NEW! Festival Vienna Red Lager Beer Kit

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nick9one1

nick9one1

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Haven't brewed anything for a while and decided to get a kit on the go.

I tend to brew quite hoppy beers, and unless you're a craft beer drinker or hop-head, they aren't very palatable. Most of my friends/family haven't liked the american IPA's I've been brewing recently. So I decided to try something that was a little less hoppy.

I came across Festivals new 'World beer' range. I've used their kits before with good results, so I had high hopes.
My LHBS had just got them in, so I went down to pickup the Vienna Red.

Just like festivals other kits, it's high quality. the key things in the kit are..

Two bags of extract +250g dextrose (not sure why as it doesn't have an especially high ABV)
California Lager yeast
Hops

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Does it specify a specific temperature for the yeast? - Was interested in getting these kits, but wondered if this and the NZ Pilsner used a true lager yeast?
 
Hi Nick
Just purchased the US Steam beer, from the same shop as you I'm guessing! Keep us posted as I was torn between these two brews.
Rob. :drunk:
 
Unfortunately it's most likely ale yeast. The yeast packet does say 'California Lager yeast', but the recommended brewing temp is 20-25c.

But saying that, the instructions for all the kits are the same. So its possible that it is lager yeast and they just give the same advice for all the kits. After all, lager yeast will still ferment at 20-25.

I've scanned in the instructions below so you can read for yourself.

The promo leaflet is below too, as there isn't that much information about these kits on the internet yet. I couldn't find anything about them on Ritchies website.

Image (3).jpg


Image.jpg


Image (2).jpg
 
Both these kits have californian lager yeasts, my thoughts are to use the 2 packets of yeast and do the vienna first and reuse yeast for new Zealand pilsner. And ferment around 17-18 c .

They state in instructions 20-25. But apparently all lager yeasts will run at that temp but obv off flavours will appear. Kit instructions say yeast will fail below 15c , but that style of yeast is at its best 14-18 c.

So I am hoping double the quantity will have enough yeasties to cope, I've done tht with notty at 15.5c , 2 packs. Reused yeast and that batch tasted lovely at bottling, and that batch prob 7-8 wks old now but not tasted it properly. Also did kit lager b.brew export using there yeast and another kit yeast together and tht was awesome at bottling

Think they don't want people having stuck ferments, so they say lower than 15 will fail. Unless double the yeast.!!
 
No they are 10g californian lager yeasts In the vienna and the new z pilsner. Think I might just rehydrate 1 packet and pitch as closely to 19-20c As I can I keep fermentor in a water bath, and that temp will be constant 17-18c. C what happens, they'll prob take 3 wks to ferment like all festival kits do. And do diacetyl rest 2-3 days at plus 2-3 degrees c. For yeasties to clean up after them selves.
 
Or just create a yeast starter from one 10g?

I don't know exactly how fast yeast reproduces but I'm pretty sure you would have double the amount of yeast cells in 24 hours.
 
I have just bought the NZ lager kit and was unsure about the yeast supplied so I e-mailed Richie Products last night and got this reply from their Production Director first thing this morning. Amazing customer service!

California type lager yeasts are in-fact lager-ale yeast hybrids which ferment comfortably at warmer temperatures than the colder, 10 15 C required for ‘genuine' lager strains. In this case, and as is actually the case with most ale strains, optimum is 18 22 C but up to 25 C is ok.

As a general rule, temperatures at the lower end will produce a cleaner fermented beer, which is especially desirable for lager styles, but as that California style lager yeasts are essentially lager-ale yeast hybrids I would treat this yeast more like an ale strain; for best results ferment as close as possible to 20 C, but not to worry if ferments a little warmer as the end beer quality will not be significantly impacted.
 
What great customer service. I can verify the info tht they sent you sevorg checks out. Decided on making up a little starter, was going to leave it a couple of days, but has time on my hands so an hr later I started the vienna kit.

Pitched yeast, both yeast and wort temp 22.5.c. fermentor temp naturally increased to 25c dropped to 23.5 c after a few hrs.

Bubbling 9 hrs later in water bath steady at 19.c.

However like stated above temp of 20-25c would be optimum. I wanted mine to ferment low, without the knowledge from above so I let temp drop to 17.5. This is were my ferment stalled. After 10 days it had only dropped to 1022. So turned up my heater and give it a stir, ferment kicked off dropping approx 1.5 points every day for next week or so.

After a total of 20 days gravity 1012 I racked into clean bin, cleaned the bin and moved it into original bin 30 mins later. Tested again 1010 through hops in hop bag and into fv. Tasted trial was quite sweet and seems like a very nice lager. Will prob bottle in 3-4 days.

Info to anybody doing this kit if you have good control over ur temps, I would ferment at 20-21c. Give a kit a decent amount of time, to get down to a low gravity rack and hop. I made a mistake with stag kit, hops went in early and we're in for 7 days outcome finished beer is a little bitter gl guys.!!
 
Started one of these on May 3rd @ 1044, racked on 10th & added hop pellets on 15th.

On account of work issues I didn't bottle until 23rd @ 1008.

Just popped 1st bottle tonight & it's lovely!!
 
Been in Fv 9 days now, added hops on Saturday, getting a reading of 1010. Was hoping to bottle tomorrow but looking through the thread the FG reading should be lower. Not going to get a chance until this Saturday to bottle, hopefully 7 day hop will not do much damage.
 
Garymcconnell said:
Been in Fv 9 days now, added hops on Saturday, getting a reading of 1010. Was hoping to bottle tomorrow but looking through the thread the FG reading should be lower. Not going to get a chance until this Saturday to bottle, hopefully 7 day hop will not do much damage.
Click to expand...
7 days of hops will be fine. Should give it a lovely twang!
 
Got this kit as a birthday present, looking forward to putting this on.

Thanks all for the tips/advice.
 
Finally got round to doing this one.

OG was 1044, FG was 1011. Put the hops in a hop bag as I didn't want mess - these were chucked in on day 12, 4 days before bottling.

Instructions didn't appear to say how much sugar to put in bottles (I was going straight from FV to 500ml bottles) so I used 1.5 teaspoons of priming sugar per bottle.

Two weeks in the warm, three weeks in the cold and I cracked open the first one this weekend.

Lager was reddish in colour so looked like a bitter, would have been quite clear but as the yeast wasn't very compacted at the bottom of the bottle, sloppy pouring made it a bit cloudy! Good head and nice but not overwhelming fizziness.

Very easy to drink and will go down well with friends!:lol:
 

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