New Brewer+Nut Brown Ale Extract Kit+Northern Brewer

Brewfyre · 10-06-2009, 03:10 AM

Heya folks!

New brewer here. Ordered my Deluxe Beer Starter Kit from Northern Brewer along with the Nut Brown Ale Extract Kit w/liquid yeast. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this starter kit and recipe kit? Also are the "included instructions" any good? ALso I read somewhere about using a starter with liquid yeast, I thought with liquid you would just pitch it, since I'm new I'm sure this is a stupid question. But then again the only stupid question is the one not asked right? lol

LordHedgie · 10-06-2009, 03:42 AM

There's no good reason not to make a starter except laziness. But since I'm lazy, I'll tell you that odds are very good a starter won't make a difference with this kit.

Never used that kit, but NB kits have a good reputation.

Jud · 10-06-2009, 03:44 AM

Welcome to the forum. My friend brewed this and claimed to produce a good beer, but the ABV comes out a little on the low side. He liked it so much he is brewing it again, if that tell you anything. Good luck, take your time, relax, don't worry about it for a couple of days, and your beer will be great!

WollenBrew · 10-06-2009, 04:59 AM

Everything I've heard about using liquid yeast has been "make a starter". If you use dry yeast, "Don't make a starter."

As for the Nukey, I recently brewed it and pitched the dry yeast that came with it after I had rehydrated it. This was my first brew. It's now sitting in bottles (hopefully getting all nice and tasty). I've had a couple of them, but they were still green, so I'm waiting... impatiently. That's the thing I think I hate most about brewing. I'm not the most patient person, but I'm learning. Anyway, don't know if I've helped, but welcome to the forum.

Oh, and as for ABV, I think I started with an OG of 1052 and ended at 1020... I think I figured up ABV to be about 4%.

houndhome1 · 10-06-2009, 08:07 PM

I have brewed this several times with great sucess. Both as an extract and with an all grain. I have found adding a bottle of molassess makes it even better. I buy all my supplies from Northen. They are excellent. I have found the longer this sits the better it come out. Must have patiences.

GOOCHY · 10-06-2009, 08:15 PM

I have this very kit waiting in the wings. Hopefully I can brew it next week!

Poolplayer · 12-01-2009, 06:44 PM

My first kit was a Nut Brown. The directions are vague if you've never brewed before so I would advise a brewer's book and read the crash courses in brewing. I ended up putting my sugar in the wort first time

Then I primed with sugar again at bottling. Turned out fine and probably had a little more kick to it with the extra sugar through the whole process. My second batch of Nut Brown has turned out a lot clearer and with less carbonation. I might attribute that to the changing of the season and a 6 degree drop in average room temperature. I've since moved it to the closet in the middle of the house where my thermometer is reading 66 in there. I'm gonna just let it be till a couple days from Christmas, then I'll refrigerate it and give it time to carb into the liquid.

Crawland · 12-01-2009, 07:53 PM

I brewed my first beer in August. It was an english brown ale and I had white labs yeast for it. I tried to make a starter and it just didn't look right after a couple days ( I have since learned not all starters have a krausen.) I dumped my starter and picked up a pack of dry yeast and just pitched it dry in my wort. It took off fine and the beer tasted good.

I brewed my second beer in early November and tried the White Labs yeast again. This time I didn't try to make a starter. Fermentation was a little slow to take off but it did after about 36 hours. That beer is still in primary, but I'm sure it will be fine too.

For my next beer I will try the starter again.

Either way I think you will be fine. I'm sure starters help, but there have been thousands of beers brewed by the people on this forum without starters and I'm sure most of them have come out fine.

GOOCHY · 12-01-2009, 07:58 PM

I have this one sitting in a primary fermentor in my basement right now! Can't wait to bottle and sample it.

mattjmac · 12-01-2009, 07:58 PM

I ordered a smack pack from NB a couple weeks ago to make a nut brown. The born on date on the pack was like a week from the day I received it. I just smacked the pack and after waiting a couple hours pitched it at around 5pm. I had active fermentation by 7am the next morning. So probably after about just 12 hours.

If you received yeast that is older or it sits on a hot porch all day before you get home, do a starter. Otherwise, for a nut brown you'll be fine without one.