Anyone tried the Belgian BrewFerm Kits?

[Gareth_OFlaherty]

As a newcomer to homebrewing, I hope to brew Belgian-style beers as they are by far my favourite tipple.
I came across the BrewFerm Belgian beer kits on Homebrew West's website, and I was wondering if anyone has used them and what they are like?
Thanks guys.
Gareth.

[johnrm]

I did a Brewferm Grand Cru which worked out well. All gone now, always a good sign!

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[Shanna]

While I could not claim any great insight into Belgium beer I did the Ambiorix Brewferm kit and I also have the Diabolo kit to do after the Rasputin Imerial stout. The Ambiorix kit can be used in a couple of different ways depending on the Mix of water and sugars to get a different style of beer. I tried it by making it up to 23, 20 and 15 ltrs and the 15 was the best in my opinion. I used dried spray malt in each case (think it was Amber). I have tasted the Diabolo and chocolate springs to mind with warmth from the high alcohol content.  This kit would be better for smaller bottles due to the higher alcohol content.

Shanna

[johnrm]

I'm with Shanna on the bottles.
You will be much safer with 330ml bottles!

[Gareth_OFlaherty]

I'm with Shanna on the bottles.
You will be much safer with 330ml bottles!

Thanks for the advice guys. On the issue of bottles. most Homebrew Websites only seem to sell the 500ml bottles, do you know of any sources (apart from collecting my used ones of course  ) where you can buy 330ml bottles?

Gareth

[johnrm]

Chat to your friendly local barman.
See what stuff hes got behind the bar.
Pick your fave.
Offer him a brew.
New BFF and lifetime supply of bottles!

[Gareth_OFlaherty]

Chat to your friendly local barman.
See what stuff hes got behind the bar.
Pick your fave.
Offer him a brew.
New BFF and lifetime supply of bottles!

Sounds like a good idea. Thanks.

[LordEoin]

or get your mates to keep the bottles from those 20 bottle boxes of beer you get from supervalu/tesco/spar/etc

[johnrm]

Not the twist off ones though!

[LordEoin]

twisty tops

[Billythegypsy]

I made the Diabolo last November.

It's an excellent beer, clears beautifully and is a very pleasant drink after a few months in the bottle. It does need time to condition though. Unfortunately, I didn't use near enough priming sugar for the style. It's carbed like a stout really, but I'll be doing it again soon enough to have for next Christmas.

[Shanna]

 Hi Billy the gypsy

I have this kit and reading your post it sounds like this is not your first time doing this kit. I wonder when you say you did not a use enough priming sugar did you follow the suggested amount in the kit instructions or did you wing it?

Shanna

I made the Diabolo last November.

It's an excellent beer, clears beautifully and is a very pleasant drink after a few months in the bottle. It does need time to condition though. Unfortunately, I didn't use near enough priming sugar for the style. It's carbed like a stout really, but I'll be doing it again soon enough to have for next Christmas.

[Billythegypsy]

I don't know how, but I just didn't put in as much sugar as I'd intended to. I used a priming calculator but somewhere I confused myself and mucked it up.

Don't know why, a pure mystery!

It'd be a great beer if it was fully carbed.

I'll probably just follow the instructions next time.

[Jon.Martin]

I do like an odd dubbel, Brugse Zot has a nice 75cl bottle that can be reused to carbonate whatever you want but as kits go I made a Brewferm Christmas ale and have promised myself not to test it before December. Ill be sure to post when I have something to tell.

[Dara]

Did the Galia kit a while back with some candy sugar around 1Kg lobbed in.  My fermentation temp. was all over the place but it came out tasting nice.  Took 2-3 months to be at it's best.

Dara