geordie bitter

[wozstock]

hi jim
Iv,e done a few homebrew kit s before and never had any probs but iv,e done a geordie bitter. And although it s clear it tastes like flat shandy .
Even when i put gas in it s still undrinkable . any tips. is it savable ? wozstock

[Jim]

Hi Wozstock, when you say like flat shandy, do you mean it's sweet? If so you may have had an incomplete fermentation - did you take a specific gravity reading before you kegged it?

[wozstock]

yes jim i took a reading but not sure if it was correct . i wrote it down as 1150 but could have been 1050 .the taste is a little better but not much .
ive asked at our home brew shop and they say anythin with anything less than 4 pound of malt in, is gonna taste a bit naff ! . maybe if i drop in a few pints of barley wine in it might taste a bit better.

[Jim]

yes jim i took a reading but not sure if it was correct . i wrote it down as 1150 but could have been 1050 .the taste is a little better but not much .
ive asked at our home brew shop and they say anythin with anything less than 4 pound of malt in, is gonna taste a bit naff ! . maybe if i drop in a few pints of barley wine in it might taste a bit better.

It's more likely to have been 1.015 - which means it was probably not quite finished. Leave it in a warm place (18-20C) for a few days and see if the gas pressure (and the taste) improve. Then it'll need a few weeks (at least in a cold place at 12-14C) to mature before it'll taste its best.

Re the HB shop comments, thats true up to a point, and the best kits are 3kg (iirc), but you can still make an acceptable pint from the cheaper kits.