Festival New Zealand pilsner.

davejhs · Aug 10, 2015

This is my second brew after my wherry.
My lad wanted me to brew a lager so off to local homebrew shop and we chose this kit.
I brewed as per instructions and added the additional hops after five days.
Fermented for nineteen days just would not stop.
Put into bottles and today after three weeks looked clear so in fridge and opened a couple of bottles tonite.
Very nice and refreshing but the hop flavour and aroma is intense which i could get use to.
Not sure if lad and friends will like as much as me.
Was wondering if the hoppyness will die down as it matures.
Or should i have not added all the hops after the five days but later or cut it back by half for a less hoppy flavour.

stevej · Aug 10, 2015

I brewed this some time ago and loved it , starting to make me think about doing another tbh, mine did not last that long to comment on the hops dying down :rofl:

davejhs · Aug 10, 2015

Yes if i brew this again think i will go with the full amount of hops, i am drinking as i type and it is very moorish and tasty.

stevej · Aug 10, 2015

Like i said i loved it tbh its that kit that started me off with changing and adding hops to kits

davejhs · Aug 10, 2015

You have got me thinking.
Have two 40 pint batches of wherry on go since sunday.
What do you suggest i could add to a batch to hop it up a bit.

nbpicklesno2 · Aug 10, 2015

It's in my head that max aroma hoppyness is around 21 days after adding hops but can't remember where I read this. I think it's in the context of dry hopping commercial casks than homebrew though.

stevej · Aug 11, 2015

i love east kent goldings maybe try them

davejhs · Aug 11, 2015

So i could put some golding pellets into my brew as it ferments.
Same as adding the pellets in my pilsner brew.

stevej · Aug 11, 2015

davejhs said:
So i could put some golding pellets into my brew as it ferments.
Same as adding the pellets in my pilsner brew.

I would add them 3>4 days before you bottle

unforgiven · Aug 17, 2015

knocked this kit up just now
looking forward to tasting this one will post how it turns out
feel free to merge didn't see the Earlier post

unforgiven · Sep 8, 2015

This Has Been Bottled for Seven Days So Had To Crack One Open just now
Couldn't Resist.... a week in and tastes great im impressed very tasty indeed gonna have to leave alone now :-?

Yeastmaster · Oct 7, 2015

Hi - does this kit come with a true lager yeast or is it an ale yeast.

Did it smell of rotten eggs when fermenting?

unforgiven · Oct 9, 2015

hi
No pretty sure its ale yeast no rotten egg smell at all so suppose its not a true larger however its a great kit just got another festival (red larger)
would be interested how it would turn out with a true larger yeast

Yeastmaster · Oct 10, 2015

Cheers - which temperature does it tell you to ferment at?

unforgiven · Oct 11, 2015

instructions say between 20-25
they say fermentation will stop all together at 15

Yeastmaster · Oct 11, 2015

Cheers - that's definitely an ale yeast.

unforgiven · Oct 17, 2015

Yeastmaster said:
Cheers - that's definitely an ale yeast.

maybe not
There's a thread on the festival red larger discussing the yeast
(cant post link sorry)

leedroy · Oct 31, 2016

This is by far the best beer kit I have done.

Personally this beer is right up my street. A pilsner style with a massive hop aroma. I have just put another one of these kits on and am looking forward to this being my Xmas drink of choice.

Poochops · Oct 31, 2016

Will be bottling this in the next few days got it clearing in the fridge at the moment. It was monumentally thick after I syphoned it off the hops and just wasn't settling out at all. I used the hop sock over a mesh screen on the syphon but that was a PITA as well, it needed to be rinsed three times and by the fourth there was still about five litres of porridgey beer left in the fermenter but I gave up and poured it away :-( Still the 18 litres I got smells delicious if I can get 35 bottles I'll be happy with that but next time I'll bag the hops that's certain.

MagnusTS · Nov 2, 2016

I love this beer. Probably the best kit I have ever done. I brewed the NZ Pilsner earlier this year, and liked it so much I am doing another.

The finished product was not quite as lager-like as I was expecting, it was darker than the picture on the box, and I thought it tasted more like a pale ale than a lager. But it was lovely, so I am not complaining.

I had the same problem as Poochops describes. The hop sock got clogged while syphoning into the bottling bucket, air got into the syphon, and flow stopped. So I had to ditch the sock and syphon without filter. It worked better, and I got just about the whole batch into the bottling bucket before the syphon clogged. The 2nd batch is still conditioning, but it is very dirty; there is a big layer of crud at the bottom of the bottles. I think Poochops is right, maybe bagging the hops would be a good idea.

That last paragraph sounds a bit negative, so I am just going to re-state that I think this is the best kit I have ever done; a really delicious, hoppy, lager-pale ale brew.

Festival New Zealand pilsner.

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