Brewcraft extract kit

I just picked up a Brewcraft USA kit for a Rogue Brutal Bitter. Has anyone ever tried this kit or any others from Rogue? The only differences are that the hops are not pre-measured and it's a 75 minute boil. It also calls for it's own Wyeast smack-pack.

I should be brewing in a couple of days, hopefully.

Brewed this morning and everything went smoothly. I was a bit concerned about the hops not being premeasured but I did my best. There was no mention as to what kinds of hops they were or the alpha acids, which was strange I thought. The bittering hops were pellets and it called for 2 oz at the beginning of the boil (after you put in the first and smaller of the two bags of DME), 1 oz at the 60 minute mark of the 75 minute boil and 1 oz at the 20 min mark. That is a total of 4 oz of hops. I don't think I had that much, but my scale is crappy. I did the best I could to divide the hops. The kit also came with 1 oz of whole hops (again, no name on the package). I added 1/2 oz at flameout, along with the bigger bag of DME, and saved the remaining 1/2 oz for dryhopping.

My newly re-tooled immersion chiller worked great and cooled the wort down to about 85 in approximately 30 minutes. I topped off the fermenter with about 1 gallon of cold water and added the Wyeast smack-pack between 75 and 80 degrees. That was my first experience with the smack-pack. I did not make a starter because I needed to get this brew going and didn't have time. I suspect you can make a starter with the smack-packs? I have yet to make a starter, though.

All-in-all a good brew day.

Not to worry about a starter for now....

Please keep us posted! I enjoy this beer on tap (OK from bottle, but better by tap).

Eric

don't see why you couldn't make a starter with it, if you wanted to (and had the time). I've used smak packs twice now (both times with the same beer kitx2, one batch for kegging, the other for bottles) -it kind of had its own starter (broke the pack, waited 24hrs or so for the pack to swell, and I cooked off the wort, etc etc). Overall, I'm a bit more fond of White Labs liquid pitchables, myself. But thats just me. Look forward to hearing how this baby turns out.

After doing some reading I understand that the Pacman Wyeast is a good yeast to harvest. Unfortunately I don't know how to do that. Is it an easy process? Is it worth doing I guess is the real question?

My Rogue Brutal Bitter looks good. Not much Krausen (sp?) on top but gravity reading looks good (OG 1.060, gravity after 6 days 1.012). I'll transfer to secondary and add the dry hops tomorrow and leave it for a couple weeks. I'm really looking forward to this one

I also got a couple of BB Holiday Ale kits for a neighbor that I will be brewing on back to back sessions this weekend, hopefully.

Hi there. I too am in Cleveland and brewing the Brutal Bitter kit.

I was looking on the instructions and they didn't list an OG. Mine was 1.070. I know you said yours was 1.060, but anyone know what it should be?

Also, what is a good temp for the primary? Does the Pacman yeast need to be a little cooler? 60?

Thanks.

The kit says the predicted OG is 1.063, so you are both pretty close to hitting it. Pacman yeast has a wide temp range, but Rogue ferments with it at 60 degrees.