Festival, Pilgrims Hope Review

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Archtronics

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Put this on today after it was recommend to me by my local homebrew shop as having a lot of hop flavour which is what I'm after.

Brewed to instructions:

Mixed 500g dextrose with boiled water
Emptied the two pouches of malt extract into the fermenter (these annoy me it take ages to get everything out)
Topped up to 23l and pitched yeast
Going to leave this 6-7 days then add the hops sachet and rack after 14 days.

Will post back with results in a month.
 
Fermentation has started almost as vigourously as a coopers stout foam everywhere!
 
Put this one in the FV on 25th October: my first brew with a fermentation mat and an STC-1000 to keep the temperature in the range 21*C +/- 0.5. Took the first sample yesterday and it's down to 1.010ish so will probably keg it some time this week. A quick sip from the sample jar was very positive: not as bitter as I was expecting from some comments I've read and bags of interesting hop flavour - a very promising start. I will post back once it's conditioned but so far it's coming along very nicely indeed...

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Mine has been fermenting for 15 days now! :shock: with no real signs of slowing down.
I put the hops in at day 5 & I'm worried it'll be over hopped?
I'm guessing it's not quite warm enough, I've got a heat belt on it.
 
I've got this one going in the FV at the moment, still bubbling away 7 days into the primary. I added the hop pellets Friday night and it smelled fantastic today. I hope it stops at 10 days, as per instructions and I can bottle it Wednesday. I'm supposed to be going back to see family for 10 days over Christmas from Friday and I can't leave it for that long. That being said it's stayed at a steady 22 degrees so the fermentation shouldn't be slow.
 
I'll have to wait until the end of January for this :(. I'm going to have to get a quick, cheap brew on in the mean time to keep me going methinks.
 
I've just finished bottling it. The little sample I tried was incredibly hoppy, too much so but I reckon it will mellow nicely over the next 5 weeks before I crack one open properly.
 
After 2 weeks in the bottle I had a sneaky one the other night. It's clearing nicely but the sediment isn't yet very stuck to the bottom. It's a little lighter on the body compared to the sample I tried before I bought the kit. I reckon I can attribute this and slightly low OG to me not being able to get all the extract out of the pouches. I immersed them in hot water for a good 20 minutes and still the extract was like cold treacle and stuck to the inside. They're a pain in the **** compared to cans for getting everything out of as they're not really stable enough to pour hot water into to get the remainder out. Let's not forget the cans are also recyclable while the pouches aren't.
The only reason I can see for these pouches is to maybe lower production costs, but surely practicality and recyclability should out-wieigh this. When making a premium kit, the packaging should at least be on par with cheaper kits, even the Wilkinson kits come in cans.

Rant over, back to the beer. While a little lighter than I'd like the malt profile is still nice and the hops are mellowing nicely. Another 2 weeks in the cold should have this beer getting pretty good.
 
I've never had a problem with the pouches. I sit them in nearly boiling water for ten minutes or so, turning them & squishing them a couple of times. The malt comes out nicely & any remainder can be squeezed out between the rim of the fv & your hand negating the need to rinse them with hot water.
 
Been drinking these for a few weeks now.
Not overly hoppy or malty, just enough for my taste. Everyone who's had one very much likes them.
Again, getting better with age.
 
muddy90 said:
I've never had a problem with the pouches. I sit them in nearly boiling water for ten minutes or so, turning them & squishing them a couple of times. The malt comes out nicely & any remainder can be squeezed out between the rim of the fv & your hand negating the need to rinse them with hot water.

That's pretty much how I do them, and then, if I want that last bit, I carefully stand them on the worktop, prise the top open a little and trickle some boiling water in, as it expands, add more, leave to sit, then hold it in a tea towel, I don't let any get away!!! :sulk:
 
Put one of these on last weekend, I was planning on at least 14 days fermenting over the 10 in the instructions, would it be recommended to add the hops on Day 9 to give the minimum 5 days in the FV or go for day 7 and give a 7 day split instead of a 5 day split?

I will be taking readings at the end before racking so it's more about the hop pellets.

Apart from an initial high temp (Stupid heaters, grrr) it's been steady on 22°c, no airlock action but that's not unusual with my primary, but I can see lots of marking on the lid of the FV from the krausen, so I'm happy that it's going ok with out having to crack it open.

Starting SG was a nice 1.048, but I did find those pouches a bit of a pain, prefer tins myself, but a well put together kit.
 
I'd give it the 14 days, wait for it to stop fermenting and then add the hop pellets. Leave for 5 days then bottle/keg.
 
I went for a 7\7 split in the end, lovely hop aromas coming from this brew, bottled on Saturday, 42 bottles in all, now enjoying a rest under the stairs, it's going to be a long hard wait to resist cracking one open for a taste.
 
Cracked open the first bottle of the Pilgrims Hope on Saturday, a little young still as it should really condition for another couple of weeks minimum, but a nice hoppy beer at the moment that should mellow with age.

Maybe a little under carbonated and still a little cloudy, but very pleasant indeed.

IMG_20131214_165125.jpg
 
I've high hopes for this. Tried the Golden Stag and it was fine but didn't really impress. However, I put this on and it's fermented out to 1.011 in ten days and the sample tasted great; very bitter but with enough residual maltiness to balance it out. Have now chucked in the hops and will bottle on Sunday - think I'm going to love this one.
 
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