I've never brewed a "kit", but dang Northern Brewer

stratslinger said:

The one thing that keeps me from going with any of their AG kits is that everything seems sized for 5 gallons exactly, which doesn't exaclty leave a whole lot of room for kettle or fermenter loss. For folks who've used their AG kits, am I reading that right, or am I missing something? Also, what kind of efficiency are they assuming with the amounts of grains they ship with the kits?

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Yes, this is my only complaint about their AG kits. For me it's not a huge deal, because the two AG kits I've purchased from them have gravities that are a tad higher than I'd prefer for the style so easy to scale the volume up a little.

But I have to agree with all the others, their kits have never failed to result in good beers for me.

I think their assumed efficiency is like 65% or 70%. The one time I did get crushed grain from them and I hit 80% efficiency is when I first started suspecting that my LHBS crush was poor.

My wife drives by the Milwaukee store on the way to school, so I'm always asking her to pick up something.

The one kit I wish they had is the Tallgrass 8 bit pale ale. I'm not sure why they don't.

I'm guessing, but there is probably an obscene amount of Galaxy in there. So $$$.

highgravitybacon said:

The one kit I wish they had is the Tallgrass 8 bit pale ale. I'm not sure why they don't.

I'm guessing, but there is probably an obscene amount of Galaxy in there. So $$$.

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I really don't care for that beer. just a personal opinion. That said, I did make a great Galaxy Pale Ale a short while back.

I've done 8 of their kits (4 extact and 4 all grain) and was happy with all of them. The caribou slobber was really good, but for some reason, didn't carb much and next to nothing as far as head. Very tasty though.