anyone use brewhouse?

[ColinJ]

When I got back into brewing a couple of years ago I started with one of these kits and every batch I've made since then has been with them.

Here is my rundown of them

Wheat - very nice tasting alittle too light
India Pale Ale - only made once and it had a weird after taste
American Lager - on tap right now (love it)
Cream Ale - love it but kind of an weird after taste but goes away after a few sips
Mexican Cerveza - I love this one it is a great very light beer. Excellent for sitting on the deck with. Great for friends that claim all homebrew sucks.
Stout - never made on it own but have made it with chocolate and coffee added. It was very rich and hard to drink more than a glass but I think its because i put in too much coffee.

 

[ryanK]

$38 is too much. I get mine for 10 bucks less. That being said, these are good super easy kits. I have done the pale ale, pilsner and american premium lager is in the 2ndary right now.

they seem to be going for $40-42 in calgary

How did the american lager turn out?

 

[Kronin]

just bottled the IPA today, i left in primary for 12 days and 20 days in secondary and dry hopped with 1oz of pellet kent golding hops... tastes awesome so far

 

[FlyGuy]

they seem to be going for $40-42 in calgary

How did the american lager turn out?

Welcome to HBT ryan!

Are you a Yeast Wrangler???



[http://www.YeastWranglers.ca]

 

[Carrion]

I started drinking my Mexican Cerveza kit. Mighty tasty.

 

[brewjunky]

I have tried them and they produce good beers. Use a quality yeast though. They give you crappy yeast I think its Coopers. I would use a liquid yeast or better suited Ale yeast.

 

[brewjunky]

I usually go to safeway and buy 2 4L bottles of spring water.

 

[ryanK]

Welcome to HBT ryan!

Are you a Yeast Wrangler???



[http://www.YeastWranglers.ca]

I checked that out the other day. Hopefully i'll make it out to the next meeting!

 

[BoyScout]

I've been doing partial extracts the last few times I've made beer but this time I went back to using a brewhouse kit cause I was lazy and just wanted to get a batch of beer ready in a shorter period of time.
I've "hacked" one of the brewhouse kits before, I made the Imperial Oatmeal Stout, turned out fantastic actually, and my "Double" Honey Blonde was pretty good too, this time I decided to do the IPA they suggest with a few alterations, just to see what happens.
So here's the recipe

1 Brewhouse Pale Ale kit
.5lb Biscuit Malt
.5lb Honey Malt
1.25kgs. Golden Syrup
1.5 cups Amber DME
1 pkg. Wyeast Pacman yeast
2ozs. Fresh Cascade Hops
2ozs. Fresh Sterling Hops
4ozs. Fresh East Goldings Hops
Add water to bring it up to approx. 18litres

like the mix of imperial and metric?...heh

Bring 8 litres of the wort up to 170oF, add cracked grains, keep them there for 30 mins. remove grains, bring wort to a boil.
Add Cascade Hops, boil for 10 mins, add Sterling Hops, boil for another 10.
Allow to cool, add yeast.

OG - 1.062

Primary fermenter - 5 days
Secondary - 20 days
Rack to a clean secondary, add 4ozs. East Kent Goldings hops - 30 days

Bottle and wait at least 2 months.

It's in the primary now. Going to be a long 4 months.....

 

[Cheaton]

This is very interesting. Too bad they don't sell the wort unhopped. That would make it far more interesting to me. But, this is the first time i've seen/heard anything about them. Will keep an eye on this thread.

 

[FlyGuy]

This is very interesting. Too bad they don't sell the wort unhopped. That would make it far more interesting to me. But, this is the first time i've seen/heard anything about them. Will keep an eye on this thread.

Not hopping the kits would sort of defeat the purpose, though -- these are meant to be no-boil beer kits (as easy to make as wine kits, or so they are marketed up here in Canada).

The quality is truly spectacular, though. And they do make a broad range of various beer styles, so you can create quite a diversity of beers, especially if you are willing to 'hack' them.

 

[Cheaton]

I see. I think the no boil kind of takes the fun out of it. But to each his/her own! I can see how the results could be very good considering the wort is made under highly controlled/controllable conditions with no evaporation or concentration process. However, if I could buy unconcentrated, unhopped wort I think I'd do that over buying extract. But, thus far my extract results have been pretty stellar all things considered.

 

[fredthecat]

1 Brewhouse Pale Ale kit
.5lb Biscuit Malt
.5lb Honey Malt
1.25kgs. Golden Syrup
1.5 cups Amber DME
1 pkg. Wyeast Pacman yeast
2ozs. Fresh Cascade Hops
2ozs. Fresh Sterling Hops
4ozs. Fresh East Goldings Hops
Add water to bring it up to approx. 18litres

like the mix of imperial and metric?...heh

Bring 8 litres of the wort up to 170oF, add cracked grains, keep them there for 30 mins. remove grains, bring wort to a boil.
Add Cascade Hops, boil for 10 mins, add Sterling Hops, boil for another 10.
Allow to cool, add yeast.

OG - 1.062

Primary fermenter - 5 days
Secondary - 20 days
Rack to a clean secondary, add 4ozs. East Kent Goldings hops - 30 days
Bottle and wait at least 2 months.
It's in the primary now. Going to be a long 4 months.....

amazingly this sounds ALOT like the brewhouse pale ale kit i hacked (including exact same OG i just used 1 lb of crystal malt thjough and only dryhopped with one ounce


my first beer was the munich dark lager kit and i just followed the directions exactly, things i would definitely recommend changing even if it were someones very first brew would be to use a related yeast, as the "lager" had generic coopers ale yeast and to let it sit in primary for at least 10 days, and to use less than the 250grams of dextrose, probably only half to 2/3 of the package provided.

ill say how the IPA turned out in a bit

 

[fredthecat]

i added a ton of hops to the pale ale kit and some crystal malt and it turned out AMAZING.

 

[user 52405]

I LOVE BREWHOUSE!

I went into a Winning Wines Plus in Edmonton about 6 months back. I had never made beer before, so I was at a complete loss. The lady showed me the different types of beer kits, but HEAVILY emphasized that the Brewhouse kits were the best.

They were a little more expensive, but I've often noticed that you get what you pay for - and I wanted quality beer! So, I picked up a Dark Lager and a Red Ale. Loved them both.

Since then I've gone through Stout, Cream Ale, and Cervesa. Now I'm going back and trying out the kits with different styles of liquid yeast.

I made the Munich Dark with actual lager yeast - at first I didn't care for it...such a difference in flavour. But, after a couple more weeks in the bottle, it is wonderful!

I'm in the middle of modding the Stout kit, using Wyeast Irish Ale yeast, and just 4L of water -Tropical Stout - It looks/smells/tastes great. I sampled it when I transferred from Primary to secondary - and I was surprised to already enjoy the flavour at that point...usually, the beer still tastes a little off at that point.

The kits are really fabulous. I love how easy they are to mod and create new styles. Every beer I've tried so far has been full of flavour. I will never drink store bought swill again!

By the way, I am so in love with the kits that I started a Facebook page to promote them/share recipes/ideas, etc. If any of you would like to make an appearance, that would be highly welcome.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=302973104086&ref=ts

 

[BoyScout]

Just cracked the first IPA this weekend that I "hacked" according to the recipe I posted earlier in the thread.
They've only been bottled for a week now and are a little green still but it was really good. Nice and hoppy, just the way I like it.

 

[abrdnck]

I hacked an IPA kit, adding only 4L of water in which I had mashed some carafa III and carafoam. Added some extra hops and dryhopped with Falconer's Flight. Used Pacman yeast. It is a beautiful black IPA, very dark in colour but hints of dark red when held up to the light.

I gave a bottle to a coworker this weekend, and he told me today it was "the best f***ing beer I've had in a long time", which I was quite pleased with.

I agree - it is a pretty good f***ing beer.

I have been brewing all-grain for a few months now, but the BH kits are great when you want to get a batch going and don't have a lot of time for a brew day. An hour or so of preparation, and you can have something quite special on the way. It costs a bit more, but I've never had a complaint with the way the beers have turned out.