Festival Old Suffolk Strong Ale

[Monkeybrew]

Just finishing a barrel, brewed according to instructions.

A fantastic pint a dark, slightly treacley, with some vinous overtones. and very easy to drink

Hops come right through but are more balanced than say the Norfolk Nog kit.

If you like dark beers this is a wonderful pint.

 

[dodsi]

Made to instructions in October 2012 and bottled Early November 2012.
this was made to be ready for xmas.

By Christmas 2012 (6/7 weeks in bottles) this was not particularly good - tasted like TCP and I described this as rancid in a different thread.

cue March 2013 and having left most of the bottles for my dad as i made it for christmas for him I had a handful of bottles left in the cupboard.

What a difference, handed one to a friend who is really fussy with beer and will tell me if my brews taste like homebrew... he said it was fantastic and could'nt believe it was homebrew.

The kit has a fantastic strong flavour, malt sweetness and liqourice type flavours but it does take a long time to mature.

:thumb:

 

[Monkeybrew]

Dodsi, did you add a Campden to your water?

Only if you didn't that would explain the TCP taste..... mine was too hoppy on racking to the secondary/keg but great after 2 weeks and just kept improving

 

[dodsi]

No, i did not use campden or sodium met, i believe it was just spring water.

The taste did dissipate and it became really nice after a long maturation.

The start gravity was on the nose and the finish one was also and temps were good throughout.

 

[bevvies-a-plenty]

i did this one for my first brew of the year gotta say lovely pint just like broadside in strength and flavour i always keg my beers tho i would highly reccomend bottling these kits as they take ages to make for instance a normal 3kg kit takes me a week to ferment and bout a week to clear with finings and using a top tap keg these kits take two - three weeks to ferment and two weeks to clear but are worth the wait so if like me you never want a dry house and usually keg your beers then only do these kits if you are going to bottle them.

 

[peelman]

I have this in a keg at the moment and must admit I am so disappointed with it.. Especially after making the Festival Summer ale kit and that was so good.. I'm leaving it alone for a month or two to see if it improves as stated earlier in this thread.(I hope so)

My Mrs says she likes it, but I think she just does not want to hurt my feelings...