Improving a completed chepo kit brew

[boingy]

Yep, I concur. Add between 4 and 8 ounces for a 5 gallon batch. Dissolve it in a pint or two of the beer. If you have lots of sediment in your barrel it may be worth siphoning it off before mixing in the MD. Alternatively just stir it in, shake really well and wait a few weeks for the sediment to settle out again heheh.

[chopperswookie]

if you are doing a cheapo lager - get your self some styrian goldings, boil them in a pan of water (sorry but i'm not that scientific with weights and measures) for about 20 mins then add to your ferming bin while making up the kit. i did that with a geordie lager and came out lovely.

[RajBoab]

I've got high hopes for a Geordie lager kit I tweaked recently. The idea formed from an old comment from DAAB about starting with a lager kit and adding grains and hops to make an ale. I'm having fun trying to formulate a cheap ale that's flavoursome and hoppy for everyday supping! I don't want to go AG due to time it takes etc but want a bit more involvement than just the standard kits.

I made it up with 1KG BKE and 500g of Dark Spraymalt. I steeped 100g of crushed crystal malt in 65C water in the oven for 30 mins and strained this wort into the fermenter. Whilst this was happening I boiled 30g of Goldings hops for 15 mins and steeped 40g of Hallertau hops for 15mins in weak wort. It came out at 1.052 and took 3 days to get to 1.012 with Safale 04. I'll stick it in the secondary in a couple of days and have a sneaky taste!