Look what UPS brought me yesterday!

Well, here is my 2nd batch to brew




Can't wait to brew it up tomorrow.....

lol- I just drank a Rouge Double dead today. 10% and tasty!!

Good luck on batch number two! Hope it turns out great for you!

Whoo hoo!!! Just yesterday I brewed a batch of Sam Adams Brown Ale from Austin Homebrew. Have fun!!

Nice. I started with kits, and they gave me the knowledge to go to all grain. I know people that ONLY do kits - they are either afraid of all grain or know the time involved and don't want to take a whole (most of a day) to brew.

Hope it turns out great.

Very nice! Time to get that baby started!

Thats my problem with all grain. I just can;t afford the time to do it. I am dying to try it, but am afraid I will not have enough time to brew! Perhaps if I do the keggle route and do 10 gal batches it might help...

Brewer3401 said:

Nice. I started with kits, and they gave me the knowledge to go to all grain. I know people that ONLY do kits - they are either afraid of all grain or know the time involved and don't want to take a whole (most of a day) to brew.

Hope it turns out great.

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To each their own, I have never done a kit. With all due respect, I guess I wonder what the point is. At best you have a brew that tastes just like one you could buy, at worst it doesn't taste as good as the one you could have bought.
I have a hard time believing that anyone brews just to save a little money, you have to have some pride in the act of creating.
Especially if using extracts, there is no larger investment of time or expense to just make up a recipe or even try someone elses. To each their own though! If it makes you happy, then great. That is all that matters.

Keep us posted on how it turns out and if you think it tastes like the original. If you can do a side by side taste test that would be great.

brrman said:

Thats my problem with all grain. I just can;t afford the time to do it. I am dying to try it, but am afraid I will not have enough time to brew! Perhaps if I do the keggle route and do 10 gal batches it might help...

Click to expand...

You can always collect your wort at night and boil the next day. I've done that a couple of times when I couldn't dedicate enough time to get it all done at once.

Brewer3401 said:

Nice. I started with kits, and they gave me the knowledge to go to all grain. I know people that ONLY do kits - they are either afraid of all grain or know the time involved and don't want to take a whole (most of a day) to brew.

Hope it turns out great.

Click to expand...

Why do most people here think kits = extract?

If you don't have a mill, and you want to duplicate a commercial brew, a milled AG kit from AHS works great.

rdwj said:

You can always collect your wort at night and boil the next day. I've done that a couple of times when I couldn't dedicate enough time to get it all done at once.

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hmm - thats a great idea.

That looks like a sweet kit. Maybe I'll try that one next. I did my first mini mash kit from AHS. More grain and less extract should make a better beer. I've been told no extra equipment is necessary, but a colander that can sit on top of your boil pot makes it a lot easier. I had to hold my too small colander with one end on top of the pot and pour almost 2 quarts of 170 degree water with the other hand. Worked out ok but I'm going to get the proper size colander for next time. It was a little scary.

i've done several Austin HomeBrew Kits and they are great.

Recently did a vanilla porter and a samuel smith oatmeal stout. looking forward to both of them.

i did a double chocolate stout kit from them last year that was outstanding... here's a picture of it...

Well, unfortunately, I did not get time to do my beer yet, what with family and other stuff this weekend.....I might try it tonight...I have nothing planned.....

It's hard to find the rogue dead guy ale here in town, I think only about 3 or 4 places carry it....I had it at a restaraunt here a couple of weeks ago and loved it...that was my main reason for buying the kit.......ya just can't beat 5 gl's of good beer

I will try to find some to do a side by side comparison though......


Chad

That's exactly why I am thrilled to do the Sam Adams Brown Ale clone kit from AHS. I can't get that brown ale around here. I"m hoping this clone will be pretty close to the real deal, because I REALLY like it. I think I'll do the mini mash next time. I really liked the extract kit I got from them, so I'm ready to give the mini mash kit a try. I really don't want to get super-involved with the full grain brewing. My hat is off to those who do, but I've got other hobbies that need some of my time and money too!! )

Half the reason I started home brewing is the lack of availability of decent beers where I live now. After coming from a college town back to a small Texas town next to a military base, I can't get what I want. BMC is cheap, but trying to find even Texas craft brews is next to impossible. The fact it is cheaper doesn't hurt either, having twin 2 year olds and a stay at home wife. I have 8 kits under my belt now, and including equipment, it all works out to 78 cents a bottle. When I can find it, a 6 pack of anything decent is $8.99. I started extract one time, went partial mash, tuned my technique from everything I have learned here (instead of just following AHS directions) and will go all grain soon enough.

I guess I'm just trying to say extract kits are a great start, and then you progress to mini mash. All grain can be intimidating, it's nice to work your way up.