I made this one up and it turned out well. I’ve been asked for the recipe, so here is what I did, from memory. Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 4 hours + Serves: 6+ Ingredients For the beef 1.5kg beef brisket 2tsp chili powder 3tsp smoked paprika 2tsp cumin powder 1tsp garlic powder 1tspContinue Reading Pulled Beef Tacos

Kit: MYO Irish Stout Original Gravity: 1062 Final Gravity: 1013 ABV: 6.6%* Dry-hopped for 5 days First time using heat pad and inkbird. Bottled: 07/11/2020 Batch primed with 100g of table sugar, aiming for 2.0 valumes of CO2. Mixture of 330ml and 500ml glass bottles, and 500ml PET bottles. Rather than the 1kg of dextrose calledContinue Reading Christmas Stout

I once heard that drinking hot drinks (which to me just means tea) in warm weather helps cool you down, as the body reacts be sweting more, and thus assists cooling. A cursory Google and it seems this could potentially be a myth. To be honest, I don’t really mind if it’s a myth –Continue Reading Hot tea to cool down?

When it comes to equipment, homebrewing can be relatively cheap to do. It is certainly possible to get a brew going and bottled for under £40, provided you invest some time collecting old bottles. There are additional pieces of equipment that can go a long way to improving your experience. Many homebrew shops sell starterContinue Reading Homebrew 101 – equipment

From the outset it is necessary to declare that I am a novice homebrewer, and at the time of writing, I have done five brews using mostly two-tin kits. Rather than putting you off, I hope this encourages you take a look at the Homebrew 101 articles. I am just a normal bloke who gotContinue Reading Homebrew 101

While I was out on one of my Ale Trail bike rides, I stopped at one of my favourites. The Magpie and Parrot is situated just outside Shinfield at the end of what looks to be a short by-pass. It’s the kind of pub where you feel like you’re sat in someone’s living room. That’sContinue Reading Don’t assume

One of the drawbacks of living in a Victorian terrace is the stairs. They are often very steep and rather narrow, and ours are no exception. For this reason, a handrail is almost certainly required, especially when the more senior members of our family visit. Initially my concern was that handrails are always so functional.Continue Reading A pigs ear

Having recently gone against my own philosophy when it came to buy my circular saw, I found myself again ignoring one of my general rules for doing DIY. This time, it was replacing an original feature with something new. I am a huge fan or original features, and with few remaining in our Victorian house,Continue Reading Gutting the guttering

While I was replacing a tread on our staircase, I started to think about why people do DIY, rather than pay a professional to come in and do the job. I came up with the following main reasons: Save money Enjoyment Knowledge Following on from this, I thought about why I do it. Instantly myContinue Reading D.I.Why?