Brewferm Ambiorix

[GJB]

Made this on Saturday, 13/4/2013 after being thoroughly impressed with how the Diablo turned out.

Made with 1 x 907g tin of Golden Syrup (recommendation from another message board) and made up to full advised amount with brewing sugar, to the advised 15L. Managed to get just above the Brewferm OG (1.065 to their advised 1.060) and left at 26 degrees.

I'm glad I put this inside a 23L FV, overnight this went crazy. It has foamed up to the lid and is the most "odour-ful" brew I have made yet. Not a nasty smell, just that it has a strong smell.

Leaving it til next weekend, then bottling (with 2 drops in Newcastle Brown bottles) at hopefully 1.014 as it seems to stall there (according to the other board again!)

Will post again when it has done.

 

[DirtyCaner]

Hi GJB,

I made this kit a couple of years back, it's really good. I only used sugar mind.

You might want to drop the temp a wee bit though, 26 sounds a little high.

I'm sure you will enjoy the results though.

DirtyC

 

[GJB]

Hi GJB,
You might want to drop the temp a wee bit though, 26 sounds a little high.

DirtyC

Just dropped it down to 24 degrees. Thanks for the advice.

 

[GJB]

Having left this alone all week, we have no movement in the airlock and a FG ov 1.012; first time a brewferm has gone to target!

It smells wonderful, bottling tonight with 1 1/2 drops in 500ml bottles.

Now comes the waiting...

 

[DirtyCaner]

You do well to wait. My kit aged very well, certainly one of the better kits out there.

The last kit I did was the Brewferm Diabolo, it's also another blgian style strong ale. You might like that if you enjoy the likes of Duvel.

 

[GJB]

Update: I bottled this after running it into a secondary, getting most of the dregs out.

After 10 days it is now crystal clear. Never (in my 5 months of brewing - lol) have I seen a brew go so clear this quickly.

It has another week inside, then outside till probably Xmas as with all the Breferm Kits, long ageing required.

I WILL NOT TOUCH IT TILL XMAS, I will not touch it till Xmas, I will not touch it till Xmas....

 

[DirtyCaner]

I WILL NOT TOUCH IT TILL XMAS, I will not touch it till Xmas, I will not touch it till Xmas....

Haha... course you wont mate

DirtyC

 

[GJB]

Right,

I've been good. I never touched the beer until the 3 weeks inside was up.

Well, I moved it outside, and there was a bottle with about 200ml in that just wouldn't fit in my beer cupboard. For science's sake, I did the only honourable thing... Chilled it for a couple of hours and drank it..

Now, the Diablo after this time was ok. And 4 months down the line it is wonderful. I was not expecting anything from the Ambiorix at this stage...

The Ambiorix is superb now. I mean tasty, clear, strong, a head that lasts the entire drink. It is killing me to try and leave this till Xmas.

It may not make it, so in preparation for this, I have bought another pack and it will be in the FV in about a week...

 

[DirtyCaner]

As long as your happy bro :

After all it's a hobby to enjoy, no torture yourself with!

DirtyC

 

[Jamthesun]

I've just put one of these on. I've had the can for a while and just not got round to it. Tried two other Brewferm kits (Christmas ale - not terribly impressed and Tripel - fantastic) and I'm planning to work my way through them all.

Anyway I wasn't planning to do it today but I'd been racking some wine and just bottled a Fixby Gold and some cider and everything was sterilised so I thought sod it I'll do that Ambiorix now. Unfortunately once I started it became apparent that I didn't have enough brewing sugar, a bit of a shock cause I usually have plenty in stock. Undeterred I raided the store cupboard and found half a tin of golden syrup and some raw cane sugar.

In for a penny I thought so I chucked them in to get an OG of 1060. It's in the water bath now at 20c so let's see how it turns out.

Guess I'll be getting another tin to do it properly at some point. Ho hum.

 

[harrysachs]

just purchased one,after good reviews here,and elsewhere,cant wait to mash this one up,love my belgian beers,be great if i can re produce a belgian style,if you have ever been to Belgium you will know what i mean,a beer menu,over 30 types=heaven :P :drink:

 

[Bowl sprayer]

Brewed as per the kit instructions with dme to add body/matiness to the end result. Normally with a Brewferm kit I would brew for 3-4 weeks then rack off for 2 before bottling.

However, although I only racked this a week ago, it has done so well I bottled it last night. It was already very drinkable. It hadn't gone down as low as I had hoped so I'm bottling at about 1.016/1.014. It had cleared in the secondary to the point where it was crystal clear.

Darkish red abbey style ale. Rich, warm, dark, malty flavour with delicate hop bitterness coming through which lingers in the finish. Very well balanced and distinctive Belgian abbey style beer. It has just done what it said on the tin.

 

[Grotzilla]

Picked one of these kits up today from the "better bitter" store in Derby. Been looking forward to doing a Brewferm kit for a while now. I'll keep you updated with results and pics asap!

 

[Drayman151]

Hi pal I brewed this one some 10 months ago and it's a little strong but it certainly give my friends a wake up call : They were taken by surprise And enjoyed the tipple but if you can leave it alone for at least 5 months.

Picked one of these kits up today from the "better bitter" store in Derby. Been looking forward to doing a Brewferm kit for a while now. I'll keep you updated with results and pics asap!

 

[serum]

I just started brewing this one today. I used a hotch potch of different fermentables. 500g dextrose, 500g light candi sugar and about 200g golden syrup. Starting gravity was bang on 1060.

We finished mixing it at about 1 today and by 9 in the evening the airlock has already started going. It smells funky as hell! Updates to follow.

 

[serum]

Following on from the last post, I was late moving this to secondary FV due to being too busy but it has carried on bubbling away all that time. I tested the gravity today, which is now over 3 weeks's later and it has hit 1010.

I'm going to put it in the garage until just before NYE and bottle it then. As always, waiting up to 3 months to drink this will be a major test of my patience. Having said that I've been running something of a Brewferm production line lately, with Oud Bruin, Diabolo and Triple all conditioning at the moment. Hope they turn out good!

 

[Lesinge]

Brewed and bottled this end of August and beginning of Sept. At first after conditioning for a month it was nice but too bitter. Now trying it at Christmas its a milder than initially tasted but still strong, full flavour beer, lovely tasting and with a great head that stays until the end.

 

[rats_eyes]

Got this brew started last night, using 500g light candi sugar and 680g golden syrup. I got a dissapointing OG of 1.052, the kit predicts 1.060. I added a dose of dextrose in solution at the last minute just in case. I'll have b*ggered up my hydrometer readings now, but hopefully the brew'll taste good!?!

 

[serum]

Mine have been bottled for 8 weeks now. I tested a few and they're almost completely flat. Not sure what's gone wrong.

I can tell they'd be nice with some fizz. Anyone else had this?

 

[serum]

Mine have been bottled for 8 weeks now. I tested a few and they were flat for some reason so I thought the batch might have gone to piddle. I brought a few indoors and tested one this evening and ended up with about half a pint of head. I thought 120g of sugar should be pretty explosive in a 15L batch!

This is really unusual beer. From the blurb I thought it'd be a bit like Rodenbach but it's not much like it. It has a tiny bit of sourness but not much. It definitely needs to mellow out so the alcohol flavour rounds off but I can tell it'll be pretty good when aged properly.