Rajas reward stuck

[Ale House Rock]

Maybe Raja's Reward is a kit designed to replicate English IPAs not Amercian IPAs. Think Worthington White Shield not Punk.
There are so many hops out there to choose from, and your taste will be unique to everyone else's, and then how much of a hop head are you? For American type hops my usual go to is Cascade US but I also use Summit for bittering and Amarillo as a late hop but both can be overdone. So my shout would be either do it as it is or go for 50-100g Cascade US as a dry hop.

Thanks for this. I don't know for sure if this makes sense but i think i can replicate either the Festival or Youngs blend through buying 25g bags from Crossmyloof brewery. In terms of cost, I'd be ok spending up to a tenner on this experiment so 75g hops would be under this.

 

[terrym]

If you have the opportunity, you could split the batch and use half of the kit hops in one half to see what the original turns out like, especially since you do not appear to have done it before. Then just one 'new' hop in the other to find out what it contributes rather than dumping lots of different hops in there where the contribition of each hop is masked by the others.

 

[Ale House Rock]

If you have the opportunity, you could split the batch and use half of the kit hops in one half to see what the original turns out like, especially since you do not appear to have done it before. Then just one 'new' hop in the other to find out what it contributes rather than dumping lots of different hops in there where the contribition of each hop is masked by the others.

Thanks again terrym. You always give good advice. I dont have enough kit to split the batch prior to bottling but I am coming round to your way of thinking and using just a single hop addition.

 

[labrewski]

Did yours have that vegemite tang?

No just a flavour less beer is all I can say very disappointing for the price no interesting flavour just like a cheap can of beet

Thanks again terrym. You always give good advice. I dont have enough kit to split the batch prior to bottling but I am coming round to your way of thinking and using just a single hop addition.

Definitely if I had to do this one again I would dry hop the s#$% out of it lol

 

[windsurf.col]

I missed this thread first time so late to the party...
Agree with what has been written already.
I tried this kit a while back and FG slowed at 1020. Raised the temp to 24C and roused the turb - it eventually got down to 1015 before I bottled. Secondary in the bottle with 4g sugar per pint - carbonation was below expectation so primary had clearly completed.
Result was just an unexciting ordinary brew for a premium kit but it was very drinkable and it improved with a few weeks extra conditioning.
Not bad, just a bit disapointing. I’ve also made Bulldog Four Finger Jack and Evil Dog and all just unremarkable - better off with Mangrove Jacks Craft Series or Youngs Premium kits if you want a decent IPA.
Or go All Grain

 

[Ale House Rock]

Finally got round to making this. Given the multitude of issues that others have had, I used MJ Liberty bell yeast instead of the one supplied in the hope that would get the gravity down to something like you'd expect. 2 weeks in, with airlock bubbling once around every 10 minutes, gravity checked and still high at 1.018. Not good. Plan to leave another week and check again.

 

[kelper]

Just remember that SG will drop more and more slowly towards the end.

 

[Craftman]

My Raja's Reward kit that I brewed back in July also stuck at 1.020 after 2+ weeks. This was what pushed me to look into AG. Definitely down the rabbit hole now - waiting for my Brewzilla to arrive

 

[Ale House Rock]

Waited another week. SG now 1.016 so not a lot of movement. I read on another thread that someone had got it to 1.016, bottled it and was happy with it. On that basis and the fact that its now blocking my production line, I dry hopped with 100g cascade US as suggested by terrym and will bottle in a few days. I'll reserve judgement until tasting but its fair to say that I'm not terribly impressed at the moment. Given that this is marketed and priced as a premium kit I do think there's better quality and value out there. But hey, maybe it'll taste like the best beer ever!

 

[Ale House Rock]

OK - last word on this. Tried a bottle at the weekend, 4 weeks after bottling. SG got down to 1.014 on bottling day. Appearance - still a bit on the cloudy side but that should improve. Nice head and head retention. Smells OK. Taste - I'm hopeless at describing these things but here goes - initial hit is quite strong, no suggestion of sweetness, not overly hoppy at first but as initial taste fades I'm left with a nice hop taste that lingers for quite a while. So, not a total disaster. Definitely drinkable. Would I recommend this kit? No. When you pay a premium price you shouldn't have to be buying different yeast and hops. But as we all head into lockdown again, your choices may be limited. Is it any better than sticking to the ingredients in the kit - I don't know. But for what its worth, my modifications have left me with a beer that's OK to drink and that does seem to be better than some experiences other folks on here have had. Cheers!