Belgian beer kits

[RichardG]

So, got to the HBS Saturday, still in a quandry as to what to get. This was because in the days before I tried a couple of Leffe's; one blonde and one Brune. The blonde I really enjoyed, the brune (much to my surprise) I was disappointed by, though I realise these probably have absolutely no similarity to anu Brewferms beer. So I was still undecided when I arrived. In the end the decision was taken away as they didn't have any Abbey kits, so I got the Grand Cru instead. Got it on the go last night using soft brown sugar. Checked it this morning and the frement's going loony! Never seen so much foam! OG of 1070 (which is encouraging). I've got a bunch of 330cl bottles with more due soon. So, fingers crossed it turns out okay!

[JayBee]

Bet you can`t wait the 6-8 weeks they recommend before testing though. My first Brewferm I tested at 4 weeks and was very disappointed, another 4 weeks and it was a cracking beer, all the difference in the world. Best get someone to store it somewhere for you where you can`t get your hands on it for a while.

[RichardG]

Very good! However, I've read enough on here to know that the Belgian beers take a long time to mature. Also, I've just finished my last bottle of Wherry which I bottled on the 5th August, and believe me the difference in quality between the one I opened after 3 weeks, and those I've just finished was very noticeable. Moral of the story is, no matter the temptation, leave them as long as possible. I've got a Muntons traditional bitter next which has been clear for a couple of weeks, but the first one won't be opened until next weekend. After that, it's the Porter and that will also have had a least 4 weeks before opening. I've got enough to keep me happy for now and I want the Grand Cru for Christmas, so I reckon I'll resist! If not, I promise to confess!

[RichardG]

Got my Grand Cru in the bucket last Saturday (27th) at an OG of 1.070. Checked it today and it's sat at 1.018. The instructions state it should get to 1.010. I have moved it some where a bit warmer and given it a little stir, but to be honest I reckon it may well have gone as far as it will, and ain't disappointed with that. However, others will have more experience of Brewferms than me, so can I be satisfied at 1.018? May well be worth mentioning that I won't be able to bottle it much before Tuesday.

[RichardG]

By the way, a bit of warning for any fellow newbies out there. To make life easier for hydro readings I git a turkey baster to draw of liquid. Much easier than trying to read it in the bucket. So, last night got out the new baster and stuck it in the liquid. What I'd forgotten was to squeeze the bulb before sticking it in. Net result was that I squeezed the bulb when it was in the liquid, shooting a great big bubble of air into the beer. This was most annoying given all I've read about not aerating the beer at this stage as it can cause unwelcome flavours. Hopefully, it won't cause a problem. But learn from my error and squeeze the bulb FIRST!

[arturobandini]

Hey Richard I did exactly the same thing with the baster despite reading your post and reminding myself not to do it. I was fretting about holding the baster over the brew too long as it would leak and potentially splash into the beer so I took two or three quick blasts to fill the test jar. Net result was the third blast gave the beer a gentle squeeze...oops!

What was the fg of this brew? My Diabolo finished out at around 1013 after hovering around 1020 for three days so going off the calculators it finished at an estimated 8.1%. I primed with Billington's unrefined cane and it's in bottles now conditioning in my front room hopefully adding some much lauded fizz to the belgian beer! I have a lime's rose cordial bottle which I lobbed about 400ml of the dregs of my bottling bucket into so I could gauge the fermentation by squeezing and looking for colouration etc. I'm assuming you bottled as most people do with the Belgians as a matter of carbonation, what's the sediment situation like in yours? I've got a bit in the few I've held up to the light and wondering how "solid" it will become later on in the conditioning and if not will it not get stirred up when the naturally gassy Beer gets cracked open?

[RichardG]

Your quite right AB, I did bottle. Looking back over my notes I see that it finished at an FG of 1.014. It's been sat in the darkest recesses of my garage since then, so to be honest I haven't looked to see what the sediment situation is but I'm sure it will be fine come sampling time!

[Fuse]

I bottled a Frambosen brewferm kit 3 weeks ago, finished off about 5.5% as the kit said. Seemed to work out pretty well but as mentioned before the volumes can be a bit random. I ended up using 2 kits and adjusted to make it fit into normal bins/kegs - the smell is absolutely fantastic - just need to wait another 5 weeks to try it

The instructions take a few readings to work out wtf is going on, but when you work it out its pretty simple. They are just generic instructions that seem to fit all of their kits so for the simple minded like me it was confusing at the start.

Ive only heard good things about the brewferm kits so im expecting big things!

[RichardG]

Yeah me too! I can't recall having read anything negative on here about Brewferms, so when I was considering a Christmas brew it seemed the obvious choice. Time will tell of course! I have a Grand Cru in 330ml bottles which should be ready for early December. I'll try one then to see how it's looking then leave the balance till Christmas.