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ajk170

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Ok, so I'm a fan of the brewhouse kits and after brewing the Honey Blonde, Pilsner, and Red Ale I'm begining to think there aren't many people out there that use these kits! Admittedly, I haven't used an extract kit and certainly I haven't moved to the AG so I don't have a baseline to compare the Brewhouse kits in order to say how much better (or worse) the Brewhouse kits are. However, having used commercial micro-brews and major national brands in a double-blind taste test with friends and family - the brewhouse kits come out on top everytime- there has to be something to these kits. Though this may sound biased, the friends and family like both national and national "micro" brands so their tastes vary.

I am begining to think that not many people on here use the Brewhouse kits - admittedly it's an odd breed, not exactly an extract and certainly not an all grain that one could boast about! Plus, the cost is a lot higher than extracts, but again, I've found these beers to be really good So despite the cost, its a great way to start out in the home brewing! No, there's no product affiliation - just surprise that more novises don't start out using this stuff.

I've read a few posts that a few people have even won awards using these kits, which should make this stuff more respectable but nontheless, few poeple seem to talk (or admit) that they use these kits and what they do to make them better than what they are -

And maybe that's the turn off of these kits, since the wort is pre-made, there is littel that one can do to change the type of beer. These are somewhat limiting- esp for those that may want to make big beers. There is of course, dry-hopping, re-boiling, and adjuncts that one can play with but the base is pretty much set for you. So I can see the turn off from that perspective for some people as to why they wouldn't use these kits. Moreover, to make these already expensive kits better, one might want to use a different yeast and add adjuncts thus increasing the cost by ~$10. If you use little top-off water thus reducing the total output of the kit while adding different yeasts and adjuncts, you will ceratinly have one expensive beer, albeit great tasting.

I suggest that maybe pre-made wort kits (I presume others exists out there) need to have thier own spot on the board- it might be a lonley place - but if credance is given to this type of kit, it might even open the door for new poeple to get in to the craft!

I'm certainly interested to hear the various discussion on the topic! Thanks in advance!

Cheers!:mug:

Of course, this is just one novice's opinion. Once I grow into the AG, maybe my persepctive will change!
 
I started with the brewhouse kits and ended up with some good beer. The first one I made was a Cream Ale, I think I still have a couple of bottles of it in the basement. All my guy friends hate it (yet love miller) and all the girls I know love it *score!*
I moved on to extract brewing because I found the Brewhouse kits too limiting and too much like making kool-aid. Even when you play around with them it isn't as much fun as experimenting with extracts (I'm sure all-grain is even better, but money, time, porn, school and my daily hangovers have prevented me from expanding). Plus extracts are cheaper and more money means less meals consisting of flour + cinnamon + Water.

I still buy them when I'm running low on beer and too busy with class to find a good extract recipe and brew it. Got a tasty Brewhouse IPA in the keg and pilsner in the fermenter.
 
I started with Brewhouse kits and love them. They are very popular up here in Canada. (Being made here.)

I only moved AG to learn, create varied beers and price. If for some reason I couldn't continue with AG I'd be happy making Brewhouse kits for ever.

The last kit I used was a Brewhouse Pilsner with Wyeast Bohemian yeast. Fermented it at 50 F for four weeks then Lagered it for two months. I think it was the best beer I've ever made.

Parenthitically I started with Brewhouse kits then tried three Kit and Kilo jobbies (two with a Kilo of sugar, one with a Kilo of DME) all were undrinkable (and I never use that word loosely). Also tried two Barron's kits. Undrinkable. I've often thought if I hadn't started with Brewhouse and knew I could make drinkable homebrew I'd probably have given up.

Rudeboy
 
I started with Brewhouse kits and love them. They are very popular up here in Canada. (Being made here.)

I only moved AG to learn, create varied beers and price. If for some reason I couldn't continue with AG I'd be happy making Brewhouse kits for ever.

The last kit I used was a Brewhouse Pilsner with Wyeast Bohemian yeast. Fermented it at 50 F for four weeks then Lagered it for two months. I think it was the best beer I've ever made.

Parenthitically I started with Brewhouse kits then tried three Kit and Kilo jobbies (two with a Kilo of sugar, one with a Kilo of DME) all were undrinkable (and I never use that word loosely). Also tried two Barron's kits. Undrinkable. I've often thought if I hadn't started with Brewhouse and knew I could make drinkable homebrew I'd probably have given up.

Rudeboy

That's interesting to hear, especially from a person that has moved to the AG side of the house-

That's what I thoguth as well, start out with these and then move to the AG when I have the space and understanding of how it all works together.

I think it's great that one a person's first time, they can potentially make a beer that rivals almost anything that you can buy in the store. I'm not so convinced that my first time with an extract that I'll be able to do that.

I just bottled the Pilsner last night and I too used a Wyeast Bavarian but I didn't lager it nor had the patience to let it sit for two months. As it was, it did sit for almost 8 weeks from start to bottle! I'm hoping for a similiar great result!
 
I don't know what you mean by brew house kit. I'm thinking it's hopped extract in a can. I did three of those years ago. The kits with extract and steeping grains are much much better. I prefer ones that say exactly what is in it so I can learn and add things to it or even remove stuff to learn and make better beer.

Now I'm at a partial mash stage. It's real nice being able to brew with so many more base malts. I'd brew all grain if I only had a bigger pot and a propane burner.:(

Recipes are easy to find and I like trying my own. :ban:
 
Our homebrew guild has a Brewhouse Brew-off every year where all the beers entered have to come from Brewhouse kits. You have the option of either brewing it as intended or hacking it with either specialty grains, hops, or yeast, or any combination thereof.

They do make excellent beers and are not that expensive, we pay $30 - 35 per box up here for a 5 gallon batch.
 
Our homebrew guild has a Brewhouse Brew-off every year where all the beers entered have to come from Brewhouse kits. You have the option of either brewing it as intended or hacking it with either specialty grains, hops, or yeast, or any combination thereof.

They do make excellent beers and are not that expensive, we pay $30 - 35 per box up here for a 5 gallon batch.

WOW! That's a great price, I just found a place closer to me that can order them through the distributor but they are going to charge a few dollars more than what I was paying at the HBS an 1.5 hours away. I guess it''ll be cheaper in the long run plus the people are friendlier and the place has a HUGE baking section that the wife loves as well-

That's a great idea about a Brew-off as well! There must be a larger market for that up where you live. As I said in another post, I have to find places that can special order them! I have been thinking about entering mine in regional competitions but I really need to get a lot more under my belt before I should think about competing. Of course, you only learn through trail and failure!
 
I don't know what you mean by brew house kit. I'm thinking it's hopped extract in a can. I did three of those years ago. The kits with extract and steeping grains are much much better. I prefer ones that say exactly what is in it so I can learn and add things to it or even remove stuff to learn and make better beer.

Now I'm at a partial mash stage. It's real nice being able to brew with so many more base malts. I'd brew all grain if I only had a bigger pot and a propane burner.:(

Recipes are easy to find and I like trying my own. :ban:

You're right about wanting to have more control over the brew process and knowing what's in a brew, but a person can find out what's in these via RJ Spagnols website - although, they don't say exact measurements, boil times and the like - and for obvious reasons, they tell you that, then you don't need them. :)

But, to clarify, Brewhouse doesn't come in a can- it comes in a bag, kinda like grape juice for wine. Which again, makes sense to me since they are apparently a wine maker, somebody must have put 2+2 together and realized they can make a base wort for the beer market.

I think the part that gets me interested in the Brewhouse is that you can hack these things a lot of different ways and get great beer. Since I haven't done the extract, partial, or AG I certainly can't say if mine are better than those. But I can say that I haven't gotten any "twang" and those that I have made rivaled commercial beers. And I probably didn't hack them nearly as much as I could have- so despite an apparent lack of control during the initial boil, there are still alot of variables that can be controlled. Now that's pretty arogant from a noob, but I'm willing to put myself out there!:rockin:

I suppose if I was an AG person and I competed against a Brewhouse kit that was hacked and lost to it, I'd be miffed because of that perception that a person doesn't have to do much to make these great. However, depending on what you hack, these things can turn into a labourious kit as well!
 
The wort in a brewhouse bag is a concentrate, I believe it's 3 gallons to make a 5 gallon batch by adding water. You can forgo the water if you want, for example with the stout kit, and make an imperial, or add 1 gallon of water for a slightly weaker but still strong stout.

The same can be done with all their kits, tripel, dubbel and bock from the same kit.

The one thing I'd recommend, though is to toss the bag of yeast that comes with the kit and go with a smakpak of liquid. I used a bag of the Coopers yeast in an all-grain batch I did before and it tasted like a kit beer. I think some of the "twang" you get from kit beers comes from the yeast.
 
I work at a brew shop here in St. John's NL, and I've gotta say that the Brewhouse kits are the best thing going for a non-all-grainer (Partial mashes can be good, but I've yet to see one that's as good as a Brewhouse.). They're not all that much more expensive considering a can of malt, bag of dextrose and priming sugar equal out to about $25 these days, compared to $32 for the Brewhouse. Everyone I've turned on to it from the cans has yet to go back, and I do try and turn everyone on to it. (I can't stand people making those damn cans with dextrose. Unless, of course, after trying the cans with dextrose and the brewhouse they decide to stick to the cans. You can lead a horse to water...) Anyways, there is a fair bit of tweaking you can do, check out the thebrewhouse.com for different recipes using the kit as the base.
There are other kits like the Brewhouse, FestaBrew is one that comes to mind, although we don't carry it here for fear of lack of cost effectiveness. If you're on the Canadian mainland, I'd recommend checking it out.
 
I have made three of these kits and plan on making many many more.. The festa Brew kits are just as good as these too.. If not better..
 
I have made three of these kits and plan on making many many more.. The festa Brew kits are just as good as these too.. If not better..

I've never seen a festa brew kit- that is interesting to think that there are better ones out there! I'll have to look into those and see what they are like!
 
yeah my first brew was a festa brew double outmeal stout. It turned out really good but I never made another one. I guess I never thought of tweeking them to make different beers out of them. It was kind of cool though cause you just pour it into your fermenter, add yeast, and wait.... not much equipment needed.

The guy that sold me the festa brew said it would be a good start so I could concentrate on sanitizing and stuff like that instead of boiling, cooling, and hops. I thought it was a great way to get into the hobby.
 
Fair warning: The Oktoberfest needs to age 3mo plus to be any good. After 4mo it gets REALLY good.
 
sounds very interesting, anyone know where they can be bought online? i checked vendors site and they dont have any information for my state (NY), i dont have any stores anywhere near me either so online or nothing are my options. ;)
 
I use the Festa Brew stuff. i've made the Blonde lager, Dry lager a few times and right now i have a West Coast IPA in a secondary. You're looking at $30-$40 per box in PEI Canada. which is only a few dollas more compared to the extract cans at $15 (plus DME, dextrose and whatever else you want to make the can's half decent).

right now, i liek the Dry (low carb) lager with dextrose added to bring it up to 1.044OG. Not really low carb after that. Really good clean 'hot day' beer. I'm not sure about the IPA yet though, as i'm a lager fan and a jump to about 50IBU might not cut it for me.

for some reason, the store that sells Brewhouse is arond $40 for a basic lager...and i prefer the guys who run the store that sells the Festa magnotta brand.


http://theconfessions.net/beer.JPG
 
sounds very interesting, anyone know where they can be bought online? i checked vendors site and they dont have any information for my state (NY), i dont have any stores anywhere near me either so online or nothing are my options. ;)

Are you talking Feista or Brewhouse? If Brew House, I know for a fact that the Weekend Brewer out of Chester, VA will ship (plus shipping costs of course). Bob is a good guy and is happy to give suggestions as to hacking the Brew House kits. I'm pretty sure Wine & Cakes out of Norfolk, VA will ship (plus shipping costs) as well, you just have to call them to order the Brew House - they don't stock ithem like the Weekend Brewer does - but they are great people as well.

I don't know anything about Feista Brew so somebody esle will have to talk that instead.

I would recommend trying at least one Brew House kit despite the additional costs because they are worth trying (or Fiesta). So much so, you might be able to convince your own HBS to carrry them or at the minimum special order them from thier distributor for you. That's what my HBS is doing for me since I assure them 2 or 3 per order.
 
Fair warning: The Oktoberfest needs to age 3mo plus to be any good. After 4mo it gets REALLY good.

IS that the Brew House Octoberfest? Primary or secondary or just total? I am considering this one or should I wait till Nov 1 and order the Winter Ale - I suspect that needs just as long to be great?
 
About 2 weeks in the primary, a month in the secondary, and 3-4 months in the keg @ 40deg
 
Posted by Joe Camel…

They do make excellent beers and are not that expensive, we pay $30 - 35 per box up here for a 5 gallon batch.

and

The wort in a brewhouse bag is a concentrate, I believe it's 3 gallons to make a 5 gallon batch by adding water. You can forgo the water if you want, for example with the stout kit, and make an imperial, or add 1 gallon of water for a slightly weaker but still strong stout.

I checked with my LHBS today.

He said they sell the Brewhouse kits for $44US, and that they make a 6 gallon batch.

However, when I scanned the RJ Spagnols brochure, they state that the Brewhouse kits make a 15L/3.96Gal batch.

I realize that the prices will differ because of the difference between Canadian vs US dollars, if nothing else, but the differences between the size of the batches is my concern.

Can someone clarify the size of the batch these kits make?

They also carry True Brew kits which make a 5 gallon batch, and sell for $34US.

As a first timer, the bigger batch for less money seems like a no brainer.

Can anyone offer a comparison between the True Brew kits, and the Brewhouse kits, taste-wise?

Pogo
 
I checked with my LHBS today.

He said they sell the Brewhouse kits for $44US, and that they make a 6 gallon batch.

However, when I scanned the RJ Spagnols brochure, they state that the Brewhouse kits make a 15L/3.96Gal batch.

I realize that the prices will differ because of the difference between Canadian vs US dollars, if nothing else, but the differences between the size of the batches is my concern.

Can someone clarify the size of the batch these kits make?

They also carry True Brew kits which make a 5 gallon batch, and sell for $34US.

As a first timer, the bigger batch for less money seems like a no brainer.

Can anyone offer a comparison between the True Brew kits, and the Brewhouse kits, taste-wise?

Pogo

The Brew House kits can make anywhere from 5 gallons to six gallons. The difference lying in the amount of "top off water" a person uses. I personally only use ~4 liters of "top water" and it make a little over the 5 gallon mark.

In fact a person could forego any top water and just brew the 15L of wort. I few of the kits suggest other variations that the kit will yeild if a person doesn't use extra water.

I'm not sure about the other one you mentioned, somebody else might comment on that.

If you're a first timer, I say try the Brew House - it's like the others have said, it lets you concentrate on the sanatize, yeast, secondary (if you choose) and patience game before boing into the extract or AG. And a good beer will result from your first time giving you more confidence in the craft.

That price is about what I pay as well so the HBS isn't ripping you either.

Let us know what you do!
 
Can anyone offer a comparison between the True Brew kits, and the Brewhouse kits, taste-wise?

FWIW, I've never seen a True Brew kit that wasn't an extract kit. Brew House is a finished wort in a bag. Pour, pitch, ferment.
 
I checked with my LHBS today.

He said they sell the Brewhouse kits for $44US, and that they make a 6 gallon batch.

However, when I scanned the RJ Spagnols brochure, they state that the Brewhouse kits make a 15L/3.96Gal batch.

Pogo

I think the 15L is the amount of concentrated wort in the bag. You then add 8 L of top off water to get 5 Gallons Canadian/ 6 American.

As others have said you can forgo the top off water. RJ Spagnols claims you can make Duppels, Strong Golden's & Doppelbock's this way. I've never done this but I'm a little skeptical. The difference in a Munich Dark Lager and a Doppelbock is more than just SG. Still there is no doubt you would get a beer with the ABV of a Dobbelbock.

So to sum add the 8L of top up water to get 23L of 5% ABV beer.

Rudeboy
 
I'm currently brewing the Brewhouse Irish Stout that uses munich dark as the base and then calls for roast and flaked barely to be added in the extra water.

I'm thinking of my next beer, which i'd mabye like to be an Scotch ale... but i'm not married to it... and I was wondering if anyone has any great brewhouse hacks they'd want to post.
 
I'm thinking of my next beer, which i'd mabye like to be an Scotch ale... but i'm not married to it... and I was wondering if anyone has any great brewhouse hacks they'd want to post.

I put a few up on an older thread here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/brewhouse-kits-60574/#post618579

By the way, these kits rock. My brother-in-law had done all-grain brewing, but mostly sticks to these kits because they are such high quality. He even won a silver medal at MCAB last year (in a VERY competitive category) with a hacked Brewhouse kit.
 
I've been homebrewing for 6 months, and have made 10 Brewhouse kits. For me, the thrill is in the constant variety with the assurance of high quality. I've been using wyeast from the get-go. I've made a few minor mods. I added juice from a flat of raspberries to the stout. I added yarrow (a herb used in gruit beer) to both stout and oktoberfest. I added some spice and coffee to the winterfest. All results are excellent. The price is very good: 2 kits + 1 yeast / mo < $C100, which is considerably less than I used to pay retail for beer and wine. I only consume about 1 kit/mo, but I make two in order to build up some stock for aging.
 
I have to agree that the Brewhouse kits are wonderful quality - maybe that's the reason that this rather small operation from Canada has been able to sell a fairly heavy (rather than a concentrate in a can) box of wort as far as the southeast US.

I have been a customer at the Spagnols shop for a number of years - I buy grapes from them for wine, which was the basis of their original business in the local Italian community.

The price at source for a brewhouse kit is from $24 to $30 Canadian dollars but of course there is a considerable cost to shipping these heavy boxes elsewhere.

The clever trick is the use of phosphoric acid to help preserve the pasteurized wort. When you brew the kit you add calcium carbonate to neutralize the acid.
 
Do you guys follow Brewhouse kit directions, or follow the 1-2-3 rule that seems to be recommended in general.

I went 2nd stage after 4 days, but is that too early? It looks like 10-14 days in primary is the general recommendation?

I am looking to make good beer, not necessarily fast beer at the expense of quality.
 
Do you guys follow Brewhouse kit directions, or follow the 1-2-3 rule that seems to be recommended in general.
When using those BrewHouse kits, I always throw away their yeast packet and their instructions. Use a quality yeast (dry or liquid) appropriate to the style, and ferment in the primary for 2 - 3 weeks. I don't bother with a secondary any more, except when dry hopping or making a fruit beer, and my beer is better for it.
 
I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for using the Brewhouse or other kits to make a fruit beer?

I'm made 2 Brewhouse kits now exactly by the instructions and have been very happy with the results. That being said I think I'm ready for my first slight hack and also wanted to make either a Raspberry brew (likely an Ale) or a Coriander and Orange peel belgian wheat (Think Blue Moon, Keith's White etc.) But I'd like to do kits a few more times before getting into having to boil etc.

Thanks for any advice.
 
I made a raspberry stout. I bought a flat of fresh raspberries, ran them through a juicer, and put the juice in the fermenter. It turned out fine, but not very fruity. I learned subsquently that you should put the fruit in after primary fermentation is complete, because the CO2 will carry away a lot of the flavour.
 
I know this is an old topic, but I thought I would mention about their kit instructions. I bought my first equipment from them and understand the instructions well. I learned (the hard way) thAt everyone talking on HBT refers to a primary fermentor as a closed systems with air lock. Myself, I've never seen such a primary (why not call it a carboy), and all the equipment here is from RJ spagnols, which gives you a proper carboy for 2ndary and a simple bucket with loose fitting lid for primary. Nothing wrong with that, but after starting to keep brews longer in my primary (based on HBT chatter) I noticed some darkening and sweeter flavours for sure.

Before buying brewhouse I found I bought beer based on price often, now I spend as much for modding as much as one wants, and find I get better beers with new twists for half the price of store bought. I bought a 33lb bottle of pale malt extract to try to some extract brewing, and find myself questioning it to use as a whole recipe with a lb or so of grain additions. Now I am using it 2-5 cups at a time to simply increase the gravity of the BH wort while maintaining a 5 gallon brew. 2 cups worked very nicely with a Pilsner kit that had 1 oz saaz 15 min and 1 oz 2 min in water/extract boil. A friend who is into Pilsner Uquell thinks its a great clone, except for the darker color and chill haze.

I have a question for those that use BH: someone told me that if I am brewing at condo temps (17-23 C) then there is no point in using liquid yeast as it will not perform the proper way outside the temp profile. Do you agree? I've been coopers all the way and I really wanted to get to know it as I might be moving in the future and could only buy that. If liquid yeast is a waste of time, any opinions about another dry yeast that beats coopers? I do find coopers more attenuative than many of the recipes here on HBT, normally I get 1.002-1.007 as a FG,
 
Ok, so I'm a fan of the brewhouse kits and after brewing the Honey Blonde, Pilsner, and Red Ale I'm begining to think there aren't many people out there that use these kits! Admittedly, I haven't used an extract kit and certainly I haven't moved to the AG so I don't have a baseline to compare the Brewhouse kits in order to say how much better (or worse) the Brewhouse kits are. However, having used commercial micro-brews and major national brands in a double-blind taste test with friends and family - the brewhouse kits come out on top everytime- there has to be something to these kits. Though this may sound biased, the friends and family like both national and national "micro" brands so their tastes vary.

I am begining to think that not many people on here use the Brewhouse kits - admittedly it's an odd breed, not exactly an extract and certainly not an all grain that one could boast about! Plus, the cost is a lot higher than extracts, but again, I've found these beers to be really good So despite the cost, its a great way to start out in the home brewing! No, there's no product affiliation - just surprise that more novises don't start out using this stuff.

I've read a few posts that a few people have even won awards using these kits, which should make this stuff more respectable but nontheless, few poeple seem to talk (or admit) that they use these kits and what they do to make them better than what they are -

And maybe that's the turn off of these kits, since the wort is pre-made, there is littel that one can do to change the type of beer. These are somewhat limiting- esp for those that may want to make big beers. There is of course, dry-hopping, re-boiling, and adjuncts that one can play with but the base is pretty much set for you. So I can see the turn off from that perspective for some people as to why they wouldn't use these kits. Moreover, to make these already expensive kits better, one might want to use a different yeast and add adjuncts thus increasing the cost by ~$10. If you use little top-off water thus reducing the total output of the kit while adding different yeasts and adjuncts, you will ceratinly have one expensive beer, albeit great tasting.

I suggest that maybe pre-made wort kits (I presume others exists out there) need to have thier own spot on the board- it might be a lonley place - but if credance is given to this type of kit, it might even open the door for new poeple to get in to the craft!

I'm certainly interested to hear the various discussion on the topic! Thanks in advance!

Cheers!:mug:

Of course, this is just one novice's opinion. Once I grow into the AG, maybe my persepctive will change!

I've made a dozen or so Brewhouse kits and folks in this neck of the woods make a lot of them. Employing the "tweaks" listed on the company's website (inner secrets or whatever they call them) has led to some great results. I've been in touch with their head brewer who has provided some additional tips (PM me for his email address).

Overall I think they are an excellent product. I think their major weakness is yeast; they provide standard Cooper's with virtually every kit, regardless of whether it's an ale, lager, light, dark, etc. The upside of this is that the kits are nearly idiot proof. I guess more experienced brewers can select an alternative dry or even liquid yeast as they please (which I've done on a number of occasions; I've used Wyeast 2308 with the Munich Dark Lager kit and Wyeast 1056 with the Honey Blond Ale).
 
I would like to see a +/- comparison between BH and Festa. I have my first Festa in the fermentor. I don't think I'll switch. BH is high gravity, which gives me a lot of control over the final alcohol content. Also, because it comes as 15 liters, I don't have to worry about getting it all into a 23 liter primary carboy. The Festa is 23 gallons, and I lost at least a couple of liters in racking and blowoff. I now have a 11.4 liter Better Bottle carboy, so I could divide up a Festa kit. But I'm not sure that I really want to change from BH. I would love to hear from anyone who has a lot of experience with Festa, especially if they are also familiar with BH.
 
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