Youngs Definitive Bitter...what to do?

[Steiney66]

Hi all -
I popped into Wilkos at the weekend & got a Youngs definitve bitter - because it was the cheapest! Now I know they dont have the best rep although a couple of years ago I made one on top of the trub from a Brewferm Abdij and it came out quite tasty. I have 2 jars of H&B malt extract (& I think a pack of light brown sugar in the kitchen somewhere), but what else would you guys think of adding? -fermentables or whatever. Im popping down my local HB store this week so any (non-decadent!) advice would be appreciated.

Cheers in advance - Steiney

[Pauliet]

I like the Youngs bitter for what it is....cheap and cheerful. Make it up using BKE instead of sugar and you'll have (in my opinion) a perfectly drinkable brew.

[woblylegs]

Ive done this one with 2 jars of h&b malt + 500g of brewing sugar and used Sao4 yeast instead of yeast supplied with kit.. its been in the bottle just over a week now so cannot really comment on taste yet as i only had little when bottling. smells nice enough though.
time will tell

[poo hed]

made one on top of the trub from a Brewferm Abdij

i've heard of washing yeast to be used again, but never of doing that ?

what did you do?; just dump the extract and (boiling and normal) water ontop sending the trub everywhere ?

or something more refined ?

thanks!

[Steiney66]

made one on top of the trub from a Brewferm Abdij

i've heard of washing yeast to be used again, but never of doing that ?

what did you do?; just dump the extract and (boiling and normal) water ontop sending the trub everywhere ?

or something more refined ?

thanks!

The unrefined version...aparently its quite common amongst American homebrewers...I bottled the Abbey earlier in the day - then made up the kit up normally in another fv then scooped up the trub & bunged it in instead of yeast sachet(obviously quite strong alc content in bottom of fv..I suppose that would help protect from infection if you didnt want to do the brew until the following day). Then just added water up to required amount. It was quite unstable and very lively within 24 hrs (egg smell!) but fermented out beautifully & from memory was a tasty brew. Whether that was down to a strong (7-8%) belgium ale starter and/or the yeast I dont know.

Being a lazy bugger I tried it last year after bottling a Brewfrem Framboise....only this time it was a Ditches Stout made on top of the whole trub to 20l for xmas!

Twas the usual coopers 24hr explosion but slightly worse as it does make it all quite unstable with a pink Blancmange hint to the foaming (could have been the raspberries?!). Then the ferment went dead. I got the usual great advice on here & got it going again after using wine yeast exhancer & a spare yeast. Anyway it got down to bottling levels after 3 weeks. Come the festive season it was a nice berry stout with a hint of pink on the head. Wont do it again due to how unstable it gets, I was advised in here to only use this method if you were goin 'up' ie a low strength ale to a more potent brew as the yeast gets overworked(& stuck).

Thanks for the replies chaps - will ponder BKE or H&B (or something even lazier!), Steiney

[poo hed]

my hats off to you a pink stout ! Wunderbar !!!

[hong]

Ive done this one with 2 jars of h&b malt + 500g of brewing sugar and used Sao4 yeast instead of yeast supplied with kit.. its been in the bottle just over a week now so cannot really comment on taste yet as i only had little when bottling. smells nice enough though.
time will tell

Just wondered how this kit turned out mate?

[woblylegs]

well its drinkable but i wont be doing it again.
Definitive? not very i'm afraid ha-ha.

[hong]

Ok cheers, i get the point!