Jim's Beer Kit

Alfie's Revenge
https://www.driftwoodsparsbrewery.com/pages/our-beer

My mother-in-law, knowing that I am partial to beer, kindly bought me a 5 litre keg of a local brew. 6.5%, use within 3 days of opening. Only 3 pints per day I hear you say. But that was too heavy for me. So I set about devising a method of dispensing the beer without allowing the air to spoil the b...

Thanks guys. @Brewedout - The problem seems to be when I only allow out a small amount of gas. I have to give it a good solid squirt to get the cylinder to re-seal. This is the FOURTH one from Brewgas that I've had trouble with, when they had the Hambleton Bard branding I don't recall having a probl...

Anyone else having trouble with Brewgas? I can't get Hambleton Bard in Cornwall and these Brewgas refills tend to leak - which turns them from expensive to really annoyingly expensive!

I've done this a couple of times now. Initial hazyness in the first quarter of the barrel may be an issue for some, but clear beer has followed! I think the flavour is better. My last one was Mangrove Jack's Pale ale with Citra dry hop and it is so good that I think this will become my standard dry ...

Today I was doing a Mangrove Jack kit, which is in a plastic pouch, using additional malt extract - also in a pouch. It occurred to me that I could tip quite a bit of boiling water into the top of the pouch to soften the concentrate. I left it for a few minutes and then gave it a stir, and with mini...

Thanks guys. I went for it as per my plan. Aside from a few bits in the bottom of the glass it worked out OK. The beer is very slightly hazy at the moment, but may improve. Note that this was with pellets. To avoid oxidation I gassed a bit before removing the top, dropped in the pellets, screwed the...

I made a Mangrove Jack's Pale Ale and it's a bit plain.

So here's my plan:

1 Chill barrel down to 5c to dissolve the CO2.

2 Drop in 20g of Chinook pellets.

3 Re-gas.

4 Allow to warm up to 12c.

5 Drink beer.

What could possibly go wrong? (That is actually the question! Comments please.)

Confirms my suspician that 10g for dry hopping is just a gimmick to justify the price.

Drinking it now. Nothing special.

Tony

I picked up a couple of near "sell by date" Directors kits at a bargain price ( or not! ) After a couple of days there was no significant sign of fermentation so I took the yeast from the second kit, made a yeast starter and chucked that in. Fermentation then picked up and went as usual. I had a tas...

Wilko have launched a range of own brand 1.8Kg kits at £16 each. I bought a Light Keeper https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-light ... /p/0468417, to give it a try. Comes with a 10g sachet of Amarillo for dry hopping. Syrup seemed thin. We'll just have to see how it turns out!

Tony

Thanks for your replies. I thought I might literally be missing a trick, but not so. It tastes nice. This is my third attempt at dry hopping a lager kit to make something more like a pale ale, and I think this is the most successful. The Citra hops seem to be enough to move it from being too thin to...

So far: Coopers lager kit 500g steeped crystal malt 500g light malt extract 500g brewing sugar muntons ale yeast tossed 50g Citra pellets into primary after a a few days and then left for a few more transfered to keg with 60g brewing sugar It's gassed up well but won't clear. I assume the warm weath...

In answer to my own question, I made this:

overflow pipe
right angle
cut down used 8g CO2 bulb
S30 inlet valve
silicone sealant
I wrapped electrical tape around the S30 so that it was a tight fit before siliconing in. I also taped up the over-pressure valve.

Tony