Re: Festival Razorback IPA Review

[Kye]

looks great, and nice colour, more like what it says on the box (pale straw). mine has never been anything other than what I'd call orange and is now a deep amber. I've no idea why. used 1kg dextrose and kegged it (see pic for colour - I dont think its oxidised but any ideas?). mine also stopped dead at 1.010 so kegged 18l and got about 7 bottles out of it, they've not blown up so far!

cheers

 

[muppix]

Been thinking about that SG since my other two brews (Evil Dog and Cwtch) have also levelled out at 1.011, and the common factor for me is water. Have I made the ultimate n00b error of using fresh tap water when I should have boiled it first, or used bottled water? To be fair our tap water here is fantastic, and nothing like the sludge we used to get in London, but still, I can't help thinking that 1.011 is all I'll ever get ...

 

[Kye]

I switched to bottled water and never looked back. it adds around £3 to the cost but my brews have been so much better. that said I'm just outside London with v hard water. the HCO3 reading is 355ppm!

 

[terrym]

Been thinking about that SG since my other two brews (Evil Dog and Cwtch) have also levelled out at 1.011, and the common factor for me is water. Have I made the ultimate n00b error of using fresh tap water when I should have boiled it first, or used bottled water? To be fair our tap water here is fantastic, and nothing like the sludge we used to get in London, but still, I can't help thinking that 1.011 is all I'll ever get ...

If your tap water tastes and smells OK and you drink it without thinking then it is fine for kit brewing as it comes out the tap, and is extremely unlikely to have affected the FG, although you may have to treat it with a campden tab as I do if the chlorine taste is obvious. Next the UK has one of the most stringest set of rules that govern water purity so to all intents it is sterile as it comes out the tap, so there is no need to boil it. As for bottled water imo only use it if your tap water is crap, or if you are an AG brewer and can't get the water profile you require with your tap water.
And as far as an FG of 1.011 is concerned I would be quite happy with that. Most of my beers whether kit, extract, partial mash or AG and using all sorts of yeasts usually end up in the range 1.008 to 1.012. Only the odd one or two have been down to 1.006. The time to get a little concerned is when your beer stalls at say 1.016 or higher when you were expecting 1.010.

 

[trummy]

I have always used tap water treated with a Campden tablet. I would think IoM water to be very pure - only down side could be too soft -depends if those hills are hard or soft rock, a simple hardness test would prove one way or the other. 1.011 isn't too bad anyway. What does the final ABV end up as?
I only boil a couple of litres to dissolve the malt.
Bottling - I give the bottles a rinse as soon as they are empty then another prior to bottling followed by filling with steriliser/ water, then another quick rinse. Mostly use 2 ltr PET bottles now as its quicker than using 500mill ones. Recap after a having a PINT (or two) and its ok the next day.
The above works fine for me

 

[muppix]

I switched to bottled water and never looked back. it adds around £3 to the cost but my brews have been so much better. that said I'm just outside London with v hard water. the HCO3 reading is 355ppm!

Cheers @Kye, I'll give the bottled water a go and have just picked up 70 litres for £14, which should be enough for the next couple of brews. Still, I'm reassured by feedback from @terrym and @trummy that my tap water will probably be OK. I've lived in a few places in Europe and travelled to most of the world, never had water this good; tastes 100% fine with no chlorine, not a speck of limescale on any of our fittings, soap / shampoo rinses easily.

As for bottled water imo only use it if your tap water is crap, or if you are an AG brewer and can't get the water profile you require with your tap water.

Funny you should say that, as I'm currently thinking of going all-in with a fancy AG setup. Naturally I'll have questions, but I don't want to drag this thread any more off-topic than I already have.

And as far as an FG of 1.011 is concerned I would be quite happy with that. Most of my beers whether kit, extract, partial mash or AG and using all sorts of yeasts usually end up in the range 1.008 to 1.012. Only the odd one or two have been down to 1.006. The time to get a little concerned is when your beer stalls at say 1.016 or higher when you were expecting 1.010.

That's reassuring too, thanks. All I have to worry about now is whether the bottled product will be happy at 24℃ for 2 weeks and whether I've got the carbonation right and if I was careful enough with exposure to oxygen and ...

I have always used tap water treated with a Campden tablet. I would think IoM water to be very pure - only down side could be too soft -depends if those hills are hard or soft rock, a simple hardness test would prove one way or the other. 1.011 isn't too bad anyway. What does the final ABV end up as?

[checks notes] ... OG was 1.052 on 26 October, I bottled on 15 November at 1.011, making 5.38% according to the calculator. Wonder if that's going to increase very slightly as a result of the carbonation? Kit says 5.7% IIRC. As for the tap juice, I've lived in places with soft (and hard) water and this isn't the case here. We do have an alarming amount of sheep, though you can't taste them or anything that may or may not have been added as a result.

Bottling - I give the bottles a rinse as soon as they are empty then another prior to bottling followed by filling with steriliser/ water, then another quick rinse. Mostly use 2 ltr PET bottles now as its quicker than using 500mill ones. Recap after a having a PINT (or two) and its ok the next day.
The above works fine for me

Sounds like my cleaning procedure is pretty much the same as yours. I too rinse thoroughly as soon as a bottle is empty, makes it so much easier. PET bottles are probably inevitable for me, but right now I'm new and still buzzing at the prospect of my own glass bottles, crown caps, and a label. I'm sure that will wear off given time...

 

[the_quick]

I just bought this kit, I fancy something different than I have in kegs. With current weather I can't be bothered with AG.

Lets hope it meet my high expectations.

Shout out to Brew2Bottle - brilliant price with shipping !

 

[muppix]

Yeah, @Brew2bottle Homebrew are pretty good. Wish they had a free shipping threshold though, I'm spending a small fortune on postage. Just off to order some more Razorback ...

 

[B2B]

Yeah, @Brew2bottle Homebrew are pretty good. Wish they had a free shipping threshold though, I'm spending a small fortune on postage. Just off to order some more Razorback ...

Hey, where abouts are you in the UK?

We do have a free shipping threshold of £59 but this is only for the majority of UK mainland post codes. Some of the further to reach places in the UK sadly attract an additional charge from our couriers which we have no choice but to pass on I'm afraid and negate the free shipping.

Cheers

 

[muppix]

Yeah, completely understand. I'm based in the Isle of Man and although your rate of £18 is OK there are others who offer free shipping when you get near £80 or £100. I've put just short of £600 your way since middle of December and when you spend that kind of money you appreciate free shipping more than you appreciate a free corkscrew. That's not meant to sound bitchy BTW, just saying that a free shipping threshold would be handy, even if it's a high one.

 

[B2B]

Ahhh totally understand now, and we're sorry for having to implement these additional costs.

We are working on the shipping now as we speak. Last year went crazy in terms of how much is coming and going but it has always been our intention to keep shipping as fair as we can do. We supsidise shipping already from the sales and the £18 charge beleve it or not is also subsidised to keep the cost down.

We're currently working on getting every products weights and dimensions into the system so we can see if we can get a tiered shipping system maybe based on weights. This would bring the cost of orders for packets of yeast down and hopefully we can see what we can do at the other end of the scale.

That £18 charge to the Isle of Man is a stop gap, we are working on it and like I said it is subsidised already. If an order becomes a two parcel delivery we have to pay the charge twice, but only ever charge one shipping fee. It's a fine balance and sadly with courier companies now being inundated with traffic they are struggling to keep up with they don't need to chase the business in the same way they did a year ago so the costs go up rather than down.

We are working on it though and hope to have something in place in the near future.

Cheers, and thanks for keep coming back to us.

 

[TrevTheBev]

Cheers @Kye, I'll give the bottled water a go and have just picked up 70 litres for £14, which should be enough for the next couple of brews. Still, I'm reassured by feedback from @terrym and @trummy that my tap water will probably be OK. I've lived in a few places in Europe and travelled to most of the world, never had water this good; tastes 100% fine with no chlorine, not a speck of limescale on any of our fittings, soap / shampoo rinses easily.



Funny you should say that, as I'm currently thinking of going all-in with a fancy AG setup. Naturally I'll have questions, but I don't want to drag this thread any more off-topic than I already have.



That's reassuring too, thanks. All I have to worry about now is whether the bottled product will be happy at 24℃ for 2 weeks and whether I've got the carbonation right and if I was careful enough with exposure to oxygen and ...



[checks notes] ... OG was 1.052 on 26 October, I bottled on 15 November at 1.011, making 5.38% according to the calculator. Wonder if that's going to increase very slightly as a result of the carbonation? Kit says 5.7% IIRC. As for the tap juice, I've lived in places with soft (and hard) water and this isn't the case here. We do have an alarming amount of sheep, though you can't taste them or anything that may or may not have been added as a result.



Sounds like my cleaning procedure is pretty much the same as yours. I too rinse thoroughly as soon as a bottle is empty, makes it so much easier. PET bottles are probably inevitable for me, but right now I'm new and still buzzing at the prospect of my own glass bottles, crown caps, and a label. I'm sure that will wear off given time...

I use only PET bottles. They are the 1 litre ones from supermarkets that originally came with soda water or tonic water. I have amassed over 100 in the past year and they are absolutely ideal. They can be used loads of times and I'm not bothered if the odd one doesn't come back after I've "donated" one of my homebrews to friends and family.

My method of cleaning them is quite simple. When I have poured my beer and the bottle is empty, I just fill it with water and shake until the remaining sediment at the bottom is emptied. I then repeat this process using basic household bleach [Unscented] and leave overnight. Empty again and rinse with cold water and store back in my garage. When it comes to bottling my next brew, I just fill the kitchen sink with Starsan[or equivalant non rinse solution] and bottle away quite merrily with my little bottler. 22x1 litre bottles takes me less than an hour to fill. Simple as that.