What kit would you reccomend I brew for summer consumption

[Bud]

Hi all.

What would people consider to be a great summer beer or lager kit and why. However I am unable to control temp. So lagering is out I'm afraid.
I have done Wilco's delicate Pilsner, and included packet of light spray malt which was good. I've done the coopers Australian lager, which was not so good. I have about 22l of cider bulk maturing.
Any thoughts welcome.
Cheers.

 

[serum]

An IPA is a lovely drink for the summer in my view.

St Peters or Festival Razorback are both great.

 

[Rivvo]

I have tasted the festival IPA kit recently and it was pretty good after only three weeks bottled, so with time running short I would second the festival option, a lot of Ag brewers rate them so they must be pretty good.

 

[rats_eyes]

A third vote for the festival IPA. It's the best kit brew that I've done by a long shot

 

[Frogbrew]

I have today bought another Wilko Mexican cerveza for the summer, refreshing fruity lager, served ice cold is great IMO. A real bargain too at £10 (or £7.50 at current discount.)
Mine has been bottled about 3 weeks and tastes nice with a good lasting head too.
It's all down to what you like

 

[Bud]

Thanks for the IPA votes. Looks like I will start with the festival. Do you brew to exactly what it suggests or do you brew short or add anything. There is another poster asking "which IPA" and getting same sort of feedback.
For the wilko Mexican can you please tell me what fermetables you added. With a sale on and a soild recommendation I would be mad not to give it a whirl. In fact I will pop out this morning and get one.

 

[Frogbrew]

Thanks for the IPA votes. Looks like I will start with the festival. Do you brew to exactly what it suggests or do you brew short or add anything. There is another poster asking "which IPA" and getting same sort of feedback.
For the wilko Mexican can you please tell me what fermetables you added. With a sale on and a soild recommendation I would be mad not to give it a whirl. In fact I will pop out this morning and get one.

I brewed the Mexican using;
250g muntons mdme (wilko £3.30 500g)
1kg silver spoon sugar
brewed to full 23ltr.
sg 1044, fg 1008.
When I brew this again I will try 500g of the dried malt extract instead with maybe 750g sugar. I used the medium dme although the light dme would maybe be better suited to a lager.
I also brew the wilko hoppy copper which is great short brewed to 20ltr, you could maybe short brew the Mexican too with good results.
Keep us posted if you try it!
frase.

 

[Bud]

Cheers frase for the quick reply and just in time. I'm off to wilko right now. Will keep you posted once done in a few weeks. No local HBS so maybe IPA will need to wait a week or two. I feel another wherry coming on I. The meantime.
Thanks again for your help.
Bud.

 

[rats_eyes]

The festival is fine brewed as instructed.

 

[ericmark]

I brew Geordie beers because they are cheap £7 a can and there are a number in the range.

Yorkshire Bitter I find a little too bitter.
Bitter seems good.
Scottish Heavy does not have so much of a bitter taste and is my favourite.

However when others taste my beer often they prefer the Yorkshire bitter and say how good it is. So it's all down to personal taste.

As to lager there is the process and the typical light beer one can lager a bitter if you wanted but I am sure if I served it to a friend as a lager he would not consider it to be lager.

The Geordie lager does taste like we expect a lager to taste like even though it has not been lagered there seems to be a problem with names.

I always ask for a real ale but it seems that name is now used for non live ales so the name cask ale is now used. We seem to have names like pale, bitter, heavy, mild, and maybe the kit should be labelled pale not lager it would seem pale ales are designed for warmer climates and travelling hence IPA which was designed to be brewed in UK and transported by sailing ships to India without it degrading. Idea of lager is to be able to store it for long periods and if going to be drunk this summer then it's not going to be stored for long so why lager it?

Last summer like you thought it was too warm to make lager. This summer I will make another so called lager kit as although is says lager that refers to taste not method of brewing and you can make it during the summer without a fridge although you may want to put in in fridge before drinking.

 

[Cornish Knocker]

I'm in the process of conditioning Woodfords Sundew and the few sample bottles I've tasted so far are really nice.

Definitely a good session/summer ale and very tasty. Had a couple yesterday during a bbq and I was really pleased with the summery taste

 

[Bud]

Thanks Cornish. Your lucky to be BBQ yesterday but see your in Italy. Heavens opened here yesterday and today which of course made me think of staying home to brew. Hence the question.
I got a wilkos Mexican crevera on the go today. Brewed short to 20l and used 500g brewing sugar and the same of light spray malt, after the suggestion from frase. Also put on a wherry as on offer for £14.
Will have a think about the sundew it obviously hits the mark. Also the festival suggested earlier.
Bonjour as they say in Italy. :whistle:

 

[Frogbrew]

Good to see you are trying the cerveza Bud, let us know how it turns out short brewed to your recipe, i'll use the info for my next batch:thumb:

 

[Bud]

Yeah no problem. It's made up and hopefully will start to ferment by morning. The kit says fermentation takes 4 to 6 days which sounds a bit optimistic. But we will see. I expect two weeks then bottle and prime. I will bulk prime but believe someone said to use 2 level teaspoons per 550ml bottle so was going to calculate based on that. Unless you know better.
Cheers.

 

[Monte Cristo]

Evening Chaps, I am going throw another IPA into the ring it is the Bulldog Rajas reward. I have brewed both the Festival Razorback and the Bulldog and in my opinion both very good but the Bulldog was a much more balanced quaff, i felt the Razorback was a little over hopped in that the grapefruityness was at times too much although it does settle back to just powerful. The Rajas reward on the other hand after six weeks in the bottle is superb, no overriding flavours just really well balanced.
P.S the Festival Golden stag is shaping up to be a lovely brew!:hat:

 

[Bud]

Cheers monty. Yours now goes to the top of the list for me as i sometimes find beers over hopped not to my particular taste. So I think I will try bulldog first. Think razorback will be on the cards maybe after that so I can do my I do my own comparisons. You brew the bulldog as stated or change anything. I assumed it was a two can kit.
Thanks.

 

[Frogbrew]

Yeah no problem. It's made up and hopefully will start to ferment by morning. The kit says fermentation takes 4 to 6 days which sounds a bit optimistic. But we will see. I expect two weeks then bottle and prime. I will bulk prime but believe someone said to use 2 level teaspoons per 550ml bottle so was going to calculate based on that. Unless you know better.
Cheers.

I bottled (500ml) all mine priming with 1 tsp sugar, you wouldn't want anymore, well carbonated.
I left mine in the fv for 10days, fg 1008.

 

[Bud]

Thanks again Frase. Will stick to that. 1 level teaspoon per 500ml.

 

[Vallyred]

With the on going sale at Wilkos I'd pick up a couple of golden ales (I have). It's pretty decent tasting as is but I've bottled a batch this weekend which I dry hopped with citra and Cascade pellets. The last 150ml out of the FV was brewer's perk and tasted delicious.

 

[Monte Cristo]

I brewed the Bulldog and festival pretty much as the instructions the only change i made with the Bulldog was to add the hop pellets after the brew had fermented out. The hops were in the brew for the time stated on the instructions, I did this as the manufacturers always seem to be a little optimistic about how long the fermentation will be e.g 10 days but in reality it takes 14 days and if they advise to add the hops after 4 days then in my opinion the hops are in for too long and add extra bitterness. adding them at the end means they are in the brew for the prescribed length, hope that makes sense! :hat: