Get'er Brewed Dark lager extract kit .

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Nosferatu
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Location: Isle of Man , home of Bushy's , Okells and Hooded Ram breweries .

Get'er Brewed Dark lager extract kit .

Post by Nosferatu » Wed Mar 04, 2015 12:49 am

This is my initial reviewof the extract kit I won in the Get'er brewed raffle a few weeks back .
I chose to have a go at a dark lager kit and was supplied with the following :
2 x tins Muntons light lme
1 x bag of Chocolate malt (100g) with muslin sack
1 x bottle of rice syrup (I think 200ml)
1 x Hop pellet teabag thing 25g of I think Tettnanger or Hallertau
1 x Saflager 34/70 yeast sachet
1 x whirlfloc tablet
1 x set of brewing instructions

I was pleased to see true lager yeast and the Chocolate malt and looking forward to expanding my brewing experience as I hadn't used either before . I was less sure about the rice syrup , in my mind I was brewing a German/Czech style beer and certainly in the case of the German beers there'd be no rice involved however this was just my thoughts and not a complaint .
My first complaint and it's a tiny one is that the weights of the chocolate malt and hops and the hop type weren't given within the instructions . Not massively important but I thought that should I wish to recreate this beer or tweak slightly it would be useful information .
That aside the brew went well as did fermentation , the 2nd minor moan comes at bottling , there were no instructions regarding recommended carbonation level . Having drunk many dark lagers I had a pretty good idea but somebody unfamiliar with the style may not . Again though only a minor point.
Now the important bit ! I got a bit too eager and opened my first one a couple of weeks ago , it was very nice but a bit on the sweet side and slightly underhopped however most of the characteristics of a dark lager were there , the colour is a rich dark brown , good clarity , an initial nice white foamy head . The first taste that comes through is a lightly smoky treacle yet still "light" rather than a big heavy porter or stout . A few weeks after that initial taste the sweetness has dialled down a notch and is far more rounded . Head retention isn't great but the beer is a nice smooth effort . If I had to compare to a commercial beer it's not miles away from Erdinger dunkel . One of my testing guinea pigs has reported back favourably and also drew the Erdinger comparison I'm awaiting feedback from my other tester soon :)
All in all I'd rate the whole thing as follows :
The kit and instructions 3/5 (Lost marks for lack of ingredient information as previously mentioned likewise no carbonation/bottling advice)
The beer 4/5 (Still a smidge sweet and to my taste needs just a little bit more hop character but overall very drinkable)
Overall 7/10 Cheers Get'er brewed I'd certainly consider buying this kit and based on that would also be interested in your other products .
And they wonder why we drink ...

User avatar
Nosferatu
Hollow Legs
Posts: 362
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 7:34 pm
Location: Isle of Man , home of Bushy's , Okells and Hooded Ram breweries .

Re: Get'er Brewed Dark lager extract kit .

Post by Nosferatu » Wed Mar 04, 2015 12:52 am

Photo's to follow :)
And they wonder why we drink ...

User avatar
Nosferatu
Hollow Legs
Posts: 362
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 7:34 pm
Location: Isle of Man , home of Bushy's , Okells and Hooded Ram breweries .

Re: Get'er Brewed Dark lager extract kit .

Post by Nosferatu » Thu Mar 05, 2015 9:51 pm

Dark photo of dark lager :)
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And they wonder why we drink ...

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