Belgian Pale Ale/Blond kits and the Brewferm version

[Twopan]

New to the forum and fairly new to brewing. I have made two batches of the Festival Belgian Pale Ale and it just goes in our house because we love it! Now seems to be out of stock everywhere. I have had some recommendations for other types e.g. Muntons, but they are all very, very strong. I am seeking something no more than 6% (like Brugse Zot, which we love). I was looking at the Brewferm Belgian Saison one can kit and wondered if anyone could comment on its quality and style please? I dislike very hoppy beers, but love the subtle banana flavour that you get with the Festival version. Thanks!

 

[clib]

New to the forum and fairly new to brewing. I have made two batches of the Festival Belgian Pale Ale and it just goes in our house because we love it! Now seems to be out of stock everywhere. I have had some recommendations for other types e.g. Muntons, but they are all very, very strong. I am seeking something no more than 6% (like Brugse Zot, which we love). I was looking at the Brewferm Belgian Saison one can kit and wondered if anyone could comment on its quality and style please? I dislike very hoppy beers, but love the subtle banana flavour that you get with the Festival version. Thanks!

THBC has the Festival kit in stock, it would appear ...

https://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/festival-belgian-pale-ale-beer-kit-35kg-40-pints-p-2471.html
I reckon it would be good to find out what yeast they use in the Festival kit, which i don't know sorry. That is probably the key ingredient that you like, and you could use it to brew similar beers, A lager kit fermented with that yeast will produce something similar, with the trademark yeast flavours. I've used a few dry Belgian yeasts and Lallemand Abbaye and Mangrove Jack M31 are my favourites so far, you could try one of those. You may well like the Brewferm saison kit but a saison is typically very dry and usually spicy and fruity, and a bit different from a pale. I'm a saison fan myself.

 

[Twopan]

Thank you so much for this helpful reply. I haven't ventured into trying to adapt things and this may well be the time to try that. (I did find the Festival Pale Ale elsewhere incidentally. It says it's in stock but I just end up with an apologetic email back and a refund!) Anyway, do you have any recommendation as to which lager kit would make a good base for this? Some look cheap and nasty and I remember all to well the crappy yeasty homebrews of years ago. The Festival kits have none of that. So I would change the yeast for a Belgian yeast and presumably add some Styrian Goldings hop pellets halfway through?

 

[Twopan]

P.S. I have found that Mangrove Jack M31 which is a Belgian Tripel yeast so that sounds ideal.

 

[clib]

Thank you so much for this helpful reply. I haven't ventured into trying to adapt things and this may well be the time to try that. (I did find the Festival Pale Ale elsewhere incidentally. It says it's in stock but I just end up with an apologetic email back and a refund!) Anyway, do you have any recommendation as to which lager kit would make a good base for this? Some look cheap and nasty and I remember all to well the crappy yeasty homebrews of years ago. The Festival kits have none of that. So I would change the yeast for a Belgian yeast and presumably add some Styrian Goldings hop pellets halfway through?

Actually needn't be a lager kit, anything pale really, if you want pale. Lager makes sense though. The Mangrove Jacks kits are all very good. They do tins for about £11, two of those would work. Or one plus 1kg beer enhancer.

https://brew2bottle.co.uk/collectio...cts/mangrove-jacks-brewers-series-beer-kits-2
They do both those yeasts too. And beer enhancer, which is half dry malt and half dextrose.

https://brew2bottle.co.uk/products/malt-extract-brewing-sugar-enhancers?variant=15394979119219
And these are brilliant, 1.2kg liquid malt for a fiver. You could use one of these and a kit can, making it 2.9kg extract, compared to 3kg in the Festival kit, I believe. Add some table sugar, maybe 500g. Better option than the enhancer actually.

https://brew2bottle.co.uk/collectio...ove-jacks-craft-series?variant=18017961082995

 

[Twopan]

Thanks for this again. Just to check, I need sufficient malt extract to make up to 2.9Kg to 3KG? A lot of the single can kits are only 1.5KG but make 23 litres, yet the festival kits contain 3Kg of extract and you add 500g of dextrose to make 23L (or 18L in the case of the Belgian Dubbel). Does having 3Kg of malt extract ensure a better brew? I guess I'm not really sure what I'm doing here - but basically, to try and clone the Festival Pale Ale in 23L I need:

3Kg of malt extract, either two 1.5Kg kit lager/pale ale tins or one tin plus a Mangrove Jack light pure malt extract?​

500g of dextrose or light spray malt​

​

Plus​

20g of Mangrove Jack P31 Belgian Tripel yeast​

28g of Styrian Goldings hop pellets​

​

Sorry to be a bit thick, but I'm not getting the difference between the 1.5Kg single can kits and the 3Kg of malt extract thing! Nor the difference between a single can plus beer enhancer. I thought wrongly that beer enhancer simply replaced the sugar?

Thanks

​

 

[clib]

Thanks for this again. Just to check, I need sufficient malt extract to make up to 2.9Kg to 3KG? A lot of the single can kits are only 1.5KG but make 23 litres, yet the festival kits contain 3Kg of extract and you add 500g of dextrose to make 23L (or 18L in the case of the Belgian Dubbel). Does having 3Kg of malt extract ensure a better brew? I guess I'm not really sure what I'm doing here - but basically, to try and clone the Festival Pale Ale in 23L I need:

3Kg of malt extract, either two 1.5Kg kit lager/pale ale tins or one tin plus a Mangrove Jack light pure malt extract?​

500g of dextrose or light spray malt​

​

Plus​

20g of Mangrove Jack P31 Belgian Tripel yeast​

28g of Styrian Goldings hop pellets​

​

Sorry to be a bit thick, but I'm not getting the difference between the 1.5Kg single can kits and the 3Kg of malt extract thing! Nor the difference between a single can plus beer enhancer. I thought wrongly that beer enhancer simply replaced the sugar?

Thanks

​

Good questions.

If the Festival kit is 3kg extract and 500g sugar, and you want to do something similar, you could buy...

1.7kg kit can as above
1 2kg Mangrove Jack's extract pouch
1kg brewing sugar or table sugar
Yeast
Hops

That's 2.9kg extract, close enough. Use 600g sugar.

 

[damienair]

I did the Bruphoria James Blonde Ale kit from The Homebrew Company and it is very nice. Worth a try. I’m drinking it now 2 months after it was ready. It’s getting better with age. It is a 3Kg 2 can kit with hops for dry hopping.

 

[Twopan]

Just to finish this thread, the experiment worked well. Mangrove Jack's pale plus pure LME plus 500g dextrose. Added 2x 10g packs of Belgian ale yeast M41. 1.051 OG, 1.006 FG, ABV 5.9%. Tastes almost identical to the Festival version.

 

[clib]

Just to finish this thread, the experiment worked well. Mangrove Jack's pale plus pure LME plus 500g dextrose. Added 2x 10g packs of Belgian ale yeast M41. 1.051 OG, 1.006 FG, ABV 5.9%. Tastes almost identical to the Festival version.

Phew.

M31 and Lalbrew Abbaye are also good yeast alternatives. M47 too probably, I've not yet used it but sounds similar to Abbaye.

 

[Twopan]

Thanks for the tip. Please see my other post, just up, on a stuck fermentation. You may be able to advise me!

 

[clib]

Thanks for the tip. Please see my other post, just up, on a stuck fermentation. You may be able to advise me!

Stuck fermentations are a bugger...

 

[Twopan]

Pitch more yeast?