Better Brew, Yorkshire Bitter Review

[muddy90]

I've been scratching my head what to put on next for around 2 weeks! Went into my lhbs this morning still none the wiser & chose this as I had to put something on!
I was going to do another Ipa but I'm not the sort of person who goes back to the same holiday location year after year no matter how good it is. :rofl:
I think Better Brew is a good product so should be a good un.
It's in the fermenter now with 1kg of brew enhancer.

 

[Slate Miner]

After successful attempts at Better Brew's IPA & Czech Pilsner I decided to brew this kit. :thumb:

I used 500gms of brewing sugar & 500gms of medium spray malt, decided to go with bottled spring water which I ran out of at the 22 litre mark :whistle: so decided to brew slightly short.

Unfortunatley I forgot to take the opening SG , the fermentation was less aggresive and slower than any other kit that I've done :hmm: , it appeared to get stuck at 1016 and took about 3 weeks in the FV before it crept to 1012. I primed with half teaspoon in each 500ml bottle.

The first bottled was sampled at the weekend (4 weeks after bottling) At this early stage I'd say it's a decent ale :thumb: , however somewhat sweeter than the Wherry or Ruby Red for example, not unpleasant though and if the other Better Brew beers are anything to go by I'd say it's worth giving this 2-3 months in the bottle, will be interesting to see how this one improves given a bit more time. :

 

[muddy90]

Bubbling away quite happily now. Nice warm weather obviously helping.
I brewed mine short too at 22L, on purpose. Dunno how much difference it'll make as I didn't bother with a reading either.

 

[Pearlfisher]

The first bottled was sampled at the weekend (4 weeks after bottling) At this early stage I'd say it's a decent ale :thumb: , however somewhat sweeter than the Wherry or Ruby Red for example, not unpleasant though and if the other Better Brew beers are anything to go by I'd say it's worth giving this 2-3 months in the bottle, will be interesting to see how this one improves given a bit more time. :

Did it taste sweet before you bottled it?

 

[Slate Miner]

The first bottled was sampled at the weekend (4 weeks after bottling) At this early stage I'd say it's a decent ale :thumb: , however somewhat sweeter than the Wherry or Ruby Red for example, not unpleasant though and if the other Better Brew beers are anything to go by I'd say it's worth giving this 2-3 months in the bottle, will be interesting to see how this one improves given a bit more time. :

Did it taste sweet before you bottled it?

Interesting question. At the bottling stage the final bottle only had about quarter of a pint or so in it so I decided not to cap and sampled it instead and yes it did taste a bit on the sweet side, it did cross my mind if the ale had fermented out fully, :whistle: however I had already added half a teaspoon of sugar to each bottle before bottling so that may have made it tatse sweet.

Is a Yorshire style bitter meant to be slightly sweeter than its southern counterpart? :hmm:

 

[muddy90]

Stopped bubbling at 7 days! :shock: Will leave it till the end of this week to bottle, let the trub settle & all that.
I've decided a Smugglers will be next. :grin:

 

[Slate Miner]

Quick update on the BB Yorkshire Ale. :thumb:

Had a few friends around in the week who were keen to try my homebrew : Decided to sample BB Yorkshire Ale as this has now been in the bottle for over 8 weeks.

Thumbs up all round, lots of questions about getting into homebrewing & compliments too! (well I do need my ego massaging every now and again :rofl: )

Anyway, as with other BB kits this one has certainly improved since bottling, a good honest classic ale, nicely rounded end result not too bitter, not too sweet, all in all it's really rather good. :

I really like the Wherry & the Ruby Red two can kit ales, however the Better Brew kits are hard to beat and excellent value for money. :drink:

 

[Pearlfisher]

Yes , drinking my BB midland ale with a tin of Coopers amber ME added and loving it.

 

[chrisstuarthall]

Hi all

Just returned to home brewing after 30 years or so. Always used dry boiling kits, Bradford forum members might remember the shop next to the Shoulder of Mutton, old guy was Yorkshire champion home brewer for many years.

Brewed this to the instructions on the packet.

Excellent brew after a few weeks in the bottle. Subtle hopping nose, not to bitter or sweet.

Good brewing all.

 

[Hopping_Mad]

I substituted the kit yeast for Danstar Nottingham, and wondered if this had contributed to the sweetness of my batch. I got down to 1006 gravity so it was well attenuated.

Still a nice pint. Kegged mine and softly carbonated with 70g of sucrose. Might do again, but trying the Simply equivalent for my next bitter batch given how much I've been impressed with their other kits.