Hi,

I’ve done a couple of bitters and thought i’d try a lager but the instructions only mention putting it into bottles and not a keg, can you use a keg like a bitter?

ta

Never brewed a lager, but as long as your carbonating it then I can’t see why not.

talking to the guy at the homebrew shop on Saturday, not recommended unless you like it flat

however, my father in law brews his own lager, has done for years; he keeps it in a King Keg & never has any problem with it being flat.

So I guess, try it & see.
I’ve got a Coopers IPA maturing at the mo, will post up in a couple of weeks when I see what it’s like. I bottled a couple of pints & it was as good as commercially available stuff

I don’t think i’ll bother if it’s going to be flat, i had a couple of spare Tom Caxton bitters and i’ve just got one started which will keep me going till i get some bottles.

ta

If you have an S30 valve on your keg, a quick squirt of CO2 will sort it if it goes flat…

Trouble with using a King Keg or similar is that you’ll get loads of foam if you want nice and fizzy lager, also unless you have a dedicated fridge big enough you’ll not have it cold either.

Bottling is easy, if a little time consuming. Look on Freegle/Freecycle for bottles.

Slight Hijack – Does anyone know of any light under hopped IPA kits that are on the market? I can’t find one anywhere.

I have got a co2 valve but as Nick says not being able to chill it is a big problem for me, i’ve looked at the PET bottles and they’re quite reasonable so i’ll be getting some of those.

Know what you mean, I have a keg full of cider lurking in the garage for this summer, not sure how I’ll keep it cool.

I’m probably going to dispense into bottles and store it in the fridge as and when I need it.

It’ll most likely go flat but it’s not so much of a problem with cider.

Long term I think the answer will be a cheap fridge with all the shelves out…

I picked up a decent fridge from Freecycle, holds my corni kegs nicely 🙂

Corni kegs are much much better than plastic barrels, worth the investment (about £200 for two with gas, regulator beer line etc).

any light under hopped IPA kits

Not really sure what you mean? IPA is a heavily hopped style and while not normally full bodied is not a light beer (at around 6%, which a good IPA should be).

I have brewed some St Peters IPA that comes in at about 5.6%, what I think I would prefer is something like Green King, or Deuchars etc that is closer 4%

Ahh, so you don’t want an IPA then, GK and Deuchars are ok but they are not IPAs (they are ordinary bitters/session bitters), whatever the label says.

Kit wise (and it’s been a while since I made from kits) the Woodfordes range are good, their Great Eastern is a really nice drink and I think quite similar to Deuchars.

Thanks for that one, I tried the Woodfordes Wherry and that was good, Great Eastern is next on the menu then