John Bull IPA Review

[Brewski]

Mine's been in bottles for nearly 2 weeks now. I cracked a couple open before heading out last night and poured one for a mate.

His first reaction after his first mouth full - "that's not home brew."



It's my first brew and I'm really surprised how well it's turned out. A very nice kit beer, especially for the price. I'll definitely be making this again at some point.

 

[BruinTuns]

Nice one Brewski :
I confess I'm a bit envious as mine turned out so disappointing but your success encourages me to try again.
Another JB IPA will be my next attempt.. :pray:

 

[Brewski]

Nice one Brewski :
I confess I'm a bit envious as mine turned out so disappointing but your success encourages me to try again.
Another JB IPA will be my next attempt.. :pray:

Thanks BT. Once you get those issues ironed out and get back into your stride then I'm sure you'll turn out some cracking brews. Keep at it mate. :thumb:

 

[jamesw]

My first beer brew, after years of cider and perry, and i must say it is a seriously nice malty ale.
I brewed with a packet of youngs beer kit enhancer, picked up both from tesco for a total of 13 quid. Brewed to standard 23l, worked out about 4% using hydrometer.
Had a party 2 weeks after fermentation finished, so tested it after 1 week, bit thin, not much head aand very hoppy, but given another week, less hoppy tasted and nicer malty flavour.

If other kits are better than this, great!! But ssuch good value for me!

 

[pms67]

This is the first John Bull kit i have done and plan to just add 500g dme and 700g dextrose but not sure about hops on this one,some say its hoppy others not so,i think its darker than Coopers IPA as i seen Cheshirehomebrewer on youtube brew it.
Anyone done this lately?
Was on offer with tesco sale,not expecting a world beater of a brew but its something different.
Cheers

 

[jamesw]

As mentioned earlier in this thread, I think this is a great ale!
I brewed with just Youngs beer enhancer (also from tesco sale) and based on what else ive done, id say it was the same quality as a woodefords wherry (similar maltyness too). I didnt find it very hoppy (neither as citrusy an american pale ale nor as hoppy as a green king ipa) but none the less very nice.
for the price (in tesco sale) its very very difficult to beat!!

 

[LarryF]

If you have not yet got it on, as it were, you could get a good steer from Craig. Here he hops up a Coopers IPA, which is is 1.7kg as against 1.8kg for the John Bull.

Having watched the Craigtube video posted by Slid and having a John bull IPA handy I couldn't resist having a crack at it.

Brewed 23L 24/04/15 - 09/05/15 21c
Kit yeast + 1tsp Yeast Nutrient
1kg Youngs BE, 300g of honey
25g German Cascade hops, 20 min boil then added the bag to the FV
OG:1060 (May God have mercy on my soul)

I'll bottle this on 09/05/15 with maybe 3/4 or 1tsp of sugar per 500ml bottle, I'll be having my first taste about 22/05/15, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[TitanicStruggle]

This is the first John Bull kit i have done and plan to just add 500g dme and 700g dextrose but not sure about hops on this one,some say its hoppy others not so,i think its darker than Coopers IPA as i seen Cheshirehomebrewer on youtube brew it.
Anyone done this lately?
Was on offer with tesco sale,not expecting a world beater of a brew but its something different.
Cheers

Just cracked open my first bottle of John Bull IPA brewed to pretty identical spec. It's stunning, really lovely and malty. Could compare it to a pint of Reverend James if you've had it.

 

[jamesw]

I think it is probably THE most underrated can beer kit.....

I prefer it to a wherry!

 

[TitanicStruggle]

I've heard great things about Wherry and have a kit ready to roll in the Homebrew cupboard but I think I have plenty of IPA style beer for the time being. The John Bull is a fantastic pint, I really wasn't expecting it to be as nice as it turned out. Similar to PMS, I did 500g Muntons Light DME and 750g of Brewing sugar.

Sorry the photo is on its side.

 

[jamesw]

I didnt get that much head, but i used pet bottles and poured slowly, but the flavour is great, and its very cheap in tescos sales.
i just brewed mine with 1kg of youngs or muntons brew enhancer, delish!

 

[TitanicStruggle]

That head is more down to a bad pour on my part, it did settle down but saying that it kept some head to the bottom of the pint.

 

[LarryF]

If you have not yet got it on, as it were, you could get a good steer from Craig. Here he hops up a Coopers IPA, which is is 1.7kg as against 1.8kg for the John Bull.

Having watched the Craigtube video posted by Slid and having a John bull IPA handy I couldn't resist having a crack at it.

Brewed 23L 24/04/15 - 09/05/15 21c
Kit yeast + 1tsp Yeast Nutrient
1kg Youngs BE, 300g of honey
25g German Cascade hops, 20 min boil then added the bag to the FV
OG:1060 (May God have mercy on my soul)

I'll bottle this on 09/05/15 with maybe 3/4 or 1tsp of sugar per 500ml bottle, I'll be having my first taste about 22/05/15, I'll let you know how it goes.

After 12days in the warm and two days in the fridge I tried my first one these tonight. It's only two weeks old but what a gorgeous pint it is, great head, really nice hoppy aroma and taste. I don't know how much of that is the kit hop profile and how much is the hops I added. Either way. I've had my first one and they go in the shed for two weeks tomorrow but if I had to catagorise this one id say it's an...........endangered species

 

[jamesw]

I do think this is one of the most under rated kits, I've done wherry and it cleans the floor of it.
I didn't get as much hop, so maybe adding hops helps, but it's a family fav!
I'm very tempted to get john bull traditional ale and add extra hope is my search for an easy butty Bach clone.

 

[LarryF]

I do think this is one of the most under rated kits, I've done wherry and it cleans the floor of it.
I didn't get as much hop, so maybe adding hops helps, but it's a family fav!
I'm very tempted to get john bull traditional ale and add extra hope is my search for an easy butty Bach clone.

Good call James, I had my first bottle tonight after two weeks in the bottle and it was a stunner. At the moment the John Bull IPA kit is £9.00 in the Tesco Sale, you can't beat that for value. If you put 1kg of BE (3.75 in the Tesco Sale), 454g of Lyons Golden Syrup (£1.15) you will get a corker beer at about 6.5 - 6.9% and for £14.90 for 40 pints. That's four just over pints in my local.

 

[TitanicStruggle]

Larryf. What kind of hops did you add and how much. Might be interested in trying that next time. Still got a few bottles of the last IPA. Wouldn't say it was very hoppy at all.

 

[LarryF]

Larryf. What kind of hops did you add and how much. Might be interested in trying that next time. Still got a few bottles of the last IPA. Wouldn't say it was very hoppy at all.

Titanic, I used 25g of German Cascade hops. 20min boil and then added the tea and the bag to theFV for 14 days. I didn't dry hop this time.

 

[Tay80]

This kit is on offer at £9.99 in my lhbs, might have to pick one up, sounds good.

Tesco have it for £9 they have 25% off homebrew

 

[terrym]

Folks
I have a John Bull IPA plus 1 kg Youngs BE in the FV at present (thanks Tesco sale), starting at 22 litres. I have not done a John Bull kit before. It's been going for five days now at 19-20*C in my water bath, using the kit yeast. The fermentation has now slowed right down, although it has not stopped completely, and gravity is currently at about 1012 (from about 1044).
The kit instructions say the fermentation will be complete in 4 to 6 days and seem to indicate a FG of about 1006 can be achieved, although I only use this as a guide.
I will be leaving it in the FV for a few days yet ( I intend to dry hop) and the gravity may still yet come down, although the Brewers Friend calculator suggests I haven't got much further to go.
So I wondered what do others get with this kit as a FG. :hmm:

 

[stevej]

Folks
I have a John Bull IPA plus 1 kg Youngs BE in the FV at present (thanks Tesco sale), starting at 22 litres. I have not done a John Bull kit before. It's been going for five days now at 19-20*C in my water bath, using the kit yeast. The fermentation has now slowed right down, although it has not stopped completely, and gravity is currently at about 1012 (from about 1044).
The kit instructions say the fermentation will be complete in 4 to 6 days and seem to indicate an FG of about 1006 can be achieved, although I only use this as a guide.
I will be leaving it in the FV for a few days yet ( I intend to dry hop) and the gravity may still yet come down, although the Brewers Friend calculator suggests I haven't got much further to go.
So I wondered what do others get with this kit as an FG. :hmm:

Hi terry
I brewed this kit about 6 months ago my fg ended up at 1010
I tend to leave my brews in the fv for two weeks
Steve