Cheap Beer Kits

[mshergold]

I was in my local Morrisons last night (which doesn't have a homebrew department) looking for resealable freezer bags and at the end of one of the booze aisles I spotted four Geordie Bitter kits knocked down to £4.49 each which seemed like a bargain. Except that when the girl at the checkout scanned them they were priced at £5 something (got them for £4.49 anyway), so they didn't seem as much of a bargain as I thought. But they're selling on Wilkinsons and the Hop Shop's websites for around £8.00. so, 160 pints of (hopefully) drinkable bitter for about 24p a pint if I use beer enhancer!

[KevP]

Can't be bad at that price, I have a couple in the loft that I haven't knocked up yet, but geat to get on as a 'house bitter' so theres always something to drink

[chopperswookie]

i'm going to use a geordie bitter kit as the base of my "enhanced" kit. going to get some crystal and some hops and add them!

[Parva]

I've got a Geordie Best Bitter in a cornie keg and me and dad attack it occasionally. Lovely and clear and it's not a bad pint (nowhere near a match for my AG stuff mind). He bought a Geordie Yorkshire Bitter last week and that is currently fermenting away and destined for another cornie sometime next week. It's not fantastic stuff but at £7.99 from Wilkinsons it's certainly acceptable.

[KevP]

And the good thing is that we aren't paying extortionate prices to drink a pint! We pay enough in silly taxes as it is!

[mercilessrich]

chopperswookie what is crystal? Not rappers champagne? I was thinking of doing the same thing for a house ale, are there any good threads/guides on modifying kits? What are the elements I need to add, besides hops?

Thanks,

Rich

[chopperswookie]

"me and me homies is lovin' a bit of crystal while we are diggin' the bi5ches"

Crystal malt. i'm off to the brew shop today to be honest. i was going to steep 200g crystal in about 2-3 litres for half an hour, i will try and get it around the 65c mark, then add 60g of say challenger or goldings for about 15 mins then add this "tea" to the ferming bin with the can and sugars. rinsing out the can to add a bit of malt as well.

[mercilessrich]

Ai! Gonna swing by the homie-brew store tomoz an get me some good shit. Feelin it. Brrrppp brrrrrp brrrrpp.

So I take it goldings/challenger are hops? And if i use spraymalt do you still need crystal?

Cheers.

btw I'm not actually gonna hold up the hbs. Have to say this as its in an area where it could well happen!

[Parva]

Yes you'll still need crystal if you want to make the beer darker and give it a malty, caramelly flavour.

[chopperswookie]

me is bought some goldings! ieeeee!

(when i get up to speed i stick a photo up of all the stuff i will be using for my hybrid brew)

[chopperswookie]

this is what i did this lunchtime!

First ingrediants



Geordie bitter kit, goldings, crystal malt, beer kit enhanser and energy drink, bit hungover this morning

shiney things



first thing i did was to rinse out the can after i added it to the ferming bin with the bke. i did this with boiling water, added about 2-3 litres more and allowed to simmer before adding the muslin bag full of grain.





i let it simmer for about half an hour, not letting the water boil and giving it the occasional stir.

60g of goldings, the rest airtight in the freezer for next time.



Added them to the boil and uped the temperature a bit and let steep for 15 mins.



Sparged into the ferming bin (is it just me but everytime i say sparge i do it in such a way it is like goldmember from Austin powers. sparge with the farvjer!)



topped up to about 40 pints, gave it a good stir and added the secret ingredient



the route to the dark side has started!

[WishboneBrewery]

good stuff
...as soon as I've actually drunk some of my first two brews, and the other half lets me!!! I'll be doing something like this (as per my signature ish!)

[brysie]

just one question...

wtf happened to your cooker?

[chopperswookie]

just one question...

wtf happened to your cooker?

bit embarasing that. since i split up with my previous i have neglected the oven cleaning. looks a right mess!!

i have cleaned it but thinking should have done it before

[WishboneBrewery]

^^^ that cooker is nothing compared to ours

The previous owners of it painted it, and other things, BLACK which looks fecking awful... Just add to that some cleaning which removes bits of the black then add some bits of food and plaster from our recently patched up ceiling!!! It still cooks food and it would look just like yours if it wasn't painted black!