Quality kit for Christmas

[Andysbrew]

Wanting a really good quality and strong kit for Christmas, none of the Christmas style ales seem to tempt me, been looking at the Suffolk Strong Ale from Festival kits.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[FatCol]

I can highly recommend the Woodfordes Admirals Reserve - great kit! I made exactly as per instructions and kegged it and it was a superb brew, although it does only make 32 pints:cry:

FatCol

 

[Maffa]

Cant go wrong with the Festival Suffolk ale, their Porter ale is also good for winter, but not quite as strong.

Its a personal preference but I always tend to use about half the priming sugar these festival kits supply, about 60-70g for a 36-40 pint batch. Definitely do this for the porter as you dont want a fizzy porter beer.

 

[Andysbrew]

Thanks Gents

Was looking at the Admirals Reserve but was slightly weaker than the Suffolk Strong Ale and worked out a few pence more per pint when I worked out it only did 32 pints. Think i'll go with the Suffolk, was also looking at the St Peters Ruby Red which gets good reviews although it is only around 4%, I want to go for something strong this time. Going to do a Brewferm Christmas kit soon and store and mature it ready for Christmas 2015.

:twisted:

 

[mickthetrick]

woodfords headcracker is a lovely drop and its up on the strenth

 

[JamesMcS]

My first and tastiest brew was the bulldog evil dog double ipa - probably the best beer I've ever tasted - from memory the box said it made 40 pints @ 7% but mine came out closer to 9. Well worth spending the extra on!

 

[Andysbrew]

My first and tastiest brew was the bulldog evil dog double ipa - probably the best beer I've ever tasted - from memory the box said it made 40 pints @ 7% but mine came out closer to 9. Well worth spending the extra on!

Wanting to do this kit as it does look my kind of thing, however I am looking for a normal kind of bitter for Christmas for me and my guests, and want a full bodied ale.

Cheers

 

[JamesMcS]

I've heard good things about the festival kits. Recently bottled a milestone green Man but it's really sweet and malty at the moment. Hoping it improves in the next few months....

 

[Andysbrew]

I've heard good things about the festival kits. Recently bottled a milestone green Man but it's really sweet and malty at the moment. Hoping it improves in the next few months....

Was looking in Wilko yesterday at the milestone green man at £16, tempting, let me know how it gets on mate.

Cheers

 

[JamesMcS]

No worries - I've tried a bottle tonight and the malt taste is starting to subside a bit so I'm hopeful that it will turn into a nice beer by the autumn

 

[Andysbrew]

Tables maybe turning, my lhbs has all woodfordes kits down to £17.99 which makes the Admirals Reserve a slightly cheaper pint, its a toss up between that and the Suffolk, or should I get both.......hmm

 

[JamesMcS]

Definitely both - or how would you compare the two??

 

[Andysbrew]

Seem to be loads of offers on on beer kits at the moment, mylhbs has reduced all Woodfordes kits to £17.99, the Wilko sale is also fantastic, putting pressure on myself to brew more beer!, seems hard to resist, just got to watch the dates. If the kits have good dates might store the Woodfordes for next Christmas, decisions decisions..... :-?

 

[FatCol]

Seem to be loads of offers on on beer kits at the moment, mylhbs has reduced all Woodfordes kits to £17.99, the Wilko sale is also fantastic, putting pressure on myself to brew more beer!, seems hard to resist, just got to watch the dates. If the kits have good dates might store the Woodfordes for next Christmas, decisions decisions..... :-?

I had a couple :whistle: of pints of my Admirals Reserve yesterday whilst bottling my Better Brew Export lager.

It's kegged and has been conditioning for about 7 weeks and even if I say so myself, it is blooming marvellous. A really good quality ale that delivers both flavour and strength. Can't recommend it enough fella - get one, get it brewed, get it drunk! :

FatCol

 

[Andysbrew]

Thanks fatcol, going to get it ordered later , thanks for the inspiration!!

;-)

 

[FatCol]

Thanks fatcol, going to get it ordered later , thanks for the inspiration!!

;-)

You are most welcome and I hope you enjoy yours as much as I am enjoying mine. I just wish it would last longer...

Will you be kegging or bottling? I tend to keg ales and bottle lagers and ciders - either way, show a little patience - I gave mine 7 weeks in the keg before I set about it and by god was it worth it!

If you're kegging, 75g of sugar is enough, otherwise it will be overly carbonated for an ale.

Get stuck in matey and the best of luck!

FatCol :

 

[Andysbrew]

You are most welcome and I hope you enjoy yours as much as I am enjoying mine. I just wish it would last longer...

Will you be kegging or bottling? I tend to keg ales and bottle lagers and ciders - either way, show a little patience - I gave mine 7 weeks in the keg before I set about it and by god was it worth it!

If you're kegging, 75g of sugar is enough, otherwise it will be overly carbonated for an ale.

Get stuck in matey and the best of luck!

FatCol :

Will be kegging mate, will be brewing this before I go for 2 weeks holiday, so would be starting it early September, or maybe mid October when I return, could be a bit late then though.....

Certainly looking forward to it. Ordered it last night along with Brewferm Diablo, Triple and Christmas, got Grand Cru in the fermentor at the moment.

Cheers

Andy

 

[FatCol]

If my experience is anything to go by, I would say October would be about perfect. That would give it 7-8 weeks conditioning in the barrel, which is what mine had.

Regarding the Brewferm kits, I bottled my Diabolo last weekend and that's going away until christmas/new year as the general consensus seems to be that they need 6 months conditioning to be at their best. Brewed it doubled i.e. 2 kits, both yeasts and made up to 18 litres.

The temperatures here are right in the sweet spot for brewing at the moment, so I'm getting brewed what I can before the warmer weather comes and I have to stop until the temperature drops again. Brew 'em, bottle 'em, stack 'em, condition 'em and hopefully I will have some joys awaiting me a little way down the line :drunk:

FatCol

 

[Andysbrew]

If my experience is anything to go by, I would say October would be about perfect. That would give it 7-8 weeks conditioning in the barrel, which is what mine had.

Regarding the Brewferm kits, I bottled my Diabolo last weekend and that's going away until christmas/new year as the general consensus seems to be that they need 6 months conditioning to be at their best. Brewed it doubled i.e. 2 kits, both yeasts and made up to 18 litres.

The temperatures here are right in the sweet spot for brewing at the moment, so I'm getting brewed what I can before the warmer weather comes and I have to stop until the temperature drops again. Brew 'em, bottle 'em, stack 'em, condition 'em and hopefully I will have some joys awaiting me a little way down the line :drunk:

FatCol

Col this is exactly what I plan to do, the only difference being that I will leave my Brewferm kits to condition 18 months as they seem to be excellent after this amount of time from what I have read up on. I am brewing as many as I can now and will store in a corner of my shed out the way. Only thing is I'm running out of space, will have to sell the lawnmower and strimmer the way I'm going at the moment.....:lol: , I am planning to drink the Brewferm Christmas ready for Christmas 2015.

 

[RNVET]

I was looking to do the Muntons Santa but having read the reviews and followed this I'm now not so sure and will probably go for another Admirals.
On another note we are spending Christmas at the inlaws so I am wondering about when to take the barrel round as I presume it would need time to settle back down.