MostlyAfloat

Morning all - first of congrats on your new boat!, hope you have loads of happy days aboard. I did find the osmosis thing interesting and something I'd never considered, though have seen the blisters on other items used in water based conditions using grp, which piqued my interest when I was eating a sausage sandwich breakfast just now, which led to a Google search and found this.. http://www.smithandcompany.org/GRP/GRP.html Quite a long read, but I found it interesting in a "oh I see" moment, not that it changes anything but did seem to lift a veil (for me at least!) of how does it happen, seems a lot more complex than just letting water in! Happy Sunday all - off to Sandford Mill Museum of power today as it's nice and sunny Cheers Ray

As they say... Hell Yeah.... It was very drinkable, quite difficult to put down, it's called Canadian blonde but reminded me of a Spanish type holiday beer, in the garden, sunshine and a BBQ, it's my goto kit for the summer. Ray Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

Yep, when I look back, we covered a few miles!, in fact I think the fuel gauge might have been broken as it never went past 3/4 full the whole trip but clocked up £120.00 ish of diesel when filled up on return. Ray

Thank you all for you kind comments, am looking out of the window now and it's dark, grey and been raining, still think I'd rather be on that boat David! It must have been a success as the other half of the crew came over for Sunday dinner, so they obviously didn't get bored of the company Not a difficult process John, and just using windows movie maker that's supplied already in XP up to vista/ win7 (it's not on win10 so you have to go get the proggie from the windows download and just install gallery/moviemaker and untick everything else - last known version is 2012 I believe, couldn't find anything later.) it's pretty basic by all accounts but simple to use drag and drop and choose any of the pre supplied transition effects, intro video loops ( the underwater bit at the beginning) you can get for free from countless web pages, add some music if you wish and it's done. Now I know what I'm doing with it I reckon I could have put it together in 40mins or so instead of tinkering all the time with it . Ray

What Paul says above x 2, I never got into the hops, boiling, sparging etc keep it simple was my motto, even some of the kit beer can be frankensteined by adding other hops to modify the taste, on the whole I found the woodfordes two can kits pretty much foolproof, warm up the cans, pour into the fermenting vessel, add the water and then the yeast stick on the lid and leave it alone for a couple of weeks, even just using the supplied bits you will get something drinkable (unless you missed out the clean with a proper sterilising solution) leave it longer in bottles and in a dark place and as each week passes it become more settled and drinkable. It's well worth the little effort needed imho just found a pic of one of my lager brews.... That was a coopers Canadian blonde kit beer. Ray

Well not as comprehensive as I would have liked, but was having to much fun.... just finished a youtube upload and is live as I type, its mainly for the family but I hope some of you will enjoy... Ray

I tend to use the plastic bottles as they are cheap and you can get a good idea how the second ferment is going by how hard the bottle gets, they weigh less as well. Ray Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

Funny this topic came up, I got back into home brew about 18 months ago, did the usual kit wines with a modicum of success (I always found them a bit lacking in substance, but never lacked the alcohol...) then went onto doing a few Wurzel wines just using fruit juice from lidles or aldi with pretty good results, well drinkable as they weren't trying to be something they wasn't - i.e a bottle of Rioja etc, Google is your friend here and pretty much all of the fruit juices (as long as they weren't made from concentrate) worked and were drunk with relish over the summer and a few were consumed on the boat the last week . I then decided to have a go at beer/lager and took over the kitchen table for a few weeks and I can truly say some of the kit beers from coopers are exceptional imho, I particularly like the Canadian Blonde and Cerveza they do and a few bottles went on a boat trip last week but never survived as they came back empty... also have had really good turnouts from the Woodfordes two can kits of their Wherry Ale Bitter, and it was nice to be able to compare the "real thing" at the Ferry Inn last week and have to say it's a close thing, the pub version is lighter in colour and not so hoppy and very drinkable, the home brew version is a tad darker and slightly more bitter and if conditioned well gives a brilliant head retention if you use a nucleated glass.... Very yummy.... now im just thirsty.... Ray

Hell's bells you couldn't have planted that better if you had tried, what are the odds of doing that.... As said, I'd be buying lottery tickets right now.... Ray

Down at the Marina last night, doing a bit of off the boat fishing til it got a bit chilly, woke up to the sound of rain and thought... Glad I'm not loading up today for a week... But now I'm home sun's out again... And wish I'd booked 2 weeks and feeling envious of those being given the walk round of the boat... The broads certainly leaves you with a serene and calm feeling. Ray

Well like all good things, they have to end... Last day of the MostlyAfloat cruise on the southern side, currently moored up at Brammerton, very peaceful, tranquil and sunny day, light breeze, here til later when will bimble up to the boatyard for the night and home in the morning. Spied Ranworthbreeze on our way back from the northside and gave a wave! Will post a full report in due course! Sad faces all round til next year! Ray

I'm seeing a pattern in their Jean..... I'll certainly give this a look. Ray

The plan is to visit some old haunts and spend a few days up north side and bimble back down for a few days around weds to take in the south side and explore before taking the boat back sat morning so there is no stress about catching the tides, so it's a half and half holiday with some fishing in there somewhere Ray

I know I'd feel a lot more confident knowing I'd checked it beforehand if only to make it look I'm da boss

Works for me! have put the number on speed dial