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?

We recently took up the carpet on the stairs, so we could have a new one fitted. When we did so, the stairs were in decent condition, if not a little grubby. Considering they were made over 100 years ago, only one was broken. The first challenge was to work out how the stairs wereContinue Reading One small step…

Another year, and another Ale Trail! This time of year is my favourite. Whilst many people are feeling down following the distant excitement of Christmas, the build-up to Reading Beer Festival is in sight. Things were a little quiet on the Ale Trail Facebook page. Thankfully, in the winter 2018 edition of Mine’s a Pint,Continue Reading Ale Trail 2019

Interactive ODG Tower Map An interactive map of all the towers withing the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers. This map was created using Google Map API v3, data from the Dove database (for which I am most grateful), and customised JavaScript functions to manipulate the Dove data. Click here to see the map.Continue Reading ODG Tower Map

Back in July 2017, I took a huge career change. Having worked as a Science Teacher both in the UK and US for 7 years, I applied for I job with a small but far-reaching software development company in Surrey. One of the biggest benefits, trivial though it sounds, is I can now make aContinue Reading Don’t settle for inadequate tea at work