John Bull IPA Review

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stonegrey

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Pontyclun, South Wales
This was the 4th beer i brewed, and the first that actually came out as what i would call a "good" beer. so, i have a bit of a soft spot for it.

Brewed 38 pints with 1kg of Muntons Brew Enhancer, OG - 1050, FG - 1012, i make that 5%

it reminds me a little of Flowers IPA. it also gets a lot better with age, 6-8 weeks makes it a very enjoyable pint.

now brewed three of these, brew number 2 went a bit strange for a while, but made a good recovery.
 
Hi, I'm gonna give this a try next week. I'm going to make it to 18 l like you. Think I might use 500g of Medium spray malt as well. I want something with a good body as my first few brews have tasted a bit watery, what do you think?
 
This has been in the FV for a week now OG was 1048, now sitting at 1006. I make that about 5.2% if I add another 0.5 % for secondary fermentation, that's 5.7%!

I made up the rest with 500 mg of dextrose. Must say the stuff straight out of the FV tastes pretty good, will bottle it up tomorrow. Then the hard part of waiting! Will post some pics when I have a mature pint, very dark brown looking at the mo.
 
I am brewing this kit at the moment, brewed it with 500g soft brown sugar, 400g brewing sugar & 100g of table sugar (was all I had in the house, bad planning & had a pint or 2 and wasnt going to drive) smells awesome in the FV, only went in on Sunday so will have to see what its like when its done :)
 
Just bashed one of these together.
1kg Coopers brew enhancer 2 + 907g Golden Syrup.
OG = 1.058, predicted abv 6.1-6.5% ..... oft.
 
I had a look at the kit today and will probably give it a go next week. Any pointers or tips before I give it a go?
 
Decided to give it a go after just posting this.

Transferred it from the FV to PB after 3 weeks. Had a quick taste as you do. It was quite nice. Can't wait for this to be ready :cheers:
 
This kit is on offer at £9.99 in my lhbs, might have to pick one up, sounds good.
 
Just bought this kit Tesco online £9....can't wait to get it going after reading the positive reviews.
any tips anybody?
 
I stayed with what the instructions stated and it has turned out pretty good. A lot stronger than my last brew that was UBC surfers reward.
It's not what I would class as a session beer as it's too strong but none the less is still a good beer for the money.
 
just bought this from tesco for £9.50 and was toying with the idea of adding hops at the fermentation process, ideas anyone, any help is much appreciated.
 
I found it quite hoppy once it was done. At £9.50 it might be worth doing one batch following the instructions and then do another with added hops if your taste buds feel the need for it.
 
I have just put this in, brewed to 23L, just the can and 1kg of Muntons Beer enhancer. OG1042 and taste at brew, sweet, somewhat malty with quite a large bitter profile. I will this updated as it goes along.
 
just bought this from tesco for £9.50 and was toying with the idea of adding hops at the fermentation process, ideas anyone, any help is much appreciated.

If you have not yet got it on, as it were, you could get a good steer from Craig:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL5IaFD5k7g[/ame]

Here he hops up a Coopers IPA, which is is 1.7kg as against 1.8kg for the John Bull.

I've followed Craig's basic methodology, doubling up using 2 kits - a UK and an IPA from the Coopers guys to make 2 brews, one "hoppy" and one "malty", with a 1.5kg tin of LME and 1kg of DME plus 50g of Cascade hop pellets and 1.5kg of sugar. I cocked up the transfer from boiling pan to FV's, so that one came out one way and one the other, but both were well worth the effort - great beer. One was rather hoppy and the other pretty malty tasting, hence their names.

Would recommend this approach for kit brewers who have wives with attitude. No AG in my wife's kitchen, but this was OK, no issue.
 
I'm impressed with this kit, no hint of homebrew taste. Nice colour, good lasting head and lovely tasting. Will deffo do another at the price I paid £9.50.
 
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