2nd Brew - Festa Brew first impressions.

Hello Everyone,

I'm currently working on my second brew. My first brew was a Coopers Draught and thats currently at 2 weeks in the bottle. I tried a bit of the Coopers on Bottling day. Wasn't bad, wasn't great either. I tried a bottle of the coopers after 1 week, and it definitely tasted young (Green Apples). But wasn't that bad either. So for the coopers, I'll say it was ok . . .

Now last night I went to add some fruit to my Festa brew wheat beer. I racked 1 gallon onto some strawberries, and then opened the fermenter and threw in some home made orange extract I made from the Zest of 2 oranges mixed in with some vodka and water.

Before I threw in the extract I took a sample of the Festa Brew to try. and WOW that is one tasty brew. compared to the sample of Coopers I tasted the Festa brew is sooooooo much better!!!

I was almost afraid to add the orange extract in fear of screwing it up, it was soooo good. But I threw it in anyway, I can always make another one if it doesn't turn out.

GOOOOOO FESTA BREW!!

Yeah, festa brew is pretty much good stuff all around. Its the easiest thing in the world, just a pre-made all grain wort which you just pitch yeast on. And for the price on your area (living so close to the brewery itself), its the BEST way IMO to get good beer without going from grains to bottle yourself. Its a bit pricey over here in the opposite side of the country. I paid $50 for a 5 gallon wort. $55 if its the premium (IE West Coast IPA). I have not tried the wheat. The BOCK is GOOOOOD, it uses s-23 yeast. I fermented this as room temp, and it tasted really good strangely enough (considering that was a lager yeast).

I now do all grain, but if I may make a suggestion regarding the wheat beers, that works great for me and may be cheaper (and just as tasty) than the festa wheat.

Buy a coopers premium wheat kit. Bring several liters of water to boil, add 1 kilo of LIGHT dry malt extract. Boil for about 15 minutes until after the 'hot break' (or bubbly stuff) settles back into the wort. Watch for boil overs. Then, add your Coopers Premium Wheat kit, stir and turn off the heat.

Now, mix this with enough COLD tap water to reach 23 liters. What you have is a decent wheat beer wort. All I personally did was use coopers yeast on this, and it actually turned out great. Actually, I split one of these batches with a buddy and he fed it to his in-laws. All 4 of them said it was the 'best homebrew they have ever had' and it lasted 2 weekends over Christmas.

Now, the coopers wheat kit to me is just wheat LME, and its cheaper than the festa kits. For you, Festa might be cheaper I dont know. If not, try the recipe above its pretty good. You could add your fruit-i-ness to it as well if you like.

Thanks for the tip.

I got my Festa Brew Wheat for $29 at my local home brew shop.

I pay $16 for a can of coopers, and another $3 for Dextrose. So I feel like the $9 is worth the all grain wort.

Its a great way to go besides all grain!

Wow, well for 29$ you cannot go wrong! I only wish I could get it that cheap