Here is one of my latest ‘kit and kilo’ home brews which was made with a 1.7kg tin of Morgan’s Golden Saaz Pilsener plus a kilogram of a other sugar products. This Morgan’s product is tremendous although it is also slightly more expensive than other brands. It has the best head retention properties of any homebrew product that I have thus far encountered. The addition of dark malt extract has given it a beautiful deep copper/amber hue and a depth of flavour that you don’t usually get with very light coloured Pils style lagers.

I brewed and bottled it as a ’special occasion’ beer but we (or rather, I!) are drinking it quickly because it goes down very easily. I tried one after just 4 days in the bottle and the head was very stable and lasted down to the bottom, leaving a lacy pattern on the side of the glass; clarity wasn’t bad either. After a couple of weeks this brew is transcendent. The basic recipe follows…

Ingredients

1.7kg can of Morgan’s Golden Saaz Pilsener
400g of dried Dark malt extract
370g of dried Light malt extract
230g of dextrose (something I usually don’t use).
½ cup of dextrose + ½ Light malt extract boiled with 1 cup of water for priming.

Method

1. Add 2 litres of hot water to a brew kettle/pot.
2. Add the dextrose, dark and light malt extracts and bring to the boil.
3. Keep on the boil for five minutes stirring constantly to avoid too much darkening.
4. Turn the heat off, add the tin of Morgan’s extract and mix through.
5. Add to the fermenter and top up with water to 23 litres.

I used the kit yeast. Primary fermentation had finished in 3 days at around 22-24C (this isn’t a real lager – the yeast was probably an ale type). Prime the bottles with 1/2 cup dextrose and 1/2 Light malt extract boiled in 1 cup of water. Store and try to leave for a few weeks before you start quaffing.