash to use them up or maybe something a little more exotic. I still have some magnum and perle hops, but i’m not sure the perle would make a great smash, any experiences?

Also contemplating doubling the brewfridge capacity with a wine chiller 🙂

expensive wee hobby once you start!

I believe Office 2013 is a single pc license thats not transferable, so if your laptop goes pop you can’t transfer the license.

I’m just off to check this though. I think Office 365 allows transferable licenses but it costs a monthly payment for this so not worth it if you can get a copy for £9 or so.

EDIT – not quite as severe as i believed, but the “one user” reference is a bit odd.

The Office 2013 suites are now media-less in developed markets. Customers can use a 25-character product key to activate Office 2013 suites or Office 365 SKUs on an existing PC that meets Office system requirements.

The Office 2013 suites will have media (DVD, a 25-character product key, and a quick start guide) in emerging markets.

Office 2013 suites include:

Office Home and Student 2013

The latest Office applications—Word 2013, Excel 2013, PowerPoint 2013, OneNote 2013
One user, one PC
Transferable license*
Non-commercial use rights

Office Home and Business 2013

The latest Office applications—Word 2013, Excel 2013, PowerPoint 2013, Outlook 2013, OneNote 2013
One user, one PC
Transferable license*
Commercial use rights

Office Professional 2013

The latest Office applications—Word 2013, Excel 2013, PowerPoint 2013, Outlook 2013, OneNote 2013, Access 2013, Publisher 2013
One user, one PC
Transferable license*
Commercial use rights

Office Professional 2013 available via Digital Download.

* You may transfer the software to another computer that belongs to you, but not more than one time every 90 days (except due to hardware failure, in which case you may transfer sooner). If you transfer the software to another computer, that other computer becomes the “licensed computer.” You may also transfer the software (together with the license) to a computer owned by someone else if a) you are the first licensed user of the software and b) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement before the transfer. Any time you transfer the software to a new computer, you must remove the software from the prior computer and you may not retain any copies.

source linky

Yeah i dont really know what i was thinking when bottling that first batch by just dumping the sugar in, i can’t blame beer though as i wasn’t drinking during it! I will look into it in a bit more detail in Bs, now that i’ve got my head around the issues i had with volumes.

Cheers

hey PF,

I batch primed by dropping the brewing sugar straight into the secndary and only added 1/2 tsp per bottle for that batch as i would when i was bottle priming, not sure how that relates to grams. That could be the reason for the lack of carbonation if the sugar didn’t dissolve properly or there simply wasn’t enough.

I carbonate them at room temp for 2-3 weeks first, so that wasn’t a problem. I find bottle priming easy enough so i might carry on with it.

just been browsing the ebay site for thermapen, 36 notes for a refurb. tempted!

I saw an ad at the back of good food magazine offering 20% off a thermopen from the manufacturers site. Might need to dig it out and share if its a decent price compared to the refurbs etc. My freebie electronic thermometer went haywire during my last brew (as expected 🙂 ) so come the end of the month i’ll be buying a few more toys 🙂

currently on a detox so no beer for me (which is proving tough!) but i’ve brewed two SNPA clones so far. One was suspect (i thought it was contaminated) but is drinkable and has notes reminiscent of the SNPA original. The one thing that didn’t seem to work was batch priming, so i’ve reverted to bottle priming for the v2. Not sure why but the first few bottles i opened were a bit flat, so i assume there isn’t enough sugar in those bottles. Will see what the rest of the batch is like soon.

V2 was only bottled a week ago, so i’ve yet to see what that is like. I’m hoping its an improvement but this was the first batch where i’d changed the water volume and actually put in a bit too much this time, so OG was a bit low. FG came out at 1010 though after 3 weeks in the fermenter so i’m hoping it will be ok.

Need to get the brew on this Sunday i think, give me something to take my mind off food!

yeah i see the consensus is bottle it and give it time, so i’ll do that and see. I’m a bit gutted that its not awesome and no issues, but it was only my 2nd BIAB and i knew i was playing with fire by adding water. the OG was 1.078 beforehand though so i’m not sure what would have happened if i’d not topped it up – higher abv i guess?

In any case i have found the reason why i was off with my volumes so i’ll rectify that and see what this batch turns out like. I’m not sure if its the placebo effect but i did think beyond the slight tang that there was identifiable flavours of SNPA.

think i’ve got my first dodgy batch 🙁 took a gravity reading of my SNPA clone last night and whilst i definitely recognise flavours of SNPA there, there is also a distinct vinegary smell from it. I did wonder if the brew was a bit off as the smell from it during the early days was a bit more pungent than usual.

in good news it hit the FG bang on the money though 🙂

I have nobody but myself to blame as i topped up again with tap water and didn’t sanitise my dropper when taking my OG post boil, so an expensive lesson to learn but it reinforces the need for good practice. I’ll bottle it anyway as i think it was quite drinkable from the sample i had and going to brew another using the correct mash volumes this weekend to avoid having to top up.

YLAL!

I always think changing the mash temp accurately would be v hard, so I tend to hit temp and hope!

Hey PF, no worries on the email, you hit the nail on the head originally so i think the kit profile was / is ok. The thermapens seem to get a good review. My Amazon freebie (ordered a thermometer not realising it would come from US, cancelled it same day and it arrived anyway)started saying it was 62 degrees in my kitchen at the weekend. i need to check it out and re calibrate / poss new battery, but i do fancy a thermapen with the probe. so many gadgets so little time!

I’m not sure where the struggle is, but to understand it maybe you just need to take “dog” out of the equation.

Imagine that you are responsible for “a creature” and that creature is incredibly loyal and loves you unconditionally. It is always excited to see you, will walk by your side for hours when you are in an active mood, and curl up beside you at the fire when you are not. It’s funny, intelligent, empathic and it shares your life for years, maybe decades if you’re lucky, always there for you. Always.

Then one black day you have to kill it, for it’s own good.

It looks at you, full of love and trust, even as the poison is administered.
Then kisses your hand as it dies.

Can you really not understand why that might be emotional?

Incredibly well put graham. Not watched the vid but dread the day when this will happen with mr dogs.