AHB mini mash kits?

[Penguin]

was thinking of doing my first mini mash and while looking at the required ingredients bought individually vs. the kit i found that its far cheaper just to get the kit.

just wondering if anyone has ever used the mini mash kits from Austin Homebrew.

Also why is Honey Wheat so cheap to brew vs. everything else.

 

[ArcaneXor]

was thinking of doing my first mini mash and while looking at the required ingredients bought individually vs. the kit i found that its far cheaper just to get the kit.

just wondering if anyone has ever used the mini mash kits from Austin Homebrew.

Also why is Honey Wheat so cheap to brew vs. everything else.

I use their mini-mash kits exclusively, and they are all good to superb. I don't follow their instructions for the mash, though, since I use a 2-gal rubbermaid cooler (i.e. I don't mash in the brewkettle) to do that, which gives me better temperature control and (I think) higher efficiency. Still, try the default method to begin with before tweaking the process.

I haven't brewed the honey wheat, but it only has 3 lbs of extract, which is probably the main reason it isn't very expensive.

 

[JMack]

I did my first batch with an Austin HB Mini-Mash Belgian wit and it was great. Instructions were good and the beer came out superb. I'm waiting on UPS to deliver a DunkelWeizen Mini-mash as we speak and I can't wait!

 

[Austin_]

I use their mini-mash kits exclusively, and they are all good to superb. I don't follow their instructions for the mash, though, since I use a 2-gal rubbermaid cooler (i.e. I don't mash in the brewkettle) to do that, which gives me better temperature control and (I think) higher efficiency. Still, try the default method to begin with before tweaking the process.

+1. When I order kits I order the Austin Homebrew Supply mini-mash kits. I haven't had a bad one yet. I also use the 2-gallon cooler method. The problem with this method and AHS is that some of the grain amounts are more than the cooler can hold with the proper amount of water. Not many, but a few.

 

[alpo]

All I have used are AHS mini mash kits. I've done 7 of them and they are all great thus far. I live about 10 minutes away from their storefront, so I don't have much of a reason to go anywhere else at this point in my brewing career.

If you haven't already, register with their site and you can view reviews of their kits.

I have a 5 gallon cooler that I use for the mash, which works well. Other than that and some misc. details like using muslin bags and Irish moss, I follow all their instructions.

Their Blue Moon clone is honestly one of the best wheat beers I've ever had anywhere (even though it doesn't really taste a lot like Blue Moon).

 

[alpo]

FWIW, I haven't brewed the honey wheat, but I am literally doing that one tomorrow. I already have the ingredients. My girlfriend has been bugging me to try that one, so we are going to brew it together when we watch the game.

 

[HoppyDaze]

anyone tried their ESB kit? Its looking like an ESB is on deck...

 

[OLB]

I just ordered my first mini mash kits from Midwest. I also looked at a couple of the AHS ones but those had a lower % of grain vs extract. I am going to try DeathBrewer's PM process and he seems to regularly use 5-6 lbs of grains. The kits at Midwest have about that much grain in them, so that's what I went with.

 

[kevinkaseykizer]

I will be doing the Fat Tire clone partial mash kit from AHB this saturday. This will be my first partial mash. I've got a 5gal cooler setup as my mash tun. AHS reviews are great for this kit

 

[dmako]

How are you guys using the 5 gal mash tun setup?

I have brew a few time with the AHS mini mash using a nylon bag and pot setup and just tried using a 5 gal cooler mash tun and using a AHS crisp rye kit got stuck immediately. I have learned that with a rye I should add rice hulls but I asked AHS about this and thay said not to use a mash tun, use the bag and pot method.

 

[HoppyDaze]

I think he meant to put the mash in the mash tun but use a bag just like you would if you were using a pot. A cooler will still keep the temp steady better than a pot...

 

[fivehoursfree]

I use the AHS minimash kits because I live in town. Pretty easy. I once tried to mash in a 16qt square cooler. I dumped all the grain and mash water into it, stirred it up and let it go. The plan was to then strain all the grain through my nylon bag. It was a big mess. I just do the pot mashing now. I do need a bigger pot to sparge in though.

 

[alpo]

I just put the grains in a large nylon grain bag and tie it high at the top, so the grains have a lot of room to spread out inside the mash tun.

I use one of those 5 gal cylindrical orange Home Depot beverage coolers. It works pretty well.. the temp doesn't drop too much in a 30-45 minutes span. Lid screwed on tight, of course.

When it's time, I slowly dunk it in and out a dozen times, then pull it out, set a colander right over the cooler opening (which fits perfectly and the colander handles hold it up), drop the bag in the colander to drain for a while, then sparge accordingly, again letting it drain right into the cooler. Discard grains and dump mash into kettle. Ta da

 

[ArcaneXor]

I usually mash at about 1.5 qts/lb (less if my tiny mash tun can't handle it) for 45-60 minutes, run off about a quart as a Vorlauf, and then drain the wort into my bottling bucket (since my kettle is busy heating up the sparge water). Thereafter, I'll do multiple batch sparges with 170-degree water to reach my boil volume of ca. 2.5 gallons. My mash temp is usually somewhere in between the AHS recommendation (which tends to be 155 deg, regardless of style), and what Jamil Zainasheff recommends in Brewing Classic Styles, though I tend to stick closer to the higher value of the two since I like lots of body to most of my beers.

I then add about 1/3 to 1/2 of the malt extract to the collected wort and start the boil. The remainder of the malt extract is added about 10-15 minutes prior to the end of the boil. Depending on the style, I'll boil for a total of 50-55 minutes to compensate for the greater hop utilization due to the more dilute wort that results from using the late addition method.

I do not count the time it takes to get the wort back to boiling after the late addition (usually about 5-10 minutes) as part of the boiling time, I simply put the lid on and resume the timer once it's boiling again.