First brewday - Geordie Scottish Export kit (with pics)

Had a good one? Tell us about it here - and don't forget - we like pictures!
opentoideas

Post by opentoideas » Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:20 am

I have never have a Geordie kit that red colour - I wonder if it is a trick of the light or just the camera :?

I have always found the geordie kits to produce a pale ale - even with dark DME where the Youngs kits have produced a very dark beer.

even my 2 kit Scottish export is nowhere near as deeply coloured as that picture

5thelement

Post by 5thelement » Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:02 pm

Maybe his previous kits were mislabelled lol everyone i've spoken to said it's a lighter colour, definately not red! so im not too worried anymore.

Hopefully i'll be bottling this over the weekend so i'll get some pictures of that uploaded when the job is done!

Gruesome

Post by Gruesome » Sat Jun 07, 2008 9:41 am

How's yours going 5th? Is it ready for bottling tet? Mine's nowhere near as the temp still aint right. Keep us posted

5thelement

Post by 5thelement » Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:43 am

Well today is day 7 and I was planning to bottle it but yesterday the gravity had dropped some more to around 1.006, so i'll test it again today to see if it's stable yet, or if it's dropped more. If it's still 1.006 i'll probably bottle it tomorrow :)

CyberPaddy66

Post by CyberPaddy66 » Sat Jun 07, 2008 2:50 pm

1.006 is great for the Kit Enhancer, oh and BTW the Mild is a LOT darker than I thought it would be :wink:

5thelement

Post by 5thelement » Sat Jun 07, 2008 4:28 pm

Thanks, im looking forward to doing the mild kit (with the BKE aswell)

It's still 1.006 today so looks like i'll be bottling it tomorrow (can't say im looking forward to sterilising/rinsing all the bottles!)

One quick question, there's some little bits floating in the beer near the surface, do i need to concern myself about these or just forget about it and syphon the beer into the bottles as per normal?

Gruesome

Post by Gruesome » Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:02 am

Bingo! Have got the heat right...fixed the tank heater. All working away, hopefully barrel this coming week. How's yours looking 5th?

5thelement

Post by 5thelement » Sun Jun 08, 2008 10:28 am

Thanks DaaB, much appreciated.

Should be bottling this today so i'll get some pictures up later :)

5thelement

Post by 5thelement » Sun Jun 08, 2008 6:32 pm

Well the job is done, here's some pics

Gravity was around 1.006 for the third day running so it was time to bottle

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Sterilising/rinsing all the bottles and caps was a real nightmare (17 one litre PET's and 8 500ml glass bottles, the Stella bottles never got used in the end) that was enough to make anyone think about kegging in future! but i got there in the end!

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Next stage was to prime the bottles, 1 teaspoon per litre bottle and 1/2 teaspoon per 500ml glass bottle

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The bottles were then filled, capped tightly and given a shake to disperse the priming sugar. I managed to fill all the bottles and about 3/4 of one of the Stella bottles which i'll sample tonight, there was a little left in the bucket but it was sediment mainly. All in all i ended up with 21 litres bottled.

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Overall everything went to plan, now i just need to wait and hope they carbonate okay! and pray the glass bottles dont explode lol at the moment they're covered with a dark towel but i'll be transferring them to a cupboard later to keep them in the dark.

I did have a small taste from one bottle i overfilled and poured a little out, and i was really surprised how nice it tasted, nice clean refreshing taste and just as nice as plenty commercial beers i've tried in the past so it's looking good so far!

This picture rounds up the day for me, lovely blue skies and beautiful golden ale!

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5thelement

Post by 5thelement » Sun Jun 08, 2008 6:57 pm

Thanks DaaB, will definately be keeping them out the light now (and i'll probably wrap a bag around the glass bottles incase they do go bang! the mrs wont be happy if theres beer and glass allover the kitchen lol)

If i'd had another bucket i would have dissolved all the priming sugar in some beer then poured it into the bucket and syphoned the rest into the bucket to mix it all, but i've only got the one at the minute. I guess your method is the most accurate though!

I reckon in future i'll be considering a keg setup, but i suppose the bottling wasn't all bad lol convenient aswell for chilling it in the fridge.

Gruesome

Post by Gruesome » Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:40 pm

Most interesting 5th, looks like all went well and hopefully a good beer finally. Sounds like kegging is the way to go, far less hassle than cleaning/sanitising all those bottles. I'll keep you posted as to how mine goes but on learning from advice given to you, I'll leave it 'till it clears some more so perhaps Thursday(ish). How long are you leaving it before having a good old sample?

5thelement

Post by 5thelement » Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:51 pm

It might be worth leaving it a few more days to let some more sediment drop, i just wouldn't have got round to bottling it during the week so i got it done now.

I'll try my best to leave it atleast a couple weeks lol im sure it'll be worth having the patience, nearly everyone on the forum says "by the last pint it was definately at it's best!" lol having drunk the rest before it reached it's best!

Im drinking a sample right now though, about half a pint (i couldn't fill a whole bottle with it) just came out the fridge and it tastes bloody nice and it would be nicer still if it was carbonated, so it's looking good, hopefully it'll improve with time.

At this point im quite pleased, considering it's basically the cheapest kit money can buy it's certainly not rubbish.

Gruesome

Post by Gruesome » Sun Jun 08, 2008 8:52 pm

Good on yer!!

5thelement

Post by 5thelement » Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:41 pm

Thought i'd post another quick update. The 500ml glass bottles are clearing really well and the 1 litre PET's are getting there, still early days though! colour is a lovely deep golden colour, looks really nice.

Totem

Post by Totem » Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:46 pm

Really great topic this 5thelement. How much sediment are you getting so far?

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