Brew # 1 - Morgan's Kit Lager

Paul Middleton -

Ingredients:

  • Morgan's Lager
  • 1kg kit glucose
  • Ignorance

My first brew in over 30 years. Excited.

Method:

  • Follow the instructions provided by the brewing shop
  • Leave in the bin for 2 weeks (not 1 as suggested by the Morgan's instructions)
  • Bottle (2nd May)
  • Leave for a week
  • Put a couple in the fridge
  • Drink when well chilled

Results:

The first tasting was of a sickly-sweet beverage that tasted something like beer, but not much like the clean, crisp lager I was hoping for.

I figured (incorrectly) that maybe the sugar tablets in the bottles hadn't mixed properly and the yeast had not found them. Nevertheless, there was definitely alcohol present and I quickly acquired a taste for syrupy beer.

Turns out that I just drank this a bit too soon and should have left for at least another two weeks as the temp here (NSW, Australia) is currently sub-20C. The yeast was just being a bit slow.

Fortunately, with homebrew you get 20+ litres with each brew. I've been chipping away over the last couple of weeks and I've finally had a bottle that fizzed on opening and actually tasted like lager.

I reckon a week more and I might have 15l of half decent beer to drink. Onwards!