Move over Fullers...

[Gawain]

Hi All,
Finally got around to starting my first brew this weekend, and thought I'd look around for additional advice, other than the fairly poor kit brew instructions. Pleased I came across this site as my first brew had just started fermenting at 25c and having read advice on here, managed to get it to drop down to 22c within a few hours - hopefully it'll still be okay!

Anyway, I'm based in London, and while I jest about Fullers in the subject title, I absolutely love ESB and any strong ruby ales (Hobgoblin etc). As I'm just starting out, I'm hoping to find some advice on which kits will make the best alternative brews to some of my favourite beers. I don't think I'm quite ready to start cooking up my own ingredients for brewing just yet.

Glad to be a part of the community, and hoping to learn a lot of things from those experienced home brewers out there. I'm sure it's going to be a tasty and money saving hobby!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum :

 

[Gawain]

Thanks :

 

[pms67]

Welcome and enjoy

 

[Brewed_Force]

What are you brewing?

 

[Joeyriles]

Hey, welcome to the forum!

For dark ruby beers I highly rate the Festival Old Suffolk or the St. Peter's Ruby Red ale (brewed the former, not the latter but it is on my to do list.)

 

[Gawain]

Joeyriles. Thanks for the advice, I'll look them up. I had read that Woodforde's Nog has been compared to Hobgoblin, have you ever brewed this?

Brewed_Force, I was bought an entire Ballihoo brewing kit a couple of years ago and with it was the Brew Master IPA kit, which I thought was the best place to start.

I'm in two minds whether to add some finings and sugar to create a 2nd fermentation once transferred into the barrel, or whether to just stick with the kit instructions and serve as they suggest. I've little doubt that it'll be better if it undergoes a second fermentation, but I sort of want to see what the kit is like out of the box, mainly for comparison reasons going forward.

Just for info, I pitched the brew at 24c as per the instructions and noticed after a few hours it had gone up to 25/26c. Following reading a number of posts on here I realised that was too high and took steps to resolve (improved room ventilation) and the temp dropped to 24c after a few hours and has been steady at 18c for the last 3 days now. I started the brew on Sunday, and I'm not expecting to test with the hydrometer until probably next weekend, 6th December. As I'm brewing it for Christmas, I am happy not to rush things.

Still undecided what to do when it comes to barrelling. I might transfer some to bottles and add the sugar and leave to condition and then barrel the rest as per kit instructions (though kit said ready to serve in 5 days, which surprised me).

 

[Noah]

If it's Fuller's you're after the Festival Razorback I brewed reminded me very much of ESB. My favourite is Fuller's 1845 and I haven't found a kit that comes close yet...

 

[Gawain]

If it's Fuller's you're after the Festival Razorback I brewed reminded me very much of ESB. My favourite is Fuller's 1845 and I haven't found a kit that comes close yet...

Awesome, thanks Noah. Will definitely add that to my list to try.