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Ol' Grog

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I've only brewed two so far and they've been OK. These were BB kits. Have any of you used this kit and tried a different brand? What did you think? Better? Worse? I'm in the experimenting phase and I'm going to stick with extracts for a while, a long while and was wondering what other kits are pretty good. My LHBS has a lot of BB kits, but it's a hour drive. So far I've brewed and now drinking the American Amber, it's OK, not great. I brewed and bottled the Continental Pilsner, which smelled really good when I bottled it this past weekend and now I have the wheat beer version on BB and will be brewing that up when I get my kegs this week. Are there better ones out there? I prefer a malty, sweeter beer as opposed to more bitter ones. Help me find the Holy Grail.
 
What brand? Their house brand? I looked at their site yesterday and they are a bit more pricey, but boy, did they have a variety.
 
The AHS kits are great! I bought a Fat Tire clone kit (their house kit) and I was very pleased. I've also found my own recipes here on the site, and ordered the ingredients from them. They'll put your crushed grains in a grain bag according to your recipe, if you want. You can find a commercial beer you like, and look it up on their site, and order their clone kits. All good and easy to read recipes. Remember, though, that you have to order your yeast separately from AHS, as that is not included. Just order it when it gives you the option, unless you already have yeast.

I also started with BB kits, and I found their English Brown Ale great. If you like Newcastle, you'd love the Brewer's Best English Brown Ale. If you like sweeter, maltier beers, that's the one I'd recommend. I've also made the English Pale Ale, the Red Ale, and two batches of the English Brown, The nice thing about BB (as you know) is that everything is included, including the dry yeast, in a nice little package. But ordering from someplace like AHS will let you experiment with liquid yeasts, and other types of yeast besides the Nottingham that comes with the BB kits.

Lorena
 
Thank you "babe of the forum." That brings up another question that I've been meaning to ask about the BB kits. Would changing out their yeast, Nottinghams, really make the brew different. I've read countless times that beer is yeast and better yeast will change your brew 100 percent. Where does Nottingham's sit with ya'll? OK? Good? Bad???
One thing that Lorenae brought out was that these kits are complete. I'm really happy with that. I'm not that comfortable ordering a different kit and not knowing exactly what I need. Like steeping grains. Do they assume you have a steeping bag? Sure it's easy to get, but when brew day comes and you DON'T have it, then it ain't going to happen.
 
TheJadedDog said:
Austin Homebrew Supply has some great kits and their shipping policy is pretty good, I would suggest looking at them as another ingredient resource if you're looking to try new things.

I second that! AHS is great! :mug:
 
The one variable I seldom mess with, except for a specific purpose, is the yeast. A hefe, for example, requires a specific yeast, but for my every-day brewing, I always use Nottinghams (I don't use kits). It is cheap, reliable and predictable. I will mix up just about every other element except the yeast routinely.

An interesting experiment might be to do side by side brewing of two identical batches, save only the specific yeast used, and see how they turn out.
 
Still, as far as kit's go BB is a great kit.

Grog, what I think you should do is avail yourself of some of the great recipes that are on this site or in the Beer Captured book that Chuck sells and make a clone of whatever you want to. If you're doing a BB kit, you already have the skills required.

Chuck will help you get everything you need the first couple of times and from then on you'll be able to hook yourself up except for milling grain.

Also, I highly recommend that you make the transition to liquid yeast, even if you do a BB kit. You can split starters, etc. to save yourself money. It will improve your brewing.
 
Nottingham is good for most ales, but there are styles that require specific yeasts: hefe, wheats, belgians, kolsh. I've done side-by-side ferments on porters & stouts using Nottingham vs liquid yeasts & people can't tell the difference.
 
I don't mind concocting one, I'm just not experienced enough when it comes out to the steeping grains. Some require milling, some don't. Some require crushing, some don't. I just don't know enough and yes, I have been ignorant on this, as I haven't sat down to learn yet. Life happens. I am comfortable with hopping, brewing, pitching, racking, using extracts and DME. All the kits I've done so far have had grains and I think, by understanding their function, properties and smelling the wort pre-boil, that they add a lot to the beer. I hate to order some stuff and then find out that I'm SOL on a particular step and screw the whole batch up. I'm willing to take chances and try newer things, but I just don't want to have to throw out a batch because of my unknowing. Makes sense? I've seen some killer sounding recipes here and will try them when I know what I want and know exactly what stuff makes what taste.
 
Ol' Grog said:
I've only brewed two so far and they've been OK. These were BB kits. Have any of you used this kit and tried a different brand? What did you think? Better? Worse? I'm in the experimenting phase and I'm going to stick with extracts for a while, a long while and was wondering what other kits are pretty good. My LHBS has a lot of BB kits, but it's a hour drive. So far I've brewed and now drinking the American Amber, it's OK, not great. I brewed and bottled the Continental Pilsner, which smelled really good when I bottled it this past weekend and now I have the wheat beer version on BB and will be brewing that up when I get my kegs this week. Are there better ones out there? I prefer a malty, sweeter beer as opposed to more bitter ones. Help me find the Holy Grail.

Do you drive up to OKC and go to The Brew Shop on Pennsylvania and 36th? I'm guessing that would be about an hour and I don't know of any other places around here...although it seems there are a few in Tulsa.

I have had great success with BB kits, I always use a liquid yeast too. The guys at the TBS usually know just the one to use. And if you are going to the same Brew Shop as I am, the guys there will mill/crush grain for you upon purchase.

My second batch was a BB American Amber. It was alright, not spectacular. Used the dry yeast provided.

My third batch was a BB Pale Ale, it was pretty damn good. I used whitelabs English Ale yeast on that and it was a very nice beer.

My fourth batch was a BB Russian Imperial Stout from their "Bold Series" to which I added two ounces of bakers chocolate and used whitelabs Dry English Ale yeast. I still have some, I rationed it out because it is spectacular. I'm definitely brewing it again.

After that I messed around with my own recipes for a while, those turned out pretty well but since it was still extract/grain steeping they weren't that different from BB in terms of quality.

I've got a BB Porter I'm going to rack tonight, also from the "Bold Series". I expect it to be an excellent porter.
 
Yeah, that's the one I go to when I'm in town on weekends. Did you know that at one time Chuck told me there were 8 brew stores in OKC area alone? Wow.
Appreciate your comments on the American Amber, I didn't think it was all that and you are confirming that too also. But, you restored faith in the other different types. Glad to hear they are all not the same. Chuck told me that BB was pretty good and he uses them too. But, we all have different taste. For some reason, when I was in Austin, I tried a couple of stouts and just did not like them. I like the Pale Ales. Maybe I'll try that kit next.
 
Ol' Grog said:
Yeah, that's the one I go to when I'm in town on weekends. Did you know that at one time Chuck told me there were 8 brew stores in OKC area alone? Wow.
Appreciate your comments on the American Amber, I didn't think it was all that and you are confirming that too also. But, you restored faith in the other different types. Glad to hear they are all not the same. Chuck told me that BB was pretty good and he uses them too. But, we all have different taste. For some reason, when I was in Austin, I tried a couple of stouts and just did not like them. I like the Pale Ales. Maybe I'll try that kit next.

Well you said you liked a malty sweeter beer, but the BB pale ale I made is a really crisp beer probably more defined by its floral hoppiness rather than maltiness (I'm thinking Bass here). Still it's a great beer, I'd brew it again. And the whitelabs yeast might have had something to do with that.

But using your own recipes is a great way to go too. The main reason I bought the BB porter recently was because I was an idiot and infected my last two batches, so my supplies have been dwindling and I didn't want to mess with a recipe that might not turn out well. So I bought something I knew would turn out well, BB!

Eight in the OKC area huh? I'd only ever heard of their place, and I think they had one in Norman. Not that I would ever go anywhere else but sometimes they are closed and I just want to brew *now*! Tulsa has quite a few though.
 
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