Brew House or Festa Brew kits

Hey all, new to the brewing community and was thinking of starting with something simple. Has anyone ever tried the festa brew or brew house kits?

No, and personally I wouldn't. Home brewing is all about control and being creative. To me that is just like buying an already bottled beer.

Buy a kit from Midwest Homebrewing or Northern Brewer. It takes some of the decisions out of the equation but you still get to complete the process. It's all about the process.......

I must disagree with two one seven, here. If you are a newb, it is often best to start simple. The Festa wort saves a number of steps and in the process allows you to get to the basics of brewing: fermentation, clearing, bottling. As well, you don't have to tie up resources on the extra equipment needed for all grain brewing. I started simple and worked my way up to more complex brews comfortable that the basics were down pat.

edavey said:

I must disagree with two one seven, here. If you are a newb, it is often best to start simple. The Festa wort saves a number of steps and in the process allows you to get to the basics of brewing: fermentation, clearing, bottling. As well, you don't have to tie up resources on the extra equipment needed for all grain brewing. I started simple and worked my way up to more complex brews comfortable that the basics were down pat.

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No no no. I'm not talking about all grain. I'm talking about extract. Adding extract and hops following a recipe are all parts of the brewing process. These are pre done worts...if you want to save steps by Miller or Coors......that will save a lot of steps. Making wort is not complex and it is part of the brewing process. Do not skip a step because it may seem to difficult. Making wort is the most basic process of brewing beer. It's not hard, beer is resilient you won't mess it up too bad in the end you will have beer. Make your own...........its what this is all about.

i have made 10 brew house kits. and was very pleased with them.

Thanks for the input guys. I do have alone brew house Mexican Cerveza and a festa brew

Sorry... I meant I do have a brew house Mexican Cerveza and a festa brew blonde ale. I will do both as I have 2 primaries. After I get the basics I will move on to something different. I have tried a buddies breweries blonde and it was very tasty

Well, I've had others Fest Brew beers and they were quite good. I had an issue with mine, probably on my end, and ended up with a sour as heck stout. Hasn't carbed in 3+ months. Not sure what the deal was, but it's not worth my while to go back to. I can brew pretty decent beer from canned kits + brew enhancer or LME for about $10 less a batch.

I'm not blaming Festa Brew for my issue with their kit, it was probably something on my end. That being said, you can do as well for less cash quite easily.

@ two one seven, up here in Canuck land, beer is ridiculously expensive. Getting your feet wet, or just trying get decent beer for less than a dollar a bottle is well worth your while. In Nova Scotia, Bud or Coors Light comes in at something like $44 a 24. A Festa Brew kit is going to run you something like $40 for 55-60 beer. Definitely worth your while if you just want to have some beers around the house without going broke.

LTownLiquorPig said:

@ two one seven, up here in Canuck land, beer is ridiculously expensive. Getting your feet wet, or just trying get decent beer for less than a dollar a bottle is well worth your while. In Nova Scotia, Bud or Coors Light comes in at something like $44 a 24. A Festa Brew kit is going to run you something like $40 for 55-60 beer. Definitely worth your while if you just want to have some beers around the house without going broke.

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A bit pricey (is that Canadian or US?), I see your point there. I still disagree with the canned kits. You can get into a starter brewing kit, which you still need most of this to preform the brew process even with a brewhouse kit, plus a brew pot for under 200.00 (US) and a lot of the pieces are re-taskable if you don't care for brewing.

In Prince Edward Island 24 cans runs 46.00 Canadian. I bought my beer starter kit for 55.00 and the brew house was on sale last weekend for 25.99. During all this discussion I decided to go with the mexican cerveza and put the batch in the primary.

two_one_seven said:

A bit pricey (is that Canadian or US?), I see your point there. I still disagree with the canned kits. You can get into a starter brewing kit, which you still need most of this to preform the brew process even with a brewhouse kit, plus a brew pot for under 200.00 (US) and a lot of the pieces are re-taskable if you don't care for brewing.

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Canadian funds, but I think we're around parity right now.

I think that is a lot of the sacrifice rural brewers in Canada make though. I can't get supplies to brew all grain, even fresh lme, inside of a 90 minute to 2 hour drive. Postage on a $22 kit from an online HBS from Canada for me is about $22. We just don't have the concentrated population in enough places to make affordable, fully stocked LHBS's available. I can get drinkable or better beer from a Cooper's kit for 30 bucks, pot to glass in 5-6 weeks. And I buy what I need from the local drug store, which sells the kits and simple gear for some reason.

If I knew 4 months ago what I know now I wouldn't have bought an equipment package. Auto syphon, bottling wand, 10 bucks in tubing, capper, a couple of bungs for blow off tube set ups and sanitizer is all I need for what I'm doing. A couple of 20 L buckets from a bakery and I'm good to go. All I need for about $40 bucks.

In Canada for sure, home brewing is a hobby that also helps keep beer in the fridge and money in my pocket. I know I might get better beer by brewing all grain, or buying higher end extract kits, but for now I'm satisfied with the results, and I'd imagine most of us who stick with the canned kits feel the same way as I do.

kcarr said:

In Prince Edward Island 24 cans runs 46.00 Canadian. I bought my beer starter kit for 55.00 and the brew house was on sale last weekend for 25.99. During all this discussion I decided to go with the mexican cerveza and put the batch in the primary.

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On your way man! If you can get one of those whole wort kits for 25-30 bucks you're doing all right. There's a guy on youtube named PEIHomebrewer who you should look up. He makes hopped extract kits and seems pretty knowledgeable about them and the process. Hit him up in the comments to one of his videos for some good local advice.

Wow that sucks. I guess there are still a couple of reasons to live in the states. I can get 100 lbs of gear shipped to me from Northern Brewer for 7.99.

two_one_seven said:

Wow that sucks. I guess there are still a couple of reasons to live in the states. I can get 100 lbs of gear shipped to me from Northern Brewer for 7.99.

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Ha! I know man. Best deal here is ordering dry yeast in the winter, stays cold and they can mail a couple packs in a regular envelope for the cost of a stamp.

One good way for us to save, at least in Nova Scotia, is our bottle return system is close to 100%, so I can go to the bottle depot, pick through their bottles and get any size bottle I want for a quarter a piece.

Wow, just checked on my wort and there is about 3-4 inches of foam on top. Airlock is shooting of like a shotgun.

Good stuff. The carnival has started in the fermenter. I haven't tried a festa brew, but at my lhbs they don't even take them off the skids, they just wheel em out onto the floor and people pick em off pretty quick. They are selling a lot of that stuff. I know someone who says they are great, the nut brown is like newcastle, apparently.

With beer and alcohol being very expensive up here, it's an excellent way for people to cut beer costs down and somewhat get into the basics of brewing. For me the essence of brewing is in the making of the wort, hop boil etc. Without that phase it would not be fun for me.

It's becoming apparent to me here in Canada that there's those that brew beer for fun and for a hobby and then theres some that do it just to save a few bucks. For those people, festa brew is the right decision. Im surprised the gov't hasn't imposed some sort of special tax on the festa brew.

HopHeadGrady said:

Good stuff. The carnival has started in the fermenter. I haven't tried a festa brew, but at my lhbs they don't even take them off the skids, they just wheel em out onto the floor and people pick em off pretty quick. They are selling a lot of that stuff. I know someone who says they are great, the nut brown is like newcastle, apparently.

With beer and alcohol being very expensive up here, it's an excellent way for people to cut beer costs down and somewhat get into the basics of brewing. For me the essence of brewing is in the making of the wort, hop boil etc. Without that phase it would not be fun for me.

It's becoming apparent to me here in Canada that there's those that brew beer for fun and for a hobby and then theres some that do it just to save a few bucks. For those people, festa brew is the right decision. Im surprised the gov't hasn't imposed some sort of special tax on the festa brew.

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I've often wondered that too. I know in Nova Scotia the Liquor Commission licenses HBS some how (the drug store that I buy my kits from has a little license card stuck on the rack where the kits are). Hope that's as far as it goes for a while.

I see the appeal in getting into more advanced brewing, but the ease of kits and the affordability of the equipment is a big draw. I'm pretty much a Craigtube disciple at this point, but I get my detailed info from the vets on here.

I'm looking into sprucing mine up with some hop additions for the next 4 or 5 batches, and am pretty close to ordering some rhizomes to throw in the ground this spring. To me, that's the most logical step to take with the hobby for what I want to do.

LTownLiquorPig said:

I've often wondered that too. I know in Nova Scotia the Liquor Commission licenses HBS some how (the drug store that I buy my kits from has a little license card stuck on the rack where the kits are). Hope that's as far as it goes for a while.

I see the appeal in getting into more advanced brewing, but the ease of kits and the affordability of the equipment is a big draw. I'm pretty much a Craigtube disciple at this point, but I get my detailed info from the vets on here.

I'm looking into sprucing mine up with some hop additions for the next 4 or 5 batches, and am pretty close to ordering some rhizomes to throw in the ground this spring. To me, that's the most logical step to take with the hobby for what I want to do.

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Yes, growing your own is the next step. I am starting a hop yard myself. I have 4 cascade and 4 willamette rhizomes coming in a few weeks. Can't wait for my first wet hopped beer......yummy.

It never even occurred to me to brew with saving bucks in mind. I do it as a hobby and an art. I made the wrong assumption that everyone that come to this board do the same. Live and learn.

Cheers