calumscott
Regular.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2011
- Messages
- 311
- Reaction score
- 31
I didn't go into the LHBS to get this, I think I was planning something else...
...but the owner steered me over to his display of these kits, just new in, he says.
Ritchies have really taken care over them to produce something that really feels like you are getting something that is premium product. The styling is nice and understated and consistent across the range, but it's what's in the box that counts.
Two squidgy bags of hopped malt extract totalling 3kg, an additional 600g bag dextrose to bump up the ABV, another little bag of dextrose for priming when you're all done, a packet of hop pellets (unspecified variety) to dry hop and a clever little mesh bag to strain any particles when racking.
"They've really thought these through" was my first impression.
Standard beer kit process to brew, but I had a 500g bag of medium DME kicking around looking for a purpose in life and as it's winter and porters are best strong it found it's destiny beefing up this kit...
Squidgy bags in, dextrose in, extra DME in topped off to 5 gallons. Yeast pitched and tucked away. OG a healthy 1.054.
7 days in and the hop pellets get chucked in, another week and a bit and ready for bottling. The sample jar was certainly promising. FG a reasonable 1.012 giving 5.6%.
Racking was nice and easy with the little mesh sock over the sediment trap - stopped a good amount of the detritus by the look of things. I like things a little fizzier so increased the priming load from the 90g supplied to 105g.
After a couple of weeks getting fizzy, the obligatory "how's this going to turn out?" bottle was opened last night.
This is very nice beer indeed. It is rich and dark and strong with a little residual sweetness. There are coffee and chocolate notes, roastedness, maltiness... It's all in there, it is a porter through and through. Mouthfeel is good, body is excellent and it has a lovely tight head that lasts to the bottom of the glass even after only a couple of weeks in the bottle.
I'm impressed (as I usually am by two cans and squidgy bag kits - I should have worked out that two squidgy bags would be good...) and this should be nicely rounded off by Christmas.
...and probably polished off by New Year!
...but the owner steered me over to his display of these kits, just new in, he says.
Ritchies have really taken care over them to produce something that really feels like you are getting something that is premium product. The styling is nice and understated and consistent across the range, but it's what's in the box that counts.
Two squidgy bags of hopped malt extract totalling 3kg, an additional 600g bag dextrose to bump up the ABV, another little bag of dextrose for priming when you're all done, a packet of hop pellets (unspecified variety) to dry hop and a clever little mesh bag to strain any particles when racking.
"They've really thought these through" was my first impression.
Standard beer kit process to brew, but I had a 500g bag of medium DME kicking around looking for a purpose in life and as it's winter and porters are best strong it found it's destiny beefing up this kit...
Squidgy bags in, dextrose in, extra DME in topped off to 5 gallons. Yeast pitched and tucked away. OG a healthy 1.054.
7 days in and the hop pellets get chucked in, another week and a bit and ready for bottling. The sample jar was certainly promising. FG a reasonable 1.012 giving 5.6%.
Racking was nice and easy with the little mesh sock over the sediment trap - stopped a good amount of the detritus by the look of things. I like things a little fizzier so increased the priming load from the 90g supplied to 105g.
After a couple of weeks getting fizzy, the obligatory "how's this going to turn out?" bottle was opened last night.
This is very nice beer indeed. It is rich and dark and strong with a little residual sweetness. There are coffee and chocolate notes, roastedness, maltiness... It's all in there, it is a porter through and through. Mouthfeel is good, body is excellent and it has a lovely tight head that lasts to the bottom of the glass even after only a couple of weeks in the bottle.
I'm impressed (as I usually am by two cans and squidgy bag kits - I should have worked out that two squidgy bags would be good...) and this should be nicely rounded off by Christmas.
...and probably polished off by New Year!