Festival Beer Kits - New

[duffname1969]

Mine has been in the keg about 9 or 10 weeks now and there is still some of that bitterness there but it is balancing out quite well. I took a litre to a friend place the other day and he was impressed by it. Unfortunately I'm coming to the end of the barrel now - if I do it again I'll make sure that I have enough stock so that it can condition for a couple of months before I start drinking it.

_

Why O Why are people waiting for beers to mature for beers as long as 9-10 weeks, the beer is 6% (Suffolk strong) so to me that's cold conditioning for 5-6 weeks perhpas 4 if you really cant wait.,
and ive read on the forum "the bitterness is mellowing"well, doesnt homebrew suppose to be different to normal beer and have aroma and hop flavour and hops that you just cant get at the pub , taste the hops , smell the hop aroma, but once the hops and aroma start to reduce its starting to go past its best.
i like to drink my beers after 3-4 weeks and get that big hop taste.
goto the pub for a mellow if no hop .

[lee1]

hi all as me and my mate have found drink a beer when the taste is good for you, cloudy or clear the taste is everything for me

[LeeH]

How many people are putting the hops in the bag?

I bottle or keg straight from the primary as I have bottling bucket so reducing the sediment would be better for me.

[Monkeybrew]

I chucked the hops straight into the FV for the full effect!

I tied the bag over the end of my siphon to filter out the hop pellet debris.

MB

[LeeH]

Ok, my landlords bitter kit is still bubbling away and it will be 2 weeks on Sunday. It had been sat on a heat mat all that time.

I guess I wait until it stops? Never had this with any other kits before.


Cheers.

[Monkeybrew]

I'm not too sure what yeast they use, but my Pilgrims ticked over really steadily.

MB

[LeeH]

I guess I'll leave it in until next weekend then? That will be 3 weeks!

[LeeH]

It's still going strong. What's the best thing to do, give it another week n the FV or keg it?

[Monkeybrew]

Personally I would take a gravity reading to see what's going on.

MB

[suitsyousir]

I have brewed the Suffolk Strong Ale, and it came out at about 6.5%. I have conditioned for a few weeks and sampled a couple of bottles. Its very nice, you can really taste the hops in it. You can also notice the strength of it. I only had two bottles and started to feel it creeping up on me lol! Definitely not a session beer, but certainly a nice drop for a quiet couple. I can see this batch lasting longer than my usual batch, and I will definitely be getting another!

[rydog]

I put on a batch of Golden Stag yesterday. Followed the kit instructions ot the letter, but was a bit too keen at rinsing out the malt bags with hot water. Made the wort up to 23 litres, loads of froth, but the temperature was up at 30 degrees. The insructions say not to pitch the yeast above 25 degrees, so i had to wait a few hours to pitch. I was a bit dubious as to whether the fermentation would get off to a good start, considering all that lovely froth i had mixed in had dissipated, and despite my best efforts I could not get it back in.

24 hours in and there is a great krausen, it's nearly touching the bin lid!! - never had one this active before. Needless to say I am excited about this beer.

On a side note, how long have people fermented this? Does it matter if the hops go in exactly 5 days before fermentation end?

[LeeH]

Well, kegged and bottled my landlords finest a couple of days back. It smells and taste very hoppy, result.

[Greatcthulhu]

Have done a couple of these kits ( Father Hooks and the Suffolk), both of which were great. I'm putting on a Porter this weekend and was wondering whether to stick with the included sugar or replace it with DME or DME/sugar or even leaving the sugar out completely and brewing short. Any thoughts?

[Monkeybrew]

I think that you should brew the Porter as intended at least once.

MB

[Greatcthulhu]

Yeah, I think you're probably right- it's just that I generally try and steer clear of the white stuff.