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[Review] Festival Razorback IPA Kit

Started by benji, January 27, 2014, 07:41:18 PM

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benji

January 27, 2014, 07:41:18 PM Last Edit: January 28, 2014, 03:15:00 PM by benji
Festival Razorback IPA Kit review    https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/festival-razorback-ipa-kit-p-1976.html
I bagged me one of these the other and brewed this today, this is my first attempt at a kit review so be gentle on me peps

here is what the kit looks like


And here is what is in the pack

As you can see this kit comes with everything including priming sugar and a hop bag
2 bags of LME
650g Dextrose
75g IPA hop pellets (50g+25g bags) Simco, Centennial & Summit
10g IPA yeast

OK so first thing was first and that was to sanitize


Today all I needed was the LME, Dextrose, Yeast and instructions


As per instructions I boiled 3 litres of water and added the LME


Then I added some boiling water to the pouches to make sure I got all the LME, I then added this to the pot


Next was to add the dextrose


I them added this to my fermenting bucket and filled it up to around 23 litres with Lidls finest water at 1.45 per 5 ltr (No point taking chances with the water when this kit costs 30 yo yo's)


I then took my hydrometer reading which came in at 1050 which was expected as this kit is supposed to come in at around 5.7% which is good number for an IPA in my opinion


Next I pitched the yeast at around 25 degrees , I've never bothered re-hydrated yeast before and I've never had a problem


I'll post a pic of it frothing tomorrow assuming that it does, the instructions say to dry hop after 5 days but I think I'll wait until its fermented out as I've seen some reviews that say this kit seems to take 2-3 weeks to ferment for some reason.

I'm looking forward to see how this turns out as the reviews from across the water seem to be very positive, I'll keep you guys posted as I progress.

"Bursting with big hop character, distinct flavours of pine needles and fruit punch, followed by a dry bitter finish Beautiful fresh nectarine aroma with underlying tones of pine needles" this is according the the company but we'll see, it had better be good for 30 notes



**********************************************************
And 24 hours into the brew we have foamage nice !





Tapped: Brown Porter, Dortmunder, Rye IPA
Bottled: Barrel RIS, Barrel Red Flanders, Oatmeal Stout
Fermenting: Barrel triple, NEIPA
Planned: Pilsner, Hazy Pale Ale, something Belgian

Garry

Excellent review :) I've never noticed them kits before, it look's good so far.

LordEoin

Good job Benji!
I've never seen these kits before either, looks like a nice one to try out some day :)

So far it's just sugar, LME and yeast. Was the LME bitter and hoppy like a kit can, or was it just plain LME?
Do the instructions say the all hops go in together as dryhopping?

benji

Yeah these are the new kids on the block, only on the market for about 6 months I think, the LME was bitter and hoppy like the cans, the instructions say to dry hop for 5 days and to just trow them all in at the same time, they seem to be pellets.
I had a bit of a taste test from the test tube used for the hydrometer and to me it tastes very sweet and bitter, sorry that's the best I can say on it so far
Tapped: Brown Porter, Dortmunder, Rye IPA
Bottled: Barrel RIS, Barrel Red Flanders, Oatmeal Stout
Fermenting: Barrel triple, NEIPA
Planned: Pilsner, Hazy Pale Ale, something Belgian

LordEoin

Yowza! that's a generous dryhop so :)
I look forward to hearing the end result!

Blueshed

nice review, might check out the kit. plan on going BIAB soon but want to do 1 or 2 more kits.

benji

Day 5
I took a hydrometer reading today and it was 1022 so that gives about 4.3% so still a bit to go, the instructions say to dry hop after 5 days but I think I'm gonna wait until fermentation is finished, it still has a big foeming head at the moment so I'll leave alone for another 2 days. I done a taste test today and it was already tasting nice, I was getting a citrus taste but its still tasting a bit sweet. So far so good
Tapped: Brown Porter, Dortmunder, Rye IPA
Bottled: Barrel RIS, Barrel Red Flanders, Oatmeal Stout
Fermenting: Barrel triple, NEIPA
Planned: Pilsner, Hazy Pale Ale, something Belgian

LordEoin

you'll be fine to dryhop now.
or wait if you want. makes no difference

benji

Dry hopped yesterday (Day 7) og is at 1020 and the foam head hasn't collapsed yet, this is my first non coopers kit to do which all seem to finish fermenting after 5-7 days for me.
Tapped: Brown Porter, Dortmunder, Rye IPA
Bottled: Barrel RIS, Barrel Red Flanders, Oatmeal Stout
Fermenting: Barrel triple, NEIPA
Planned: Pilsner, Hazy Pale Ale, something Belgian

LordEoin


benji

Day 9, just took a hydro reading and its down to 1010, the hops seemed to have speeded things up, as it is this will give me an abv of 5.86% so I'm guessing I'm there in regards to fermentation. I accidentally brewed it short to about 21.5 litres so maybe there is a bit more to go. Anyway the plan is to transfer it to secondary on Saturday which will be 5 days of dry hopping as per the instructions
Tapped: Brown Porter, Dortmunder, Rye IPA
Bottled: Barrel RIS, Barrel Red Flanders, Oatmeal Stout
Fermenting: Barrel triple, NEIPA
Planned: Pilsner, Hazy Pale Ale, something Belgian

belfastboozer

I made the golden stag one and and it went down a treat, super review

benji

Day 12, transferred to secondary. fg  1006 which will give a abv of 6.4, nice a happy accident. Plan is to bottle it on Tuesday and leave it in the the hotpress for 2 weeks and chance a bottle. Had a taste today, very bitter as you would expect but it has promise, I'll not report back till the 25th of Feb on this but so far so good. BTW lord Eoin do I now qualify for future raffles
Tapped: Brown Porter, Dortmunder, Rye IPA
Bottled: Barrel RIS, Barrel Red Flanders, Oatmeal Stout
Fermenting: Barrel triple, NEIPA
Planned: Pilsner, Hazy Pale Ale, something Belgian

benji



Well folks here we are, 2 weeks conditioned and I just couldn't help myself. As we can see a nice head and the head is lasting pretty long, nice powerful aroma on the nose. This tastes great already and is easily drinkable already, gonna be hard for me to leave this alone for another few weeks.
Nicely carbonated not to fizzy, the closet IPA that I think it tastes like would be maybe Brewdog Punk, getting a citrus taste straight away followed by the bitterness but it dissipates fairly quickly, that's as much as I can describe I'm afraid, although this ended up at 6.4% the alcohol taste is nicely balanced.
I reckon another 4 weeks and this would be as good as anything you could buy in the shop, well worth the 30 notes so far, pleased so far with this.
Tapped: Brown Porter, Dortmunder, Rye IPA
Bottled: Barrel RIS, Barrel Red Flanders, Oatmeal Stout
Fermenting: Barrel triple, NEIPA
Planned: Pilsner, Hazy Pale Ale, something Belgian

LordEoin

Sounds great. I'll have to give this kit a try :)
it's been a while since I made an IPA