beer kits...

Just curious if anyone else is using thebrewhouse.com beer kits? I've had a fair amount of luck with them in getting a good finished product and am not quite ready/supplied to go from scratch. Is anyone aware of a widely available alternative all grain kit I could try? The stuff in the cans tastes like ass so I'll pass on that....

Kip

The BrewHouse kits are fantastic. They are, in fact, an all grain kit (no sugars or other additives like the cheaper kits).

Do a search and you will find tons of recent threads with all sorts of praise for the kits. IMO, the only people who are critical of them are the people that have never tried them (do you really want to follow their advice????).

If you search FlyGuy and Brewhouse you should be able to find some of my praise for the kits, including some recipe hacks and suggested brewing techniques. I also mention a guy in my homebrew club that took an MCAB medal from a beer made with one of these kits. I bet he beat out a LOT of all grain brewers to get it, too!

I've been using Brew house for years and you get a great beer from these kits. Right now I'm making a Brew House Winterfest Ale.

These kits are night and day difference from the cans. You really get a wonderful beer from them!

Try a festa brew kit.. I make these and the Brewhouse.. both good but Festa brew is much better IMO..

B-rad said:

Try a festa brew kit.. I make these and the Brewhouse.. both good but Festa brew is much better IMO..

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Is there a website for Festa?

Memorex88 said:

Is there a website for Festa?

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I found it! I'll look into this with my local supplier.

Festa Brew


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I do both FestaBrew and BrewHouse kits. I like the quality of both, but always end up gravitating to the Brewhouse kits because they are easy to modify (e.g., you can use less top-up water to increase the gravity, or you can do a steep of grains in the top-up water before adding it to the fermenter, or you can boil some hops in the steep, etc.).

FestaBrew kits are nice, but they are 23L of pre-made wort, so there isn't that top-up water to play with. You can still do all the things I mention above, but it isn't nearly as convenient.

Yeah I dont modify the kits any (yet).. so I am going by just following the directions.. Im just speaking for myself but I dont think I will ever buy a brewhouse kit again as long as Festa Brew is availiable to me.....

I have had a bad experience lately too though.. the last two brewhouse kits I bought were expired.. I told my LHBS and he said it wouldnt matter (nice way to say your not getting a free kit).. and my new LHBS has Festa Brew..

I really dont like the expired kits at all and Im thinking this may be the reason...they taste ok but.. well... for example... I cant taste any honey in the honey blonde.. Im thinking this may have to do with it being expired.... and they have a real strong taste.. kind nof yeasty I guess....

Memorex88 said:

I found it! I'll look into this with my local supplier.

Festa Brew


.

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That is actually not the Festa Brew site.. but someone who can supply it.. The main site is..

Magnotta::Festa Brew::Home

You definitely don't want to use expired kits. Your LHBS clerk lied to you -- it makes a huge difference. I won't even buy a kit if it is more than 3 or 4 months old. If you are using expired BrewHouse kits, I can tell you from experience that a fresh kit tastes MUCH better. You should give one a try again (the Dark Munich Lager, Pale Ale, and IPA kits are outstanding, in particular).

FlyGuy said:

(the Dark Munich Lager, Pale Ale, and IPA kits are outstanding, in particular).

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Just wondering if you could point out what you see as problems with the other kits. I have made the Pale Ale and IPA, and found them to be the finest beer I have ever tasted (although I only started homebrewing 6 months ago, and have only made Brewhouse). I thought the wheat ale was a tremendous summer beer. The stout was good, but I didn't think it had anything really special, although the addition of raspberries certainly perked up one batch that I made. The Oktoberfest was good, but I should have let it lager. The pale ale is super because it requires so little time to mature, which is a major consideration for a novice.

glockentalk said:

Just wondering if you could point out what you see as problems with the other kits. I have made the Pale Ale and IPA, and found them to be the finest beer I have ever tasted (although I only started homebrewing 6 months ago, and have only made Brewhouse). I thought the wheat ale was a tremendous summer beer. The stout was good, but I didn't think it had anything really special, although the addition of raspberries certainly perked up one batch that I made. The Oktoberfest was good, but I should have let it lager. The pale ale is super because it requires so little time to mature, which is a major consideration for a novice.

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Those are just my favourites. The only Brewhouse kit that I don't like is their stout. It is a well made kit, but I prefer a different flavour profile in my stouts (I don't like dry stouts and lean more towards the bigger, fuller bodied style of stouts).

And if you REALLY want to improve the IPA or Pale Ale kits, dry hop them with American hops (e.g., Cascade, Amarillo, etc.) in the secondary for a week. Fantastic.

FlyGuy said:

Those are just my favourites. The only Brewhouse kit that I don't like is their stout. It is a well made kit, but I prefer a different flavour profile in my stouts (I don't like dry stouts and lean more towards the bigger, fuller bodied style of stouts).

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Yeah, I agree. Up here in the Great White North, we need something heavy, dark and sweet. You'd think that a Canadian company like the Brewhouse would recognize that. But I think it's still worth making as a base for major mods, like with fruit. I'm thinking about making a cranberry stout.

And if you REALLY want to improve the IPA or Pale Ale kits, dry hop them with American hops (e.g., Cascade, Amarillo, etc.) in the secondary for a week. Fantastic.

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I dry hopped the IPA with fuggles and goldings for my very first batch, and was totally blown away.

Do you have any suggested mods for the cream ale, FlyGuy?

Actually, I like the Cream Ale kit to be used as a base kit for brewing other styles. For example, I have brewed a great American Brown Ale by steeping chocolate and crystal malts and boiling with some aroma hops. I have done an English Brown Ale as well that was very nice, using a similar recipe. My next experiment is making one of these into a porter. I have tried to do it a number of times with the Munich Dark Lager kit, but it never worked out (the grainbill in that kit is already to complex).

I also developed a Beersmith ingredient profile for some of the kits so that I could do some recipe building using the software. PM me if that is something you might be able to use.

Cheers!

Thanks very much! I have a cream ale in fermentation right now to which I added only 4L water in order to get toward a brown. I'll be sure to pick your brain as my ambition grows!

I've started using these kits quite a bit, and I have a few suggestions.. Always check the date, I used a kit that was about 8 months old, it was drinkable but it had a wine like aftertaste. Also, use good yeast instead of that coopers stuff. I’ve had ok results with the Nottingham, but had good success with an American ale liquid yeast and dry hopping in the secondary for the IPA kit. Right now I have their cream ale in the keg and red ale in the secondary. I haven’t tried the lagers yet, (I assume they come with the coopers yeast and ferment at ale temps) I’d prefer to use a lager yeast and ferment at the right temp for that yeast. These kits are the quickest way to get a good/great beer without the time or equipment investment.
Has anyone tried using lager yeast and fermenting at lager temps for one of their lager kits yet? I’d be curious to see how it turned out.

d_m_s_00 said:

Has anyone tried using lager yeast and fermenting at lager temps for one of their lager kits yet? I’d be curious to see how it turned out.

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I did the Pilsner with Wyeast Bohemian Lager yeast. One month primary at 50 F. Two months secondary 40 F. Might be the best beer I've ever made, and I've been doing AG for 18 months. I'll be doing a AG Czech Pilsner in a few months and if it turns out as good as the Brewhouse I'll be over the moon.

Rudeboy

kip said:

The stuff in the cans tastes like ass so I'll pass on that....

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i must disagree with you.
some canned beer kits can come out quite excellent, if you follow the directions and buy fresh.

if the can is more than 3 or 4 months old, don't bother.

but honestly, i have made some very,very,very,very,tasty brews by boiling dried malt extract and hops and then dumping in a coopers kit at the end.

one of my all time favs was an imperial stout i made by boiling 6 pounds of dried malt extract, 2 oz. of challenger and a half a pound of molasses, then after 60 minutes, turning the burner off and dumping a can of Coopers stout kit.

just my own input....freshness, and making sure not to boil the no-boil kits makes all the difference


on the other hand...extract brewing is more expensive.
but, it can be worth it if you really want to brew and can't dedicate the amount of time it takes to do a full mash, sparge and boil.

BelgianWannabe said:

one of my all time favs was an imperial stout i made by boiling 6 pounds of dried malt extract, 2 oz. of challenger and a half a pound of molasses, then after 60 minutes, turning the burner off and dumping a can of Coopers stout kit.

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I'm gonna try the molasses and challenger in the Brewhouse stout kit and see what happens.

After reading this discussion, I went home and checked the dates on my kits. The cream ale in my fermenter is a year and a 1/2 over date! Tastes okay. I'll be throwing oak cubes soaked in bourbon into the keg, so that may offset any off-flavours.

I sent an email to the company asking how old it too old. Here's the reply...


Thanks, it's very nice to hear that you enjoy our product so much. If my involvement in the product went beyond consumption I would be blushing.

The date on the box is when it was manufactured. I would suggest that you try and use them within 9-12 months of that day. They don't suddenly go "bad" but the quality begins to decline. Having said that if you are going to get a really good deal on a kit that is a little older I have heard from many individuals who have made them and said they work out fine.

cheers,
Lisa Jones

Well, my overdate cream ale has come and gone, with no undesired consequences.

I just started in on a Brewhouse cream ale to which I had added 1 lb Munton's medium powdered malt extract in the fermenter. This is the first time I have added malt to a batch. What a difference! I had actually forgotten about having added the malt, so when I finished my first glass, I was at first at a loss to understand why the flavour was so different from the previous batch. Just amazing. Highly recommended.

Those Brewhouse cream ale kits are great to modify like this. They have just enough bitterness that you can easily add malt extract (or better yet) steeped grains and make a really nice, balanced beer.

I like steeping a one-half to a pound of medium crystal malt along with some pale chocolate or chocolate (up to half pound). Makes a wonderful brown ale (which is the one variety Brewhouse doesn't have). My next attempt will be to steep some crystal, brown malt, and black patent to do a porter. (I have tried from other brewhouse kits with no real success.)

do any online retailers carry either of these kits? I've looked, but, cannot find a site.

jkwest said:

do any online retailers carry either of these kits? I've looked, but, cannot find a site.

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follow this link CLICK

I just made a Brewhouse stout w/ American ale yeast. In the fermenter I put 1 lb of ground chocolate malt and 1 lb of grated semisweet chocolate. I sampled it last night after it had been fermenting for a week and a half, and it tastes great.

Thanks, FlyGuy. I was a little perturbed when I started out that Brewhouse didn't have a brown, seeing as my favorite pre-homebrew beer was Big Rock Traditional. I'm definitely going to try the cream ale mod you suggest.

glockentalk said:

Thanks, FlyGuy. I was a little perturbed when I started out that Brewhouse didn't have a brown, seeing as my favorite pre-homebrew beer was Big Rock Traditional. I'm definitely going to try the cream ale mod you suggest.

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NP. If you do try the recipe, start on the easy side -- I suggest 1/2 lb of crystal and 1/4 of chocolate. I think I actually did the recipe a year or two ago and sent it to one of the EHG competitions. It didn't place, but it got good reviews.

Cheers!

I've got your brown ale recipe in my fermenter.

I'm drinking a stout to which I added 1 lb of chocolate malt and 1 lb of grated semi-sweet chocolate. It's very good: rich and creamy. It bears out what I said: the standard Brewhouse stout is bland, but it responds very well to mods.

Agreed. Hope that brown ale turns out well. Let me know.

You didn't by chance enter anything in the Calgary competition last weekend did you? I only ask because I judged some awesome beers out of Edmonton, and wondered if any of them belonged to people from HBT!

Nah, I'm too new at this to even think about attending, let alone competing. I've only just started participating on the EHG forum. Helped a guy buy some kegs. Is there a website for the cowtown homebrewers?

glockentalk said:

Nah, I'm too new at this to even think about attending, let alone competing. I've only just started participating on the EHG forum. Helped a guy buy some kegs. Is there a website for the cowtown homebrewers?

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Yep, the Cowtown Yeast Wranglers website is at: http://www.YeastWranglers.ca

Wow! You guys have a sweet set-up. The connection to Wild Rose Brewery is fantastic. Hmm. Maybe I'll have to reconsider the idea of moving back south.

I have a brewhouse honey blonde fermenting on day 4.5 right now. I only added 1 gallon of water as opposed to the suggested 2.2 Fermentation has slowed considerably at this point. Not that anything is wrong but I would not mind altering it to increase the alcohol content.

I am wondering if adding a sugar of some sort would be a good idea or if I should just let this batch finish and go about modifying my next batch from the get go.

Thanks
D

I don't think adding sugar will help it in any way, particularly if it is brewed to be higher gravity than the recipe anyways. Your best bet is to keep the fermenting beer nice and warm so it attenuates fully. You can also gently swirl the beer in the carboy to resuspend the yeast so that it can stay in contact with the beer better and finish fermenting.

By nice and warm I hope you mean 70 F. I am keeping it as close to 70 as I can.

Thanks
D

FlyGuy said:

Agreed. Hope that brown ale turns out well. Let me know.

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The brown ale mod of the cream ale was a big hit. I'll be working on the recipe this fall.

Right now, I'm doing herbal variations on the wheat ale kit. I bought Stephen Buhner's Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers. Armed with that and and a guide to edible plants of Canada, I've been having a blast.

I highly recommend the red ale. It produces a complex, highly-drinkable crowd-pleaser with no need for any modification. Give it at least 6 weeks, though.

I brought four kegs to my daughter's wedding: a red, a cream, a pale and a premium lager (fermented as ale). All were very well received.