Brewferm, Diablo
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Marcus0466
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Got this kit for christmas, started it today, had a 700g bottle of sainsburys golden syrup so used it all and the initial gravity was 1.084!!! Please please please finish around the 1.010 mark!!! Also used sainsbury value water at 17p for 2 litre bottle, now says its spring water after the 'filtered tap water' fiasco, lets see if that makes a difference!!!
I tried a bottle last night to see how it tasted after two months and was pleasantly surprised. I'd tried one at 1 month and one at 6 weeks and the flavour has completely changed.
The previous ones had a really powerful alcohol taste that was a bit unpleasant but it's now mellowing out nicely. Unfortunately I brewed it a bit long by mistake but didn't up the sugar when priming so the carbonation wasn't great but it tasted good. I'm going to leave it another month before trying it again.
I'm not sure what I'd compare it with right now. I thought it would be like Duvel based on the name but it's less crisp. It's not much like Leffe either as it's stronger. It seems more like a Triple.
Having said that I've got a load of triple conditioning that I've not tried so I'll have a see how that compares.
I can see this being very good next month based on the improvements in taste so far.
The previous ones had a really powerful alcohol taste that was a bit unpleasant but it's now mellowing out nicely. Unfortunately I brewed it a bit long by mistake but didn't up the sugar when priming so the carbonation wasn't great but it tasted good. I'm going to leave it another month before trying it again.
I'm not sure what I'd compare it with right now. I thought it would be like Duvel based on the name but it's less crisp. It's not much like Leffe either as it's stronger. It seems more like a Triple.
Having said that I've got a load of triple conditioning that I've not tried so I'll have a see how that compares.
I can see this being very good next month based on the improvements in taste so far.
Cracked open a bottle of this last night, even though it is still very young
As with the Oranje Bock, this is just getting better and better
Lovely "Abbey Beer" taste, and you also know that it is a strong brew that needs sipping
I reckon given a little while long conditioning this will be as good as many a bought bottle
As with the Oranje Bock, this is just getting better and better
Lovely "Abbey Beer" taste, and you also know that it is a strong brew that needs sipping
I reckon given a little while long conditioning this will be as good as many a bought bottle
Marcus0466
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Marcus0466 said:
Got it down to 1.012. Bottled in 250ml bottles, (a little cloudy). Now the wait begins.......................
ClarenceBoddicker
Well-Known Member
Ten days in primary and down to 1014 but no airlock action as far as I can tell. Will leave for a full fortnight then rack to secondary. Hoping it gets down a bit further as it only started at 1066. My triple came in on the weak side too if my hydrometer is to be believed. Smells great anyway. Looking forward to this one.
Edit: Now in the attic in two plastic 5 litre bottles for the next week or two. Down to 1012 now.
Edit: Now in the attic in two plastic 5 litre bottles for the next week or two. Down to 1012 now.
ClarenceBoddicker
Well-Known Member
Bottled today - tastes like it will be decent - got down to 1.010 so around 7.4% I think. Batch primed with dextrose and warm conditioning now. A lot darker than I would've expected but I did use Golden Syrup with this. High hopes; hope it carbs better than the Triple I tried last night.
Cracked open another bottle of this last night, and wow the difference that 3 months maturing in the cool has made is amazing
Now really well carb'ed, and the head holds all the way down the glass
The initial alcohol taste that was very much in the fore when first bottled has now gone, and this is a great drink..........although supped not quaffed
:-)
Now really well carb'ed, and the head holds all the way down the glass
The initial alcohol taste that was very much in the fore when first bottled has now gone, and this is a great drink..........although supped not quaffed
:-)
MarkS said:
I thought the same with mine, up to 3 months it was just OK, then wow - these Brewferm kits definately take some ageing. I've just bottled the Oud Vlaams Bruin.
This was my second attempt at this kit. First kit brewed per instructions, but without any temperature control. It came out nice, but with some off bottles that tasted a little sour. As this was my second brew ever, it may have been that my sanitising regime wasn't quite up to standard yet, or it may have been the temperature fluctuations. Not sure.
This time round, I decided to go for a 2-can, 18 litre brew with DME instead of sugar and to dry hop. I got the original gravity up to 1.076 with 1kg of Amber dry malt extract (only). It took about a month to stabilise at 1.016. I dry hopped with 50g Willamette somewhere midway and primed with dextrose at 6.2g/litre.
After about a month, this was a bit of a frankenstein beer, some ppl loved it, but I didn't. The aroma of the willamette just didn't quite fit the taste profile. Now, about 2.5 months in the bottle, the willamette dry-hop is almost disappeared and replaced by a very malty aroma, that corresponds with the taste. It has a nice bitter kick to the end, but the maltiness in the taste is paramount. Will see where this goes to, as I intended to keep these until Christmas (7 months bottle conditioning). Carbonation is actually okay, thought I may have over primed, but I think it is good to counter the maltiness.
Okay, as you made it this far into my rambling; what would I recommend to change about how I did this kit?
- use either less DME and some sugar or lighter DME than amber. The maltiness is a little too much (to my taste) but still a lot better than all-sugar.
- dry hopping and then conditioning it for a long time is pointless, the aroma hops seem to disappear over the months. Waste of money (and more importantly of valuable hops).
- consider using other yeast than supplied with the kit. It does it's job, but I think using some Safale US-05 will produce it drier, more interesting beer (not tested on this kit though).
Will I brew this again? Well, could well be, depends on what the samples over the next months until Christmas turn out like. For the moment, not a straight winner, but it is telling I tried this kit for a second go.
This time round, I decided to go for a 2-can, 18 litre brew with DME instead of sugar and to dry hop. I got the original gravity up to 1.076 with 1kg of Amber dry malt extract (only). It took about a month to stabilise at 1.016. I dry hopped with 50g Willamette somewhere midway and primed with dextrose at 6.2g/litre.
After about a month, this was a bit of a frankenstein beer, some ppl loved it, but I didn't. The aroma of the willamette just didn't quite fit the taste profile. Now, about 2.5 months in the bottle, the willamette dry-hop is almost disappeared and replaced by a very malty aroma, that corresponds with the taste. It has a nice bitter kick to the end, but the maltiness in the taste is paramount. Will see where this goes to, as I intended to keep these until Christmas (7 months bottle conditioning). Carbonation is actually okay, thought I may have over primed, but I think it is good to counter the maltiness.
Okay, as you made it this far into my rambling; what would I recommend to change about how I did this kit?
- use either less DME and some sugar or lighter DME than amber. The maltiness is a little too much (to my taste) but still a lot better than all-sugar.
- dry hopping and then conditioning it for a long time is pointless, the aroma hops seem to disappear over the months. Waste of money (and more importantly of valuable hops).
- consider using other yeast than supplied with the kit. It does it's job, but I think using some Safale US-05 will produce it drier, more interesting beer (not tested on this kit though).
Will I brew this again? Well, could well be, depends on what the samples over the next months until Christmas turn out like. For the moment, not a straight winner, but it is telling I tried this kit for a second go.
Well, as no-one posted after me, I might as well go straight to the point; here is a 4 month in the bottle update:
- As expected, no trace left of the (delicious) Willamette in the nose, so that was a silly waste of hops by me (sorry ppl, I know we are in short supply of hops and promise not to waste more of them).
- The 'thick' malt taste seems to 'lighten up' a bit, making it much easier to drink.
- It is actually turning into a really nice beer. I just cracked open a second bottle. The 8% alcohol was noticeable before, but right now I would not have guessed. Dangerous.
- As expected, no trace left of the (delicious) Willamette in the nose, so that was a silly waste of hops by me (sorry ppl, I know we are in short supply of hops and promise not to waste more of them).
- The 'thick' malt taste seems to 'lighten up' a bit, making it much easier to drink.
- It is actually turning into a really nice beer. I just cracked open a second bottle. The 8% alcohol was noticeable before, but right now I would not have guessed. Dangerous.
Planning to get this on the go soon, just wanted to ask if anyone had tried to brew it with a different yeast? I.e whitelabs or wyeast that may be better suited to this style of ale rather than the generic brewferm yeast provided.
Cheers.
Cheers.
sdt7618
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Just popped the lid on my first one of these. using the plastic indicator bottle to make sure it was carbed up. only been in the bottle but couldn't wait any longer. the rest are now hidden away until some point next year, probably 3-4 month before I will go back to it. tasted good already but if my ambriox kit is anything to go by the two month bottle of that was 100% better than the 1 month bottle!
Robin54
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I made the Diabolo back in Feb I think and the kegs exploded!!! so transferred to a FV (in the garden, ****e and foam flying everywhere) and bottled, and then went to work!!! I was knackered. HOWEVER, Ive tasted a few recently (research purposes) and its a lovely drop. Its one of the few kits I would make again, as a Christmas day special.
Robin54
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Well, I guess you and I will both be celebrating a great brew at the same time!!
Just sipping a Diabolo that I bottled on the 31/08/2015, and its superb. Well worth leaving for a bit. I tend to brew a few Brewferm kits at the beginning of the year and they are ready to drink from October onwards, I have a good stock in the garage, which i keep topping up. The Brewferm kits are the only kits I brew now that I have gone on to all grain.
