Another new guy

Hey folks!

I decided to join up after lurking on here as a guest for a while now. I'm pretty experienced with making wine from kits (enough to occasionally play with the instructions a bit), but I'm brand new to the world of making beer.

I've decided to take the easy introduction by using the Festa Brew kits (no major science involved). Three of 'em are on the go ATM. The results should taste good enough to keep going and try some more involved stuff, so I'm super excited!

See y'all in the threads!

Welcome and good luck.

Remember the Google search function on this site is your best friend

Mmmm .. Festa Brew. What kinds are you brewing?

johnnyspade said:

Mmmm .. Festa Brew. What kinds are you brewing?

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I've got 3 on the go right now:

* Pale -> this one is in secondary at this time
* Blonde Lager -> in primary
* Cream Ale -> in primary

REALLY looking forward to drinking these... it's gonna be super hard to wait a few weeks after bottling them up.

I haven't tried any of those, though I do have a friend with the Cream Ale in bottles right now. I have their dry hopped "Extra Special Bitter" in a secondary.

One piece of advice I can give you is to use your own calculations for priming sugar when bottling as their instructions are somewhat generic. I believe they all call for 1 1/4 cups of priming sugar but that's just too much for some of their beer styles, in my opinion, plus they can't really factor in beer losses through racking, etc.

Anyway, you know how carbonated you like you beer and all the styles you have on go can do with a bit of fizziness but do check out the Beer Recipator as it will give you more accurate results. It's never let me down.

Hey, welcome to another Canuck.

Yeah, Festa are alright and I must say the Czech one was the best I have ever tasted, but as it is seasonal, it isn't available yet.

johnnyspade said:

One piece of advice I can give you is to use your own calculations for priming sugar when bottling as their instructions are somewhat generic. I believe they all call for 1 1/4 cups of priming sugar but that's just too much for some of their beer styles, in my opinion, plus they can't really factor in beer losses through racking, etc.

Anyway, you know how carbonated you like you beer and all the styles you have on go can do with a bit of fizziness but do check out the Beer Recipator as it will give you more accurate results. It's never let me down.

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I'll definitely keep this in mind and that link looks super useful... thanks man!

boo boo said:

Hey, welcome to another Canuck.

Yeah, Festa are alright and I must say the Czech one was the best I have ever tasted, but as it is seasonal, it isn't available yet.

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Thanks!

Good to hear about all these other types ... my local store only had a handful (maybe 5, of which I picked the 3 I listed). I'll have to start bugging them about staying current with Festa's offerings!

philogeek said:

I've got 3 on the go right now:

* Pale -> this one is in secondary at this time
* Blonde Lager -> in primary
* Cream Ale -> in primary

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Well, after reading through many threads on this site, I decided to scrap the directions LOL.
The Blonde and the Cream - I left both in primary for 2 weeks, rather than the 1 called for in the instructions. This past weekend, I racked them into secondary, where they will stay until it feels like I should proceed on them. That's where the Pale is now, as well.