Finlandia 1kg Ale

[LordEoin]

I was skint, so bought one of these (€6.45) 1kg Finlandia Traditional Ale kits.
Has anyone tried these kits? How is best to improve them?

[irish_goat]

My brother used a few of those Finlandia kits and they were just ok. The "traditional ale" is the lager one according to the home brew shop websites so I'd fire some nice hops into it if I were you. And maybe try and get some decent yeast.

[LordEoin]

I might just replace the yeast with one of my surplus Coopers' sachets. At least I know how it works.
I have some cascade, bramling cross and styrian golding. I'm thinking of doing some short boils and dry hopping.
Might throw it on this evening once i've had a chance to think about it

[irish_goat]

I'd use the cascade. Bramling has a lovely blackcurrant aroma to it but would be out of place in a lager, imo and I'm not a massive fan of styrian. 

[LordEoin]

i doubt it's a lager yeast as the instructions say to ferment at 20-15C, but i'll just replace the yeast to an ale yeast to avoid any confusion, then hop it up to high heaven

[LordEoin]

To follow up on this, I'm drinking one now.
I know it's just gone noon but i'm on nightshift, so in my world this is like 1am on a friday night, but with the sun shining, don't judge me!!!

Anyway, it's a great kit with a bit of tweaking (probably great without tweaking too, but I dunno)

I did:
Kit + 1kg LME (the cheap can from HBW or HBC) + Coopers IPA yeast (had it handy and know how it works) to 20L
fermented at 18C for 2 weeks
dryhopped with 25g cascade + 25gBramling X)

It's in the bottles for just over a month and tastes great!
Good lasting lacing head, beautiful flavor/aroma.

These kits are €6.45 and the LME is €6.95, so apart from the hops the whole kit and fermentables cost less than most other kit cans.

I'm very surpised at this beer. What started in a lesson on cheap ingredients turned out to be a keeper.

Lessons :
finlandia 1kg kits are good
cheap LME is good
(cascade + bramling cross) = win : it's maths so it must be true!

[Col]

Very interesting - a good option for a TAG like me...

[LordEoin]

We're all TAGs at heart. Otherwise we'd just buy our great beer from the expensive section of the offie!!   

[johnrm]

Tight Auld Git?

[LordEoin]

I was thinking Tight-Ass Git, so we're probably close

[johnrm]

 I just picked up a few cheapies in the HBC...
http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/beercider-kits-make-your-own-beer-18-kg-kits-c-1_208.html
Weiss and Mild 1.8kg kits for about EUR7

Some of the lads at work are interested so I'm going to throw on a kit in the Canteen after work some evening.

I'm going to add 500g Sugar + 500g DME to each.

[LordEoin]

You might be better off with 500g DME and 250g sugar to 20L
It'll be the same strength but with less sugar it will have better body and head 

[johnrm]

Sorry, by sugar I mean dextrose, I assume you mean the same.
Yup, I might try that.
I'm trying to keep it as simple and 'by the book' as possible as it will be to a noob audience.

[LordEoin]

of course.
Also, if the yeast is out of date I should have a few packs from coopers' kits that you can have.
As the kits are only 1 month out of date it sould be fine though

[johnrm]

I'd say they're fine.
Thanks for the offer.