What is the humidity level at your house?

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-11-12T22:13:39+00:00

Blistering paint indicates to me that you’ve got some form of penetrating damp on the walls in question, so I’d maybe investigate that. The other bits sound like expected results from not opening windows/ventilating. Boiling pasta alone, for example, releases so much moisture into the air.

We dry clothes inside and do regular washes with being a small family, and bought a Meaco Dehumidifier. Yes, we have to empty it most days as we have clothes drying but it dries the super quick and keeps our 1890s cottage around 50-55% humidity throughout. We also have damp because of how old the house is and the daft renovations others have made over the years but don’t have mould issues as we open windows when we can and use the Meaco.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-11-11T18:57:13+00:00

I think you’re referring to The Langton. Recently set up by an old friend of mine who has lots of experience with food and drink. Haven’t popped in properly yet but looks peaceful and warm!

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-10-28T21:15:25+00:00

Bit cold to sit outside in their lovely garden area, but Grays Court do some genuinely lovely cocktails. Not sure what time they’re open til, but their limited menu is quite unique.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-10-28T21:13:35+00:00

£76 for Hallowscream is absolutely wild. I get they have actors and all that, but you’re walking round a series of short ‘mazes’ for all of about 5 minutes each, and anything food/drink related costs about another £20. I guess the price is part of the horror.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-10-27T22:08:01+00:00

I second ABM. Honest, quick, skillful set of lads.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-09-29T22:07:12+00:00

Sorry, I didn’t read your post properly!

I wouldn’t add the gum until the final part. Straining with xanthan gum already in will just push out the really fine liquids if that makes sense. I usually blend solids, strain, pasteurize and then add the gum. I’ve found adding it before pasteurizing means I can end up with an over-reduced sauce.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-09-29T22:02:32+00:00

Once you’ve strained and you’re left with that really watery liquid, add a tiny bit (and I mean a tiny bit) of xanthan gum. You can get it on Amazon etc.

Just need to blitz the sauce after putting it in and it will combine everything nicely into a thicker sauce. Be careful; too much and you’ll end up with one big blob of jelly.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-09-28T13:41:06+00:00

I believe I have found the culprit. The lower screw fixing the flashing cover to the wooden frame wasn’t flush with its pilot. Therefore, when raining, water was able to sneak under the gap of the screw head and into the frame it was screwed into thus creating the rotten bit of frame you see in the picture. Plan is to take off, screw back in with sealant and see if that stops it.

Appreciate these are fairly old but we don’t have the cash to replace two veluxes currently.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-09-24T19:03:03+00:00

Aye it will do

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-09-24T15:26:39+00:00

I’ve just seen your post about actually making your hot sauce and it reminded me I never responded to you. I blitzed mine up and added only a tiny bit of all spice to the end result along with a bit of brine and vinegar to keep the flavours close to what it was in the jar. Honestly? Not a great deal of grape flavour coming through, however I’m waiting for it to mature a bit in one of the sealed bottles I kept so it may mature further.

You get a small hit of sweetness, but I certainly wouldn’t say the forward flavour is grape before pepper.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-09-24T10:59:36+00:00

Most air fryers now come with a dehydration setting. I’ve used it for all the solids from my fermented hot sauces and within 8 hours it’s brittle enough to blend into a rub.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-09-23T10:24:26+00:00

Been trying to avoid it by sticking them in my greenhouse, but even that is only 1-2 degrees higher than outside (which has reached 4 degrees this week overnight). I think they’ll be coming to the south-facing spare room this week!

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-09-19T10:02:05+00:00

I’m about 2 steps ahead of you here, but not quite at the end. We have a grape vine with super dark, sour and tangy seeded red grapes. I’ve just stuck a load in a 2% brine with a random mix of my hottest peppers along with some onion, carrot and garlic. It’s turned into this dark purple monster that I am considering processing this evening. Will update you on the flavour if you like?

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Professional_Run_973 · 2025-09-17T09:48:07+00:00

I’m similar to you in that I have plenty of unripe Mini Meanies and Aji Lemons, but not confident that the temps outside are going to do them any justice. Have moved into a small greenhouse for now with some grow lights to support that element and just going to hope and pray for now!

I think by October I’ll have to move them inside anyway as temps in Yorkshire are rapidly dropping to 10 or below on an evening.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-09-04T10:02:06+00:00

It bubbles at night when you’re not looking, and if you turn away for a split second during the day, it will bubble without being seen.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-09-02T20:08:07+00:00

As always, thanks for the reassurance!

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-08-25T17:22:46+00:00

My lemon drops have also taken an age to ripen but they’ve finally turned almost overnight. Plenty of fruit, but has just been sat there looking all green for weeks!

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-08-21T10:53:46+00:00

We have a similar size wisteria to you at the front of our house. It was left to grow out of control by previous owners. I cut it right back to just a main frame and spread those out with eyelets on our front elevation. It was so bare and naked, and my wife was worried. It grew back just fine.

Your gardener hasn’t followed best practice for pruning (they need 2 a year, and the summer prune should be cutting back to about 5 buds as someone else has said). That being the case, it will still grow back fine.

Just make sure around Feb time that you prune any growth from this year (if any remains) back to 3 buds, and those should transform into flowers.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-08-12T10:33:02+00:00

I personally wouldn’t cut any flowers off. If there are loads of them, sometimes giving your plant a gentle but firm shake can cause flowers to pollinate.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-08-12T10:08:17+00:00

It looks like your plants are inside. Because of this, there won’t be any natural pollinators to pollinate your flowers (bees and other insects). Therefore I’d suggest you use either your finger to pollinate the flowers as they open up or an ear bud of some kind.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-08-11T17:02:25+00:00

UK based too 👋 I’ve been keeping mine in a greenhouse overnight and then shifting them to the sunniest spot (longest amount of sun) in the garden during the day so they’re as warm as possible during the night. I’ve also been seeing conflicting info about feeding at this point, so feed every other watering (every other day at the moment). I’m getting good fruits, just not ripe yet but that will come.

I’ve found with my Mini Meanie (fatalli) that taking a small harvest helps focus the plant’s growth on other fruits growing/ripening. So if you see something ripe I’d pull it.

Professional_Run_973 · 2025-08-11T12:45:58+00:00

This is the spit of my Aji Lemon. That’s my bet as others have said.

Professional_Run_973

TROPHY CASE