Youngs Harvest Mild

[winelight]

This is a budget kit, a single 1.8Kg can, and costs about a tenner. It's a dark mild.

I made this with:
500g dark DME
500g demerara
640g food grade LME

and in my opinion it's very good indeed. I didn't change the yeast or use any hops.

It is just like a mild should be. Just the right amount of flavour so it doesn't taste thin, but not too much. There is just the faintest of bitterness notes in the aftertaste - without that it would be too bland. It holds carbonation well so is a little bit fizzy, but does not have a big ale-type head.

It was already clear after two weeks fermentation but I moved it into the cold for a week anyway, then 2 weeks in bottle for carbonation and then into the cold.

So far, this is my favourite homebrew pint.

The only problem is, it is too easy to drink. And with the extra fermentables, it's not weak either!

 

[Kinleycat]

Drunk this a while back.
Brewed it with 1kg brewing sugar and 250g extra dark DME
Nice drink!! :thumb:

 

[louis macneice]

Brewed on 23/1 with 1kg Coopers BE2 plus a mini mash of:

600g marris otter,60g crystal, 70g busicuit, 45g oats, 45g choc malt, 20g roasted barley. mashed in 4lts of water @about 64 degrees for 60 mins; sparged with 4lts of water @about 80 degrees for 10 mins.

Boiled for 90 mins (to promote caramel/toffee flavours) with 7g of Bramling Cross for 60 mins.

Yeast was the slurry from a Brewferm kit and batch was made up to a little over 23lts.

Was kegged with 80g sugar two weeks later and it already tastes pretty damn good; not too strong alcohol wise, good malty sweetness, some toffee and caramel flavours, creamy head which lasts, good slick but not huge mouth feel which is helped by a decent level of carbonation.

All in all chuffed with this, especially as the kit and the BE2 were on offer from Tescos for about £15.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[clivem]

Started this 8/315 with 1kg Young's brew enhancer and 200g light brown sugar. Brewed slightly short with 22 litres water. OG was 1043.

23/3/15 FG was 1012 which is around 4%. Batch primed with 100g sugar and then bottled.

1 week in warm then put in a cooler room. Tried first bottle 4/4/15 and it's nice and clear with a decent mild taste.

Not bad for 27 days from the start of fermentation. Would defintely recommened this kit as it is very cheap, tastes good and is back on speical offer at Tesco.

 

[Saltrock]

Picked up one of these to brew up as a weekday beer. Wanted something not too strong to remove the danger of a headache at work the next day!
LHBS advised using only 600g of sugar instead of the 1kg the kit says. Apparently it will turn out quite sweet like a Black Country Mild at about 3.5%
Will see what it's like in a couple of weeks!

 

[LarryF]

Picked up one of these to brew up as a weekday beer. Wanted something not too strong to remove the danger of a headache at work the next day!
LHBS advised using only 600g of sugar instead of the 1kg the kit says. Apparently it will turn out quite sweet like a Black Country Mild at about 3.5%
Will see what it's like in a couple of weeks!

For future reference, maybe look at the same amount but substituting Beer Enhancer or spray malt for the sugar, you'll get a richer fuller beer. Table sugar can leave your brew a bit thin, the BE or Spray Malt will add body to your beer.

 

[Saltrock]

To be honest I thought that, and I did ask him, but he said it had enough flavour not to need it, he could have got some more cash out of me if he had wanted!
Next one I do I will substitute the sugar, and see what the difference is.

 

[SANGER_A2]

I must have made at least 10 different kits over the last year (lager, bitter and stout) and just like the OP this is a my favourite. I used 1kg youngs brew enhancer and the whole set of ingredients cost me around a tenner! Not what I was expecting for the cheapest kit I've bought! As the tesco sale is on again now I've bought two more of these kits along with a few more. Gonna try the same again but with 500g of sugar added too.

 

[chub1]

This was my first ever foray into brewing. Just brewed it straight as per can instructions with brewing sugar. Ok, obviously thin and a tad bland but drinkable nonetheless. Will certainly do another and go along the lines of my Harvest Bitter and use hops, spraymalt and beer enhancer,perhaps even a touch of crystal malt as well and brew it short of it's max and batch prime. Must say it was nice and clear, reasonable head(used tabs, a pain in the b#m) and was better for time in the bottle-not that it lasted that long:thumb:

 

[OxfordNick]

Picked up a couple of cans of this discounted to £3 to sell by end of June (been sitting in the queue of things to do - yeast is in the fridge..) after a couple of weeks of 30'c+ in the kitchen its dropped to a more reasonable 25'c so started one of these off - 500g soft brown, 500g brew enhancer, 125g Bournville Cocoa powder.

Smellls good - aiming for a chocolate porter - might be a bit hot still as fermentation has started after 3 hours.. time will tell !

 

[SANGER_A2]

Picked up a couple of cans of this discounted to �£3 to sell by end of June (been sitting in the queue of things to do - yeast is in the fridge..) after a couple of weeks of 30'c+ in the kitchen its dropped to a more reasonable 25'c so started one of these off - 500g soft brown, 500g brew enhancer, 125g Bournville Cocoa powder.

Smellls good - aiming for a chocolate porter - might be a bit hot still as fermentation has started after 3 hours.. time will tell !

Wow! Where did you find them that cheap?

 

[OxfordNick]

Wow! Where did you find them that cheap?

I work around the corner from Gardiner Haskins in Bristol - they reduce all the short shelf life kits towards the end of the month - always worth popping in to see if anything interesting is cheap. Infact I might pop in tomorrow if I have a chance :-)

.. tomorrow arrives ...

A fine haul today - all @ ��£3.00:

--
Hmm - I wonder what a pinot / zinfrandel blend finished as a sparkling wine would be like... Mind you - Last months cheap wine isnt out of the secondaries yet.

--

 

[SANGER_A2]

I work around the corner from Gardiner Haskins in Bristol - they reduce all the short shelf life kits towards the end of the month - always worth popping in to see if anything interesting is cheap. Infact I might pop in tomorrow if I have a chance :-)

.. tomorrow arrives ...

A fine haul today - all @ ���£3.00:

Lucky git. My mother in law lives in Bristol. I wonder how she would feel about being sent to buy homebrew kits at the end of the month! :whistle: