Stonewall kit a write-off?

[jat147]

Howdy Brewers, and thanks for letting me join your excellent forum.

My first kit is a Stonewall yorkshire bitter from York brewery, and I just wanted another opinion as to whether i've ruined it. My 'expert' neighbour says it's a write-off already.
I followed the instructions to the letter - except for the last step where after fermentation has finished, i was told to transfer to bottles or keg - i've got a pressure barrel from wilko's. It said to add light spraymalt before leaving to clear. Trouble was that I'd used all the spraymalt in a previous stage and hadn't kept any due to not reading ahead in the instructions So i carried on and left it in a cool place. That was over 2 weeks ago.
I realise that 2 weeks isn't long, but it does say 14 days on the box. Had a little sample and it just seems wrong, although it smells ok and has a fairly good head, it seems very watery and has an aftertaste that is hard to describe but is really awful.
The neighbour says that the end flavour is already sealed in the barrel, and wont improve now.

Oh yes, my other doubt is that the instructions told me to aerate the wort daily by stirring it - but other instructions say to leave it alone? could that have ruined it?
If it's just my patience that is faulty i can wait, but I've another kit (Abdij from brewferm) and want to try again if it's too late for the bitter.

Thanks in advance,

James

[Lillywhite]

You've got nothing to lose now but to try it again in a couple of weeks. The beer is still green.

I take it you didn't add 85 gms of priming sugar to the barrel and move to a warm place for a minimum of 2 days after kegging. Is the barrel pressurised?

[ebbadger]

My very first kit was an admirals from Woodefordes, after 2 weeks in the barrel it wasn't great, after 7 weeks it was a cracking pint, a totally different beer. Just keep your fingers crossed, try and liken the aftertaste to something and post on here, many posters on here can advise on what may have caused an aftertaste if you can say roughly what it is like. Homebrewing for Dummies (Sad I know) has a good section (in my limited experience) on tastes and problems.

Cheers Steve

[THE EMBALMER]

hi james, i am new to this and have got the very same brew in my fv for 7 days, and like you banged all the malt in but i was warned not to areate dailly so i never but i did give it a bit of a shake a few days ago to start the bubbling off i bit more seems to have worked .i am going to check gravity tomorrow then maybe bottle with some sugar/malt to prime.
what did you use to prime? if you have not primed then i am not sure but might just take a lot longer to mature and carbonate,or it might not. some one will put you right good luck cheers glyn

[jat147]

Thanks very much for all the messages,
I've just tried the beer for the first time since last weekend......and it actually tastes much better, well in as much as it doesn't make your face screw-up about 5 seconds after swallowing it.
It seems to have cleared somewhat aswel - comes out cloudy but clears after a minute, whereas it didn't clear at all before.
The Mrs says it tastes yeasty still? I'm not so sure, but it is starting to resemble a bitter!

I guess the instructions give the newbie the most optomistic timescale on purpose? Truth is, more time is needed for good results right?
A little disappointed that some of the steps in the method appear less than ideal - no mention of priming, etc.
Feeling much happier now though, I've got a good deal of reading to do on here.
Good luck with yours Glyn, sounds like you're better prepared than me already.

Thanks again, James