Belgian Beer Kits

[tangent]

the wheat can leave a sour taste anyway, so you're probably souring a sour beer.
the cherry idea is spot on tho, just been reading about lactic and it's the perfect match if you can handle sweet and sour beer.

i'd be really interested in some tasting notes if you can handle the spiders and dirt under your house. especially after aging so long.

 

[warrenlw63]

Tangent.

Will do. Subject to the beer still being there. I'm pretty certain I left a couple of bottles but that said I could be totally wrong.

Warren -

 

[wessmith]

Guys, have a look at the Grain and Grape and ESB websites. The pricing you are quoting is for the Framboise and Kreik which have quite a lot of real fruit juice in the wort. The other kits are around the $24 mark.

Wes

 

[JasonY]

So who sells them in WA?

[post="98386"][/post]​

I think TWOC may have them in, call first as I am not 100% sure of this but a friend was telling me they had some very expensive kits in which I assume would be these

 

[mika]

So who sells them in WA?

[post="98386"][/post]​

I think TWOC may have them in, call first as I am not 100% sure of this but a friend was telling me they had some very expensive kits in which I assume would be these

[post="98738"][/post]​

Oh well, he's said it.
Malthouse Home Brewing over in Welshpool notified me about the kits

 

[mhan7073]

Hi,

I've done the Gallia and Triple from Brewferm, i liked the triple, and tried to give away as much as the Gambia as I could.

I'm thinking of doing a few more to be ready for christmas. Does anyone have any suggestions/tips. I'm looking at Diablo, Christmas special, Ambiorix, and maybe their tarwebier (does it taste like Hoegaarden?), or the Grand Cru or Abdij.

Any suggestions very, very welcome

 

[Bazza]

i brewed the diabolo some months ago using the kit/invert sugar and a belgian trappist ale yeast (WLP500). Wasn't too bad taste-wise, and was 8.5% abv (9L volume). Lacked freshness imo - i reckon if you put some grains in and maybe a little hop for aroma it'd come out pretty good. As it stands, at $30 a kit its pretty steep but chuck in a few extras and it might be worth it. I'll probably have another stab next winter using what I mentioned. The ESB fresh wort belgian is on sale now; for around the same price that might be better? Anyone tried it?
Bazza

 

[DrewCarey82]

I've actually never done a fresh wort - reckon its cheating.

But am tempted to go the Belgian Ale.

 

[mhan7073]

The cans from breferm through esb cost about 26 bucks anyway, so if they have a belgian fresh wort as about 35 bucks it might be worth it anyway. I couldn't find a belgian fresh wort, but I did see an Oktoberfest kit. You wouldn't happen to have a link though would you?

I think I might do the diablo and try and give a bit more umpf.

Thanks,

Mic

 

[kitkat]

I couldn't find a belgian fresh wort, but I did see an Oktoberfest kit. You wouldn't happen to have a link though would you?

I was thinking of either getting the brewferm wit (tarwebier) or the ingredients to do the extract wit recipe from G+G, but if there is the ESB belgian fresh wort kit out there I might get that instead But as you say it's not shown on the ESB website.
I got the oktoberfest fresh wort a few weeks ago from G+G, been about 10 days in bottle, not carbonated enough yet. Also got the G+G fresh wort lager, I'll be bottling it this week-end.

Any recommendation on hops to use on the wheat for a hop tea and/or secondary? I found the ESB tend to be a bit light on taste but with a bit more hops they're just yummy.

Back on topic, I bought a raspeberry brewferm for the missus, will try and get it started this weekend and will report in hbkitreviews (and here) when done.

 

[mika]

A friend tried the Kriek, reckoned it too a while but it came good. Mine I'm yet to be impressed with and that's a couple of months or more old by now.
If I had my time over, I'd try something else, especially if you can go to a Belgian beer cafe or something similar and get it fresh (ish) out of the tap.

 

[MrDave]

Anyone done the Oud Vlaams Broun?

Was thinking of making up some syrup on the weekend to go with it and perhaps using a Wyeast 3787.
Are the included yeasts much chop?

 

[kitkat]

A friend tried the Kriek, reckoned it too a while but it came good. Mine I'm yet to be impressed with and that's a couple of months or more old by now.
If I had my time over, I'd try something else, especially if you can go to a Belgian beer cafe or something similar and get it fresh (ish) out of the tap.

given the originals are lambics, it'll be pretty hard to reproduce in a kit.

Where do you get kriek and rasperry on tap? Anywhere in Melbourne? I think I saw some aussie-made fruit beers but only ever saw them in bottles, not on tap.

 

[mika]

Don't know about Melbourne, but the Belgian Beer Cafe over here had the Kriek on tap for a while

 

[Andyd]

Wes,

How'd you feel about posting one of your simplified sheets? I was given a couple of cans as a birthday gift, and althought the instructions are simple enough, I'm wondering if there are any alternatives that are suited to a not-so-novice (for example, addition of different yeasts, short boil time etc).

AndyD

 

[kitkat]

Wes,

How'd you feel about posting one of your simplified sheets? I was given a couple of cans as a birthday gift, and althought the instructions are simple enough, I'm wondering if there are any alternatives that are suited to a not-so-novice (for example, addition of different yeasts, short boil time etc).

AndyD

G+G suggest using candy sugar. And of course a belgian liquid yeast would help. I am not experienced enough to suggest hops to go with those kits as they seem to be tailored for specific taste targets.

 

[mhan7073]

I'm not convinced that the candy sugar makes a big enough difference to warrant the cost. I think I'm going to give some brown sugar or honey a go on the next one. I usually use caster sugar but that made my last belgian very sweet (probably not helped by the high abv). What are people's opinion on the inverted sugar? Maybe I should set up a poll.