First time brewer and Festabrew?

[Matty D]

I am on the verge of taking the plunge into home brewing. I own Palmers book and have read some of it. Actually I have re-read it as I did start down this path last year but put it off. I have a basic understanding of how it works and don't have any crazy ideas to start off with some drastic monster of a beer. I have yet to buy any equipment or brew kits.

I'm a little hesitant to start in to home brewing because of the amount of time it takes. My solution is to start out with a few Festabrew kits to learn part of the processes and see how I do (no boiling of wort just fermenter etc). Down the road I could switch to some extract brewing to expand a little. Eventually I may go partial grain but that is a year or more away.

My plan would be to try out their IPA and/or pale ale or cream ale kits over a few months and gain some confidence and skills with the fermenting and bottling end of things.

Does anyone have experience with these festabrew kits? If these kits are going to prodcue a poor beer (assuming I do my part) then I would be best to avoid them and re-think the whole idea. If however they can produce an enjoyable beer and allow me to get my feet wet then I would feel more confident about my decision.

Any advice would be appreciated as I am on the fence currently. Thanks.

[markaberrant]

I recommend all new brewers start out with a high quality kit such as Festabrew or Brewhouse. I just gave a presentation last week on "Brewing Foundations." At the base is cleaning and sanitation, next is managing fermentation. Without having these 2 things mastered, you won't be making consistently good beer. It really doesn't matter if you are making kits or all-grain, or using some crazy new hop variety, you need to make beer that is clean and devoid of off flavours. Why bother complicating things by trying to learn a bunch of other processes right off the bat? The kits are a great way to focus on the things that matter most first before taking on more advanced processes.

Welcome to the hobby, sounds like you are ready to go!

[phirleh]

Festa brew comes with a yeast pack, so after you've got some sanitation and fermentation under your belt, you can experiment with different yeasts or dry hopping, all using the Festa kits (they are decent made pasteurized all-grain wort kits that are perfect to start with)

[Matty D]

Ok so it sounds like this would be a good start then with the potential for an enjoyable product. I can work with these and learn the ropes, maybe even dry hop a bit or add some malt + boil etc. to play around down the road.

I just realised that the "True North" series is from Magnotta, I don't mind those products, not something I would buy regularely but a good fall back sort of beer. If that's what the Festabrew is based on then I can live with it to start.

Thanks again for the quick replies and feed back.

[icemachine]

I started with Coopers kits a decade or so ago, but from everything I've heard the Magnotta kits are superior

Sign up to the SOB forum and you'll be able to get lots more pointers, maybe even find a brew buddy http://areyouansob.com/

[JeffPorter]

Do you boil the festa kits or just pitch the yeast as is?

[markaberrant]

Do you boil the festa kits or just pitch the yeast as is?

They are no boil kits. Just pitch the yeast.

[Derek]

Do you boil the festa kits or just pitch the yeast as is?

They are no boil kits. Just pitch the yeast.

Yes, and a great way to start.

That said, when I was a new dad & low on time, I did boil a couple with extra hops! (Step 2?)

The Coopers kits are fairly good as well, but since they're concentrated, I think they do have a bit of an 'extract' taste.

[andrewrg]

I started with the Coopers kit as well. It was incredibly easy, but didn't turn out very well. We were pretty careful about sanitizing, but it was our first brew. That said, the resulting beer was pretty meh to crappy. It was the IPA kit.

[markaberrant]

The coopers kits are not very good, avoid all of those kits that come in a can.

[KwaiLo]

I like the Festa kits to quickly add to the pipeline. They make a decent beer, though I do dry hop them when I use them. Great for the dead of winter, when I really don't want to be outside for 4 hours.

[JeffPorter]

My first cooper's kit, brewed months ago, which I didn't like at first, has actually started to to into something ok!

It's more malty and the harsh "licoricey" finish is started to fade. I think I will do a festa kit though just to practice sanitation and fermentation again.

[markaberrant]

I like the Festa kits to quickly add to the pipeline. They make a decent beer, though I do dry hop them when I use them. Great for the dead of winter, when I really don't want to be outside for 4 hours.

It is just about impossible to keep much hop character in a kit beer, so yes, dry hopping is a fantastic idea with them.

[Matty D]

Thanks so much for the additional input. And yes Derek, my daughters are why my time is limited right now "Daddy can I have / do / make / eat".

I was concerned about the hop character of these kits fading away. From what I gather to dry hop these I would let the initial fermintation take place (apprx 1 week) and then add in some finishing hops for aroma and a bit of flavour. These would then be pulled out when I go to rack the beer for bottling a week later? (total 2 weeks in fermenter).

I don't think I would do this with my first or even second kit but I know myself well enough to know I will want more hop goodness soon enough.

[Tapsucker]

You're plans are sound.

I've never used the Festbrew kits, but I have tasted very good beer made with them. From what I understand, using them is easier than cooking dinner.

The only thing you will find a nuisance (hate in fact) is bottling, but then again every homebrewer hates that - welcome to the fraternity of grumpy bottle washers!