I am a noob brewer who got hooked early this year. Seriously hooked. For my 6th batch I decided to try a mail-order kit in a box from True Brew (an Irish Stout). All my previous brews have been made with LHBS ingredients and I have enjoyed them immensely. They have all been 60 min 3 gallon boils with very specific hop schedules.
So you can imagine my surprise when I opened my kit and the instructions say to boil 1 - 1 1/2 gallons of water (that's it!?) and then just sorta dump all the ingredients in at once... LME, DME, and hops all at the same time!!! Then boil for 20 to 30 mins. They mention nothing about chilling except to say you should combine 3 gallons of cold water and the "hot mixture" in the fermenting vessel and wait before pitching the yeast.
I don't know, it all seems a little like the fast food version of home brewing. Not to mention, their claim that it'll be ready to bottle in under a week.
Any ideas on how I can improve the quality of this kit? Or how to modify the process so it's a little closer to the detail-oriented and time-specific extract brewing that I am used to?
So you can imagine my surprise when I opened my kit and the instructions say to boil 1 - 1 1/2 gallons of water (that's it!?) and then just sorta dump all the ingredients in at once... LME, DME, and hops all at the same time!!! Then boil for 20 to 30 mins. They mention nothing about chilling except to say you should combine 3 gallons of cold water and the "hot mixture" in the fermenting vessel and wait before pitching the yeast.
I don't know, it all seems a little like the fast food version of home brewing. Not to mention, their claim that it'll be ready to bottle in under a week.
Any ideas on how I can improve the quality of this kit? Or how to modify the process so it's a little closer to the detail-oriented and time-specific extract brewing that I am used to?