This started when I bumped into this pile at Tesco Home. The price and the fact that it has an additional ingredient pack providing 80 pints drew me in.
24 hours later and it looked like this
This was a straight kit brew with 1kg granulated Tate & Lyle. The only "tweak" is that I only made it up to 22 litres not the 23 litres specified. This was because the tap in the bath, while fashionable and elegant, wasnt long enough to reach the bucket without me hefting it over slightly, as it reached 20 litres it was deforming enough to risk spillage so I bailed out at 22 litres.
The Grav reading before pitching the yeast was 1.041. I banged the lid on and left it for 3 days before my n00b resolve snapped and I had to take a peek.
Now an odd thing happened, usually I have a go at 'er indoors' when she blasts the heating on during the day but having nestled the bucket in the space behind the living room door (usually reserved for the hoover) I decided that I would set the heating to min 19 degrees 24 hours a day...<whistle> I snuck in the change on the programmer. Keep that between us.
The foam had receded back and I actually wondered if that was it for fermenting. I took a grav reading, 1.014. I eagerly jotted down the numbers and figured it was at 3.456% ABV. I put the lid back on and expected to be bottling the following day. I was a bit put off by the krausen ring until I googled it and found out it was actually a .. uh krausen ring. All good.
Opening the lid next day, gleefully rubbing my hands I was surprised to see that the foam had started returning and it was definitely busier than the previous day. Grav reading was 1.009. That's not Nesse poking his/her head out its my hydrometer, which for the time being lives in the bucket :) Its happy enough. So it was getting stronger which was mildly satisfying in the absence of being able to bottle.
So its starting to smell and look more like lager, which is good. Disappointed i'm not bottling yet though.
I took readings over the next few days and they went... a little something... like this: 1.006, 1.004, 1.003, 1.002, 1.002. Woot! I hit the same grav reading over 24 hours, looking good. Its now been fermenting for 8 days. I will probably bottle it tomorrow.
It really does smell like lager now, flat lager, which I guess is good because its lager, and probably flat... It is also clearing nicely, it was milky, I would say hazy but it really was more milky than hazy, now its more cloudy than hazy, not super cloudy like the other day, I would say proper hazy. Easy enough to grasp :wha:
Anywho, it looks like this:
Even the missus commented that it smelt ok (after previously telling me it reaks - but she is 'up the duff' so I attributed it to that rather than any direct stab at my brewing prowess). Sweet.
Sooo Tomorrow is bottling day - M6 traffic permitting. I am bottling into 2 ltr pop containers ( I couldn't stand to write bottles.. DAMN). They are washed clean so just need a rinsing with sanitizer and water.
As some may know I did go and get another kit, the price was too hard to resist, so I have 160 pints worth or lager to get through however I might try something else first, but thats for this weekend I think. I wouldn't mind something strong and tasty. I am a lager drinker really (boo hiss) but I am partial to Wobbly Bob so perhaps something like that... in kit form... :)
24 hours later and it looked like this
This was a straight kit brew with 1kg granulated Tate & Lyle. The only "tweak" is that I only made it up to 22 litres not the 23 litres specified. This was because the tap in the bath, while fashionable and elegant, wasnt long enough to reach the bucket without me hefting it over slightly, as it reached 20 litres it was deforming enough to risk spillage so I bailed out at 22 litres.
The Grav reading before pitching the yeast was 1.041. I banged the lid on and left it for 3 days before my n00b resolve snapped and I had to take a peek.
Now an odd thing happened, usually I have a go at 'er indoors' when she blasts the heating on during the day but having nestled the bucket in the space behind the living room door (usually reserved for the hoover) I decided that I would set the heating to min 19 degrees 24 hours a day...<whistle> I snuck in the change on the programmer. Keep that between us.
The foam had receded back and I actually wondered if that was it for fermenting. I took a grav reading, 1.014. I eagerly jotted down the numbers and figured it was at 3.456% ABV. I put the lid back on and expected to be bottling the following day. I was a bit put off by the krausen ring until I googled it and found out it was actually a .. uh krausen ring. All good.
Opening the lid next day, gleefully rubbing my hands I was surprised to see that the foam had started returning and it was definitely busier than the previous day. Grav reading was 1.009. That's not Nesse poking his/her head out its my hydrometer, which for the time being lives in the bucket :) Its happy enough. So it was getting stronger which was mildly satisfying in the absence of being able to bottle.
So its starting to smell and look more like lager, which is good. Disappointed i'm not bottling yet though.
I took readings over the next few days and they went... a little something... like this: 1.006, 1.004, 1.003, 1.002, 1.002. Woot! I hit the same grav reading over 24 hours, looking good. Its now been fermenting for 8 days. I will probably bottle it tomorrow.
It really does smell like lager now, flat lager, which I guess is good because its lager, and probably flat... It is also clearing nicely, it was milky, I would say hazy but it really was more milky than hazy, now its more cloudy than hazy, not super cloudy like the other day, I would say proper hazy. Easy enough to grasp :wha:
Anywho, it looks like this:
Even the missus commented that it smelt ok (after previously telling me it reaks - but she is 'up the duff' so I attributed it to that rather than any direct stab at my brewing prowess). Sweet.
Sooo Tomorrow is bottling day - M6 traffic permitting. I am bottling into 2 ltr pop containers ( I couldn't stand to write bottles.. DAMN). They are washed clean so just need a rinsing with sanitizer and water.
As some may know I did go and get another kit, the price was too hard to resist, so I have 160 pints worth or lager to get through however I might try something else first, but thats for this weekend I think. I wouldn't mind something strong and tasty. I am a lager drinker really (boo hiss) but I am partial to Wobbly Bob so perhaps something like that... in kit form... :)
Matey.
:lol: looking forward to the follow up and variations on a theme....nice one ,mate 
