Festival Golden Stag Summer Ale Review

[Cloudy Beer]

I have Landlords finest which will be my next brew followed by Bulldogs Thor's Hammer

 

[MadrikXIV]

I need a minutes silence, a trip to the cellar this morning and I was greeted with a cracked wilko keg!!!

Yup a couple of pints seem to have escaped from the barrel, it is not sat in the sink, and I am valiantly drinking my way through as much as possible, a small crack on the join, that is only just visible now that there's pressure in the barrel.

It's easing the Cobblers hammering on Sky, and an email (again) rattled off to wilkinson

 

[Cloudy Beer]

Barrelled now the waiting starts

 

[Slate Miner]

After the positive reviews, thought I'd give this kit a go. Even though it's a little bit more expensive than most 2 can kits this really is a cracking pint. A lovely refreshing summer ale, but the thing that impressed me the most was the overall balance between hoppyness (is this a word? ) the bitterness, & the citrus flavours. It's only been in the bottle for 5 weeks so I must now leave it to mature. :nono:

I made it up as per the instructions using bottled spring water with an OG 1040, after a couple of weeks in the FV added the hop pellets, left for another week before bulk priming and then syphoning into 500ml bottles, ended up with 43 bottles. Couldn't get the FG below 1011, therefore have an ale of approx. ABV 3.8 - 4%, not overly strong however just right for a summer ale in this current heatwave! :drink:

It's a :thumb: from me.

 

[B6bloke]

Being new to brewing I thought I would go with all the recomendations with this one and will take some going to beat the Fixby Gold that I did last time, that came with a bag of hops with it which worked a treat!

Put this on last night and its already bubbling like a good en!

From the comments I have seen so far on here I think the price seems fair as I have been paying around £22 for the others I have done and no sugar to add helps.

Loving the syphon bag in the kit!

 

[MadrikXIV]

I recently brewed a Coopers Australian pale, added 500g light malt, then hopped with some Citra, (20g percolated, 30g dry) and really did bring it up to the Stag standard for half the price I reckon, got some good reviews from the ones I shared.

I do wonder just how good the stag would be without the inclusion of £2 worth of hops?....

 

[muddy90]

I have 3 bottles of 8 month old stag left & maybe 12 of around 5 months old. If you can keep your hands off for this long, you'll be rewarded with one of the best tasting pints you can buy. :thumb: :

 

[Deadeyedave]

I have a couple of questions about this kit: I have just added the hops today and they appear to have dispersed and broken down across the yeast foam on the top of the beer which now has a green crust to it but not sure if they have actually dropped into it. Do I just leave it there and hope they drop in or should I lightly poke them in/stir gently?
Secondly, I am crap at reading hydrometers: when I took a reading initially it was way high and I think this is likely caused by a lack of stirring, thus the sugars were mainly in the bottom of the FV instead of equally dispersed (am just getting back into this lark, forgive the newbie error); again, would a stir at this stage be detrimental to the whole thing? it does seem to be frothing away nicely, just these two issues are bugging me...any help gratefully received..

 

[SloeBrewer]

The hops will sit on top as a green crust for a few days, but will eventually sink, given time. To encourage them on their way, put the FV somewhere cool for a couple of days.

If you didn't stir properly, you would have a low hydrometer reading, not a high one. (As in say, 1.032 instead of 1.040).

Just leave it be, the yeast will find the sugar, stirred or not.

 

[Deadeyedave]

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.
I have an acquarium heater keeping the beer at 23C as I live on an outcrop in the west of scotland and it's freezing here, the warmest palce in the house is where the beer is and it's max 18C when the heating is on, so am using the heater to keep the temp steady. Am loathe to move it or to stop the heater now and change the temp....should I anyway so that the hops drop? Then turn it back on?

 

[foxbat]

I thought I'd stop lurking and drop by to contribute my experience so far with brewing this ale.

Mine's been in the FV for 14 days so far and is still bubbling, albeit very slowly. Starting gravity was about 1040-ish. I topped up to 25L with water to begin with as I'm aiming for a 3.8 to 4.0% session strength bitter from this brew. Hops were added after 5 days as directed.

Temperature in my utility room where it's brewing is about 19C when the heating's on. The FV has an old sleeping bag wrapped around it for insulation. Fermentation seemed to stall after about 7 days at 1014 gravity so I gave it a stir and off it went again, albeit slowly. I expect it'll need another week in the FV before going into the pressure barrel.

Should be ready for Christmas I reckon!

 

[bobsbeer]

Welcome :

 

[foxbat]

Welcome :

Cheers Bob!

I decided to try to get my gravity down a little from 1014 so I added a teaspoon of yeast nutrient dissolved in warm water, stirred gently and put the FV in the airing cupboard (temp 20-24) for a few more days. The top of the FV domed up nicely and it started bubbling slowly again.

Last night (5 days later, 20 days total) and it's down to 1012 and stopped again so I've decided that's as far as it's going to go and siphoned it off into to the pressure barrel (I don't bottle) with 75g of the included sugar. Strength wise I think I'll end up around the 3.7 to 4.0 mark which is the range I was looking for.

Any ideas how long this one typically takes to clear for drinking? If it's ready for Christmas when the family turn up I (and them) will be well chuffed.

 

[Slid]

Oh well, just got this going today. It is an expensive kit at £24, but I hope it reaps rewards. I put my Wilko Hoppy Copper in a secondary today and had a quick taste, early days I know but it tasted like the Geordie kits I used to do in the 80s, so I hope that improves. But in short I'm hoping for good things from this Festival kit, it'll be a good comparison.

All made by muntons i think.

Does this track the improvements in Home Brewed beer over the period?

 

[Gambler]

This was my first homebrew.

It had 3 weeks fermenting, then 2 weeks in bottles in the warm, and so far, maybe 3 weeks in the shed in the cold.

I've never really tried real ale before I started making this, but I've drank my way through quite a selection whilst waiting for it to brew in order to see what it is that I like, and to free up bottles lol.

Its... rather bitter.

I left the hops in for 11 days due to underestimating the time it takes to clean and sterilise 40 bottles (I now have starsan for next time though)

I wouldnt say its unplesent, far from it. But I think I may have jumped in the deep end a little with a very hoppy ale (which I left the hops in too long too).

the hops are becoming less pronouced each week though, and its now at the stage where I find it ok. before, the kick from the hops was a very seperate taste from the rest of the beer, but in the last week or so, its started blending in. So with any luck, after another month, I'll love it.

All in all, Id call it a result for my first atempt. many lessons learnt, and I've ended up with somthing worth drinking at the end too.

 

[Trucker5685]

I have just added the hops today and they appear to have dispersed and broken down across the yeast foam on the top of the beer which now has a green crust to it but not sure if they have actually dropped into it. Do I just leave it there and hope they drop in or should I lightly poke them in/stir gently?
Sec

I'm intrigued to know what happened to the hops as I'm at that stage now and was thinking the same :wha:

 

[gazkilla]

Just got this today and I'm very impressed with the contents especially the syphon bag :thumb:

Seems like a professional kit,I'll be getting it on next week :

 

[Trucker5685]

Just got this today and I'm very impressed with the contents especially the syphon bag

You'll be even more impressed when you come to use it, I racked and bottled mine a couple of days ago, had hoppy bits floating in it but after siphoning it the brew was hop free, brilliant!

 

[gazkilla]

Started this today,brewed to 21.5 litres. Pitched yeast at 24c. Let you know how I get on :hmm:

 

[Tubby]

Hi All,

I have just made this kit and it is bubbling away nicely, but I have a question.

The instructions say that it should be brewed in a fermenting bin with an airlock. I have brewed a lot of kits in my time and I have never used an airlock for beer, but I am worried by the amount of time that this takes to complete and wonder if it will be okay in a bin with a lid and no airlock.

Any advice would be much appreciated.