Festival, Pilgrims Hope Review

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Ok,maybe those guys took the huff when the forum changed hands but Festival kits are generally top notch so tomorrow I am ordering this kit,I will resurrect this thread when I have brewed and tasted it.
Even if no one is interested :party::party::party:
 
I think these 3 quotes from the thread answer your question.


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.
Click to expand...

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.
Click to expand...

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.
Click to expand...
 
This was my first Festival kit so I didn't have much to directly compare with, other than the various Woodforde kits. With the extra hops it was quite different to the Wherry/Nelsons/Admirals I was used to. I've now done the rest of the Festival range so can see where it's coming from, and I prefer it to the Father Hooks. My Landlords Finest didn't turn out right, but it's unlikely to have been better. Pilgrims is one I want to do again, coming after Razorback and Summer Glory in preference. Certainly a good one over the colder months :)
 
Just got this on the go right now and it,s my first ever home brew! Was recommended the festival range as lots of people have had good success including a couple of mates who brew.

Fingers crossed its better than the last home brew I tasted 20 years ago lol.
 
All bottled up. Just need to leave alone for a few weeks to finish. Very easy kit to follow.

image.jpg
 
I have just bought one of these from my LHBS and, having done the Razorback, Old Suffolk and the Pride of London Porter I am looking forward to this.

I was thinking of adding 500g DME to boost the malt profile as well as the 500g sugar that come with the kit. Any thoughts or should I just brew as is?
 
Noah- I did (though I ended up using a 1kg bag of DME-in for a penny...)

Start gravity was 1050. Quite pleased with that, had to pitch a little warm (25C) but have left it overnight and there appears to be some foaming occurring. My new fangled airlock is one of the 'silent' ones so I have to listen carefully to check activity/see if the plastic cap is bobbing up and down.
Sample jar tasted very malty and sweet, looking forward to putting the hops in to give it some oomph.
 
This has been 7 days in the FV now and I just added half of the hop pellets.

Upon taking a sample I'm bloody glad I only added half! These are some delicious but powerful hops and for the style of beer I'm making I prefer a slightly mellower profile.

Thinking of being daring and bottling this thing straight from the primary. I've been transferring to secondary, crash cooling/using finings to clear the sucker up and then bottling. The downside to this is that there's very little yeast left in the bottles to mix with the sugar and therefore carbonation is taking a while to form in the bottles.
 
This is beginning to slow down but: I can't bottle until Sunday at the earliest!

We'll see how it plays out, latest sample jar was bloody gorgeous and the hop profile has mellowed somewhat. I might add the rest now and bottle on Sunday.
 
Bottled this thing last night and the taster jar was bloody gorgeous. I reckon it'll taste very good once it has conditioned.

Festival kits are dear, but I always feel like I've got a better quality beer at the end of the process than when I've tweaked cheap kits around. This one is going to be my birthday ale and I'm going to try really, really hard to leave the bottles until the 4th Feb...:eek:
 
I have just put the Festival Old Suffolk Ale kit on but I popped into my LHBS and picked the Pilgrims choice up as I had £22 burning a hole in my pocket :wink:, cant wait to get this on the go afterwards!
 
Firstly, Hi! Im new around here and this is my first attempt at brewing so excuse my idiocy ;)

Iv had this brewing since a week past sunday, so 12 days. It seems to have stopped fermenting (it is not bubbling anymore) so i tested it and got a hydrometer reading of 1.013... so not too far off the 1.011 specified in the instructions. I'll test again tomorrow to see if this has changed.

If it hasn't changed would i be foolish to bottle it at 1.013? In an ideal world i suppose id leave it for a few days to make sure, testing every day.... but this is not possible as i go on holiday on Sunday for 2 weeks!

What should i do? Bottle tomorrow, providing i get the same hydrometer reading or leave until i return from holiday? Would this harm the beer leaving it for 2 weeks more?

Thanks a lot for any help!
 
Bottle it when you get back from holiday. Four weeks in the FV is no problem, in fact your brew will benefit from the yeast clearing up after itself (re-absorbing compounds created during the fermentation process)

Oh, and Welcome to the forum
 

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