Due to the success of the last batch, I started brewing another lot of ginger beer. I’m having to use a large saucepan, because one of the fermentation buckets is currently occupied with a Belgian Triple, and the other is fermenting some perry. Once the Triple has been bottled, I’m going to try making some pumpkin ale. Well, the pumpkins have done well this year!
I also finished the corridor construction – now I can start breaking through walls. But one can’t just take a hammer and create a hole! Because it’s a load-bearing wall, it needs to be supported before any bricks are removed. This is done by knocking a small hole through the wall at a height which will be above the top of the intended doorway. A timber beam – or metal bar, depending on what you have – is then poked through this hole. This is called a needle. The needle is then supported on either side by acrow props (long metal poles with a screw-thread). I fortunately found two of these at the aged FIL’s. Once this arrangement is taking the weight of the wall, you can then create an opening. Then after the installation of the lintel (or arch), the props and needle can be removed. (My father was a building surveyor, and my brother a civil engineer, so I obviously picked up a few tips!)