Festa Cream

All right, I've made a number of reviews and am getting too lazy to review my notes but want to comment. I have made a couple of these Festa Creams and will give them a go once again. Both were decent - first one being in a U Brew and took a greenish St. Paddys Day beer look, and the second was fermented at home. I remember both being quite drinkable...ooops checked my notes and didn't record primary evidence, so am running on memory. I would recommend this cream, but if you're looking for a Sleeman Cream, it's not. It's good, but different...

Festa Pale Ale

Awesome year round beer and one of my staples in my tavern/garage/theatre/wherever. Hoppy, fruity, rich with excellent nose, lacing and head retention. I modded one and bottled it with 1/2 ozs. of Citra hops and am having a hard time holding it to warmer weather, particularly this winter as it's so fookin' frigid. My next mod will be to jack it with 500G of dry malt extract to knock the hop level down a bit and jump the alcohol a bit. Stand by!

Festa Red Great

I have to say this is one of my favourites along with the Pale... nice coppery colour and nutty flavour. I just jacked one a bit with 500G's of dex to bump the buzz a bit (OG - 1.053) and aiming for around 5.5 to 6% with a bit drier finish. Stand by! This one to be kegged and residual bottled to age a couple months for reinspection.

Festa Wheat

Okay...the first time I brewed the wheat it was bone stock and turned out okay - clean and refreshing but not really lagered as I didn't have my fridge at the time. My second attempt was different...I bought a Festa recipe kit from Noble Grape - a chain in the Maritimes (Canada) that included a 3 lb. can of Raspberry pureé. I followed their advice to add to primary and have to say it was a very pleasant a refreshing summer beer (5.2% ABV). Others advised to add pureé to secondary, but I followed the instructions. I did score another can of juice to re do this and may try the secondary process for this summer. Hey, it must have been good as I am going to try it or the Blonde Lager Raspberry - for another go. And I have  six pack that will be one year old for when the weather breaks! Stay tuned!

cidery

Greetings,

As a veteran home brewer, I was disappointed with the American Premium Lager. I pitched the Cooper's Ale yeast that cam e with it and followed procedures as usual. The results were so disappointing, that I gave most of it away to a friend who would drink anything lol. Not even close to their Munich Dark Lager! I've done that one with the Cooper's and it was great. I recently pitched another and this time pitched the kit (+5 liters water) on top of leftover yeast/slurry from a Festa West Coast Pale Ale. The result was in the style of an American Brown Ale (US Safale 05) and was one of the best browns I have ever had - purchased or home brewed. Next up will be Brewhouse Oktoberfest, subbing the Cooper's yeast with a Saflager 23, and lagering in my temp controlled fridge. BTW the Oktoberfest worked well with the Cooper's for the record when I brewed it previously.

Amazing

Greetings,

As a veteran home brewer, I was disappointed with the American Premium Lager. I pitched the Cooper's Ale yeast that cam e with it and followed procedures as usual. The results were so disappointing, that I gave most of it away to a friend who would drink anything lol. Not even close to their Munich Dark Lager! I've done that one with the Cooper's and it was great. I recently pitched another and this time pitched the kit (+5 liters water) on top of leftover yeast/slurry from a Festa West Coast Pale Ale. The result was in the style of an American Brown Ale (US Safale 05) and was one of the best browns I have ever had - purchased or home brewed. Next up will be Brewhouse Oktoberfest, subbing the Cooper's yeast with a Saflager 23, and lagering in my temp controlled fridge. BTW the Oktoberfest worked well with the Cooper's for the record when I brewed it previously.

Good stuff

I have made this kit quite a few times and had a couple misfires. Take other's advice and toss the Cooper's.Most of the time it turns out well but isn't consistent. However, I popped one bottle after finding it stored in my basement after 7 years and it was superb! My favourites right now are with the Festa Brew lineup, bu I am not counting Brew House out yet. Next time, I will be using a liquid yeast or a Fermentis/Safale dry on my Brewhouse experiments.

My First Ever Homebrew.

1 can of Coopers lager and Supplied yeast it was  very easy to do and was the first brew done and it came with the coopers kit.

OG – 1039 FG – 10 10 Alch 3,8% + 0,5% = 4,3%

Not a bad lager – had worse, but it felt like it was missing body and depth of flavour. Maybe try again with some hops ? It was enough to get me hooked though.

Coopers Unreal Ale

1.7kg Coopers Real Ale,  1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer 1,  500g Coopers Light Dry Malt and the supplied yeast.

OG – 1047 FG – 1010 Alch 4,86% + 0,5% = 5,36%

Lovely beer – kept bottles standing up and left alone while conditioning some turned out a wee bit cloudy.  This was a fantastic brew though and I will definitely try it again and perhaps add some finings to deal with the cloudy issue and may try a hops to add to the smell and flavour.

COOPERS PALE ALE STYLE

Thomas Coopers Australian Pale Ale, 1 kg Ultra Brew, Safale US-56 yeast (standard Method), + 12 g MB 89 hops (standard method). Finings added on day 4. Fermented for 8 days.

OG – 1038 FG – 1010 -  ABV% - 3,8% +0,5% = 4,3%

Hops added at hot water stage and left for full fermentation. The hops bag was split when I added it to the fermenter which caused a lot of particle’s to be left behind, I should have racked the beer but though the finings might do the trick, rookies mistake. At least I have learnt my lesson.  The finings created some big lumps probably from the burst hops bag, the beer also looked a lot darker than pale ale should. First few have bottles drunk after 4 weeks had a lot of bits in it and pretty cloudy. Not the best to date and I am not sure if I would try this recipe again in a hurry. The beer is very green and doesn’t taste of much which is surprising, I expected more from the hops.

Arriba México!

Coopers Mexican Cerveza         

1 x Can of Coopers Cerveza, Coopers BE2 (500g Dex, 250g LDM, 250g maltodextrin), yeast supplied, finings added day 4. Fermentation for 8 days (very hot temp around 23 – 26 deg C)

OG – 1039d  FG – 1010 ABV% – 3,8% + 0,5% = 4,3%

I wasn’t expecting much from this beer as I just followed the kit instructions and expected it to be nothing like a sol or Corona. I opened a test bottle last night it has been in the bottle conditioning for just 2 weeks so should be really green. I put it in the fridge and drank out of a beer glass which I added a half a lime to, I was blown away it was pretty lively off the pour and when it settled down it had those soft bubbles you get from a Mexican beer and it smelt and tasted every bit as a good as a bought beer. Love it, I want to try to leave them alone for another 4 weeks but not sure that’s going to happen.

ENGLISH BEST BITTER STYLE

Brew craft English Bitter , + 1.5 kg Light Liquid Malt, Safale S-04 yeast, + 12 g Goldings hops , (standard method), 12 g Fuggles hops (standard method),  Hops all added at the hot boil stage and left for full fermentation. Finings Added on day 4.

OG 10 43 FG – 1013 ABV % – 4,07% + 0,5% = 4,57%

I couldn’t wait and had my first trial bottle after week 2, I kept the bottle in the fridge for 1 day before drinking and was very supposed at how good this has turned out it’s a very dark and malty bitter almost tastes like a dark beer rather than a bitter probably all the malt. A great feel in the mouth it is rich and bitter better than I expected. It holds a nice head and smells good.  Well worth trying perhaps it’s because I have been in Oz for the last 3 years and have been starved of good ales and bitters but I am happy to give this a 5/5 already and can’t wait to see how it goes as it matures over time.

coopers ginger beer

ive just cracked my first bottle of coopers ginger beer, i dont know how anyone can dislike this brew. when i brewed mine i kicked off with 3 kilo of raw sugar(i know that seems a bit excessive) but acting on hunches i think it needed boosting up a level. i also used a quarter pound of root ginger grated using tea bag method, powdered ginger, powdered cinnamon, powdered paprika plus half a cup of lime juice in the stewing pot for half an hour and it blended perfectly.i half filled my fermenting vessel with ice cold spring water then added concentrate and then stew pot ingredients, primary ferment 2 weeks, secondary ferment 10 days, bottled for 3 weeks, the final abv was 7.2%. im going to brew gallons and gallons of this for sitting on patio in summertime. give this recipe a bash guys.......cheers

Steinlager Replica Kit

Brewed as a Steinlager Replica Kit. Copper Tun NZ No.50 Enhancer and Saflager S-23 Yeast. 
Brewed around 16C.Yeast gave a distinctive H2S flavour to the beer that actually harmonised with it. Sediment is so good you can poor out the last dropp without mixing up the yeast. ( I did not use finnings) Taste exactly as the NZ made Steinlager Classic beer. A very good kit just use proper lager yeast and bake bred with the kit's own yeast. 

Oud Vlaams Bruin

An excellent kit that gives excellent results.  Done according to the blurb on the box.

The Oud Vlaams Bruin is a malty brown ale with very little to no hop character and a slight acidic bite to it that counters the sweetness of the dark malts.  The flavour profile is complex ... it keeps you coming back for more.  The kits are more expensive than others out there but the extra cost is fully justified when you taste the results.

Bitter as

I brewed it with NZ No62 Czech Pilsner enhancer, 400g glucose syrup and S-23 Yeast. ~23l
The colour of it is darker than that I would expect from a pilsner. The pilsner malt flavour is there but just in the very very back ground. 
The main thing, it is a VERY BITTER beer. You can call it hopy but it is actually bitter. (30-45EBU. it is on the can just did not reed it before brewing)
It is getting better with time or I am getting used to it. If I brew it again I won't use hoped enhancer with it. 

Ps: I'm glad we can edit our reviews. I've just had an other bottle last night. 5month after bottling it is a hopy but well balanced beer. Very good head retantion.

Munton's Gold IPA

For a premium kit, this is quite honestly rubbish.  The brew was done according to the instructions and I even left it a good six weeks to condition in the keg.  At the end, a disappointing watery brew with almost no hop character and very little malt character to boot , insipid, tasteless, uninspiring ... nothing like an IPA at all.  If you like real ale and particularly beer with character then give this one a miss.   If you are looking for generic supermarket beer out of a tin, this might suit you !

Woodforde's Wherry

An excellent kit, dead easy to do, good results and a very drinkable pint of standard English bitter at the end.  Recommended.

Hambleton Bard Old English Ale

Hambleton Bard Old English Ale

This is quite a surprising kit.  At the lower end of the market these days and based on dried malt extract instead of the more usual syrup in a tin, the results, although not brilliant, are very respectable.  After six weeks conditioning, the old ale turned into a very drinkable brew despite it still having some of the ye olde home-brew tang coming through.  Quite honestly, for the price, you can't go wrong and the kit compares favourably with more expensive two can kits and the like.  It's worth brewing this one.

Brewed with 500g LDME, 800g Dextrose and .5 oz Cascade Hop Addition.

Still fermenting (at 22 deg cel) and looks good. Topped it to 19 ml and had an OG of 1.053. Hopefully it'll end up at the potential 6.8% ABV. Thoughts? Check back for results.