Re: Festival Razorback IPA Review

[Hoonigan]

Well I barrelled mine tonight, had a bit of a nightmare though as the crappy Kilner syphon I bough would not hold a syphon, it was letting air in where the rigid tube meets the flexible one, ended up resetting it loads then giving up and sanitising a bit of 12mm hose and using that instead, had at least two mouthfuls by the time I had finished so if it does not get infected it will be a miracle only time will tell! Must say though, it didn't taste to bad at all...

 

[Beerlover]

I added the hops to mine today, it's been in the FV now for 13 days and is now down to 1008 from 1050, I'm planning on only leaving the hops in for a couple of days and transferring to a PB on Sunday. It's been a really lively brew whilst fermenting and my FV is in a right mess! Looking forward to sampling this one after all the reviews.
I'm guessing that only leaving the hops in for 2 days instead of the proposed 5 will result in a hoppier end result? Just thought I'd try this and see what happens. :)

 

[louis macneice]

I added the hops to mine today, it's been in the FV now for 13 days and is now down to 1008 from 1050, I'm planning on only leaving the hops in for a couple of days and transferring to a PB on Sunday. It's been a really lively brew whilst fermenting and my FV is in a right mess! Looking forward to sampling this one after all the reviews.
I'm guessing that only leaving the hops in for 2 days instead of the proposed 5 will result in a hoppier end result? Just thought I'd try this and see what happens. :)

Why would it be hoppier if left in for less time?

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[Beerlover]

From what I understand the longer the hops are in there the more the smell/taste fades, I'm pretty sure I read that if they're only in there for 2/3 days it will result in a stronger hopped beer as a pose to if they were in there for 5/6 days, I may be completely wrong but I'm sure I read that this is the case.....anyone?!

 

[rodabod]

I bottled mine one week ago, and have 41 bottles sitting in a heated bath at 23 - 24 degrees.

I know it's premature, but I took one out two days ago and let it settle in the fridge for one day. Tasted great. Light caramel-tasting malt, grapefruit peel bitterness (not excessive) and a piney/floral aroma. Carbonation was perfect.

There was absolutely no "tang" or off-flavours. I drink quite a lot of traditional ales and craft ales, and this could easily be passed off as being from a commercial brewer.

My general brewing process was:

Used Tesco Ashbeck bottled water (I live in London and the tap water is horrid). 20 Litres.
Starting gravity read 1052.
Heated FV in a builder's-mixing-bucket water bath, heated by a £6 aquarium heater at 20 degrees.
Dry-hopped when my gravity read 1010.
Final gravity read 1008 (instructions state target 1005).

Looking forward to giving the bottles two or three weeks in the warm, and then storing them in the fridge.

 

[sloth]

Just got this on the go this evening, I have high hopes for it. It can't be any worse than the coopers stout in my pressure barrel at the moment!
Made up to 23 litres as per instructions, maybe 0.5 litre over as I had a two year old helper adding the water. Start gravity of 1049, trial jar tasted quite bitter.
Fingers crossed...

 

[rodabod]

This beer needs the bitterness to counteract the strong dry hop flavour and alcohol. The final product seems well-balanced so far.

 

[Beerlover]

Just transferred mine to the Pressure Barrel, I ended up with a reading of 1004 so it works out at 5.9% so about 6% I guess now the priming sugar has been added and once it's stood for a few weeks, should be a good one. :)

 

[binnster]

Started this one on 18th of Jan with 20L of Ashbeck water from Tesco and I think I threw in an extra 200g or so of dextrose if I remember rightly. Starting gravity prior to pitching yeast was 1.056. Used an aquarium heater to keep the temperature at 22degC. Strong activity started after about 24 hours and I switched from air-lock to blow-off tube into a bottle of starsan after things got messy up top and the airlock got gummed up. By 3rd of Feb the gravity reading had been a steady 1.009 for a couple of days, so racked to secondary straight onto the 75g of supplied hops and an extra 30g of cascade pellets. Batch primed with 125g of dextrose on 8th of Feb and bottled. First bottle tasted after 9 days at aroubd 18 - 20degC and a few hours in the fridge (I lack patience), tastes as good as anything you can buy and the hop aroma hits you as soon as the bottle is opened. FG was 1.008 so ABV about 6.4% plus whatever extra you get from priming sugar (maybe 0.3%?). Will probably do this one again some day, but for now got a couple of John Bull IPAs lined up that are almost as good (done 2 before) but much much cheaper.

 

[sloth]

7 days in and gravity down from 1049 to 1020, nice thick krausen still on top. It never went mental, was about 2 inches after two days and never left! I suspect temperature is slowing down the fermentation a little- the stick on half way up says 18-20℃, ish. But a proper thermometer leant against the bottom or placed on the lid reads 17/18℃ or 21/22℃. Unfortunately the floor in the boiler cupboard is the only option I have! To make the best of it and lift it off the cold concrete I've sat it on a plank of wood and some cardboard and wrapped it in bubble wrap; seems ok so far. It's this or the shelf in front of the boiler, a steady 24-27℃, I hope I've chosen the lesser of two evils and fermentation doesn't stop.
At least the trial jar tasted good, lost a little bit of the bitter twang and has great potential...

 

[Monster]

After 17 days the fermentation seemed to have stopped at 1.012 (from OG 1.058, short brew) which is still pretty high. I added the hops at that point and within a few hours there was a little activity and then it stopped again. Two days later is was still quiet at 1.012, but the temperature had dropped to about 18C over those days. I moved the fv off the cold-ish floor onto a piece of cardboard and a blanket and the fermentation seemed to have picked up again! It's been bubbling every couple of minutes for the last three days...

 

[Beerlover]

Just had a pint of this after it's been in the PB for 10 days, purely for quality control measures obviously and I have to say it's bloody lovely! If I'd bought this in a pub for £3.50 or whatever i'd be going back for another pint of the same, definitely be doing another one of these, going to leave it now for another couple of weeks, or until my Golden Stag runs out anyway!

 

[Hoonigan]

Just had my first full pint of my RB, been in the barrel about 20 days now and despite initial worries seems to have turned out bloody lovely, a cracking pint I would be happy to drink in a pub but not exactly a session beer at 6.1% :drink:

Way to Amarillo going into the barrel tomorrow so look forward to trying that in a few weeks, by all accounts it should be even better but it has a lot to live up to... :p

 

[HowbeckAles]

Just been tucking in to my first go at this brew and it's an absolute belter!! Bursting full of hop aroma just what I've been after for a while now. Nice and clear out of the bottle too. Looking forward to seeing how it progresses as it matures in the garage. Came out at 4.9% so it's got headache potential!

I'll be doing this one again... :

 

[rodabod]

Just a final review of this kit, as I believe mine is probably at its peak just now (six weeks since pitching).

I've shared this beer with many friends who are real ale and craft beer fans, and all of them have genuinely agreed that this beer is very nice. There's nothing to suggest that this beer is inferior to commercially available craft-style IPA's. The only thing which I have very slightly noticed is that the yeast flavour is ever so slightly Belgian (ie. fruity), though this could be a product of my relatively high brewing temperature. Or it could also be a by-product of bottle fermentation....

For a supposedly US-style IPA, I actually found this tending slightly more towards being a British craft IPA as far as the malt flavour was concerned. It's relatively dark for an IPA and verging on amber. As I've said before, the hop bitterness and dry-hop aroma are well balanced. Generally piney, grapefruit rind, marmalade-y, and slightly floral which may be partly due to the yeast.

Mouthfeel (a word I don't really like) is excellent, but I attribute this to using Tesco Ashbeck water. I notice the same difference when brewing coffee. Also, the relatively low TDS of this water possibly helps the dry hop solids to be absorbed into the ale too. My alternative is London tap water (bleurgh), but if I was back in Scotland then I'd be using tap water.

Cheers,

Roddy

 

[Covrich]

Wanted to get my Dad an IPA kit , he wants an IPA kit to do for his birthday. my supplier is out of stock on Youngs American IPA (which I think he'd like).. so was looking for an alternative kit.. Generally this looks to be a good alternative.. and a decent kit.. I wanted to give him a premium one with hops as he well just brewed one can kits every so often with a bag of sugar and wanted him to try something better to show him.

 

[sloth]

After 21 days at 18-19°C ish, I hit the stated 1.005 from an Og of 1.048. A matching reading today (22 days) means it's into the cold shed for the last 24hrs of the 5 day dry hopping, then kegging tomorrow night. Trial jar tasted lovely, and despite the thick green hop sludge on the surface in the fv, it's already pretty clear really. Very impressed so far and looking forward to getting stuck in once it's conditioned...

 

[Beer_is_my_friend]

Hi everyone. I'm new to home brewing. I was given a coppers brew kit for Christmas and now making razorback Ipa. My first brew was coppers lager which didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. I learnt a lot from my mistakes and now onto my second brew. Started on 27th Feb with a SG of 1:056 @ 24 deg. Added the hops a week later and it was sitting at 1:025 then checked it yesterday and it has dropped again to 1:015. Had a cheeky taste of the juice each time I have done a reading and it is starting to taste very nice. A lot better than the coppers lager ever did. I am keeping the fv in a water bath @ 22 deg. Hoping to bottle it this Friday if the readings are Stable. Then batch prime and put the bottles in a water bath for 2 weeks. Can't wait to try this. Just ordered youngsters American beer new world saison and then a youngs rasbery and mango cider . So by the summer I will have some nice stuff conditioned and ready to drink.

 

[clibit]

I happen to have the three hops used in Razorback, Simcoe, Centennial and Summit, so may do an all grain brew or a kit plus mini mash brew and use these three hops to see what they're like together.

 

[b_smith_90]

- Started kit on January 23rd using 1kg of Hopped Light Spraymalt instead of included sugar.
- Dry hopped with including hops on February 4th
- Dry hopped with East Kent Golding pellets on February 7th
- Bottled on February 9th - realised I didn't stir brewing sugar in properly

Tried first bottle after 2 weeks in the bottle - frothed up like mad and tasted EXTREMELY strong, heavy and bitter.

Had a bottle last night (4 weeks in the bottle) and it was delicious! Fiance loved it too and can't wait to see how it tastes in another 2 weeks.

I'd definitely recommend giving my version of the recipe a try.