Youngs Brew Buddy Lager

I have brewed my first and so far the only one beer from that hit. I and my friends loved it. I screwed up with storing it as I bought the pressure barrel and did not think about the CO2 injector so when I was pour the beer from the barrel the air was sucked to it. After two days beer was spoiled. Shame but when fresh it was great. Lesson learnt. I am very very begginer and will be happy to take any advice how slowly, step by step start brewing my own beer from scratch : [email protected] . Blues beer with you

It's now 24th August and my lager has been clear for about 4 days now, so for one reason or another, it was further behind schedule than i had hoped. I can't lay the blame squarely at Brew Buddy's door, because I was not able to lower the temperature of my brew as suggested. However, maybe the possibilty of delay due to temperature could have been made clearer in the instructions.

The resulting brew is very drinkable, somewhat more bitter than most commercial lagers, but this is not a problem to me, though my wife who likes a sweeter drink doesn't enjoy it quite so much. Some might say that is a definite advantage!

I opted not to use gas injection to pressurise my lager, primarily because of cost, and so, my brew doesn't have quite as much 'fizz' as commercial lagers. Again, I don't find this a problem.

Ultimately, the acid test for whether a product is good enough, is if the consumer is prepared to buy it again. As I went out yesterday and bought another kit for £8, it appears that I am convinced.

So, initial outlay was about 40 quid, new kits are £8- £10 for a standard brew, and (eventually) i got to taste my lager once it had cleared. It certainly tastes even better in the knowledge that it only costs 20-30 pence a pint, and I for one am a convert .

Happy brewing!

Well here we are in August and I followed the Youngs Brew Buddy Lager instructions to the letter. Unfortunately the lager has not yet cleared! And that is a week after the supposed completion date. It may be that the weather has been too warm and that I have not been able to drop the temperature of my brew low enough, but as I am keeping it outside in the garden shed I have no other ideas what I should do. I will update again if and when the lager becomes drinkable.

I only bought the kit today (13th July 2008) and I began the brewing process this afternoon. As a near novice I had to give some thought as to whether I wanted to bottle, or pressure-barrel the final result. The pressure-barrel option seemed easier so I bought one at the same time. I tried homebrewing about 20 years ago and it was a lot of hassle and faffing about, also it was quite expensive to buy the initial set up and to start brewing - although still cheaper than pub or supermarket pints. At that time, home brewing was really just a hobby for enthusiasts. But the whole thing seems to have become much more simplified and economical nowadays - if this kit lives up to its claims. I will post another review, in the next 2-3 weeks when apparently I should be able to drink a pub-style lager for less than 30 pence! (I haven't included the cost of the initial outlay for equipment in that calculation because I reckon that you have to accept that there is an inevitable initial cost for any leisure activity like gardening, golf, or cookery which you just have to accept). Cheers then, until August!

Made kit up with 2kg sugar to get a gravity of 1059.fermented to 1010 in 6 days at 20 degrees. Put in demis for another 5 where it dropped a few more degrees and cleared beautifully.

Having read more than once that lager kits taste more like beer than true lager I'm impressed. I've only tasted at 8 days after bottling though. Well recommend Youngs Brew Buddy Lager.