Brewmaker Scottish Heavy

[jackdaw]

Hi
I have only made homebrew three times using kits so I'm no expert.
I've recently joined here(today infact)
After buying a couple of kits yesterday.
I bought two Brewmaker Scottish heavy kits from Tesco.Never tried brewmaker before either.
Anyway my idea is to put both kits into the fermenter along with 1kg of brewing sugar & 2 x yeast & maybe make 30 pints instead of fourty.I am looking at making it as strong as possible both in taste & ABV.Should or could I add more brewers sugar? Cheers:)

 

[DoctorMick]

2 cans plus 1kg of fermentables brewed short is going to be pretty strong already, I doubt you'd need anything else! A word of warning tho, the cans are hopped for 40 pints (so 2 cans = 80 pints) so doing them both in 30 pints could end up quite bitter...the high abv could well balance it out but I'd be cautious.

 

[jackdaw]

Hello & many thanks for your advice:)
Well I'll be starting it at some point this week.I'm really looking forward to because I've never used two kits before so it should be interesting:)
Cheers

 

[Personal91]

Hello & many thanks for your advice:)
Well I'll be starting it at some point this week.I'm really looking forward to because I've never used two kits before so it should be interesting:)
Cheers

Your aiming to make 37.5% of your potential brew then - this is going to likely produce a Krakatoa of a bubbling mess because of all the nutrient in it - I would recommend only making it to 20 pints at first and then after 5-7 days add the rest of the water or else risk an angry mess from the brew!

 

[jackdaw]

Many thanks for your advice.I will definitely keep that in mind.I've not made any for months so I want this one to be just right.Any advice is appreciated,cheers.

 

[Personal91]

Many thanks for your advice.I will definitely keep that in mind.I've not made any for months so I want this one to be just right.Any advice is appreciated,cheers.

truth is if you have 2 barrels then i would run a can in each and add some malt extract or something in 1 and other additives in the other, different sugars have different tastes aswell you know !

 

[jackdaw]

I was looking for malt extract when I bought the kits but they didn't have any.I just have brewers sugar.Both cans are going in with 1kg of brewers sugar then I will do a hydrometer reading before adding the yeast.Hopefully I'm on the right track :)

 

[Clint]

..why are you adding more sugar after you add the yeast? This will change/give inaccurate SG readings. ..or are you thinking about priming sugar which is added after primary fermentation?

Cheers

Clint

 

[jackdaw]

Hi Clint,
I've heard that you can alter the ABV by adding extra sugar.I was going to do the reading then add extra sugar accordingly before adding the yeast.Sorry,I see why you ask that,I made a mistake with the last question.It's amended now :)
Cheers

 

[Clint]

Ah right ho..yes you can up the alcohol by increasing the sugar but that's all sugar will give in high volume. Malt will give alcohol and body and head.

Cheers

Clint

 

[jackdaw]

Thanks for mentioning this Clint.I only have brewing sugar because I couldn't find any malt when I bought the kits from Tesco.Next time I will get a medium-dark malt to add.I'm looking forward to making this because I've never done the two kits so I'm hoping for good things:)

 

[jackdaw]

2 cans plus 1kg of fermentables brewed short is going to be pretty strong already, I doubt you'd need anything else! A word of warning tho, the cans are hopped for 40 pints (so 2 cans = 80 pints) so doing them both in 30 pints could end up quite bitter...the high abv could well balance it out but I'd be cautious.

Hi
I have just done the brew just short of 19 litres & the SG was 1.070 before adding the yeast so that's about what I was expecting.You were right,I don't need to add anything else.Maybe next time some extras.After a few days I might top it up to 25 litres but I'm not sure.Any suggestions? Cheers