Filed under: Beer News, Blogroll, homebrewing | Tags: easbrew.co.uk, easybrew, easybrew problems, problem solved, problems, trading standards
UPDATE 3rd July 2008: Thanks to everyone who has left a comment regarding order problems with Easybrew. It seems like they haven’t managed to turn themselves into a functioning business yet! I urge people to tell every home brewer they know not to have any dealings with Easybrew. This will save us all a lot of hassle! Now, let’s get back to some beer…
UPDATE 11th March 2008: The information contained in the following post is no longer relevant as far as my dealings with Easybrew go. My problem has been completely sorted now, as have those of other people who contacted me (as far as I know). Please see this post for further information
OK, it seems there are a lot of people out there who are having various problems with Easybrew such as non-delivery of goods, non-existent refunds etc.
Here is what I think is the best course of action.
Easybrew are based in Hampshire, so I think it would be appropriate for us to contact Trading Standards in Hampshire with regard to our problems. If you do a Google search for ‘hampshire trading standards’ you can get to this page on the Hampshire County Council website which gives the contact details for Trading Standards in Hampshire.
Details for Trading Standards
Contact Details
Contact:
Trading Standards
Telephone:
01962 833620
Email:
rsadvice@hants.gov.uk
Address:
Montgomery House, Monarch Way
Winchester, SO22 5PW
I think what I will do is email Hampshire Trading Standards with a sort of general story telling them that I am in contact with a number of people who have had problems with Easybrew. I will suggest to them that we all send them written details of our exact problems (amounts owed, goods outstanding etc.) via post (maybe all together in one document?).
I think that in order for this to be dealt with swiftly, I will need to provide them with contact details (just an email address initially) for each of you that has a problem.
If everyone here seems to agree then I will do this by Friday of this week (29/02/2008).
Please confirm your agreement VIA EMAIL along with you preferred contact email address.
Email me: graham DOT dinsdale AT tiscali DOT co DOT uk
Thanks,
Graham
Filed under: Beer News, homebrewing | Tags: beer, beer drinking, bottling, brewing, camera, drinking, home brew, Home brew beer, homebrew
Brew #6 is in bottles now (bottled 10th Feb.). I will probably sample one (or 2…) tomorrow or Thursday night before taking the rest to a family gathering. 
Unfortunately my camera is out of action at the moment, but I will take a picture of the finished product with my camera phone which will hopefully be OK…
Cheers! 
Filed under: Beer News, homebrewing | Tags: beer, Home brew beer, homebrew, wort, bubbles, krausen, ferment, irish moss
After pitching the yeast at about 10pm last night I thought that maybe there would be some activity this morning and…. was right! There is a healthy looking krausen in the fermenter, with some even straying down the blow off hose.
The loose end of the hose is immersed in a jug half filled with a sterilizing solution . As of 9am this morning bubbles were rising at a rate of 1 per second. Wort/beer is a nice golden/light copper colour.
To ensure this brew went well I made some changes from the brewing process I used on my last batch before Christmas. This time I didn’t add any Irish moss or any Malto-dextrose (a non-fermentable sugar used to add “body”) . I’m not sure if these differences are what did it though….
I will hopefully post some pics when I bottle this in a week or so.
Cheers
Filed under: Beer News, homebrewing | Tags: airlock, beer, bitter, brewing, fuggles, goldings, Home brew beer, homebrew, hops, safale
I’ve finally managed to get another brew on the go. It is to the same recipe as the failed batch i.e. a standard/ordinary bitter. I’ve used a mixture of Kent Goldings and Fuggles hops simply because I didn’t have enough Goldings left to complete the job. I pitched the yeast about 1 hour ago and already I’m starting to see signs of activity! I have a blow off hose (rather than an airlock) attached as the yeast is Safale S-04 which was extremely vigorous last time I used it.
Should be good…
