After initial fermentation completed on day 14, I split my first batch of Pride of London Porter into a 2 Gallon keg and the rest into bottles on the first day of May 2022. ABV: 4.5% which was slightly lower than I expected. With this being a premium kit I was a bit surprised to see from the video that it includes dextrose rather than a darker type malt but that didn't put me off. Also unlike the video there was no hop bag included with mine but I just popped the pellets on to the surface and when finished transfered via a handy funnel fitted with a filter that I got from HBO which removed all the floaters from the hops. A very useful piece of kit.
I had never actually tasted Porter before so was going in blind. I always have a test bottle to see how a brew is progressing early. I tried this a bit too early after around 10 days which is the main reason why it was not pleasant - way too bitter/sour for me and I had only weighed in 1oz of the hops! Still half expecting that I was going to have to pour some of this batch away I tried the next bottle a week later with a mind to start freeing up some bottle space. Well this one was fantastic. What an improvement in such a short space which bodes well for future brewing options. Great head, texture and the flavours which other people have already described now more prominent but in a subtle way. The next one had already levelled off a bit but basically the same quality.
I personally don't think it tastes that much like stout, variations of which I have been drinking since I was 16 but that wasn't what I was attempting or expecting anyway. This was an out and out bold experiment in a new direction. More dark roasted elements than burnt ones. It does go nice followed by an Irish Coffee though so maybe there is something in those comparisons that I will develop with time. And it also feels stronger than the ABV I quoted above too.
The keg is now six weeks old which is about half way to the point I would consider starting to drink it. I am seriously looking forward to seeing how the draught compares with the bottle.
Well I had my doubts but my first attempt at dry hopping was a success. I am over the moon with this batch, another addition to my collection of dark beers, will definitely buy again and plan to try others in the Festival range. Well done Ritchies. Cheers!
Hi this was the start of a very difficult period for me hence the late response. I had a dodgy barrel with this batch when finally kegged/bottled up since resolved by HBO.
From my notes this brew actually reached primary fermentation at 1.011 over 48 hours on day 16. Thanks also to a tip on here, I am now more familiarised with the Brewer's Friend site. For some time I had been following standardised advice (from kit instructions) of waiting for fermentation to be ready at 1.006 or below. Now I have the range charts to go by (stout being between 1.007-1.011) this is already helping a lot.
After all the problems including having to bottle from a leaking barrel and warring with flies this turned out to be a truly excellent batch of stout on testing at week 5. The change in sugars has produced a drink more like Guinness whereas before I thought it was similar to Murphy's. So I now have some more experience at how to vary one of my favourite drinks and an idea how the master craftsmen do it. Sometimes the hardest journeys are the most rewarding.
Belated welcome Tinker. I have tried two of the kits from W****s. At that point I had been brewing beer for around 30 years and wine just a few. I made one of their wine kits first and initially put my poor results down to my own limited experience. I then tried a mixed berry cider as I had enjoyed the ones from aldi and lidl. When this turned out to have the same main issue (complete absence of any body or flavour and only improving extremely slightly after three months) I visited their forum to find very similar experiences but one where somebody had used two full cans of extract to produce a pleasant result. Considering this upped the cost to over £20 for a budget range kit I viewed it as poor value for money. In forty years of brewing these are the only kits I have made a complaint about. Obviously this won't do anything about the alcohol we have already made but I hope it at least makes you feel a little better in that consistently poor results weren't down to you.
Anyway the main thing is that you have found a kit which turned out fine and also represents progress. I haven't tried any of the Cooper's bitter kits but they do seem popular. I got put off by their stout which had too much of a liquorice taste for my liking but have once again taken note of another success story. That is one of the great things about having a forum like this.
Quite relieved tbh. Maybe it was the stirring which made the difference. That is a considerable drop over two days at this end. I am going to leave it for at least another day in the hope that the brew is well on its way. If it is dropping steadily at that rate it might be under 1.006 within 48 hours. As things stand it is roughly equivalent to business as usual.
They were developed by the KGB to stop their spies getting drunk whilst drinking so they could remember secrets. It didn't work, but they found it stopped them getting hangovers. I tried them and didn't do anything for me, all they did was make my piss go bright green whilst taking them. But amazon reviews some people say they work, I never really know what to believe but only my own personal experience is that these ones didn't do anything.
Best thing for a hangover is to take dioralyte (or other similar diarrhea treatment) as it hydrates you and replaces all your electrolytes that you piss out. But you gotta do it before you go to sleep.
Apologies for the delayed response. Wouldn't you just know it, this brew turned out to be a long one at + 14 days! Actually it stuck in spite of stirs after readings so I need to review my ingredients and methods a little. But it is good news as the spray malt seems to have been maintained in good condition and I was able to prime this particular brew with it. I also discovered that it seems to dissolve better in colder liquids which I had overlooked as a possible flaw in the plan.
I now know exactly what you mean about mixing with air as well because bits of malt very soon accumulated and solidified around the rim of the jar. It is a case of unscrewing and spooning out quite quickly.
I am not going to push my luck too far. I used most of the remaining malt in the jar with my next brew. I will monitor how long the little bit left stays in good condition out of pure interest for now.
It will be interesting to hear how long the spraymalt keeps, it must be airtight, we find if we ever have a bag that has a tiny pin hole on the shelf it soon starts to turn to a sticky mess. Once open and mixed with air it may well start clumping together very quickly, it is always best to try to use it all in one go, so let us know how you get on
I have used all dark brown sugar (can't get the huge cheap bags from the discount supermarket anymore ) with Geordie Mild and it was very similar to using all white granulated including the colour which I was trying to darken more - it just had a bit of a tang to it.
I have also used honey with and wholly instead of sugar to make my favourite Geordie kit: Scottish Export. This was noticeably different in smoothness as I recall.
Not sure if I dare mix honey with spraymalt.
Main thing is both these alternatives brewed as per usual and tasted fine.
Interesting discussion topic. I once considered using water from a natural spring but it was too far away to be realistic. I have actually used water from my britta filter when making single gallon (6 bottle) wine kits but not for the 5 gallon 30 bottle kits they being the close equivalent volume to most 30/40 pint beer and cider kits are. I figured that whilst I was waiting for each jug full of water to filter, I would have to replace the lid and thus delay the mixing process which (in my ignorance) might have an effect on the original gravity or something else.
I had actually forgotten that I used my filter for that wine until reading this discussion. I would have to sit and carefully compare one kit against another the exact same to spot any noticeable difference but that is not possible at the moment. I can't honestly say that I have noticed a significant difference that has made me sit up and exclaim to the positive or negative and I have some of that (filter water) wine on the go at the moment whilst drinking a small amount of tap watered beer or wine most evenings. Water where I am is medium to medium hard.
Standing the water overnight to evaporate the chlorine is an interesting and useful piece of information especially if it came to light that levels had significantly increased in any region.
Some of the earliest kits I made (we're talking nineteen-eighties here) instructed to first boil all the other ingredients (with the exception of yeast) together in a pan before transferring the completed stage to a bucket before adding cold water. I can't see that it would be too much of an inconvenience/difference to at least mix the stuff up this way and then add it to a prepared bucket of water. I just tend to pour a bit of cold in at a time whilst maintaining a regular stir out of habit.
I will be making my next batch of beer over the weekend so going to give this a try. I shall feedback any relevant observations. I tend to use spraymalt these days so that will most likely be the trickiest part of the operation - clumping varies enormously IME.