I want to brew an ESB/IPA style beer

[timmorris]

I've been onto Tesco,direct,and have a total of £28 in vouchers to spend which means I can order £56 worth of goods for nothing....

 

[terrym]

That really is music to my ears. I'll measure the OG with Young's BE, and only add more dextrose if it is way off. I'll just use the kit (and some finings) for my first brew, barrel it and report back as soon as it is drinkable!

If it works well I'll come back for some advice on dry hopping. I do have access to some 2 pint screw top cider bottles which I can use for longer term storage and refrigeration in the future, it's just easier for me to use a barrel for secondary fermentation.

Tim
If its any help my last Coopers EB bitter was brewed with 500g DME and 500g dextrose (so about equal to 1kg Youngs BE). Brewed slightly short to 21 litres it started at 1043 and ended up at 1010. If you want to increase the OG you could consider using golden syrup which is partially inverted sucrose, and which many on here use. Anyway it took 6 days to substantially ferment out, I racked off and left it four further days on 25g Goldings pellets which were in a muslin bag weighted down with SS spoons.
By coincidence tomorrow I will be making up a Coopers BE kit. I will be adding 500g DME and by way of experiment for me 500g or so of golden syrup (supermarket own brand). It will be left for a week and if SG is stable I will rack off and dry hop with about 30g First Gold pellets for five days. I will prime at the rate of 2 level calibrated tsp sugar per 2 litres, which should give the right level of carbonation for me.
I use 2 litre PET bottles (ex Tesco 17p fizzy water) and find that racking helps minimise the yeast I pull over at bottling. I use a serving jug and can reseal after taking about half from the bottle, and the beer left in the bottle is fine for at least three days but it usually gets drunk before then!
Finally your reference to 2 pint cider bottles took me back to when I started brewing (first time) many years ago when I used the returnable thick glass pot stopper 2 pint bottles, is that what you have?!