Hot answers tagged beer
5
Fruit is not the best color agent here - the flavor will be out of character in an Irish Red.
You get the red color from a little roast barley. Take a handful of lightly crushed roasted barley (or two handfulls of whole) and let them stand in half a pint of cold water for half an hour to an hour. Strain the water, which will now be black, boil, then add it ...
3
I would go with some Sinamar. Its a product from Weyermann made entirely of Black Malt and will add color to the beer without any additional flavor.
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/4-OZ-SINAMAR-NATURAL-BEER-COLORING-P2651.aspx
Sinamar® natural beer coloring was patented by the Weyermann Company
in Germany in 1902, and is a gluten free natural mashed ...
2
The original gravity reading was probably low due to insufficient mixing. Unless you stir the wort vigorously for a good while, it will stratify with sugary wort at the bottom and thin wort at the top.
See this question for more details about why your starting gravity might be low.
The final gravity reading is probably correct. Did you taste the beer ...
2
In the 80s UK, Boots, the chemists, who already sold home brew kits, developed a yeast that settled at the bottom of bottles as a gel. Unlike the sediment you're used to, that is disturbed when you tip the bottle, this just sat there. Friends, who used to avoid my home brew, said things like, Wow this tastes like real beer. it was clear and sparkling. For ...
1
I wouldn't waste time on such an out of date kit. Even if you get a new sachet of yeast (the supplied yeast is almost certainly not viable) the extract 'goop" will probably have staled, tasting soapy and bitter.
You're better off getting a fresh kit. My very first brew was also a 5 year old kit, and all I produced was 20 liters of vinegar.
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