2/3 of a good Idea

Well im all for more choice in the serving sizes, in fact im all for complete deregulation in this area, but from the only place ive seen 2/3 introduced, it seems to have pushed up prices.

Beer 1 Jan 27  : £2 a 1/2          Feb 7 : 2.80 2/3   (£4 vs £4.20)
Beer 2 Nov 21 : £2.50 a 1/2     Feb 7 : £4 2/3      (£5 vs £6)
Beer 3 Nov 21 : 2.50 a 1/2       Jan 27: £3.90 2/3 (£5 vs £5.85)


Maybe 2/3 glasses wasn't such a good idea after all.

1 Light Year

Well thats its Its been a Light year since i got my Solar Panals Installed, and boy had it been a Great year.

First off i expected to get about 2600 Units in the First Year according to the Estimation tool at solar_estimate
See my earlier blogs for more info on this and the Fits Scheme.

But my first year total came in at 3223 which is a Massive 20% over the Estimate, now i dont know if 2011 was a particularly sunny year, or if the Estimate was just to conservative, only time will tell. but al told year 1 was a great year.  3223 Units equate to a Payment of £1444 , and i estimate (and this is really difficult to work out) that i use 1/3 of what i produced over the year, and this gives a saving on my Electric bill of about £100, so all told my Return in Year 1 is £1544 or greater than 10% of my £15000 investment.

So all told depending on if my Estimate was accurate or low over all, i am still on track for a return of between 8-10%

Better yet as far as im concerned.  Solar Prices have dropped in the Last Year, and There is no longer (in Edinburgh at least) any need for a Building Warrant. That mean that my system would now cost in the Region of 12-13K. This drop means that even if the Fits system was to be totally scrapped. If you can use all power the system produces or, at least sell any unused units at the same cost that you buy them, then Solar Power is cost effective over its 25years, if we assume a 6% increase in Electric costs per year.

years in use	system power	Estimate	kWh cost	Year saving	total saving
1	3.6	2,592.00	0.11	285	285
2	3.6	2,569.97	0.12	300	585
3	3.6	2,548.12	0.12	315	900
4	3.6	2,526.46	0.13	331	1231
5	3.6	2,504.99	0.14	348	1579
6	3.6	2,483.70	0.15	366	1944
7	3.6	2,462.59	0.16	384	2328
8	3.6	2,441.65	0.17	404	2732
9	3.6	2,420.90	0.18	424	3157
10	3.6	2,400.32	0.19	446	3603
11	3.6	2,379.92	0.20	469	4072
12	3.6	2,359.69	0.21	493	4564
13	3.6	2,339.63	0.22	518	5082
14	3.6	2,319.75	0.23	544	5627
15	3.6	2,300.03	0.25	572	6199
16	3.6	2,280.48	0.26	601	6800
17	3.6	2,261.09	0.28	632	7432
18	3.6	2,241.87	0.30	664	8096
19	3.6	2,222.82	0.31	698	8794
20	3.6	2,203.92	0.33	734	9527
21	3.6	2,185.19	0.35	771	10298
22	3.6	2,166.62	0.37	810	11108
23	3.6	2,148.20	0.40	852	11960
24	3.6	2,129.94	0.42	895	12855
25	3.6	2,111.84	0.45	941	13795

All told while no one is likely to install a system that takes the whole 25 years to pay back, it is clear that Solar energy is becoming more and more cost effective and while the Fits Scheme exists (even at the reduced rate) its really a no brainer about installing Solar panels and i am very glad i have.

Craft thats it sorted

According to the dictionary Craft is defined as

1. An activity involving skill in making things by hand: the craft of cobbling : art and craft
2. Skill used in deceiving others: her cousin was not her equal in guile and evasive craft
3. A boat or ship: sailing craft

 So if your Brewery fits one of those three then your a craft Brewer.


Glad to have sorted this one for everyone.






Ps. If you think hard im sure you can find some that fit Two.

Ready Steady Brew : The ingredients

Ok the bag of ingredients for the Ready Steady Brew is Choice 2 Oolong Tea and Chilli

Can anyone interested in brewing this let me know (if you havent already)
I will pay postage on at least the first 5 who want to post up a bottle for the tasting.

But even if you want to just brew it and write about it i will cover your brew in a roundup of the event.
We are aiming for a July tasting (date nearer the time) as homebrewers have told me that should be enough time to allow people not to have to rush.

Let the Brewing commence.

Oh for Nogne O Sake

I know many of you are Familiar with the FANTASTIC Nogne O Beers, but Nogne do more than just Beer.

Nogne are the ONLY European producer of Sake, and damn fine Sake at that. So if you havent tried any sake, or enjoy sake, do yourself a favour and look out for the Nogne O sake that James Clay have brought into the UK.

Go hunt it down, for Nogne sake, My sake and your sake.

The Session 59 I Almost Always Drink Beer, But When I Don’t..

I should sum this up in one word Tea. But i wont. I will ramble on about my love of tea.
I was into Tea long before i was into Beer. I probably drink more tea than beer most days but i am not promising that thats actually true :-)

Like Beer i like my Tea in a huge range of Styles. Black, Green, White, Oolong, flavoured, spiced, hot , cold you name it i want to try it. But Oolong is my Favourite.

I love tea so much i even went out and bought a Japanese tea ceremony

Here are just a few of the roughly 40 teas i have at home.

Tea is a comfort drink, Tea is a tasty drink, Tea is a versatile drink. Tea is a non alcoholic drink, Tea is Great.

Drink Tea, you know your worth it

Ready Steady Brew

Reading this Blog about the brewing of beer from cupboard Ingredients


I couldnt help but think of Ready Steady Brew.

So any Homebrewers out there fancy brewing me one of these and sending me a bottle :-) and we can have a beer head to head.

Ive come up with some ingredients that should come in under a fiver and you can use any ingredients from your Standard Home brew cupboard.

First off ive come up with 5 alternatives, so lets put it out to a vote for any reader to say what they would rather see, and next Monday i will announce what set of ingredients is open for anyone interested  to brew with.(im looking at you Benji and BeerCastPaul but other people welcome to join)

1) Oolong tea, lemon and honey

2) Oolong tea, and chilli

3) Black tea and Cardamon

4) Black Tea, Black Pepper

5) Asapargus and Black Pepper

Just add a comment with your vote. Im hoping any brewers will vote at least. But if not, i will just choose one and force Benji to brew me it :-)


Oh and of course any Real brewers are welcome to do a full run :-) hehehehe