Well, the results of brew number one are in (more or less). The recipe I used is on the 'what are you brewing?' thread.
Have yet to bottle, but a pre-bottling taste indicates that I have produced 22 litres of cloudy vinegar. Well, actually, that's possibly unfair. The cloudiness I was expecting, having very little idea exactly what I was supposed to do with that little packet of Irish Moss (it's still sitting on my spice rack). And the vinegar aspect isn't exactly offensive - it's slightly reminiscent of some flavours I remember from UK keg conditioned bitters, although not having tasted them for 18 months or so, I can't really remember if they tasted quite as vinegary as this brew.
So, does it sound like I made a common error here? Or have I just used peculiar hops? Or was it the sugar? I'm keen to know what I might alter with the next brew that would change it.
A couple of things did strike me - I opened the keg a couple of times to see what the yeast was doing - might I have introduced an infection? I might also have left it a little long to brew. The air lock is now going about every 5 minutes or so, which I figured made it about bottling time, but maybe I should have bottled a bit earlier?
Anyhow, great to know what everybody thinks.
Cheers!