Hi

[Sandman]

Another Lancashire lad joining :)

I bought a kit at the weekend after bumping into (literally) a stack of Youngs BeerBuddy Lager kits in my Tesco Home. Not sure if they are dumping stock but they are selling them for £6.50 with a free extra refill kit. 80 pints for pocket change!

I started it off in the fermenting bucket on Monday evening and am now thinking of nipping down for a second kit (or a third if the missus doesn't grumble too loudly).

For this first brew I am doing it standard, with granulated sugar and will bottle it into 2l pop bottles as I rescued about 10 from my recycle bin, cleaned and ready for sterilizing. I was going to buy a keg off eBay but after reading a few forums it appears that people recommend bottling lager rather than kegging.

I am planning on putting sugar in the bottle when bottling but am wondering if it is worth getting some of the coopers (or similar) carbonation tablets instead.

Also, are finings (?) recommended or not? I hear that bottles get sediment at the bottom, is there any way to eliminate this?

Cheers,
Mark

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Hi welcome to the forum.

The TESCO kits are a bargain at the moment.

Lager is better in bottles as a pressure barrel cannot hold the amount of pressure required to carbonate lager, bottles are easier to fit in your fridge too.

As for finings, personally I have never used them, Beer clears naturally given enough time.

Sugar is fine for priming bottles, I don't think it's worth getting the carbonation drops.

Reducing sediment is not easy. The sediment is mainly dead yeast cells, when you put the beer into the bottles it will probably be clear, but you have to add the sugar to carbonate it in the bottle.

The addition of the sugar causes the yeast to get to work multiplying and eating the sugar to produce alcohol and CO2. It's the CO2 you need to make the beer fizzy. The by product of this process is dead yeast cells, and these form the sediment.

The only way around this is to carbonate the beer before it is put in the bottles, this requires rather a lot more kit than they sell in TESCO though.

 

[graysalchemy]

Welcome to the forum :thumb:

 

[Sandman]

They sure are, I guess the real test is what it produces. I am hoping for something at least tastier than say Fosters/Carling, my normal tipple is Stella....

I think I will be using sugar for the bottling. I might try and find a local HB store and look at the equipment they have, I am not sure how I will control the syphon tube flow into my bottles, maybe fit a tap or get one of those bottling sticks (are they long enough for 2l bottles?). While I am there I will see what yeast they have as I intend to replace the kit yeast with something that might give a better result.

 

[cnelsonplumber]

Welcome to the forum
:

 

[Mark1964]

welcome to the forum :thumb:

 

[Moley]

If my maths is correct, 2 kits for £6.50 + 2 bags of sugar approx. £1.60 = just over 10p a pint :thumb:

Although Young's kits are towards the bottom end of the market, it should be comparable with F0$t3r$ or C4rl1ng.

We've got a fairly large branch of Tesco with a minimal homebrew end-of-aisle section, but when I looked last weekend there was no sign of them flogging any kits off at discounted prices. I'll have another look tomorrow.

Welcome to the forum :

 

[Dave1970]

Hi Sandman

The Coopers carbonation drops are just to save measuring sugar, they don't give a better carbonation. When you're bottling into 500 ml glass bottles at over 40 to a brew they save a lot of hassle. Bottling into 2L PET bottles it's not really worth it, as you said just use sugar.
I've just measured my 'Little Bottler' bottling stick at 34.7cm....I don't have any 2L pop bottles to check if this is long enough though...I'd guess not so it looks like you want a siphon cane, a clip to hold it steady and a length of tube with a tap on the end.

Rather than spending your hard earned on yeast it's probably better just to keep the cost low, or it might be worth buying a bit of DME (dried malt extract) to add to the kits instead...it's not like you're going to be able to use a proper lager yeast anyway.

 

[31bb3]

Welcome to the forum :

 

[aneray]

We've got a fairly large branch of Tesco with a minimal homebrew end-of-aisle section, but when I looked last weekend there was no sign of them flogging any kits off at discounted prices.

Same here

They have stuck the prices up for Christmas.

 

[Sandman]

ah I didn't factor in the cost of sugar as I raided the cupboard ... Still, its still not worth arguing over who's round it is :)

Yeah DME and is it Beer Kit Enhancer? To use instead of cane sugar.

Looks like a tap will be needed as that wont reach the bottom, cheers for the measurement.

I took my first SG reading yesterday and it was at 1.014, the OG was 1.042. Before taking the reading yesterday the foam on top had thinned out and I couldn't see anything interesting going on however today there is definitely more foam and it is starting to smell like lager. Todays reading is 1.006. Would this be due to me lifting the lid and allowing fresh air in or does the fermentation eb and flow? Its kept in the living room at a fairly constant temp (no lower than 18 degrees).

I sterilized the hydrometer and it lives in the fermenter, is this wise? I didn't fancy having to take samples, not sure if this is recommended or not.

 

[simonkidder]

Welcome to the forum sandman. Which tesco is it. I may take a trip over and get a couple.

Simon

 

[Sandman]

Its the Capitol Center Tesco Home, I am popping down myself in the morning for another :) Hopefully they still have some left

Tesco Homeplus Unit 7 Capitol Retail Park
Walton Le Dale, Preston, Lancashire PR5 4AW

 

[simonkidder]

Nice one I'll call over at weekend.

 

[simonkidder]

Can't believe It. Just in the tesco at Preston and they only have barley wine beer kits and stout kits. Which only make 23 pints. Gutted.

 

[Sandman]

Did you look at the back near the lift? I went this morning and couldn't find them, was about to leave when I saw them out the corner of my eye, they had about 20 left

 

[simonkidder]

Looks like I'm taking another trip over tomorrow then. May as well take advantage of the fuel card. Hope there are some left.

 

[Sandman]

You're probably best asking the staff. When I got my first one they were out on the main floor but today there tucked at the back of the lift. I thought they would all be gone but they had a decent pile, I was only allowed to buy one today er indoors made that clear and no mistake :)

 

[simonkidder]

SUCCESS.

i found them today bought 3 of them today. cant believe its the full starter kit.