Williams Sonoma selling brew kits

My wife works at Williams Sonoma part time.

She was working tonight and said her store is selling these kits now:

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/store/1-gallon-beer-kits

You can choose to see the darkside of this but I see.....

More brewers. :rockin:

Everyones gotta start somewhere... actually I was intrigued by the mustard one

At the least they have some interesting looking recipes.

40 bucks for 1 gallon, I'll pass

Wow! How do I sell beer kits that expensive? I guess if you take a 20 foot piece of rope and make a 1x9 rectangle you have 9 square feet. Same 20 foot rope in a 5x5 square gives you 25 square feet. Moral? It's all in the packaging.

djsethall said:

Wow! How do I sell beer kits that expensive? I guess if you take a 20 foot piece of rope and make a 1x9 rectangle you have 9 square feet. Same 20 foot rope in a 5x5 square gives you 25 square feet. Moral? It's all in the packaging.

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That's first year calculus right there

theres so many people who are trying to get into the homebrew market with new ideas to make it easier and cheaper. But, they are all just introducing people to it, and most people like us want to go further and learn more. I love stuff like what brooklynbrewshop is doing because I started on a Mr. Beer kit and now im brewing for a living. Who knows what having products like this in grocery stores will do for the hobby and craft beer.

People saying this is expensive have never been to Williams Sonoma? It's kinda their "thing."

That's $40 for the ingredients and equipment. $15 for just the ingredients.
Their $135 5gal kit is just about $10 more than I paid at LHB store and I didn't get any ingredients with it. Those prices may not be great but they're not that far off.

I got one of these 1 gallon kits for my birthday last year, and it's what got me started into homebrewing! If you're not into recipe design/calculation and you want an easy start to AG brewing, these are great. Plus for folks (like me) who live in NYC, Brooklyn Brewshop 1 gallon kits are the perfect size for an apartment. $15 for an ingredient kit isn't even bad (for NYC) especially when you consider that they're tried and true recipes.

my only beef is that you can buy a 5 gallon kit for the same price.

It's kind of like buying one of the herb garden kits. You spend 20 bucks for enough seed and planters to grow 4 plants. Four packs of seed and a spot in your yard is 5 bucks and will get you 400 plants. It's all about how much space and time you have.

And the kits have cute packaging.

pwndabear said:

my only beef is that you can buy a 5 gallon kit for the same price.

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Where can you get a 5 gallon kit for $15? The $40 kits include all necessary equipment to ferment.

I have to say it is one of the better starter sets I have ever seen. This starts people off with all grain at a very easy way super affoardably. I would absolutely recommend this to a friend just wanting to try it out. WAY better than a lot of things sold at a lot of LHBS.

if i run out of the LHBS at a high velocity and throw a $10 and a $5 at the cashier before she can react, i can get a kit for that price.

Those little 1-gallon kits look sweet if you ask me. Did anybody look at the instructions? I thought they were very well done. It puts everything you need to do to brew 1 gallon of AG beer in simple terms. Nothing fancy... Just how to make some damn beer!

I've also seen these at Whole Foods in NJ. I chose the Coopers kit over this one but it seems ok for a small AG kit. I don't think these come with a hydrometer.

I need one of those mini-siphons...seriously.

pwndabear said:

my only beef is that you can buy a 5 gallon kit for the same price.

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At the mall? No.

This is putting the hobby out there to a whole new audience. After the bug bites them, I am sure they can find their LHBS and get into 5 gal or 10 gal brewing.

But I'm excited to see who this will bring to the hobby.

PS - Better get ready to answer some "IS MY 1 GALLON BATCH RUINED?!" threads!

I kind of like the 1 gallon idea. Can have more types of beers on hand. Takes me a while to go thru 2 cases of any one, or 4 cases if I'm brewing faster than I'm drinking.

I have a 1 gallon plastic jug from Cranberry Juice. Just might us it to fool around with. Probably can keep the temperature of a small batch under contol easier in the Hawaiian Heat.

Having been raised in Brooklyin from 6 months to 18 years, all I can say is Go Brooklyn Dodgers and Brewers!!!!

zyx345 said:

I don't think these come with a hydrometer.

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The 1 gallon kit doesn't. The 5 gal. does.
I might just try the 1 gal triple, sans the kit. I just need to get something to ferment it in.

Why not just go to your lhbs and purchase a 1 gallon carboy? Total cost of the grain is less than $5. If they get their grains at prices I pay, its even less.

I have a 5 gal kit and I love it. Even tho it might have been a touch more expensive. The ease of use is great for beginners. But it doesn't come with a pot to cook grains in which would be a good addition.

Worked on a Robust Porter recipe last night for 1 gal. brew. Man I think I'm gonna have to go buy a digital scale to measure out the specialty grains and hops.

Any good suggestions?

Wonder if the scale at the LHBS can measure only 1.6 oz :0) Will check tomorrow when I go down to get the goodies for my Double Chocolate Stout 5 gallon brew.

I (and many other homebrewers) have an Escali Primo scale. It's very good for measuring hops & specialty grains.

I knew hipsters would weasel their way into another one of my hobbies.

maxam said:

I knew hipsters would weasel their way into another one of my hobbies.

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hipsters ????????????????????

maxam said:

I knew hipsters would weasel their way into another one of my hobbies.

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Nothing says "hipster" like being exclusionary and superior.

weirdboy said:

I (and many other homebrewers) have an Escali Primo scale. It's very good for measuring hops & specialty grains.

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For a 1 gallon brew I'll need to measure down to 0.1 oz for my hops. Can this do it?

maxam said:

I knew hipsters would weasel their way into another one of my hobbies.

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I don't think hipsters shop at williams sonoma. They drink PBR by choice despite their parents being upper-middle class urbanites.

If you get your product in Williams Sonoma and you don't mark it up 1000% then you are an idiot.

I've only done extract kits so far and would like to eventually get into AG. These directions are great-literally step by step-much better than the instructions my extract kit came with. My question, is all-grain brewing as easy as these instructions make it out to be? Obviously, this is only 1 gallon as opposed to a 5 gallon boil which is what I would like to do.

kyle6286 said:

I've only done extract kits so far and would like to eventually get into AG. These directions are great-literally step by step-much better than the instructions my extract kit came with. My question, is all-grain brewing as easy as these instructions make it out to be? Obviously, this is only 1 gallon as opposed to a 5 gallon boil which is what I would like to do.

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Yes it is as easy as these directions make it to be. Follow those directions and you'll have a good finished product. As you move along you'll start looking to make better beer and have to start with different brewing techniques. You'll obtain lots of different equipment and probably spend a lot of money.
Those directions give you the basic steps to make beer from start to finish.

djsethall said:

Why not just go to your lhbs and purchase a 1 gallon carboy? Total cost of the grain is less than $5. If they get their grains at prices I pay, its even less.

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agreed. if people can make wine in prison, then you don't need a $40 beer kit.

anyone that drinks more than 1 beer a week would pass this up.

Actually, if you look at their five gallon kits and five gallon recipe mixes, the pricing isn't that bad. The porters sound interesting.

redcoat_or_rebel said:

agreed. if people can make wine in prison, then you don't need a $40 beer kit.

anyone that drinks more than 1 beer a week would pass this up.

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But have you actually drank hooch before?

:cross:

I'll pay the extra money for something that doesn't taste like fermented dishwater.

C-Rider said:

For a 1 gallon brew I'll need to measure down to 0.1 oz for my hops. Can this do it?

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Yes it's fine for .1oz.

It seems to be limited to around +/- .02oz, although I have noticed if I switch it to grams it seems to be a bit more responsive to changes than on the ounce scale.

redcoat_or_rebel said:

agreed. if people can make wine in prison, then you don't need a $40 beer kit.

anyone that drinks more than 1 beer a week would pass this up.

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The point is, this is no one that shops at Williams Sonoma.

Those people would pay $40 not to even know a place like a local homebrew store exists let alone set foot in one or talk to a D&D loving long haired hippie clerk.

I submit to you, the Williams-Sonoma $259 2-slot toaster.



4-slots is $339