First brewday - Geordie Scottish Export kit (with pics)

[5thelement]

After a couple months of making wine i'd thought i'd try my hand at making some beer.

Armed with a new bucket, a geordie scottish export kit and 1kg of geordie beer kit enhancer i set about brewing my first ever beer.

This thread will probably be pretty boring as all the others in here are fairly in depth with all grain brews etc! but i hope some other newcomer will find it of use/interest.

Here's all the stuff ready to get brewing



After sterilising everything i left the tin in some hot water for 5 minutes to soften up the insides.



The can was then opened and poured into the fermenting bucket



Then in went the beer kit enhancer



Boiling water was added next (4 pints) using some of it to rinse out the can, it was then given a good stirring to dissolve all the sugar.



The fermenting bucket was now topped up to 5 gallons with cold water



The next step was to take a gravity reading which was 1.034, slightly low for my liking but i can live with it! instructions seem to reckon it'll ferment to 1.005 or below which would give me around a 4% strength beer.



Finally the yeast was sprinkled on top



The yeast was then stirred in well and the lid put on the fermenting vessel.

Now the waiting game begins!

I'll keep this thread updated as the brew progresses.

[russt1969]

Nice photos. Hope it turns out ok.

[kitwom]

Looks good, hope it comes out ok.

Top of the slippery slope mind, you'll be buying shiny stuff before the year is out!!

[5thelement]

Tell me about it, i started off telling myself "i'll just stick to wine..i wont bother with the whole beer thing" but curiosity/temptation got the better of me in the end lol

I'm not expecting great things from this kit, considering its only £4.99 (in Wilkinsons) but hopefully it'll produce something drinkable!

Thanks for the replies

[Totem]

At the very least youll buy a cornie off norman, then youll need a fridge to put it in

[roger the dog]

Nice pictures 5th, it's good to see a kit brew on here , should be a tasty one

[5thelement]

Totem - believe me i've been eyeing up corni kegs allready and Norm is the guy i'll be going to! i notice he's got one on ebay now with a chrome tap for a decent price (unless it's allready sold) very tempting but i'll resist for now!

Roger the dog - Thanks for the comments, much appreciated.

[Totem]

Just send him an email if he doesn't have what you want on show. Ive just ordered my stuff with him - should have it this week. 1keg, 1c02 tank, 3 x regulator and a mobile tap just looking at a fridge now!

[5thelement]

Sounds good i think i'll resist for now but it's the next logical step to take if i stick to brewing beer.

For this batch i'll be mainly bottling it in 1L PET bottles and a few proper beer bottles, that alone is going to be pretty time consuming, nevermind the thought of sterilising, bottling and capping 80 500ml beer bottles, so a keg is definitely a sensible option! it's just cooling it that's a pain and having the space for an extra fridge to do that. I see you can get cooling unit things for corni kegs though, but again, more money..lol where does it end! here was me thinking i'd found a cheap hobby for once

[anomalous_result]

You don't really live in Liverpool do you? I mean I'm pretty much just down the road and I never get light like that - you live in Spain.

Hope the brew's a good 'un!

[5thelement]

Cheers! and it was pretty nice outside today lol makes a change from the wind and rain the past few days!

[5thelement]

24 hours in and it looks like this



I didn't bother taking a gravity reading right now, i'll wait until around day 3, i guess the foam will start to subside a little by then aswell?

[Horden Hillbilly]

This thread will probably be pretty boring as all the others in here are fairly in depth with all grain brews etc! but i hope some other newcomer will find it of use/interest.

There is no such thing as a boring brewday regardless if it is a kit or ag!

Well documented with great pics too, it's nice to see a kit brewday on here!

[Vossy1]

Another great kit brew day, well done 5

[5thelement]

Thanks for the replies!

Time for another update.

We're now at day 4 since pitching the yeast, the foam has dropped now leaving some stuff on the surface and the colour looks alot lighter/golden, it also smells lovely!



In went the hydrometer and the reading is now down to 1.010. Im not sure if it will drop further as there seems to be little activity in the liquid, but it's early days yet so i'll test again in a couple days time.