Festival Razorback IPA

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Ilovebeer

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Hello brewers,

Since the start of the new year I have tried brewing Festivals Razorback IPA.

As a newbie to this homebrewing I thought I would follow the instructions to the tee. So the first batch I did January to early February. ( At a temperature of 23 - 26 degrees )
Initial fermentation for 5 days then added (all) the hops.
Left for a further 5 days.
Secondary ferment 14 days in a king keg ( added all the priming sugar ).
I then took the king keg of the heat and left it in a dark box in the shed for 1 week before sampling. The beer itself was still very cloudy, nonetheless it was still a great tasting beer. But I was a little surprised as to why it was still cloudy. However it all went in a bit of a hurry, within two weeks. I guess my friends and I found it OK :-) Maybe it didn't have time to clear.

The second batch, initial fermentation was as follows ( At a temperature of 23 - 26 degrees )
1st fermentation for 5 days then added (all) the hops.
10 days before king keg ( added all the priming sugar + half ltr of boiled water allowed to cool ).
10 days turned of heat.
Left to condition 14 days. ( in a dark box )
The result of this (34 days) has produced a clearer beer with a less harsh 'bitter' taste (tasting great) but at the moment has little or no gas and does not keep a head. :-( I have checked my King Keg for leaks none found. I have added 8g co2 charger to give it a little extra.

Do I need to leave the beer conditioning for longer. Am I being impatient?

I have a third batch on the way now that is brewing at 18 - 21 degrees and want this one to be better than the last two.

Cheers. :cheers:
 
Welcome to the forum.

First point, don't follow kit instructions they are optimistic to meet the 40 pints in X days claim. Patience is the key.

Sunday is my brewing day. I ferment my brews for at least 14 days. If after 14 days the brew hasn't finished or not clear it is left another week. Once finished leaving the beer in a cold place, e.g. cold concrete garage floor, will help it clear.

Don't rush the brewing process. Beer shouldn't be bottled or kegged until clear.
 
I have tackled this kit twice now.
Didn't pay any attention to the timings on the box. I think my first effort sat in primary fv for 3 weeks. I used the gravity reading to determine when it was ready.
I did pay attention to instructions for conditioning once bottled (1 week in warmth, 2 weeks in cold) and mine ended up perfectly clear.
Very happy with how this turned out.
 
I've currently got 1 in secondary.

Fermented in primary for 3 weeks.

OG 1.052 FG 1.009 giving 5.7% I think

It was in secondary for about 6 weeks and has now been kegged. Not had any of the keg yet but it will be going on tap in the next few weeks
 
Thanks fellows for the advise.

Think I will let this brew ferment for 3 weeks before going any where near it. I will keep you informed how its going.

Cheers. :cheers:
 
As my Razorback IPA is in the post I willl be putting it on shortly. I plan to bottle from FV and not sure how to use the mesh bag provided to strain the hops pellets. I know it should go over the siphon, but using a tap and little bottler not sure what to do..
1. Do I put the pellets inside the bag and soak?
2. Do I attach the bag to tap/little bottler? (dont think it would work without clogging it)
3. Do I attach the bag to the tap thread (on the inside of the fermenter) before making the wort, so when bottling day comes it may keep the pellets away (the sediment may settle on the bag so not ideal)

What do you guys think? I've used only hop tea bags before so dont really know how to tacke it..
 
I would simply siphon into a secondary fv and batch prime there. That way you can easily filter by attaching the mesh over the submerged end of the siphon. But I just think its so much easier to prime in one go than to fiddle about with spoons of sugar into the bottles.
 
sqrson said:
As my Razorback IPA is in the post I willl be putting it on shortly. I plan to bottle from FV and not sure how to use the mesh bag provided to strain the hops pellets. I know it should go over the siphon, but using a tap and little bottler not sure what to do..
1. Do I put the pellets inside the bag and soak?
2. Do I attach the bag to tap/little bottler? (dont think it would work without clogging it)
3. Do I attach the bag to the tap thread (on the inside of the fermenter) before making the wort, so when bottling day comes it may keep the pellets away (the sediment may settle on the bag so not ideal)

What do you guys think? I've used only hop tea bags before so dont really know how to tacke it..


I've not made this yet, on my to do list, but I have made the Festival Golden Stag and it's pretty much the same process.
I put the hop pellets into the FV, it took a few days but they dissolved into a green sludge that sat on the surface but after a week or so it sank.
When it was time to bottle I racked it with the bag over the syphon, this worked really well not allowing anything through resulting in a lovely clear, clean beer to be batch primed then bottled using the little bottler. :drink:
 
Ok Fellows.

Its been 3 weeks since starting the brewing process in the FV. Its still bubbling away, but no where near as vigorous as at the beginning and the hydrometer is reading of 0.004 same as Friday 48hrs apart. So the question is, if its still bubbling but the hydrometer reading is now at the recommended level, can I or should I, now move it to the little bottler and start the bottling process.

Cheers.:wha:
 
Brewing in the initial FV has stopped it has taken 27 days in total. So I have now moved to my little bottler FV and added the priming sugar. Looks good although its cloudy. I will now leave this until the beer is clear. When its clear I will bottle.

Cheers.:thumb:
 
Brewing in the initial FV has stopped it has taken 27 days in total. So I have now moved to my little bottler FV and added the priming sugar. Looks good although its cloudy. I will now leave this until the beer is clear. When its clear I will bottle.

Cheers.:thumb:

This could just be my reading here, but adding the priming sugar in the FV and then leaving it to clear might be the reason for the low fizz and no head retention. You are using the remaining suspended yeast to produce CO2 long before it's getting bottled, by the time you bottle it has escaped and leaves a flat beer behind. Normally I prime each bottle with 1/2tsp of sugar, fill and cap after it's cleared in secondary.

Someone else might know more but that's how I read it.

Hope it helps.

Kyle
 
Kyle,

Yes I guess that's what could be causing no head on the beer. I am still very new to all the home brewing. Kit instructions are not very good. I wish I had discovered this forum back at the start of the year. Still, its good fun learning.

Cheers.
 
One should always take kit instructions with a pinch of salt mate. The usual process I used was was primary ferment until final gravity was reached, racked to secondary in a bottling bucket, left for 2 weeks or until clear, rinse and sterilise the bottles, prime, cap, shake and store for 3 months for a 6% beer. It will clear a bit more in the bottle but patience is the key.
 
There should be very little time between adding the priming sugar and bottling.

When I brewed this beer it was very clear, I fermented for three weeks and then transferred the beer into a second bucket to add the sugar. Some people add the sugar to each of the bottles before filling them, but I prefer to add it all at once in a second bucket to ensure an even distribution of the sugar (helps stop bottle bombs). I bottled from the second bucket immediately after adding the sugar.

When fermentation has finished in your initial FV that is because all the sugars that the yeast can convert have already been converted into alcohol and CO2. When you add more sugar it restarts this process. The only reason to add the priming sugar is to make the beer ferment in the bottle (which is why you keep the bottles warm for a week after bottling), which releases CO2, and because there is nowhere else for this gas to go it is absorbed into the liquid making it fizzy. The more sugar you add to the beer before bottling the more fizzy the end product will be.
 
Brewing in the initial FV has stopped it has taken 27 days in total. So I have now moved to my little bottler FV and added the priming sugar. Looks good although its cloudy. I will now leave this until the beer is clear. When its clear I will bottle.

Cheers.:thumb:

When the beer is clear I would add more sugar before bottling (in a different bucket as there will be sediment in the current one now). I seem to recall getting 100g with the festival kit which is quite a lot for a 23l brew. I'd add 80-100g of sugar when you're ready to bottle and take it from there.

There'll (probably) be no damage to your beer but it will be a little bit more alcoholic!
 
Thanks fellows, for all the comments and advice. Its good to see some variety in brewing methods for these kits.

Bottled it up today, beers looking good. Will now leave it in the warm for another 5 days or so. Then pile them up in my shed where its nice and cool. I manged 39 500ml bottles. Did not bother with the remaining 1 ltr in the little bottler fv because the sediment.

Role on May day.

Cheers. :drunk:
 
Everyone will do it slightly different as it works for them that way but all the advice is sound, over time and practice you will adopt your own method that works for you. The best way I found was to take all the suggestions and try a different one each time you brew until you find one that suits.

All the best on your new hobby.
 
Just come across this thread. I'm currently brewing this kit, I'm gonna follow the instructions and just add beer brite before I keg it that should clear it up ready for a session in a couple of weeks
 

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