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My main tip would be to worry less and avoid temptation to fiddle. The hydrometer reading is useful for checking when fermentation is finished, so it doesn't matter much that you didn't take one at first, you just won't know how much alcohol is in there. If you mixed a 1.5kg can with 21 pints...

It's not very interesting, but at that price it's good for playing with. I brewed it with 500g of spray malt and added extra styrian golding hops and hibiscus for flavour. Of the hops I put about 10g in a hop tea and 10g dry in the secondary (and a little more hibiscus). I think it's still a...

Timer is a genius idea - I had to keep turning mine on and off to regulate the temperature. If you've got to brew somewhere cold, it might be a necessary, but keeping it near the top of the brew seems like good practice.

Not brewed yet, but I got a half price wherry kit for £9, which is 39ppl

Seconded

Top tip from my last trip to the GBBF: I got a pint glass (marked for halfs and thirds) and asked for thirds so I could try out more variety. A third looks so small in the big glass that they people serving made sure they poured above the line.

There are a few threads on here about getting higher ABV out of kits. When I wanted a stronger brew I just diluted it a bit less (so I made 20 litres instead of 23) and it turned out well. I suspect adding 3kgs of extra fermentables would be way too much if your target is 5%. I doubt the taste...

Also non-pro, sorry. I just bottled my third kit, first two-can kit, and it took a good three weeks to finish fermenting. Part of the reason I felt my first batch tasted bad was because I was pouring a lot of sediment out of the bottles...

Cheers. I was thinking about not putting the belt on, leaving it for a few days and then bottling on the weekend. Do you think letting it stay cold is a good idea, or should I keep it warm? Any thoughts on stirring? It doesn't seem like it needs more yeast pitching, just that the yeast that's in...

Gents (and ladies): any thoughts on what I should do with this slow fermentation (I'm on day 17) I finally got my brew belt, so put on a 2-can brew (Brupaks Colne Valley) as the third kit I'm brewing. I brewed to 23 litres, starting gravity 1038. I didn't switch the belt on unless it was cold...

I reckon they are exactly the same as the munton's premium kits http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/category/premium-range/ but labelled differently. If the Newki Brown is more like a mild, that would match them up to the existing range... I wonder if it would be possible to find out what the 2-can...

I reckon do nothing. Fermentation gets much less vigorous after the initial stages, so I suspect it's still fine. If it was too cold it'll probably just slow things down a bit. Have you taken any hydrometer readings yet? That's the only real way to check how fermentation is progressing.

I just tried a similar thing with a bitter kit. Because I've found the kits I've made lacking in hop flavour/aroma, but suitably bittered, I did a 10minute boil. I recommend thinking about what type of hoppiness you want to add and making your own schedule up, rather than following a full schedule.

I just sterilise a ladle in some boiling water. But if you want a turkey baster, most shops selling kitchen utensils will sell them (they're like big pipettes for slurping up fat from the roasting pan to dribble on top of the bird).

Had this back in the summer. It was a great pint, so thanks for reminding me that I wanted to try to do something similar one day. I reckon you'd be able to use hibiscus tea bags...

You should be able to find a good value starter set with a bit of searching. When I bought mine I immediately found a better one here (http://www.biggerjugs.co.uk/starter-bee ... -1042.html) where you could choose your own beer kit, but I haven't looked since.

I've made this kit pretty much how it says in the tin, with just 500g of DME, added the same time as the contents of the can. The original gravity came out at 1035 and I think it said to expect about 1042, suggesting that 500g wasn't enough.

Good luck. I brewed this for my 2nd batch of homebrew and it was ready a few weeks ago. It came out very nice (but lighter than I expected) - it seems like a really good value kit. My flat was a bit chilly, so it took about 2 weeks: it seemed to stick after 9-10 days, but once I transferred it...

Do you know what his favourite beer is or style of beer? Perhaps someone can recommend a kit. Some of the online homebrew stores sell the minimum equipment that would be needed to brew and give you include a choice of beer kit (e.g. http://www.biggerjugs.co.uk/starter-bee ... -1042.html)...

It's just a little bit of sediment. You'll soon get the hang of pouring the beer out smoothly, leaving the last bit if you don't like it (if it's just a little bit you won't notice).