Definitive Lager Beer Kit – Youngs Home Brew

1. A food grade 25 litre fermenterlarge enough to hold 40 pints (23 litres).

A 30 litre fermenting bin is ideal.

2. A length of plastic tubing to syphon the fermented beer into bottles or a barrel. or bottle filler if fits on your bin tap

3. A pressure barrel or bottles sufficient for 40 pints (23 litres) PET (Plastic) fizzy drink bottles are suitable or brown beer bottles with crown caps are ideal.

4. 1 kilo of Brewing Sugar or Beer Enhancer    

5. Youngs Steriliser to ensure your equipment is thoroughly cleaned.

Optional Brewing Equipment

1. A hydrometer and trial jar is useful to check the progress of fermentation and final gravity.

2. A thermometer and a heat pad or belt (for optimum temperature control).

3. Beer Finings.

Cleanliness

All equipment, bottles etc. must be cleaned .. Rinse with clean cold water after sterilising. Do not use household detergents and cleaners.

Kit Brewing

1. Empty the contents of the can into your sterilised container and add 1 kg of sugar or Enhancer. Boil 2.25 litres (4 pints) of water, allow to cool slightly and stir into the mix until the sugar is dissolved.

2. Add the balance of cold water to make up the total to 23 litres (40 pints). Stir thoroughly. The final temperature of the mixture should be 18-24C.

3. Sprinkle the yeast onto the brew, stir, and replace the lid.

4. Stand the container In a warm place 18~24C (we recommend the use of a heat pad or tray for optimum temperature control) and leave to ferment for between 4 and 8 days.

5. Check that fermentation has completely finished before proceeding. This can be confirmed when no bubbles are rising to the surface and the brew begins to clear. A hydrometer reading of below 1006 on two consecutive days will confirm that fermentation is complete.

It is important to make sure that fermentation is complete before bottling; otherwise there is a danger of the bottles bursting.

Bottling the Beer

This “priming” process will carbonate your beer, which adds the life and sparkle to the beer.

Put a maximum of 1/4 level teaspoon of sugar into each of your 1 pint , sterilised bottles. Do not exceed this amount or the beer will be too lively to serve. Syphon the beer from the container into the bottles (taking care not to disturb the sediment at the bottom) leaving a head space of 5cm (2 inches) between the top of the liquid and bottle rim.

Seal or cap your bottles with Crown caps and transfer to a warm place at room temperature (about 20C) and leave for about 4 days to allow secondary fermentation to take place.

Do not store in direct sunlight.

Now move the bottles to a cool place to allow the beer to clear. Clearing will lake about one week. Once the beer is perfectly clear it is ready to drink, but will improve if left to mature for at least a further two weeks.

When serving the beer be careful not to disturb the yeast sediment that will have collected at the bottom of the bottle. You may find it preferable to pour the beer into a jug first. Serve cool.

Please don’t use Damaged or chipped bottles, some single use bottles can’t be re-used as the cap size is not standard

Rinsing the bottles out with water immediately after emptying will make them easier to clean and sterilise the next time.

Using a Pressure Barrel 

Follow the brewing instructions given earlier until fermentation is complete.
Now refer to the detailed instructions supplied with your barrel.

As a guide, the steps will be: Syphon the beer from the container into your sterilised barrel leaving the sediment behind.

Dissolve 60 grams of “priming” sugar in a cupful of hot water, add this solution to the barrel, and stir well. Beer finings may be added at this stage to reduce clearing time.

Cap the barrel tightly and move to a warm place (20C) for 4 days, then leave to clear in a cool place. Note that beer takes longer to clear in a barrel than in bottles and should be left for 3 to 4 weeks to clarify and mature.

If the cap of your barrel is fitted with a CO2 valve, you can inject further gas when the naturally produced CO2 has been used up.

Experienced brewers may find that slight variations to the Instructions given above will produce a beer more to their individual taste. For example, substituting some of the additional sugar with malt extract or dried malt will produce a beer with a correspondingly fuller body.