Festival London Porter kit question!

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PanchoSimon

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Hiya,
so I started this kit on Tuesday this week and the instructions says to add the bag of hops after 5 days, I’m still seeing a lot of activity and it’s still bubbling away like mad. My question is do I add the hops tomorrow if It’s still bubbling away.
thanks.
 
Its not critical but I add the hops after about five days, but the brew could be fermenting away for another 10 days or so. Mine does, but I keep the FV at 18 -20C
My understanding those hops primary function is for aroma but I have little sense of smell so i just bung them in.
I do put the hops in about 3 of the muslin bags and weigh them down with a few marbles, and then use another on the end of syphon tube to try and keep the syphoned beer as clean as possible.
Everyone I have given a bottle to raves about it - makes a good drink if you like stout/porter type beers.
Good luck with it let us know what you think of it
 
Hiya,
so I started this kit on Tuesday this week and the instructions says to add the bag of hops after 5 days, I’m still seeing a lot of activity and it’s still bubbling away like mad. My question is do I add the hops tomorrow if It’s still bubbling away.
thanks.

I've not made this kit so I don't really know. :-)

However, based on what I've read I think the general concensus is to add hops after the main fermentation has finished. Doubtless someone will be along to correct me shortly...
 
@PanchoSimon, definitely best to ignore kit instruction timings! You'll see many mentions on this forum that these instructions are always hopelessly optimistic!

At 18-20 degC your brew will take about 2 weeks to fully ferment out in FV. So, think best hold fire on dry-hopping for a few more days yet.

Others may correct me, but I believe you generally want to wait until fermentation has slowed right down to a crawl. (I usually aim to dry-hop when brew has hit the last 2-3 SG points above target FG. This is in the knowledge that the brew has, at that stage, around 5-7 more days before fermentation is complete.)

This reason for this choice of timing is that the dry-hopping process is really there to deliver aroma only to the finished brew. (Delivery of hoppy bitterness comes from earlier hop boil - whether in brew kettle during an AG process, or during Festival's kit extract manufacture).

If you dry-hop while fermentation is too active, then the volatiles you really want to be retained for aroma in your brew will be stripped out by the escaping CO2 bubbling through your airlock. (Aroma that you can smell in the escaping CO2 will naturally no longer be aroma retained in your beer!)

You cannot, within reason, start dry-hopping too late. The time your brew spends on yeast in FV prior to dry-hopping is certainly never wasted by the yeast, (even if fermentation per SG appears complete).

It allows the yeast to clean up and condition at a faster rate than it's ever going to be able to in bottle (there's more yeast available to do the job). And you'll need to allow around 2 weeks for that hugely important bottle conditioning process (which the instructions never mention!)

You can start dry-hopping too early though (or effectively, for too long). Beyond 10 days on dry-hops and you'll start to notice grassy tones developing (a bit like avoiding an over-stewed tea or coffee).

So, the optimum really is to aim to dry-hop for just the last 5-7 days your brew spends in FV before bottling.

If started when you've hit those last few SG points, then you can reasonably expect that the fermentation finish/bottling stage will coincide with optimal finish time for dry-hopping.

All of that said, a few days here or there are very unlikely to make a perceptible difference. Certainly don't lose sleep over it. You'll still create a great beer, I'm sure!

From personal experience, and I've done about 15 Festival/MJ kits these last 12 months, Festival kits have proven time and time again to be hugely reliable. Their Pride of London Porter - in particular - is excellent!

BTW regarding use of the muslin filter bag they provide. Each to their own, but rather than bag the pellets, I always dry-hop loose and then syphon through the mesh of a stainless steel hop spider when racking into my bottling bucket from the FV.

(See earlier post below...)

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/bottle-wand-very-slow.93165/post-1016949
 
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@PanchoSimon, definitely best to ignore kit instruction timings! You'll see many mentions on this forum that these instructions are always hopelessly optimistic!

At 18-20 degC your brew will take about 2 weeks to fully ferment out in FV. So, think best hold fire on dry-hopping for a few more days yet.

Others may correct me, but I believe you generally want to wait until fermentation has slowed right down to a crawl. (I usually aim to dry-hop when brew has hit the last 2-3 SG points above target FG. This is in the knowledge that the brew has, at that stage, around 5-7 more days before fermentation is complete.)

This reason for this choice of timing is that the dry-hopping process is really there to deliver aroma only to the finished brew. (Delivery of hoppy bitterness comes from earlier hop boil - whether in brew kettle during an AG process, or during Festival's kit extract manufacture).

If you dry-hop while fermentation is too active, then the volatiles you really want to be retained for aroma in your brew will be stripped out by the escaping CO2 bubbling through your airlock. (Aroma that you can smell in the escaping CO2 will naturally no longer be aroma retained in your beer!)

You cannot, within reason, start dry-hopping too late. The time your brew spends on yeast in FV prior to dry-hopping is certainly never wasted by the yeast, (even if fermentation per SG appears complete).

It allows the yeast to clean up and condition at a faster rate than it's ever going to be able to in bottle (there's more yeast available to do the job). And you'll need to allow around 2 weeks for that hugely important bottle conditioning process (which the instructions never mention!)

You can start dry-hopping too early though (or effectively, for too long). Beyond 10 days on dry-hops and you'll start to notice grassy tones developing (a bit like avoiding an over-stewed tea or coffee).

So, the optimum really is to aim to dry-hop for just the last 5-7 days your brew spends in FV before bottling.

If started when you've hit those last few SG points, then you can reasonably expect that the fermentation finish/bottling stage will coincide with optimal finish time for dry-hopping.

All of that said, a few days here or there are very unlikely to make a perceptible difference. Certainly don't lose sleep over it. You'll still create a great beer, I'm sure!

From personal experience, and I've done about 15 Festival/MJ kits these last 12 months, Festival kits have proven time and time again to be hugely reliable. Their Pride of London Porter - in particular - is excellent!

BTW regarding use of the muslin filter bag they provide. Each to their own, but rather than bag the pellets, I always dry-hop loose and then syphon through the mesh of a stainless steel hop spider when racking into my bottling bucket from the FV. (See earlier post below...)

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/bottle-wand-very-slow.93165/post-1016949
Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to reply in such detail! It’s greatly appreciated. Ironically it has literally come to a stop since I started the thread yesterday.
 
@PanchoSimon I've learnt loads from this excellent forum over several years of home-brewing. Glad to be able to repay the favour and spread the good word!

If your brew appears to have stalled, then I'd check SG. Depending on your FV temp, it may have already hit target FG. In which case no problem - if you know you're able to bottle 5-7 days from now, chuck in your hops.

If SG still a bit of a way off (mine achieved FG of 1.011 from OG of 1.045), then I'd take the FV temperature up a notch (to 20-22degC) and/or gently rouse by rocking the FV to give it a bit of a kick up the ar*e!
 
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Just to add my tuppence worth. I've recently made this kit and it's probably the best one I've done. It was in the FV for 14 days and I added the hops after 5 days as per instruction and without any ill effects. This was in February when it was -20 outside so I used an immersion heater for the whole fermentation. OG was 1050 and FG 1012 giving 5% ABV. If I made the kit again, I'd add the hops after 8-9 days just to see what difference if any there was.

If I ever do another kit, I'll do Festival for sure.
 
Thanks for the reply.
How long did you leave it before you started drinking it!
cheers,
Simon.
 
Probably two weeks in the keg before I tried it.

My usual routine now is 14 days in the FV, one week in the keg to condition then one week to clear. I usually have more than one brew on at a time though so it takes a few weeks to get through a keg by which time the beer has usually changed and improved enormously. It's interesting how it evolves week on week.

What I liked about the Festival Porter was the body, flavour and head retention. It poured from the keg much better than some other kits ie there wasn't half a pint of head on it!
 
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