Brewferm, Framboos Review

[BrewDan]

Just for anyone looking at this and wondering why its blank:

I started brewing this end of last week (from memory Thursday 05/04/12), so once its fermented out and bottled I can put a review up. I believe there are a couple of other members who are brewing this as we speak, so there should be a few posts going up in the near future.

All I can say is that upon opening the tin I was instantly hit with the smell of raspberries....lovely!. I made this up to around 2 Gal using 500G light candy sugar and some ashbeck mineral water, took an OG that was giving me a potential of around 6.5%, which I thought was a higher ABV than what the kit suggests, thinking nothing of it, I gave everything a good stir and pitched the supplied yeast at around 21C, I then realised I had not added enough water and topped up with another 2 litres (forgot to take another reading though) :hmm:

In terms of fermentation kicking off, this is the quickest I have ever seen anything happen. I must have pitched just after midnight, woke up at 4am and it was already bubbling like crazy, and from what I could make out there appeared to be a large krausen ring forming.

I will update once bottled, I hope that this will make a nice summer treat , but I have a feeling it may not start coming into its own until next year, but we shall see.

So far though, all seems to be going well, still fermenting away like mad at a temp of around 20c, and the smell coming out of the airlock is amazing! reminds me of yogurt :party:

I forgot to mention, when I took my OG I did have a quick taste, rather than throw it back into the fermenter :whistle: . Tasted OK, but was nothing special at that stage, I do have high hopes for it though, as so far every brewferm kit I have made has been amazing, but they all tend to take a long time to condition.

Will keep you all posted. If anyone has any experience of using this kit, will be interested in comparing notes


Cheers

 

[Darcey]

I followed the kit instructions and cornie kegged after 4 weeks in the FV. I managed to wait for a further 10 weeks before trying and it was pretty good. Keg didnt last long but I would suggest that people bottle this and hide it away. I wish I had done. It would have been much better with 6month+ maturation I think....

 

[BrewDan]

Well bottled this up today at long last. FG was around the 1.112 mark, but as I messed up with the water quantity at the start I have no idea what the actual ABV is.

Managed to get quite a few bottles out of it:

5x 500ml primed with 1tsp brewing sugar
6X 500ml primed with half tsp brewing sugar
3X 300ml primed with quarter tsp brewing sugar
17X 250ml primed with quarter tsp brewing sugar

cleaning, sanitising, filling, priming and capping all of these bottles reminded me why I own cornie kegs, what could have been a 10 minute job, took hours. :evil:

I thought I would play about with the sugar a bit to see what gives the most suitable carbonation when I come to drink them, that way if its any good, I will know what to do next time.

The smell is fantastic, the raspberry note really comes through and its a light pink colour... had a sample from the trial jar today, flavour is not what I expected, its fairly bland compared to the smell. Not horrible, just a little on the weak side. As with every other brewferm kit I have made, I suspect this will probably need at least 6 months if not a year in the bottle.

Time will tell :

Now to decide on making the wherry or not :hmm:


EDIT 04/07/12

Having tried a couple of these since bottling, this makes a very nice drink, even my dad likes it and so far he has not been much of a fan of home brew, besides 1 or two kits I have made.

I think its probably one I will make again, but maybe I would look to bottle it around December, so its ready to drink the following summer.

Another win for Brewferm

 

[conorm]

Think I'm going to try this at the weekend. Something to bottle for non-beer drinking BBQ guests in the summer. So is sugar a better option than malt extract?

 

[dodsi]

I have bottled this some 4/5 weeks ago... I used brew enhancer.

early results are good but I do wish to mature this properly before passing judgement.

 

[michaelaston]

Bottled mine yesterday will let you know how it went when ive tried it but wont be for a couple of months

 

[rattus rattus]

This is my first time with this kit, I guess like many I had no idea the can only makes up half the amount of beer that all the other kits do. Given the high price I'm determined to get this beer just right. I've watched Dan's videos and read the kit's instructions but I've a few queries about how this is to be brewed properly.

1. When it says ferment for 10 days I assume it would be wise to take a first hydrometer reading around day 8, and wait for two days of consecutive readings of the correct density?

2. I'm used to racking into one of those supposedly deluxe wide necked kegs, mixing the 80g or whatever of sugar then transfer the beer immediately into bottles. The second part of three fermentations technique is a new one to me. My main query would be- is this middle fermentation meant to be in a airtight container, or is it- like the primary fermentation- slightly exposed to the air via a loosely fitted lid?

Cheers in advance for any advice.

 

[morethanworts]

This is my first time with this kit, I guess like many I had no idea the can only makes up half the amount of beer that all the other kits do. Given the high price I'm determined to get this beer just right. I've watched Dan's videos and read the kit's instructions but I've a few queries about how this is to be brewed properly.

1. When it says ferment for 10 days I assume it would be wise to take a first hydrometer reading around day 8, and wait for two days of consecutive readings of the correct density?

2. I'm used to racking into one of those supposedly deluxe wide necked kegs, mixing the 80g or whatever of sugar then transfer the beer immediately into bottles. The second part of three fermentations technique is a new one to me. My main query would be- is this middle fermentation meant to be in a airtight container, or is it- like the primary fermentation- slightly exposed to the air via a loosely fitted lid?

Cheers in advance for any advice.

I do all stages under airlock, but yes, the secondary stage should always be so, whereas the primary is more debatable.

If you're planning to rack to secondary, I wouldn't bother lifting the lid before hand. Just take a reading while racking and any further tests closer to bottling.

 

[rattus rattus]

I'll admit I've always been dubious about airlocks- not least because they aren't for sale in my local shop and the fact that your typical Young's bucket aren't readily compatible with them. I was under the (probably wrong) impression they were more of an American thing- akin to excessive health & safety standards just in case someone sues you- that Europeans discount airlocks as being a worthwhile purchase.

The only problem I have with kegging is that I find the gas-fed ones are terrible for carbonation when compared to bottles or the cheaper airtight kegs- and that's despite rubbing vaseline round the O ring. In any case it can't be avoided. Kegging for a week or two it is.

 

[morethanworts]

The only problem I have with kegging is that I find the gas-fed ones are terrible for carbonation when compared to bottles or the cheaper airtight kegs- and that's despite rubbing vaseline round the O ring. In any case it can't be avoided. Kegging for a week or two it is.

Flat fruit beer in a keg - Not for me! This stuff screams out to be bottled to me, but as you wish...

 

[b4dg3r]

Mine has been bottled for about a week now, and last night i may have tried one or 2 samples, just to make sure its doing its thing :drink:


I was so impressed with it had so much flavor, really nice and creamy and fruity to start with then finishes with a good Belgium double taste.

I was very surprised ti worked out so well as i was not paying attention when i was making it, i think the instructions stated to add 500g of sugar, and i presumed a standard bag of sugar was 500g. so after 1 Kg of sugar i was really worried I had messed it up but after last night ive ordered 2 more cans and going to do a double brew for Christmas.

The only question is how much sugar do i put in :)

 

[gitsurfer]

Stuck this in a bucket yesterday. Full 12 litres with candi syrup for the extra fermentables. Didn't quite have enough syrup to achieve the 1.053 OG but I did get 1.050 so close enough. Looking to give it 3 weeks before racking for 2 weeks cold storage before bottling.

Thought I'd bump this thread in case anyone had anything to say about this kit!

 

[Rickster]

Has anyone got any tips or reviews on this one? The threads been rather quiet for a while . I have a kit that I'll be starting next week :)

 

[Rickster]

Put this on today, only change being 500g cane sugar, plus 34g brown muscavado. Smelt lush. OG 1053, will check again in a week. Think I need to re-label this FV though as water quantities didn't seem to match my markings!

 

[Robin54]

Let the Forum know how it pans out...
The forum is all about passing on information and learning:thumb:

 

[Rickster]

Will do, it's going to be a while though, schedule is a month or so until bottling then a couple of months conditioning :). I'm sure I'll sneak a peak sooner though!

 

[Rickster]

This one has smelt lush in the FV, all bottled up and now carbing at around 20-22. Will give a couple of weeks then pop in the shed (rather warm but hopefully fine), will have first taste next month, then try and leave until Christmas.

 

[louis macneice]

I have done this a number of times, usually with golden syrup and it has always turned out really well.

It has more fruit aroma than flavour, although it definitely is a raspberry beer in the taste department. The background is quite dry, almost lagerish (and before anyone chips in I know it uses an ale yeast). The colour, which is generally a light pale ale/golden ale sort of hue, has a very slight pink blush/tinge to it.

I have also made it up with dry wheat malt and Safbrew WB-06 yeast. This turned out great very quickly; big creamy head, much pinker in colour, great mouth feel, bigger berry flavour with a nice wheat beer background.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice