Home Brew Beer - Est. 2006

I finally got around to getting my next brew together yesterday. It’s a stout and it’s the usual 1gallon (8 UK pint) batch. The recipe is as follows:

Stoutarama (Makes 1 UK Gallon)

1lb Dark DME

4oz Crystal Malt (crushed)

4oz Roasted Barley (crushed)

0.25oz (10g ish metric?) Fuggles Hops (AA 5%)

The grains were steeped in the water as it came up to boil and then removed. The DME was added and the boil began. With 15 mins left I added the hops. Simple!

The brew is currently bubbling away nicely, using Safale S04 Ale yeast (really fast!)

Check back to find out how it turned out!

Cheers!

Out of the blue, Annette Ferre (Easybrew proprietor) left a message in the comment thread for my post on my order problems with Easybrew. I am happy to say that after contacting her directly, my problem has been solved.

I have been issued with a refund for the amount outstanding on my original order, and Annette has promised to send me the goods I was missing as well.

I have contacted everyone else who had a complaint, in order that they get in touch with Annette.  If you have  a problem contact details are:

Email: annette.ferre@easybrew.co.uk

Telephone: 01425 479972

Good news all round!

Now I can get back to some serious brewing. A stout next methinks…

Cheers!

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

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!

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