All my beers are bottle conditioned and I've won a few competitions, although I'd guess that here in the UK most competition entries are bottle conditioned. I wouldn't worry about it and depending on which yeast you've used a clean pour is perfectly achievable. Nottingham for example sticks hard...

I tend to boil the priming solution for a few minutes and leave it to cool. I then add it to the bottling bucket before using the siphon to transfer the beer from the fermenter to the bucket. I have a small nylon hop "sock" which I boil in the priming solution to sterilise and tie it round the...

Does dry hopping cause any problems. I just stick pellets straight into the fermenter so there's a lot of hop material in the trub. Can I just store this in a sanitised jar and repitch? How long will it keep in the fridge? How much trub to pitch per batch (I usually brew approx 20lt)?

I've found I get the best hop aroma by making a basic hop extract using a cafetiere/French press coffee maker. I use 20g of leaf hops, add 750ml water at 70-75°C, leave to steep for 20 mins then press down the plunger and add to the fermenter for the last 3-4 days. I also kind of whirlpool by...

Transfer to a bottling bucket and add a quantity of priming solution based on the volume in the bucket, not the fermenter.

Golden hops are a decorative variety not suitable for brewing, so hopefully you've got Goldings

I bottle all my beer, 20-25lt per brew so quite a lot of bottles. I add the priming solution to a bottling bucket, transfer the beer from the FV and bottle with a bottling wand on the end of an auto syphon. This is much quicker than using a bottling wand attached to the tap on the bottling bucket.

Correction: bottle conditioned for 2 weeks at 20°C, then 6 weeks at 12°C. Should always check before posting, my beer memory is not always perfect. Here's the recipe https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/512978/subklscher

I've used K97 with excellent results, mainly due (I think) to pitching and fermenting at 18°C and then bottle conditioning at 10-12°C for 5 weeks.

All working fine now, thanks

Only shared recipes now appear as recent recipes on my dashboard. This is annoying as I generally don't share until after I've brewed so unshared recipes are my current work in progress

If you want uber-geekery get an ispindel https://hackaday.com/2017/03/01/iot-device-pulls-its-weight-in-home-brewing/ no sampling required but you do need access to a 3D printer and reasonable soldering skills. I don't have one - much too techy for me but a fellow homebrew club member does, it's...

Seconded regarding aluminium pots. I've only ever used a 40lt alu pot, no ill effects so far!

Thanks for all the replies. The pan is pretty well insulated so I don't lose much heat. Looks like I'm brewing on Friday :D

Trying to fit brewdays around some part time work. Is there any issue with mashing for 2-2.5 hours? I usually mash for 90 mins (BIAB) so I presume it shouldn't be a problem but just wondered if anyone had any thoughts.

Every brewer I know gives their spent grain to livestock farmers. Alternatively I recently had some bread and flapjacks made by a homebrewer from spent grain, but he dried it first.

Dried blood. Not me, another Manchester homebrewer but I have tasted it http://manchesterhomebrew.co.uk/brewing-with-blood/

Martin Cornell's blog has some more info http://zythophile.co.uk

I've entered a few and I also share beers with other local homebrewers. I think it's good to get feedback.

I used a smaller pan and brewbag for this batch