newkie brown & yorkshire bitter kits

[toasted]

just done my 2nd and 3rd brews
the samson newkie brown kit i made up with spray dried malt instead of sugar and added half a campden tablet to the water
i hydrated the kit yeast this time too but didnt realy get all active like others ive seen here so il definateley be ordering some safale 04 online wih the next kits
made it up to 40 pints with a starting gravity of 1040

second batch of the day was a geordie yorkshire bitter kit
i tried something a bit different with this
i added beer kit enhancer instead of sugar and brewed up some fuggles hops
i boiled 15g of fuggles for 20 mins and 12g stewed for 10 mins
i figured it was already possible bitter enough so just added the fuggles to hopefully freshen it up a bit
i think starting gravity was 1042 at 40 pints , looked alot lighter than the newkie and lions pride ive made

fingers crossed they turn out ok

 

[Wez]

Great :thumb: You can't beat a bit of experimentation - looking forward to hearing how they turn out for you

 

[llannige]

Good days work there :thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

Well done t, keep us posted on the results :thumb:

 

[toasted]

the newkie brown has giving off plenty of action on the airlock but only had a slight head after 24h , not bubbling away now though
its been brewing for 3 days now and the gravity today is 1012 so dropped a fair bit and you can smell the alcohol in it already, it definitely smells the strongest but theres no sediment in the bottom yet

the yorkshire bitter still had a good head on it but havnt seen a single bubble in the airlock but the gravity is now 1010 so cant be far off although still no sediment in the bottom

just tested the gravity of the lions pride aswell thats been going for 6 days, no bubbles in the airlock, the heads cleared with just a bit of froth on top here and there but the gravitys at 1020, seems strange as that was started first
theres a fair bit of sediment in the bottom though
hope this one hasnt stalled?
do you think i should give it a light swirl or should i just leave it and see how it goes?
i didnt test the starting gravity but it had a good head on it after 24h and i tested the gravity after 48h and it was 1030 so its dropped 10 points in 4 days

all going well il be putting the yorkshire bitter and newkie brown in to kegs on monday :

 

[BrewStew]

a gentle stir with a sanitised plastic or metal (dont use wooden) spoon wont hurt :thumb:

 

[toasted]

nice one brewstew il do that now :thumb:

EDIT: just gave it a gentle stir, the sediment has pretty much all dropped back down is that normal or should it mix back in?
typical it does this with the supposedly better quality 3kg kit :wha:

 

[Wez]

You should hopefully have suspended enough viable yeast, but if not a gentle stir for longer may help :thumb:

 

[toasted]

well i just put the lions pride and newkie brown in to the kegs
the lions pride fg was 1014 it had been at that since the 15th
the newkie brown was at 1012 its been that since the 12th
ive left the yorkshire bitter in the fv for another day or 2 as its cloudy down the bottom so its definitely clearing thats still at 1010 since 12th
i added 60grams of normal sugar boiled in 200ml of water to the kegs before filling them
i had a little taste of what was left in the bottom of the fv , tasted like flat day old beer to me just like bought stuff lol im not into ale but im sure paul will love it
i filled a 2ltr bottle of each, first one i just done straight from the tap,ended up a bit frothy hope itl be ok still?
the second i taped the syphon tube to the nozzle and that was ok no air got to it
its pauls birthday on saturday so no doubt hel have the 2 bottles then, do you think theyl be ok? im guessing theyl be pretty flat

 

[BrewStew]

it might be a bit sweet and flat on saturday... but if he likes his ales from a hand pull, he should be ok with that :lol:

you could of course give them to him on his birthday, then be a little cruel and tell him to wait a week for them to mature... then if he decides to open them early he cant blame you :lol:

 

[toasted]

lol yea il tell him there not ready yet, hes a pretty patient bloke so he might actualy wait for the bottles to be ready, he will definitely wait for the kegs
im pleased with how they turnt out so far though, thanks for the help everyone :thumb:
il report back with what he thinks of them
i got him to post for a pic the otherday so i could make up a sticker for the keg/bottles
he dont know what the pic was for

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[BrewStew]

awesome! :thumb:

 

[fivetide]

Haha - great thread. I love experimental kit brewing and I think you're spot on with substituting sugars and adding hops to suite your own tastes.

In my experience, kits need a lot more aeration and rousing , and love plenty of time to mature and condition, but they definitely repay any time and care you spend on 'em.

Conversely, you can really cock up an AG brewday and have a great beer, or lavish attention on it and end up with something ordinary!

 

[BrewStew]

Conversely, you can really cock up an AG brewday and have a great beer, or lavish attention on it and end up with something ordinary!

So true!!! infact i'd say the less you care about it the better it gets! every time i've done an AG brew and piled effort into it it's never turned out so good... it's always the one's i just throw together on a whim that turn out awesome :twisted:

anyways, back to the subject in hand

Hope it turns out well toasted... i'm sure he'll like it though either way! :thumb:

 

[Wez]

I'm sure it will be well recieved - the label will look great :grin:

Nice one T :thumb:

 

[toasted]

thought id give you a little update on the brews
i bottled up the yorkshire bitter yesterday after 10 days of being in the fv
as a pressent he loved it and was well chuffed
he tried a bottle of each and he realy liked the yorkshire bitter, it was his favourite out of the 3 kits even though it had only been in the bottle 24 hours
the newkie brown tasted spot on for a newkie copy although he said it didnt seem as strong as the propper bottled stuff but he enjoyed it, it had been in the bottle 5 days
he also liked the lions pride although he said it was a bit sweet, im guessing that was due to it sticking at 1020 and finaly settling on 1014 after a swirl and a couple more days finishing
so out of the 3 the geordie yorkshire bitter with added fuggles was his favourie, samson newkie brown a close second and the milestone lions pride was enjoyed but not as nice as the others due to its sweetness

bought him a coopers bitter yesterday so that will be started tomorrow and hes going to try out the 2 kits recomended here aswell
so thanks for your help we realy apreciated it :