Festival Pride of London

As requested :thumb:

Original post by miniman

Hi Folks,

I would share my experiment on Festival Pride of London Porter:
It was made on 13.11.2013, I choiced because it seemed high quality made just out of the box .
I made it with greatest care, but "straight from the box" nothing extra added ( OK, it is a full option kit) OG 1050
Gave the extra hop pellets at 18.nov.
Bottled on 30th November with the 90g. dextose was packed with. FG came to 1013.

I tried two weeks after, and continously: tastes especially sour, smells the cold hop trough.
Than it was left for a week or so...I just tried again today (29. December) and have to tell You, it's amazing.
Rounded and left the sour aftertaste, the hop smelling a bit, but deep from the back.
I can only recommend this kit.

Thanks,
Gabor

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Interesting that you mention the "sour" taste. I have this as well. I've had mine in the pressure barrel for at least 7 weeks now and it's showing no signs of mellowing since it completed secondary.

Not unpleasant to be honest and a mate was very impressed although he agreed re the sour taste and there's a definite maltiness to it. However, as he said, once you've had the first half and got acclimatised to it, it's very drinkable indeed!

I tried some over the weekend, not brewed by my fair hand but by a friend. Unfortunately he didn't read the instructions quite well enough and brewed to 28 litres ... oops . The whole brew was bottled so I have no idea what it is like out of a barrel. The brew is not two months old yet, the said friend has me given a bottle so I'll keep it downstairs and see how it comes on.

Initial taster was not too impressive. There is definitely a slight sour tang to it but I imagine that the brew has been "designed" that way ... it is meant to be a nineteenth century beer after all. I was also surprised by the fairly strong hop profile, I was suspecting it to be more like a mild ale. I don't have a fixed point of view on it, I will have to be patient and see how it conditions up, I reckon it is going to need about a month ... the beer tasted pretty green ... I am sure it's going to turn into something wonderful.

the chap below has kept his for two and half months

http://tinyurl.com/pxhwlhs

This is interesting. Mine has a strange taste too. It's been in the bottle for a couple of months now. It has a very bitter, almost metallic twang. Originally thought it was infected from chlorine based saniters that i used at the time. But i had a 330ml bottle that i emergency sanitised in boiling water to finish the last bit in the fv and that tasted the same. I'm starting to think it might have something to do with the hop pellets. If i remember correctly these were Target. I'm sure that's primarily a bittering hop, so using it essentially as a dry hop (half way through primary) might be contributing to the uber bitter taste. Tbh I'm struggling to get through it. Still got nearly 30 bottles left and it's really not that nice to drink. Really don't want to tip it down the sink but that's 30 bottles i could use for something tasty. Descisions... :hmm:

whiter shade of ale said:

This is interesting. Mine has a strange taste too. It's been in the bottle for a couple of months now. It has a very bitter, almost metallic twang. Originally thought it was infected from chlorine based saniters that i used at the time. But i had a 330ml bottle that i emergency sanitised in boiling water to finish the last bit in the fv and that tasted the same. I'm starting to think it might have something to do with the hop pellets. If i remember correctly these were Target. I'm sure that's primarily a bittering hop, so using it essentially as a dry hop (half way through primary) might be contributing to the uber bitter taste. Tbh I'm struggling to get through it. Still got nearly 30 bottles left and it's really not that nice to drink. Really don't want to tip it down the sink but that's 30 bottles i could use for something tasty. Descisions... :hmm:

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Interesting points. Not sure about the Target hops, I use them in my AG's and they are fine but they are used in the kettle. I had more of the impression that it was a yeast cum malt thing that gave it 'the sour'. I had some Ould Vlaams Bruin (Brewferm) recently which had a similar 'sour' ... but the beer was absolutely gorgeous, unlike the Festival Porter. So far I have done the Landlord's, the Pilgrim's Hope and the Suffolk Strong Ale from Festival and I have not had any real success with any of them. And considering the price of the kits ... I'll not be doing any more. :hmm:

Well this was my first festival kit. I've tried a mates razorback and golden stag which were both good. I've got the landlords to bottle tomorrow. If that doesn't turn out right don't think I'll be doing another one either. I've taken to dry hopping/modding cheaper kits now, which works out a wee bit cheaper generally and you can get the beer you want. Just wish i was ready for BIAB!!

I'm doing my second one of these (after almost exactly a year since the last one) and I have to say: what a difference a year makes.

I did my original with just the sugar, I put the hops in for a looooong time and, when I bottled, I used the tap on my (then) primary FV and it was only after 10+ bottles that I realised I'd not strained off the hops! After some faffing and re-bottling I completely freaked out and put two big teaspoons of white sugar into each bottle. The result was, as you may expect, not exactly a taste sensation.

I then compounded my rookiness by declaring it ready to drink after a measly two weeks. It tasted ok, but had a real sour note to it and this put even a raging alcoholic like me off. I then admitted defeat and left three bottles until after Christmas.

Holy moly, what a difference. The conditioning meant that I now had a gorgeously rich, bold porter. Three, to be precise. I was so upset with myself that I vowed never to brew porter again...but I couldn't keep away.

23 litres of it are bubbling away in front of me. I'm going to wait a while and possibly only give the hops a short soak (48 hours tops). I've also added dark spraymalt and treacle to this batch, so let's see if that improves the mouthfeel any.


This turned into something special, can I get it right the second time around?


Apologies for the dramatic, Byron-esque post; I've just had a Grand Cru.

i bottled this 7 weeks ago, tried one after 4 weeks had a sharp taste but now three weeks later it is like a different beer tastes great

This is definitely one that improves with keeping. I wasn't overly keen on it from the weekly QC checks after bottling until it was a few months old, when the character came through and the early harshness had gone. Now (bottled last December) down to just two bottles, and the last one I had was very nice.

This has gone from 1060 to 1020 in about 10 days. I want to bottle up at the weekend but it's supposed to be 1010! Been kept at a constant 22C

had a house warming at the weekend and the porter the razorback IPA and the better brew bandit were the faves judging by the amount of bottes ive washed up this week