Our munich lager kit has been bottled for about 2 weeks and we had a test, and its real good already! Already nicer than supermarket lagers even though we used ale yeast.
One question, how do you minimize sediment in the bottom of the bottles?
Nice one dude! I had pretty good results with that one myself when I was brewing up kits, subbed in a dried lager yeast from memory and some hops, lovely fluffy white head and like you say much more satisfying than a tui anyday! I would rather drink any of my beers over a cheap supermarket one. Of course once you get hooked, which you will ;) you start branching out to the premium beers and it starts pushing your expectations of your own beer, a slippery slope! Welcome to the bug.
Never worried about the sediment in the bottle, just pour carefully to avoid unsettling. I believe using gelatine to fine compacts the yeast more which may help, can't offer much there though as only did it myself for the first time last night on an Oktoberfest brew.
Seriously sediment in the bottle is part of home brewing. The idea is that you pour it into another vessel to drink, that being said I tried things like muslin, milk socks and even a water filter with varying degrees of failure as my mind was set on having beer in the bottle without sediment.
As I said to start with, I know keg and fill from keg.
Worth checking out for beers that you want clear (however he did force carbonate, so not too sure if the gelitin takes the yeast out with the rest of it. If it does you'll not be able to bottle condition)
Yeah we used finings but I was just wondering what else we could do.
The beer has come out really well anyway, really nice and fizzy, good taste etc.
Also tried the nut brown ale last night, still a bit early but it was still pretty good. The lager is really nice though, reminds me of Mac's gold but a little more mellow/