Raja's Reward India Pale Ale

HMD

Was thinking of trying this kit, has anyone given it a go?

i can't find any reviews

Shiny

Why not give it a go and put a review up here?
I have found various brands of IPA kits to be generally quite good.

Griff77

I put it on about six weeks ago, fermented fine over about three weeks with the last week dry hopped with the supplied hop tea bag. In the bottle another three now. Had one after two weeks and it wasn't great with no head retention but had carbonated fine. It kind of tasted like lots if separate flavours if that makes sense?? sampled another one at the weekend and it has improved immensely. Good head retention and very balanced flavour. It's an English IPA. I have feeling in another couple of weeks it will be even better. Came out about 5% I think. Will have to check my log.

HMD

Did you modify the kit at all?

Griff77

HMD wrote: »

Did you modify the kit at all?

No modifications, just straight up.

HMD

ordered the kit so will post results in a few weeks

Griff77

I think you'll like it HMD, I had a bottle last night and I like it a lot.

HMD

It's on now bubbling away. i added a bit of brewing sugar and have some cascade hops i might add with the hops that came with it.

HMD

I stuck it in another fermenter tonight and added the Goldings/Fuggles hops that came with it plus 20 grm cascade. I'll leave it for a few days before bottling.

sharingan

Made an english IPA recently that has fab flavours. All english hops and yeast (S-04, loads of East Kent Goldings, and dry hopped with Target).

Target is a really good hop, would do this again.

HMD

2 weeks in bottle and then 3 days in the fridge. It's turned out great and i'd say it'll get better with time.

Edit: i had two bottles, i can only guess one was from the top of the fermentor and the other was from lower down. The one from the top was very hoppy and the one from lower down was noticeably less.

Blankety

I tried one of these kits, put it in the fermenter yesterday evening, now 20 Hours later there is very little activity in the air lock.

Starting temperature was 23.5 Deg,current temperature 20.3, it's in a temperature controlled fermenter.

Is this the normal fermentation rate for the yeast in this kit? Usually the steeped grain brews or Muntons kits I normally do would be bubbling well by now finishing in 6-8 days.

Any feedback on the rate of fermentation would be useful, Griff77 leaving it in there for 3 weeks would indicate this is a long haul process. Instructions from Bulldog guide towards an 8 day fermentation.

Donadea Leo

don't worry about airlock activity, you most likely have co2 escaping from your fermentor. They seem to work great on demi johns but not as exciting on the big fermentors. , i ve found a few beers took a bit longer to get going. Any foam or kreusen ring. You can always take a gravity reading which will tell you what s really happening but i d leave it a few days and see how it goes.

Blankety

Thanks for the feedback DL

I'm pretty sure there are no leaks, to be sure I vaselined the joints.

I popped the temperature up to 23 after posting yesterday and within 2 hours CO2 was starting to bubble, I gave it a few hours to stabilize at 23 degrees and eased it back to 22.5 degrees, it's bubbling away nicely this evening.

It would appear the yeast in these kits are a little bit choosey as to the temperature they work in. I normally brew steeped grain if time permits and the SAFBREW T-58 yeast works very quickly across any temperature 19 - 24 degrees. with T-58 I found going over 23 degrees can give a lot of foam in the fermenter and a bit of an aftertaste from the beer so 20 - 21 is ideal for it.

I'll post back the results here, I got the kit from Homebrew west if it tastes good then it would be a decent alternative to Muntons golden ale which I use when when i have no time for steeped grain brewing. €5 cheaper than Muntons too.

Blankety

just an update, reading 1017 on the hydrometer now, I'll give it 2 more days, that will be 15 days total in the fermenter with dry hopping after the 4th day.
The hop bag was still floating on top of the fermenter, it was saturated but floating horizontal, I though it would have sunk down into the beer a little, would have helped with the flavour dispersion.....

willabur

its ready to bottle when you are getting the same reading on your Hydrometer for 2-3 days in a row so if you are at 1017 in two days then you are good to go.

Hops do tend to float - try putting a marble into the back the next time.

as for a sealed fermenter, I wouldn't worry too much about that either. I have resorted to just covering my fermenter with some cling film in the past with no detrimental effect on the beer

Blankety

Hi Willabur I checked the SG an it had dropped slightly to 1016 but the bubbling was down to one per 30 seconds , that is normally when I bottle so they are in the bottles and 5L kegs this evening.

It's a nice clear beer, good hop taste but more will be revealed in a few weeks...
The turb was nice and solid at the bottom of the fermenter which is great for the bottles as less turb gets carried into the bottles, less of a problem in the kegs.

Here they are sitting on the rack over the stove.... sitting pretty

Hope you can see the attachment

willabur

Blankety wrote: »

Hi Willabur I checked the SG an it had dropped slightly to 1016 but the bubbling was down to one per 30 seconds , that is normally when I bottle so they are in the bottles and 5L kegs this evening.

It's a nice clear beer, good hop taste but more will be revealed in a few weeks...
The turb was nice and solid at the bottom of the fermenter which is great for the bottles as less turb gets carried into the bottles, less of a problem in the kegs.

Here they are sitting on the rack over the stove.... sitting pretty

Hope you can see the attachment

Looks good but bear in mind that a bubbling air lock doesn't necessarily mean that fermentation is occurring. Seeing as there was a gravity drop I would have waited a few more days to ensure it was finished. You are probably fine tho

Tubes of the north

Hi Blankety,

Did you try one yet? Really interested in giving this one a go and was wondering how your IPA turned out for you...

Thanks in advance x

P.s. great info on here, thanks to all contributors...

Blankety

Hi all,

trying out the IPA tonight, took one of the 1.5 Liter swingtops that had been primed with 2 spoon (10g) sugar, in the past I did boil the priming sugar with some water and divide out, but now I just add it direct to the bottle.
Initial thoughts, carbonation was perfect, the IPA taste is a lot thinner than I expected, there is a definite bitterness to the first few swigs, then it got more rounded after that, this was the first beer of the night!! This IPA in it current maturity is still not a beer I would look forward to drinking.

I only use kits when I have no time to extract brew, I normally use Midas golden ale, which is relatively expensive compared to a lot of kits, still if you are taking the time to brew you may as well have the best quality possible. At this point I would say the IPA has not reached its finished maturity, I would say another 6 - 8 weeks will be need, to get rid of that slightly bitter taste. When long fermenting is coupled with a long conditioning phase this is really not a kit for the thirsty man.
I have some of the other beers in this range, Cortez Gold Mexican Cerveza 3.0 Kg & Triple Tykes Special Export Ale 4.0 Kg, I'll stick another kit on tomorrow and see what happens.

On experience todate - Muntons Premium Gold Midas Touch Golden Ale 3.6kg is a clear winner. 8 days fermenting and very drinkable after 4-6 weeks conditioning.

I will let the IPA kegs sit now until Christmas I expect they will have improved a lot.

Blankety

OK so trying out the IPA this evening after about 10 weeks in a mini keg, quite nice beer, mellow flavors, darker colour than expected for an IPA, but very very drinkable. The carabonation in my mini kegs is very high, I added 3 spoons (15Gram) to the keg, even after releasing the head pressure, it is still bellowing out through the tap. I still haven't turned on the CO2 for pouring.
Just need to let it settle in the glass a while.
I put a Cortez Cerveza from the same bulldog range in a corney keg and force carbed it on Friday last, will try it after Christmas.
All up all in, this is a good value kit and suits a brewer who hasn't the time for all grain or extract brewday.

Blankety

Just a follow up note on these kits.

The Cortez Cerveza worked out fine, would make a great summer beer.
Then I tried a Triple Tykes Special Export Ale kit, I prefer Ale in any case, and this is a fantastic kit, really clear and smooth tasting beer.

I will try the Raja's reward again, I think an airleak in my kegging shphon setup was airating the beer, might explain the off taste.

I would highly recommend Triple Tykes Special Export Ale, roll on Friday evening.

poitinstill

"Here they are sitting on the rack over the stove.... sitting pretty "

are you storing them above a working stove ? that may be a bit hot...

keep up the detailed reviews and the follow ups...

Blankety

Hi, I just put them up there for a few hours to give the beer a chance to come back to about 20 degrees following kegging, just a chance to allow the yeast to start carbonating the beer. Then off to the garage for a few weeks.

Since November I moved on to corney kegs, so I am force carbing now, this probably give me the clearer beer I mentioned for Triple Tykes Special Export Ale.

Any one considering corney kegs I would highly recommend them, I got 5 and should have done it years ago, I wasted too much time and effort on small bottles, and mini kegs. The 1.5 L swing top bottles are fantastic for samples (is 3 cans of beer a tad beyond a sample?). Adverts is a great place for picking up second hand corneys kegs, you just got to be patient.

Leavenotrace

Hey, some great information here but I have a question in relation to the brewing temperatures.

I put on a batch of the the Raja's reward 2 weeks ago today, my first home brew! Due to reasons beyond my control, brewing inside was not an option so I've been brewing in a shed. The fermenter has been wrapped in a blanket with hot waterbottles on the colder nights, though the temperature has fluctuated quite a bit (I think my first batch has been quite the learning curve) Anyway the temperature has remained around the 14C mark over the 2 weeks, quite below the recommended range of 18-24C.

I took a SG reading on thursday and got 1.022 and a reading of 1.020 today (sunday) so there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of activity. (though i realize this could just be the low temperatures).

Is there any advice you guys could provide on my situation? I'd greatly appreciate it. Was considering bottling soon as the instructions only recommend 10 days in the fermenter but obviously I don't want a crate of exploding beer bottles so I said I'd ask those who know more!

Thanks in advance

BeerNut

Let it keep fermenting until it's done and you're getting consistent gravity readings several days apart. There's no harm giving it a few extra weeks.