Festival Beer Kits - New

[AllHailToTheAle]

Just kegged the summer ale a few days ago. It already tastes good . Fruity and aromatic as you like. It tastes quite peachy I think. I fermented at 22c, so not massively warm, but perhaps enough to bring out some extra fruity notes... I tried harvesting the yeast from the trub, for another brew, and it was so full of hops that I gave up! It was for cider so hops weren't ideal. You live and learn.

[tricky_dicky]

I have a Pilgrims Hope that's been in the bottle just over 2 weeks, so it's still pretty young. But it really is a truely top notch beer, great copper colour, malty body and the hops shine through and give it a depth of flavour far supieor to any other kit I have brewed. Head retention isn't great at present but I have no doubt that will improve.

I'm sure people say this all the time, but this is the first kit beer I have done that would truely stand up in a pub against any commercial beer. Well done Ritchies

The only downside is the cost when added up with P&P makes it £30 a pop - it's worth it - but I think I will be adding the kits to my Christmas / Birthday list and get a few bought in bulk....

[AllHailToTheAle]

The only downside is the cost when added up with P&P makes it £30 a pop - it's worth it - but I think I will be adding the kits to my Christmas / Birthday list and get a few bought in bulk....

Don't you have a home brew shop local to you? Maximum £25 a pop that way...

[tricky_dicky]

The only downside is the cost when added up with P&P makes it £30 a pop - it's worth it - but I think I will be adding the kits to my Christmas / Birthday list and get a few bought in bulk....

Don't you have a home brew shop local to you? Maximum £25 a pop that way...

Unfortunately not - nearest one is on Aldershot, about a 60 mile round trip for me. Wilkos have recently improved their home brew section no end, which is a real godensd - now if only they did the Festival Kits

[Barloch]

AOPare 24 a pop, buy 2 and free delivery

I just got a massive order

FESTIVAL PREMIUM PRIDE OF LONDON PORTER
St PETERS RUBY RED ALE
MUNTONS PREMIUM GOLD SMUGGLERS SPECIAL ALE
BREWFERM TRIPLE (BLOND ABBEY BEER)
FESTIVAL PREMIUM PILGRIMS HOPE DARK BITTER
FESTIVAL PREMIUM OLD SUFFOLK STRONG ALE
WOODFORDES NORFOLK NOG 3kg

Should set me up nicely for the next couple of months!

[Chardf]

I put in 5l of water just off boiling point and topped up with cold. Finished temp was 35c took 6 hrs to drop to 25c with the lid off.

24hrs in and It now looks and foamy Gravity han't changed 1040. The water in the airlock has stayed level so no pressure that I.m used to with Woodfordes kits

5 days in added hops gravity down to 1030. Completely different to the Woodfordes kits, they would be ready for the barrel now!!

[RdRd]

I'm nearing the end of a barrel of Festival Stag and I agree with the comments on here already it was really nice, I like the Fixby Gold kit and I think it's on par with that, but slightly different. I have a barrel of Hooks that I am so far resisting until its matured a while but first impressions are very positive.

[hopeful_homebrewer]

I've Kegged my Father Hooks tonight, it was down to 1009 from a temp. corrected 1040. I tasted the hydrometer sample and it was surprisingly good, with just a hint of a yeasty bite. Hopefully it can lose this as it conditions.
How much priming sugar has everyone used so far? I was thinking about stopping a little short of the full 100g included in the kit but ended up bunging it all in. Finger crossed it'll be ok.

I'm off to clean the fv and make a start on a ditch's stout. Christmas should be good if I can keep my hands off it for that long!

[jimmybobbird]

Bubbles in Burton-on-Trent are flogging the Festival kits for £20 a kit which sounds like good value - trust the centre of the brewing universe to come up trumps.

I have read the above with interest - I bought a festival and a St. Peters IPA together. I have just bottled the IPA but being a newbie I just bunged the hop pellets I got with the kit in and didn't bother filtering it - have I cocked up?

I bit wierd as the pellets broke up in the FV over time so would a muslin bag have made any difference?

[Barloch]

Just got my festival kits through and it gives you a muslin bag and pellets but says to just add the pellets, bu use the bag for kegging, would think that using the bag after the 5 days but weight it down, dunno if this would be beneficial as it would stop each bottle geting some of the hop reminates in the bottle?

[Spooneys regular]

I bit wierd as the pellets broke up in the FV over time so would a muslin bag have made any difference?[/quote]


Bottled pilgrims hope tonight, the muslin bag caught a bit but think the most of it remained in the FV, looked pretty clear going into my bottling bucket. Also tasted nice already. Can see me doing a lot of theses kits

[Barloch]

Can i ask how you used the bag, did you put into another FV to bottle as i usually just bottle straight from the original FV with a wee half spoon of sugar in the bottle?

[Spooneys regular]

Can i ask how you used the bag, did you put into another FV to bottle as i usually just bottle straight from the original FV with a wee half spoon of sugar in the bottle?

I have a tube I use to siphon from one bucket to another, leaves most of the trub behind and bottle from the second bucket. I put the muslin from the kit over the end of the hose and it caught a bit of gunk. Think it's there to catch any hop bits that float about in the FV.
You certainly get less sediment using a second bucket for bottling

[Monkeybrew]

Finally buckled and bought the Pilgrims Hope this morning

[chigman]

Just this minute put on a Father hooks - anyone done this and how did it taste ?

Steve