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I bottled mine about 2 weeks ago. @phillystein what level of carb did you go for? How did you prime? (gms dexrose?)

I bottle all my brews on the horizontal surface of the opened door of my dishwasher. Found it makes for a very convenient easy-clean giant drip tray!

I'm also fan of Festival kits and dry-hopping. Not, though, a fan of the little nylon muslin type hop-filter bags Festival provide to filter trub/hops when syphoning. But I've found the solution! I use an auto-syphon to transfer brew from FV into bottling bucket, but the little hop-filter bags...

+1 for Mangrove Jacks Juicy Session IPA! Just gets ever better with further time aging in bottle. Mine now 2 months. Every one been good, and now fantastic, but sadly down to last few bottles! +1 for Festival kits also. Especially Belgian Pale Ale & Dubbel, RIS, Razorback IPA, NZ Pilsner...

Update... Just bottled MJ Dry Irish Stout, on Day 16 in FV (at constant 20degC). Achieved FG of 1.009, from OG of 1.046 (i.e. ABV of 5%). Dry-hopped from Day 9. (Could probably have packaged from couple of days ago, as SG static and brew clear w/ trub well settled, but wanted to get most from...

Only if there's significant difference in temp from one measurement to next. My Stevenson Reeves hydrometer says it's calibrated to 20degC. (S1011 Triple Scale Hydrometer Hydrometers for Home Wine and Beer Making). However, if all my SG measurements are taken at say 18degC, then I figure the...

Old thread, but for anyone new reading it... Fermtech "thief" works for me. Hydrometer fits inside sample tube, so allows you to test brew within "thief" and return sample to FV after testing, (assuming all has been properly sanitised, of course!). Allows more frequent testing whilst keeping...

@Wynne - thank you. Not what I really wanted to hear. But definitely what I needed to know! Very grateful to you for the detailed info, and especially for the heads up! May need to bring forward my corny investment plan!

@Wynne, thanks for update. Yes, I'd read that on one of the threads and that 'excessive' use of VWP (my goto cleaner) exacerbates breakdown of the polymer lining. So TBH reuse of these does make me a bit nervous. But not sure I want to spring to cost of cornies and all necessary CO2 delivery...

Thanks for update @Taffspeed. Couple of further questions, if OK by you? How much did you carb bottles? And how has bottled compared with minikegged wrt pour and fizz? I'm repurposing supermarket-bought 'full' minikegs which I'll seal with new bungs - bit of an experiment! So kegs were zero...

@Taffspeed how did your minikeg carb turn out? Did your IPA condition and pour OK? About to put some Festival Landlord into a couple of (recycled) minikegs. I normally batch prime into bottles. Plan to batch prime this again, as will still bottle some of the brew. My vol CO2 calcs call for...

@Drunkula that's handy intel - thanks. I did MJ's Juicy Session IPA about 3 mths ago w/ their 'Light' LME. Came out really well, but I imagine the mango addition prob helped carry it.

@robfor and others, If Muntons IPA bit underwhelming out-of-box, (I've only brewed Wherry from Muntons brands, so no personal experience), is now the time for @Brudru to perhaps dry-hop, adding 50g-75g of some aroma hops? Say something like Simcoe or Centennial?

@Brudru, kit instructions are notoriously optimistic/misleading re timings at best! If dry-hopping, you may want to get hops into FV well before two weeks are up. Best I've found is to wait until airlock activity is noticeably slower (day 7-8 with good temps?) then test SG. If within 5 points...

+1 to what @Bernie says here. To newbies, think the key is to avoid over expectation on desirable end-product brew body and flavours coming from bulk of fermentables being just sugar (whether sucrose or dextrose). If '2nd can' is LME or DME, then IMHO you've designed your own custom 'two-can' kit!

@Brudru, Not sure of the date of John Palmer's comments, but I think that his opinion regarding kits was probably an accurate assessment of those prevalent in the market a few decades ago. I imagine there’d be quite a few forum members who, like me, can still remember sourcing their one-can kit...

Progress report... Just tested MJ Dry Irish Stout SG. (Day 9 in FV at a pretty constant 20degC). SG now dropped to SG1.010 (from OG1.046) - much further down line than I thought it would be. Working on a target FG of around 1.009, so have dry-hopped with the included pack of 20g Goldings loose...

Used MJ Beer Enhancer 2, which B2B were offering at half usual price. So total kit price for both worked out about same as for a Festival kit. Achieved OG of 1.046. I'm expecting target FG of around 1.009 (which I think should deliver the advertised 5% ABV). FV's been at a pretty constant...

My MJ Dry Irish Stout (also from B2B) is now eight days in FV. Currently trotting along nicely. Will report back on progress.

I mostly brew from 3kg pouch extract kits (Festival, Mangrove Jacks). These I've found to be top quality kits which include dry hops where appropriate. Some in range also include additional dextrose for higher target ABV, and include enough additional priming dextrose for carbonation appropriate...