BlackSands

Another thing maybe worth a mention is that some styles just don't need any fining at all. Apart from obvious styles that are intentionally hazy, or wheat beers which are in inherently hazy I've found darker brews seem to clear up perfectly without any fining assistance. My current amber ale for example is crystal clear at serving temperature and it didn't receive my usual CC+Gelatine treatment. As an aside, current and future brews won't be cold-crashed either, for quite some time as I've actually seconded my fermentation fridge for use as a freezer! We planted out a large vege garden over the Spring/Summer and the 'freezer' is now subsequently packed full with the products from that effort! I bypassed the fridges thermostat when I first acquired it, and now have my Inkbird set to -12ºC. So, I have an English-style IPA ready for bottling soon. As it happens, I've gone ahead and actually added gelatin at room temperature to this brew anyway as I seem to recall that even at warmer temps it still aids a little with the clarity. We'll see!

Amber Ale. I usually use Amarillo hops with this recipe but I some Superdelic in the freezer. Nice enough, but the Amarillo version is better: PS - as some of you will have discovered, taking photos of a cold beer is quite a challenge as the glass frosts up so quickly! I had to keep wiping this one down with a tissue while I was getting myself organised!

An old song I co-wrote years ago, but a new video that I just edited recently using free stock footage. This one was mixed and produced by Eddie Rayner (of Split Enz fame):

Personally, unless you're vegan or vegetarian I see no good reason not to use gelatine. A cold-crash plus gelatin is unbeatable, as has been clearly demonstrated in various comparisons. Other than just relying on time to do the job, gelatine is by far the cheapest option and, it also has an unlimited shelf-life. It has also been shown to be the fastest acting clarifier. My personal anecdotal experience is that once cold-crashed, gelatine only needs a day or two to guarantee crystal clear, bright beers at serving temperature, every time and as a bottler of beers I find only a light dusting of sediment forms in the bottle. For example, this brew pictured below was CC'd for one day, gelatine added and then bottled a day later. One slight caveat, I used kveik voss which is a high-flocculating strain so this may help a little, though haze-forming compounds (polyphenols, proteins, carbs) are generally more due to other components in the beer. Another point to note, is I've actually stopped using kettle finings. Having on a number of occasions absent-mindedly forgotten to add whirlfloc, I quickly discovered that it appears to have no impact whatsoever on final beer clarity if it's then later CC'd with gelatine nor, to my aging taste-perception does its non-use seem to contribute to the creation of any obvious off-flavours.

Just finished brewing yet another a stove-top AG batch, but every now and then I brew a kit beer so thought I'd celebrate another successful brew day with a glass of this - dark ale +1.5kg LME, enhanced with some left-over Superdelic hops. Does the job...

Straight forward UK-style IPA, but using up some Pacific Jade and predomiantly, Waimea hops: 20 litre stove-top AG batch: 3.4kg Ale Malt 400g Light Crystal 350g Sugar 25g Pacific Jade @ 30min 25g Waimea @15min 25g Waimea @5min 50g Waimea Dry hop 5g Gypsum .5g salt Kveik Voss @ 35ºC Thanks to AI for the slightly weird image, but at least it made me look a lot younger!

It might be strain dependent, though I don't actually know for sure. Kveik yeasts are generally pretty robust and resilient strains so that might contribute to their ability to be reused countless times without any apparent deterioration.

I've stored it for weeks, even a month or two on occasion. No problem at all. Viability does degrade over time, but you'd be talking maybe 4 - 6 months before it gets past it's "use by" date!

No. IMO washing is completely unnecessary. I just grab a jar of slurry and store it in the fridge until the next brew day.

Apologies, I've been absent for a while. It is true I use Kveik Voss almost exclusively these days and have been doing so for quite a few years now. I recycle the yeast slurry from one batch to the next to good effect... the first packet I ever bought, MJ's M12 was actually reused for 2.5 years! Now that has got to be economy plus! But, to answer your question re: bottle fermentation: during my Summer months it's been a non issue... even at sub 30ºC temperatures, it does seem that Voss quite happily remains quite active and fiizzes up my brews pretty quickly - just a few days usually. I do recall however that in our Winter months it does get quite sleepy when temps overnight are usually in single-digits and then carbonation can take many weeks. However, during those Winters past I actually loaded the entire batch into my fermentation fridge and dialied a nice warm temp to make sure they carb'd up in a reasonable amount of time. After all, it''s important to get the production/consumption balance just right, so... whatever it takes! I'm still using Voss, and my latest brew even now, as we are well into Autumn here has still carb'd quite up well in under a week, even with overnight temps now dropping down as low as 10ºC. So, I think from that I can safely say it's a very "temperature-diverse" and tolerant strain and perfect for the more imaptient, high-demand brewer! It does of course have it's own flavour profile, but it's not one I have any issue with. I actualy quite like it, and I think it works very well with the styles I usually brew.

No! It's an acidulated malt - I just use it to help lower the mash pH

Nice. And, as much as I like these old steins and 'beer mugs' in general, and they do have character, history and personality, I must admit - not being able to see the beer within is a bit of a disappointment. Similarly, I used to have some pewter goblets which kinda felt cool for swilling back some tasty red wine, Anglo-Saxon style... but I did miss seeing the ruby red liquid velvet within. Probably because I'm quite 'visual' and suspect this has a strong influence over my taste perception.

Picked up a Lion kit cheap a few weeks ago - paired with 1.5kg LME and a fuggle dry hop for a quick easy brew. And then, after the first taste I was reminded - in the past I actually did a hop boil, added to the brew for extra, fresh bitterness because the IBU's in this kit are actually quite low (17IBU). So, while I don't brew kits very often, this one could have easily put me off forever! Not a great beer, drinkable... but only just. It's just way too sweet for me... a kind of sickly, cloying sweetness. But then, I had this idea... Adding a couple of drops of this hop extract to the glass has sorted it quite nicely. I will say though, even though the hop extract is supposed to add flavour and aroma, I'm not getting any of that at all... but it has thankfully bumped up the IBU's to a more palatable level making it much easier for me to get down. Phew!

Haven't brewed a Brit Golden ale for a long time so... 3.4kg GF Ale Malt 400g Wheat 200g GF Sour Grapes 25g Pacific Jade @40min 25g Fuggles @15min 25g Fuggles @5min Voss @ 35ºC [insert photos of brew day and fermenter here]