Austin Home Brew Kits

I was thinking about buying AHB's clone of Magic Hat #9 but thought I would ask if anyone has had good experience with their clone kits. Do they include everything I need such as steeping grains and hops? Or is it just a pre hopped extract that they make?

I bought their Fat Tire clone, and I liked it so much I ordered another. The steeping grains were all set in a grain bag already, and the LME was also all measured in a bucket with a snug lid. The hops (3 kinds in this case) were vacuum packed in the foil package. The only thing I didn't like was ordering the yeast separately- I paid extra for the ice pack but the 5 days shipping (from Texas to Michigan) was way too hot. I got a melted HOT ice pack. However, the yeast survived and the beer was fantastic. I ordered dry yeast in the next kit.

Lorena

i just brewed a Double Chocolate Stour from AHBS...

as lorenae stated, the grains were all in a steeping bag ready to go, the LME in a tight sealed bucket and the hops sealed in foil bag.

i also ordered the yeast ICE pack, which was totally HOT and MELTED by the time it reached Dallas...

but anyway, my dry yeast was good also...

here's a picture...



haven't got to drink any yet, but it looks yummy...

Their Fat Tire clone is better than real Fat Tire. I'm lucky, AHB is my local brew store, I am currently brewing a Fireman's #4 clone, which is a local brewer named Real Ale

don't mean to hijack your thread but i was looking at a few of there kits too and was wonder about the canned kits. are they just pre hopped just boil and go or do i need the up grade kit with the "beer enhancer"(what is that?). just seem dumb to pay 5 bucks for sugar and a paper saying boil fo 60 min.

I'm pretty sure that none of their kits are prehopped. I've never used their extract kit but I have used both their mini-mash and all-grain kits with much success.

If I had to guess, I would say the extract kit has a big bucket of LME and a few bags of hop pellets. And I would also guess that the quality will be much better than what you would get out of a prehopped can of extract.

ryser2k said:

I'm pretty sure that none of their kits are prehopped. I've never used their extract kit but I have used both their mini-mash and all-grain kits with much success.

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I don't think he's talking about the actual AHB recipes. I think he's talking about the canned kits (Coopers, etc.) that they sell as well.

Has anyone ever done their London Porter extract kit? Would appreciate your thoughts.


Ize

AleJoe said:

Their Fat Tire clone is better than real Fat Tire. I'm lucky, AHB is my local brew store, I am currently brewing a Fireman's #4 clone, which is a local brewer named Real Ale

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That is good to hear. I have the kit sitting here ready to brew this weekend.

I've brewed their Nut Brown Ale and Belgian Wit with great results.

Their kits are great.

I have bought many kits from this company, all have been great. Very good customer service and good shipping $5.99 with tracking numbers automatically e-mailed to you. I just bought 3 on Monday and I received them last night, a Red Wheat, Black Ale, and European ale all grain versions this time.

I would highly reccomend AHS as well. Unlike a few other posts here, I had no problem with the yeast/ice pack. Texas to Boston and it was still cool and the Wyeast (pacman!) was not activated at all. I made a starter, which blew off like no starter I've ever seen, pitched and watched the thing blow off like a volcano again! this was all for a Shakespeare Stout clone......recipe looks great and all the indredients were top notch. Their instructions are a bit suspect but I wasn't really planning on following them anyway.

I'd really, really encourage you to get their own kits as opposed to the canned (especially pre-hopped!) kits. I garuntee you will be much more happy with the end result!

I've only purchased their mini-mash kits, but I would be shocked (shocked, I say), if their extract kits used pre-hopped extract. Since they offer so many kits & clones, the only practical way of doing so is to build the kits out of basic extracts and provide the hops in bags, as they do for the mini-mash kits.

I suspect the ONLY malt differences between the extract, mini-mash and all grain recipes is the amount of grain. I don't know if the extract kits include specialty grains or not. An e-mail message would resolve that.

By the way, where I have been able to compare their clones to the real thing, they have been spot on!

I have only brewed by purchasing the ingredients directly from my LHBS with a recipe. I would really like to try several of the AG kits from AHS. Do they just throw all the grain in the bag and not tell you what is in there and how much? For record keeping purposes and such, it would be nice to know exactly what I'm putting in my beer.

Also I already have a planned date to brew but am so distraught over what to brew! So many choices!

Joe

Joe028 said:

I have only brewed by purchasing the ingredients directly from my LHBS with a recipe. I would really like to try several of the AG kits from AHS. Do they just throw all the grain in the bag and not tell you what is in there and how much? For record keeping purposes and such, it would be nice to know exactly what I'm putting in my beer.

Also I already have a planned date to brew but am so distraught over what to brew! So many choices!

Joe

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The kits that I have bought from them are not exactly as you describe.

All grains are in one bag. But, the instruction sheet tells you the amounts and kinds of grains included.

All the grains come in one bag (in my experience) but, as brewproject said, the grain breakdown is on the recipe sheet, and also usually written on the bag of grains itself in marker.

Ok that makes a difference in my mind then. Thanks for the info. I'll have to let you know how they turn out when they are brewed

Joe

I've had good luck with AHS. I've got a Sweet Stout (extract) in secondary from them and a Double Choc Stout on deck. Everything is packaged really well and all the grains and hops amounts are listed on the ingredient sheet.

They ship out quickly and are responsive. Being able to select which yeast to use (or to not get one at all) is very convenient. I am glad it is winter again so I don't have to worry about heat destroying the yeast in shipment.

Can't say enough good things about them.

I was considering ordering the Clipper City clone.
My questions are:
What is alcohol boost? Should I get that?
Which yeast? They offer: Danstar Nott'ham Dry
Wyeast ESB 1968
White Labs ale
Would the yeast choice make a difference?
What about the yeast fuel?
Extract vs. mini-mash?
Would I get a VG clone using the extract kit and dry yeast?
Thanks
Two Hawks

I am also curious about the alcohol boost. Is this just some additional sugar???

bigjuice said:

I am also curious about the alcohol boost. Is this just some additional sugar???

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I have ordered three different "mini mash" kits from them and they have all been excellent. I actually just brewed their Irish red ale kit and added the "ABV boost" which is corn sugar, but it's not powdery it's more crystaline and takes a while to dissolve. They pack well and ship quickly and if you have something break (as I did: floating thermometer) they ship you a new one right away.

I think I'll be happy just brewing their kits..they are all really good. I would advise doing the mini mash kits as they tend to come out way better.


Dan

thanks for the reply. That gives me something to consider for choices.

the one time i ordered from them was a great experence. Wanted to get a brew that i couldn't find a recipe for and so many people recomened them that i decied to go ahead and order from them. I had to call and ask them a question and they were extremly helpful. I have a lhbs so i shop there frequently.

But i would order from them more often if i wasn't afraid of killing the yeast with the heat from shipping.

You guys motivated me. I have done two extract kits from William's Brewing. The first is an American Ale that is nice and tasty. The second is a holiday ale that I just bottled on Saturday. After reading this post, I ordered the Fat Tire clone and cooked it up on Saturday right after bottling the previous batch.

With any luck, the Fat Tire clone will convince the SO that me getting drunk in the kitchen and brewing up beer is good for her too!

I'm drinking the fat tire clone now (in the bottle two weeks) it is very good.

JnJ said:

I'm drinking the fat tire clone now (in the bottle two weeks) it is very good.

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Does it taste like fat tire to you? I did the midwest kit w/ white labs 550 and while it did make a nice tasting ale, I thought that the yeast dominated the flavor and it really didn't taste much like what I recalled from the original.

I recently ordered a rye IPA kit from austin to brew on a yeast cake I have comming up and didn't feel like putting a recipe together.

I get pretty much all my ingredients and kits from them. I just buy my yeast locally. If I get a couple kits at the same time, it is cheaper than my local HB store. Plus they seem to have every beer recipe. Only downside (if it is one) is that all there kits use LME and don't have an option for DME.

brewt00l said:

Does it taste like fat tire to you? I did the midwest kit w/ white labs 550 and while it did make a nice tasting ale, I thought that the yeast dominated the flavor and it really didn't taste much like what I recalled from the original.

I recently ordered a rye IPA kit from austin to brew on a yeast cake I have comming up and didn't feel like putting a recipe together.

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It's not been in the bottle for three weeks yet, but to me it taste very close to the real thing.

i have used midwest, williams and ahs. i must say that ahs had great packing and the options for the kit were great. im now brewing a hobgoblin clone and dead mans ale from ahs. also from most of the site that i have been to they have a great selection of beer types.

AleJoe said:

Their Fat Tire clone is better than real Fat Tire. I'm lucky, AHB is my local brew store, I am currently brewing a Fireman's #4 clone, which is a local brewer named Real Ale

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Their Fat Tire clone is supposed to be a replica of the original Fat Tire - which is actually supposed to be good.

A friend gave me a six pack of Fat Tire with one bottle missing, I should have known something was wrong. Truly an awefull beer.

He he... the holiday 5-pack? That's always a bad sign.

Do the AHS extract kits tell you to use 5 gal. (full boils)??

No, the extract & steeping grains kits I did were all 2 1/2 or 3 gallon boils, max. Top off water is added after the wort is cooled. They send really nice instructions with their kits, so it's easy to do.

But I would rather do a full boil. Can i still do this with AHS kits and just skip the step of adding top off water???

I believe you can. You will need to reduce any hops that you add within the first 30 minutes of the boil. Doing a full boil gives you better hops utilization. The kits from Northern Brewer have add instructions for doing a full boil along with regular instructions for doing a partial boil. So I wouldn't think that kits from AHS would be THAT different.

What I did (which may be wrong) was if it called for 1oz I put in 3/4oz or even 1/2oz.

I just did their summit IPA with a PM and full boil. I used hops as directed..I mean hey, it's an IPA. It came out perfect, but I've become a bit of a hophead lately so take it for what it's worth


DAn

Iam going to do a Fat tire clone. I guess Iam going for the full boil. I may call them and see if they can tell me how to adjust

I'm bottling their Blue Moon clone tonight. It included steeping grains, LME, priming sugar, yeast, and I ordered 6oz of surplus caps, and they upgraded that 6 to 12oz for free. Package was in my office in 3 days.

Over all, I'm very happy w/ my first order from them. I'll probably use them from now on. From my calculations, they're probably around 30% less than my LHBS, even after shipping. Plus, you can't beat their selection of clones. Dynomite!!!

neckbone said:

I'm bottling their Blue Moon clone tonight. It included steeping grains, LME, priming sugar, yeast, and I ordered 6oz of surplus caps, and they upgraded that 6 to 12oz for free. Package was in my office in 3 days.

Over all, I'm very happy w/ my first order from them. I'll probably use them from now on. From my calculations, they're probably around 30% less than my LHBS, even after shipping. Plus, you can't beat their selection of clones. Dynomite!!!

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Do you mind sharing the recipe? Just curious as to what was in it. I bought their Hefeweizen (#1 seller) and hopefully it will make it here by the weekend. I like their kits, they don't jack up the price, it is sometimes cheaper to buy the kit, but you don't know what it comes with.

I think the price is good ...get a good yeast and do it right ...I have used a few of there kits and came out with good results!