Compliments, and I'm not even an IPA fan

Brewed last summer with only entry level expectations, but quite surprised.  I didn't think I'd like it to such a degree (hot weather required).  Did a side by side with a local "west coast ale" and preferred the festabrew.  It's held up well over time, and by demand of others I will be brewing again.  Big hop flavour and aroma, solid bitterness for my tastes (I can see it a bit mild for some).  I'll take it everytime over any "light lager."
My only criticism is it could be sweeter by a grav point or 2, for about spot on balance.  With certain foods or the mouth's mood, I get a hint of bitter in the vegetable spectrum.
Easier than even extract kits.  Pour into fermenter.  Yeast.  Done.  Costs a little more but worth it!  If you ferment in carboys whip the hose around as you siphon (or get a big funnel) to aerate wort.  Mine finished fine that way.  Mid 60's ferment, 4 weeks primary, no secondary, bottled.  Tip: Get a plan for that FestaBrew cap.  Tape it upright in a cut hole in the box to not spill and use a butter knife or blunt wedge to pry the cap.

4/5:  Great!  (there's no 4.5)

English Pale Ale

This was the standard kit with which my fermenter kit came. It was my first brew but I read a lot beforehand. I used the English Pale Ale pouch, the enhancer pack it came with and the standard yeast. I used a yeast starter and pitched at 23deg C. Brewed it short at 21L. Due to a misunderstanding of Palmer's How to Brew book, I boiled the extract and water and enhancer for about 45min.

Fermented for 1 week in primary FV at between 20-22deg C, then racked for 2 more weeks in secondary carboy. Primed with 98g of white sugar and bottled. Used standard finings 3 days before bottling.

Tested two bottles 6 days after bottling. Carbonation is OK-ish, another week is needed, at least. Not very clear. Clear enough but could be way better.

Clean tasting but very very very bitter. And it's more of the background bitterness with very little forward, aromatic hops. 

I'm sure that if I would have brewed it at 25L, the bitterness would have been better, but then it would have been thin from an AVB point of view. As it is, it finished at 3.9 in carboy plus 0.5 in bottle for a total of 4.4%. 

If I would ever do it again, which I doubt since I'm not an ale drinker, I would probably brew at 25l and add another 0.5 of brew sugar of light DME. I would also add some aroma hops since it definitely lacks those.

As it is, it's a very bitter un-aromatic average beer.

West Coast

While the left coast may not be the best coast, the namesake makes a pretty good drop. My first attempt was really good, bottled it off in 500 mL PETs and gave it some time. Good alcohol levels  c. 6-6.5% ABV and rich and hoppy. My second bombed as I bottled the batch in 1000 mL PETs. The caps turned out to be defective as the beer never carbonated and oxidized. My third attempt was much better. I racked the batch after several days in the primary to a 23L carboy for a couple months, cold crashed and kegged in two 2.5 gallon mini kegs - approx. 19 litres. The remaining five were capped in US "fifths" (26 oz) tall glass browns. I sampled the golden amber liquid and it tasted very good indeed - so good it could almost be drank flat. Stay tuned for the final results.

UPDATE: 24 hours in a mini keg 2.5 gallon with a carbonation lid and the draught was perfect. Smooth and clear with a hoppy nose and decent lacing. A number of these knocked me out as I sat around the pellet stove trying to stave off an oncoming flu. Good medicine perhaps, but perhaps not a good sessions beer.

Festa Czech Pils Part Trois

Well, well, well...lagering season is in full swingtop - in the basement floor mode at least - as well as my lagering fridge. I just pulled another Czech Pils from six of the 341 mL Steam Whistle crown capped bottles I set aside to lager until July. Yep, July lol. I can't resist it after I tried one the other day. It's amazing ... So clean, clear and crisp - even with the "low end" stock Fermentis S23 that came with it. It's been in the bottle since Dec. 4th. I'm going to try and leave the last three until July. Meanwhile, in the carboy I've got another identical batch ready to keg. Two other fermenters have Czech Pils - one with a slower starting Fermentis 34/70 yeast and the second with the 34/70 and an added 500g of light DME. Just experiments, but I don't know if I can improve on the bottled CP. I do still have a smackpack of Wyeast liquid Bohemian Lager yeast to try, as well as an experiment with a vial of White Labs liquid lager yeast. Mini kegging in two new US 2.5 gallon cornies will also be implemented. Hopefully, in a couple weeks cooking will resume on the back deck. That lack of snow in January was replaced with a ton of February snow. Too much to even get at the deck.And I need to find out what concoction gave me the bottle of nectar I pulled out from my stash the other day. Seems as though my late summer wetting of my basement caused a frantic shuffling of bottles and this one got mixed up. Will I ever reach Beer Nirvana?

Not bad at all.

Ive brewed this with BE 2, dry hopped with Galaxy and nelson sav. Ive used both saf blue and red yeast depending on the day. Made it about a dozen times. I reccomend leaving it in the keg for at leased 2mnth before drinking. Use saf blue yeast . The two months in the keg takes away some of the sharpness. Its not a real IPA but it tastes good. At parties this has always been a fav with my friends , they say its a bit like drinking orange juice beer. Lots of citrus flavour from the Galaxy hops.  I think the hops really make it. I use galaxy and nelson in a few different brews now. Tried this with Thomas Coopers IPA and found that it too needs a lot of time in the keg. I much prefer the Black Rock as its not as sharp.

english bitter

First time with a wet pack. Easy to make easy instructions, great tasting beer

One week to ferment at 22deg, kegged and drank three weeks later, will do again.

Yorkshire Bitter

I regularly brew this, adding Morgan’s master caramalt, and the yeast that comes with the kit. Brew at 22deg one week then keg. Three weeks in the keg and drink.

The only place in NW Australia you can get a decent pint of Yorkshire bitter, my fridge. Converting a lot of Aussies from the lagers they drink.

Just need a recipie for boddingtons bitter then i will be happy 

My First FB Kit

This Red ale was amazing.  Followed the directions to a T !  This beer had a real great mouth taste and refreshing taste.  I would make this my go to Red Ale !

AWESOME !!

This was the second brew I attempted.  I brewed this and bottle it. Started drinking and sharing it about 1 month ago.  I really just want to keep it to myself but I've shared it with several of my friends and everyone has the same reaction...can I get some more.  Need to brew another one and keg it, it will certainly be a staple beer in my kegs !  You'll fall in love the first time you drink this.

John BULL IPA Review

This was the first 'single can kit' I tried. I wanted something a bit cheaper for a change. In all honesty I wasn't expecting much from this kit but it totally blew me away, so much flavour, character and just a very enjoyable pint. I'm not a fast drinker so I have the barrel for around 6 months and it just kept getting better and better! It's cheap and quick but boy it's good. If you're in any doubt, just try it, I think you'll be surprised. Im glad that it was recommended to me by someone at www.brewbitz.com . It's that nice I've just started off another batch!

5 stars without a doubt!

First time brewer - turned out great

I purchased this kit from a local brewing store here in Ottawa. It's a little pricier than the other kits, but requires zero preparation - just pour it into a pail, pitch the yeast, and let it ferment. This was the first time I home-brewed anything. The Festa Brew Brown Ale turned out fantastic. Better than I dared to hope. While I've never brewed before, I am quite well versed in various microbrews and craft brews - I know my way around beer, and know a good beer from a bad one. This stuff turned out on level with many craft brown ales that I've had, and in fact, better than many of them. Another friend of mine who also knows his craft brews tried it and said, "This is craft brew quality right here." 

I can't take credit for it myself. Obviously, the quality of ingredients and preparation of the wort before it even gets to the store shelf is what makes the difference. I was really careful with sanitation every step of the way. Other than that, it was all up to the wort and the yeast to produce the results. And it exceeded my expecations. I've seen it compared favourably with Newcastle elsewhere, and I must concur, it is perhaps more like Newcastle than anything else I've tried, and honestly I don't think it's inferior in any way. 

I left it in the primary for only 3 days. For the first day and a half, I had a space heater in the room, and kept the temperature at about 78-80 F to make sure the yeast got a good start. By the end of day 3, the head had collapsed already. I then transferred into a glass carboy, being careful to leave the trub at the bottom. I left it in the carboy, with the room ranging from 68-72, for another 11 days. Then transferred to bottling bucket - once again leaving the trub at the bottom - added 142 grams of priming sugar mixed with a cup of boiling water, and bottled into 750 ml swing tops. 3 weeks later, it had carbed beautifully. I've already drunk 5 bottles in 3 days (not by myself). Will be transferring to the basement to store at cellar temp tonight. I can't wait to start my next batch. I think I'll try the Festa Brew Cream Ale next. For anyone thinking of starting out, start out with this stuff. It is top notch.

 I should remark on how clear and clean this beer turned out. There is a tiny bit of sediment at the bottom of the bottles, but it does not come out with the beer when poured. And I got this result without "cold crashing". I had no place to cold crash, and was concerned I'd be stuck with cloudy, murky "yeasty" beer with floaters. Nothing of the sort. The beer is amazingly clear, and there are no funky "off" or after-tastes at all. This gushing review probably sounds like a fake endorsement from someone at the company. I assure you it is not. I am just a first-time home brewer in Ottawa, and could not be happier with the results. 

Coopers Bitter

Its getting better with time, but definitly not my favorite bitter, or kit in general.  Definitly not bad enough that I wont drink it though.  Brewed to kit instructions.

Heavy stout, just black and beautiful!

Kit can plus 1.5 kg Black Rock Dark Liquid Malt extract, plus a 1.5 kg Terry O'Brien Stout dry mix of Dark DME, brown sugar and dextrose with 3 fifferent dry hops and the kit yeast. Took forever to ferment and kegged 6 weeks after pitching. Really solid brew with a nice hop/malt balance which really rips your tits off after a couple of pints.

A hop bomb!

I have put together three of these kits so far. The first was as per instructions. VERY hoppy. IBU's off the taste chart. However, it was also very tasty with a good hop/malt ratio. Altogether a pretty heavy brew that you wouldn't want more than one of at a sitting.

The second two I adjusted to 23 liters and reduced the hops somewhat. I used the leftover hops to dry hop in the secondary. A much more drinkable brew with a decent ABV and hop profile.

The kit comes with grains, so it is a bit of work, but well worth the premium price.

Cheers!

As-is, kinda wussy.

This kit makes a decent IPA if you are prepared to mess with it. I really recommend using a program like Beersmith if you are going to adjust hops like I did.

On its own, the IBUs are unimpressive, and not too malty. It makes a decent American style Pale Ale if you add hops at boil and flameout, and then dry hop. Cascade and Citra work well here. But one wonders, if you have to mess with it so much, why not just do your own from scratch?

Cheers!

Great kit adding more malt

Made many times now settled on adding 500g crystal malt + 1KG dry malt, along with included Coopers beer dry yeast to 23L, bottle age at least 4 weeks, we find 3+ months really improves the flavor.  Similiar in style to our local brewpubs bitter but much cheaper to make.  Have made it with Wyeast Irish Ale 1084 yeast which makes much smaller carbonation bubbles, and Wyeast ESB 1968(finiky yeast but good), and Wyeast 1028(yeast profile got overwhelmed by kit flavors).  Introduced to this kit by some all-grain brewer posts who make up this kit when they have limited time and they dry hop(Willamette/Fuggles) + add 1.5KG dry malt, 21L.  We also prefer it maltier so add the extra malts, as the base kit is very bitter and too thin for my taste adding only 500g dry malt.  Still this is an English Bitter kit and much more bitter than lager type beers so make sure you like a bitter beer to drink.   

GOOD BEER

Made my first batch of brew using the Coopers DIY kit that I received for Christmas.  Included was a can of Coopers Original Lager, 1 pack of Brew Enhancer 1 and Carbonation drops. I let it ferment for 12 days at appx 20 degrees and then bottled. After 2 weeks in the bottle my buddy and I tried one and it tasted like ass. 2 weeks later I grabbed one of the bottles (750ml PET) and noticed that it was as hard as a rock. I decided to chill one and give it a go. To my delight it was a tasty, beautifully carbonated beer. I don't think it's like a lager because the yeast that's supplied with the can is an ale yeast. The aftertaste and finish is similar to that of an ale where lagers have more of a clean finish. Still a great beer! Can't wait for my batch of Coopers Real Ale!

Festa Czech Pils Part Deux

Hmmmm.... I'm into ending January now in the middle of the lagering season. Perfect time fir cooking beers on the back deck while it's lobster season as well. A great complement...however not a lot cooking as there's not much snow to pack around my brew pot - I don't have an immersion chiller and it's too cold for the kiddie pool still. So I decided to overhaul my kegs first and save the cooking for March. In the meanwhile, I've stockpiled about 14 of the Festa Czech Pils kits (yes, they're that good) and am currently lagering one on the basement floor at around 11C. My lagering fridge stinks of fish at the moment so I'll use the floor until I deodorize it. A smackpack of Wyeast Pils awaits but because the Fermentis Saflager S23 has been producing great results, I'm holding off. Maybe the next one with my new starter container...BTW, I switched to the regular bucket instead of one of my Fast Ferments as they're bolted to the wall in my upstairs pantry and the temperature's at wine and ale levels. The fermentation fridge is also too short for the FastFerments. Both kegging and bottling the Czech Pils produce excellent results; my friends really like the beer and my partner in crime likes this flavour out of anything I've produced. With extract and partial grain, I will aspire to this level.I will have plenty of opportunity to experiment with this large larder of lager this winter and spring. Continue to be tuned and stay tuned.

Good'un!

This was my last brew of 2014. Kit + NZ Lager adjunct + kit yeast. Temps around 25oC (southern hemisphere summer), finings before bottling.

It's crisp and refreshing, fabulous mouth feel, nice gas, clear as a bell. An absolute winner, especially when compared with its stablemate, BR Pilsener Blonde, which was a massive disappointment.