Mangrove Jacks Lord Finste+Great Redeemer Kits Hack ?

[Greg2013]

Has anybody done these or know anything about them? Tbh for 3kg kits I am surprised you still need to add sugar,unless they mean priming sugar of course. Tia 

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/mangrove-jacks-great-redee...

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/mangrove-jacks-lord-finste...

[Greg2013]

Ok Lord Finster is a Dark Best Bitter and the Great Redeemer is an Old Ale. I have plenty grain in stock that will match well with both these,might pick up some hops too to dry hop once i work out what they are using here. 

[ronniedeb]

I made one of the bitters in this range a while back. Came with a dry hop addition funnily enough. One of the better kits Ive done.

[oconn]

have the lord finster in bottles.. came with 75g dry hop. thin it was bodecia hop. will hold for 3-4 weeks and report back

[Greg2013]

have the lord finster in bottles.. came with 75g dry hop. thin it was bodecia hop. will hold for 3-4 weeks and report back

Cheers would appreciate that.I haven't got around to getting either of them yet due to packing up an moving house,i reckon they won't last much longer so i better get a move on soon,be handy to have them bottled for Christmas.

[Pheeel]

Tried my Great Redeemer before kegging. It wasn't great. It ended too high and had a definite kit twang. As it tasted slightly of raisins I threw some rum into the keg to see how it turned out #kithack!!

[Greg2013]

Tried my Great Redeemer before kegging. It wasn't great. It ended too high and had a definite kit twang. As it tasted slightly of raisins I threw some rum into the keg to see how it turned out #kithack!!

Oh that's a pity maybe the yeast wasn't up to scratch? I like the idea of adding the rum though,rather partial to rum n raisin ice cream myself

[Pheeel]

If I was to do it again I'd probably use Notty instead

[Greg2013]

If I was to do it again I'd probably use Notty instead

If i remember correctly the old redeemer is an old ale so Notty would be a good choice,or maybe even MJ Dark Ale yeast or one of the Safbrew belgians. Let us know anyway how it drinks in another week or so.

[Pheeel]

It came with the MJ dark ale yeast

[Pheeel]

Great Redeemer is probably the worst kit I've ever made. Tried it yesterday and its a definite dumper 

[oinkely]

Stuck one of these kits into the fermenter on Monday with 200g of carapils steeped.  hopefully it will be drinkable - had bought it before i read this!

[Greg2013]

Most of these two batches are gone now,so that alone should tell you seeing there is still some left this far DTL.I have to be 100% honest and say i would not do them again unless they were extremely cheap and i was in a pinch.I found them both to be only ok beers at best.

Both came out around the same abv and tbh i could not tell the difference between them,across the board they were basically identical which seeing as one is an old ale and the other a best bitter is not a good sign.They were not bad beers by any means but very very meh,not inspiring at all.

The dry hopping was generous but the instructions tell you to add the dry hop far too early,resulting in all the hop flavour and aroma being scrubbed off almost completely,as with most MJ yeast i have used you are looking at a three week ferment and the instructions tell you to add the dry hop on day five.If i were to do either again i would not add the dry hop until 3-4 days before bottling. 

Final thoughts: For a 3kg kit they are both ok but nothing you could not get from a one can kit with some dme and additions,look at it from that point of view imho they are not worth the €17,i think you should expect a lot more from a 3kg mostly all malt kit,and that's the other thing if they are all malt why should i need to add extra dextrose at all ? A decent all malt 3kg kit should not nee any extra sugar added in order to get a decent beer withing the predicted abv range of the kit,an indication perhaps of poor quality extract?