Youngs Harvest Pilsner review

[calumscott]

Refined it ain't!!

But it is, in it's own way, a good kit of beer.

It's right at the budget end of the market and at the time of writing you'll pick up a tin for a smidge over a tenner. It's a 1.8kg single can job with young's own yeast which I understand to be an ale yeast rather than a lager one (which makes sense really as most people will brew these at room temperature and a lager yeast would probably give some weird flavours at such a high temp).

I brewed both of mine according to the instructions with 1.5kg of dextrose and produced something mostly lagery but a bit aley and definitely with that more "continental" flavour that you'd expect from a pils.

It's good and strong too - I'm pretty sure they come out in the high fives or even low sixes ABV-wise, as a just-home-from-work pint you definitely know you've had a beer!

I recently ran out of cold ones and didn't fancy wine so I grabbed a can of C*£$"erg left over from Christmas. Three glugs in and it went down the sink and wine was had.

So, refined pilsner? No.

Cheap as chips and miles better than mainstream lagers? Oh yes!

 

[tonester]

I just made this recently - my first ever brew. I followed the instructions pretty bang on. Let the first ferment go about 13 days and bottle conditioned in a dark cupboard for just over two months. I don't have space in my little flat to cool them all for a significant amount of time unfortunately but a few days in the fridge and I tried my first one yesterday and it was pretty darn decent I'd say. Maaaaaaybe a tad underconditioned but this might be the pilsner taste - hard to tell. It was pretty fizzy and nice and crisp but not 100% clear - not sure if it was the condensation on the glass though - I am an amatuer after all! I'm gonna give them a few more weeks, try and cool a few for longer see what happens. Good starter kit though. Recommend this for sure.

 

[gingerhammer]

I am doing this kit tommorrow, fancy doing a stell(now renamed ella)hop tea,with a kilo of muntons enhancer.Also thinking of adding molasses sugar to see how it works,any ideas out there?r

 

[gingerhammer]

Just done one of these now.added 300 g demerara,794g of clear honey and a kilo of muntons enhancer.Put hydrometer reading in a calculator and it says 5.4%.Tidy!Was thinking of dry hopping so :hmm: jpme saaz,but still waiting on postie to bring em!

 

[kernowsvenski]

I recently brewed this pretty much following the instructions, with the exception that I used Coopers carbonation drops for bottling and I read the wrong bit so only used 1kg sugar in the FV. I Should have used 1.5kg. That said I was very pleased. With an SG of 1040 and an FG 1008 giving 4.2% I reckon it would have been quite potent if I'd added the extra 500g.

16 days in FV, bottled in 330ml bottles with 1 carbonation drop each.

For my first go I'm rather pleased. Quite a light fresh lager, nice and clear. I'd definitely try it again, but with spray malt at the right proportions

 

[Kinleycat]

Thrown two of these in FVs this afternoon with 1 kg each of BE and 250 g of light DME.
Each FV also got a pilsener enzyme sachet and 1 tspn of yeast nutrient.
Brewed to 22 litres and will be left until I'm back from my jollies!!
:

 

[Kinleycat]

Thrown two of these in FVs this afternoon with 1 kg each of BE and 250 g of light DME.
Each FV also got a pilsener enzyme sachet and 1 tspn of yeast nutrient.
Brewed to 22 litres and will be left until I'm back from my jollies!!
:

Wow!!!
Got back from holiday on Thursday and checked the brews and they were down to 1000.
I assume that was down to the pilsener enzyme.
That's by far the lowest reading I've achieved with the beers.
I assume it will be a strong (5.8%) dry lager.

 

[Papa G]

hi Kinleycat was wondering if you've tried this yet and how it is.

 

[MattN]

I made this up to 21 litres with 1kg of sugar. I used beer finings and batch primed it to 2.4 volumes. It had been in the bottle for a couple of weeks and some relatives came over the Christmas period with their own beer as they didn't fancy home brew. Anyway they tried it, liked it and ended up drinking a lot of it!

Now I am left with some Carling and Bud in the fridge... :cry:

I never told them it that is cost 10p per pint!

Matt

 

[Rwilts]

Tried my first last night. Been about 6 weeks in the battle well carbonated with a steady flow of bubbles. Head retention was good and it was very clear. Taste was fine. A bit young but very drinkable. Brewed with 1 kg brewing sugar and 500g light spray malt to 20L :

 

[DanST]

Just drinking my first bottle of this. Decided to brew this kit because I'm a big fan of pilsner and, sorry not kidding anyone, everything came to about a tenner in the tesco sale :p

It's almost 5 weeks in the bottle and was brewed with 1kg youngs bke and 400g honey.

It stuck around 1.02 and resisted all attempts to rouse it. Tasted fine in the trial jar so it got bottled.

First impressions, very good! In fact I think if I were to follow it with a can of commercial lager I would probably upgrade that to bloody nice.

There's a very slightly "twang" but if I'm honest I'm looking for it a bit as I wasn't expecting anything great.

All in all id say it's probably better than the wilko pilsner kit for round the same price. If you can get one in the sale it's definitely worth the money imo especially for beginners who don't want to fork out £20+ for a kit when they are learning the ropes.

Few points I missed first time;

the head retention was great, last pretty much all the way down and I brewed it short, about 20-21L without looking in my book

 

[LarryF]

I bottled my second one of these three weeks ago:

Brewed 23L 03/07/15 - 18/07/15 summer temps, no temp control
Mangrove Jacks Workhorse yeast + 1tsp YN
1KG Youngs BE + 200g honey
30g Aurora hops, 20m boil, tea and bag added to the FV.
primed with 1tsp sugar per 500ml bottle.

It's been in the bottle three weeks and I have to say it's a cracking beer, I've done this kit before but the combination of the kit and the Aurora hops just seems to work so well that for the foreseeable I think I'll make this my go to lager (well, light fizzy ale) kit. This time it just seems to have all fallen into place, even SWMBO is raving about this one and considering the cost:

Kit: £7.88 (Tesco Sale)
BE: £3.75 (Tesco Sale)
Honey: 65p (£2 500g Iceland)
hops: £1 (?)

What's not to like.

 

[DanST]

I'm tempted to do another as the sale is on again.

Have you tried any other yeast or hop combinations with this kit Larry? How have they turned out?

 

[taffy005]

Ive just made this kit. I'm a novice at home brewing having experimented with a few wine and bitter kits and made my own cider etc.

I used 875g of clear honey and 500g of granulated sugar.
FG stuck around 1.004.
I batch primed it with Medium Malt Extract, not sure what this will do to the beer. Will it affect the taste that much??

I bottled it last week and will be having my first try next week for the England v Wales Game! Although the bucket smelt amazing!

P.S. its currently on offer for £7.50 in Tesco...

 

[LarryF]

Tried my first last night. Been about 6 weeks in the battle well carbonated with a steady flow of bubbles. Head retention was good and it was very clear. Taste was fine. A bit young but very drinkable. Brewed with 1 kg brewing sugar and 500g light spray malt to 20L :

I brewed this one and it's absolutely crying out for some hops, either a hop tea or dry hopping it, or to be honest both. It's a great kit as a base for some experimentation.

 

[LarryF]

Tried my first last night. Been about 6 weeks in the battle well carbonated with a steady flow of bubbles. Head retention was good and it was very clear. Taste was fine. A bit young but very drinkable. Brewed with 1 kg brewing sugar and 500g light spray malt to 20L :

I brewed this one and it's absolutely crying out for some hops, either a hop tea or dry hopping it, or to be honest both. It's a great kit as a base for some experimentation. My preferred method is to take 30-40g of any hop and boil it in two litres of water in a hop bag for 15mins with a heavy stone in it, the boiling sterilises everything. Then I put the tea and the hop bag in the FV for the two week ferment.

 

[marko65]

Help needed - started this kit 16 days ago - used 1.5kg of extra light spray malt - checked gravity 3 days ago - was only down to 1.012 - no bubbles coming through airlock - gave it a stir - checked today and down to 1.011 but only just - kit states 1.000 to 1.006 as final gravity - is this a stuck fermentation and if so what can I do to get it going again? Any suggestions appreciated:thumb:

 

[wfr42]

Spray malt can lead to a higher FG - you're probably done - but check the gravity again in 24-48hrs to make sure it's stopped.

 

[marko65]

Thanks for quick reply - OK - I didn't realise that - so I'm looking at final strength of 4% instead of 5%+ :sad:
Instructions says 1/2 teaspoon per pint for bottling - anyone know what that is in grams - I'm batch priming
Thanks again

 

[zippy40]

I was told for a pils or lager you should add 5g per bottle. This should give nice carb. Some would say that is a tad high but I have always stuck to it and carbs up lovely