Brew No 2 - Festival Golden Stag

[timfuller]

Well its brew no 2....

So after lots of research and much deliberating I had made my mind up to do a Coopers Sparkling Ale, BUT had a total impulse moment in the LHBS and ended up with a Festival Golden Stag Summer Ale kit.

I think it was when the guy in the opened the box and showed me the 2 pouches, the Hop Pellets and the Priming sugar that I "needed" to have it.

So, here it is all ready to go ...


Pretty impressive list of contents...


Sterilising solution for the FV, spoon, etc...


All my water getting ready. 1 Pan to warm the pouches, 1 to add to the brew and 1 for rinsing the pouches out.


Pouches to about 10 mins to go nice and liquid


Liquid pouches and about 3l of boiling water, mix like crazy..


Then it got topped up to 23l, yeast pitched at about 23c and put in the cupboard. Nice happy brew after about 24hrs with 3 inches of foam...


Will give it 5 days and then add the hop pellets. Another 5 or so and then the decision.

Still not decided if this will go into bottles or into a keg.

Will post an update when the hops go in......

:drink:

 

[pms67]

You will defo enjoy this mate ;-)
Great summer drink

 

[Monte Cristo]

You will defo enjoy this mate ;-)
Great summer drink

+1

Mine took 14 days at 20c in the brew fridge, so i waited till it had reached its FG before adding the hop pellets and left them in for 5 days as the instructions suggest then syphoning to a second FV and bottled.
I did this because I made the Festival Razorback and added after 5 days but the fermentation took 15 days so the hops were in the brew for 10 days, twice as long and i think it added an extra bitterness to the brew - still good though!:hat:

 

[timfuller]

You will defo enjoy this mate ;-)
Great summer drink

Don't worry, I plan to..... :

 

[timfuller]

+1

Mine took 14 days at 20c in the brew fridge, so i waited till it had reached its FG before adding the hop pellets and left them in for 5 days as the instructions suggest then syphoning to a second FV and bottled.
I did this because I made the Festival Razorback and added after 5 days but the fermentation took 15 days so the hops were in the brew for 10 days, twice as long and i think it added an extra bitterness to the brew - still good though!:hat:

Thanks for that, really useful.. As I am not a massive fan of overly "hoppy" beers that is a very good idea that I will have to pinch from you...

I will wait until FG and then add hops for 5 days.

Once again this forum is giving me some really good and useable advice and ideas.

Many thanks all....

:drink:

 

[Monte Cristo]

You probably won't like the Razorback then, the Golden stag is a light hoppy slap where as the Razorback is a jolly good hop punch. :hat:

 

[midnight rider]

I am not a massive fan of overly "hoppy" beers
:drink:

Read the thread I posted on this brew. http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=47798
Four months later it is still extremely hoppy, though it has now eventually cleared. I have set this aside now to be drunk in the autumn!
If brewing this again, I would not add more than 50% of the hop pellets that came with the kit.

 

[pms67]

I must agree with it being "very hoppy" put it this way, I haven't bought any beers like this, Williams Bros Joker IPA and Brewdog Punk IPA included.
I an currently drinking Youngs American Amber Ale and it is similar, takes a long time to clear but is worth the wait. :drink:
Cheers

 

[timfuller]

PMS and Midnight - Thanks both.

I took a sample for the first hydrometer reading yesterday and tasted it, it already has a fairly hoppy taste with the sweetness decreasing as the yeasties do their thing.

Although the instructions say 5 days and then add hops with a total of 10 days. Based on some of the other comments and the fact it is at the lower end of the temp (20c-22c) I suspect that it will take longer than 10 total. I plan to take another sample at day 8 and see what the SG looks like (Gone from 1.041 to 1.020 in 5 days). Based on the taste I will then decide how much of the hops to add.

Thanks for the heads up.

Planning to move to a 10l BIAB for my next brew so that I can have a bit more control over the malt and hop profiles.....

:

 

[Redron]

PMS and Midnight - Thanks both.

I took a sample for the first hydrometer reading yesterday and tasted it, it already has a fairly hoppy taste with the sweetness decreasing as the yeasties do their thing.

Although the instructions say 5 days and then add hops with a total of 10 days. Based on some of the other comments and the fact it is at the lower end of the temp (20c-22c) I suspect that it will take longer than 10 total. I plan to take another sample at day 8 and see what the SG looks like (Gone from 1.041 to 1.020 in 5 days). Based on the taste I will then decide how much of the hops to add.

Thanks for the heads up.


Planning to move to a 10l BIAB for my next brew so that I can have a bit more control over the malt and hop profiles.....

:

Yep, wise move on the hops.
I've just made that mistake with a Festival landlord bitter kit. I hopped after 5 days as per instructions and it ended up fermenting for 23 days ! And that was with a heater belt on. So the hops were in for 18 days, and yes, is is very very bitter ! I nearly binned it and mourned my 25 quid and my stupidity, but I kegged it and is slowly improving. I will have to give it some time.......

It's all a learning experience:hmm:

 

[skippy01]

Made as kit instructed.Way too hoppy.SIX weeks in the pressure barrel.
After 4 weeks i developed a cunning plan! Realising the massive hop hit was not going to go down enough to drink,and not wanting to commit sacrilage by chucking out an otherwise perfectly good brew, i put on a basic bitter kit. One you can drink after 12 days start to finish.
I now fill a pint pot with 2 thirds basic bitter and one third festival landlord
Hey Presto! an upmarket basic bitter with the flavour of the landlord.
If making this kit again l would only use one third of the hops.
So its a case of thinking outside the box for a hoppy ending:party:

 

[Redron]

Yep, I figured that one too:thumb:
Reminds me of 'a pint of mixed' we used to drink in Yorkshire in the seventies, half a Tetleys bitter and half a Tetleys mild, 15p if my memory serves me right...

 

[skippy01]

Considering we're both 'junior' members we've got good memories. I started my beer career in 1972 Manchester boddington pubs, where a pint of mixed was 12 and a half pence. That was 8 pints for a quid:drink:Cheers. Latest one in the bucket is a burtonwood Summer Ale.
Best kit to date St Peters Golden Ale.Bloody Marvelous!

 

[timfuller]

So the SG this morning (day 16) had reached 1.010. I added the Hop pellets.

They really had a very citrus smell, grapefruit and tangerine..

Will leave it for another 3 or 4 days and then either rack it off to a 2nd FV to clear or straight into the Corny.

Tasted pretty good already though so looking forward to this one.

: