First 10G batch vs Geordie kit

[Parva]

Ok guys, my dad used to brew many Geordie kits and bottle them and he is my chief helper on brew days in my AG brewing. I'm planning on doing 50 litres of Summer Lightening as per a recipe on here somewhere which I've tweaked slightly to suit the slightly larger brew length. I'm hoping to end up near the 50 litre mark as this means I can fill two 19l kegs and an 9l cornie keg which I can drag around to a mates house. OK, the recipe :-

Prepare Ingredients for Mash
Amount Item Type
11.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain

Boil Ingredients
Boil Amount Item Type
60 min 120.00 gm Challenger [8.60 %] (60 min) Hops
15 min 30.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.70 %] (15 min) Hops
15 min 2.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc

All of my beers have ended fermenting at the higher end of 1.015 so far and I intend to drop the temperature of the mash from 68 to nearer 64 for this one (90 minute mash). I will of course be treating all water used with campden tablets. The biggest problem I have is that due to batch sparging I will have to do two mashes and then boil it all as one but I'm not too concerned about this.

And now the competition element. I intend to buy a Geordie best bitter kit from Wilkinsons (£7.99 I think + bag of sugar) and I'm gonna get my dad to brew this whilst I sort the AG out and I intend to keg both and see how it all comes out. I tried Geordie bitter many years ago when I used to do kits but they were instantly recognisable as homebrew, probably not least because of my naivety in introducing air into beer at the bottling stage. My Dad used to swear by Geordie bitter as he made it for years and sure, people loved it at parties that he held but then it was 'free' beer for them, I still say that yeah, it's cheap and it does the job, but it's still 'cheap' and not real beer.

I am very curious as to what the comparison will be with both brews kegged, carbonated and served the same. Any recommendations as to recipe changes for my AG here? I was wondering whether to chuck some Torrified Wheat in for head retention or whether I should be steeping some hops?

[ChrisG]

You'll be pleased with the Summer Lightning clone......i made it and drinking it just now....excellent brew.

[softlad]

Competition ?? Isnt this like taking candy from a baby ?

They say that time's kind to memories - its maybe worth leaving the Geordie 'nectar' in the memory banks rather than resurrecting it.

I remember brewing Geordie with my old man when it was in a red box (I think) with a picture of a ship on the front.
Talking to him about his homebrewing days, he didnt rate it back then !

[Marts]

Unfair. Give the competition a fighting chance by allowing spraymalt instead of sugar

[softlad]

Unfair. Give the competition a fighting chance by allowing spraymalt instead of sugar

A bit of turd polishing eh ?

What was it about silk purses and pigs ears ?

[Parva]

I do actually have some glucose to get rid of that I bought with all my kit. Hardly spraymalt but still.