Brew House kit - WILD fermentation

[Philip1993]

At the recommendation of my LHBS, I decided to try one of those "Brew House" pre-made wort kits. I figure he's an AG guy who brews excellent beer, so if he says they are pretty good, might as well see. Besides, I had no time to brew this weekend and I really wanted to put something in the fermenter. So, I picked an Ocktober fest kit and dragged it home ($35).

The "brew" went well, and the wort looked and smelled great. I really only had two negatives, both technical. First, the packets of "pH balancer" and "priming sugar" were unlabeled. Having brewed before, it was obvious by size/weight which was which, but for a novice that would not be true. Second, the seal was a pressed on/pry-off top. Not too bad for a hard jug, but a bit tricky to remove on a 4 gallon bag of liquid. Especially without stabbing the bag with a butter knife.

Also, up until now I thought I was a liquid yeast guy. This kit may have changed that for many of my beers. Even without a starter, the dry yeast was going in 4 hours and fully involved in 12hrs. Also, the fermentation got so vigorous that at 24 hours my air lock was starting to clog (6.5gal carbuoy). But that wasn't the wild part. The wild part was that when I affixed a 3/8" blowoff, the bubbles were coming at a rate of 15-20 per SECOND. It was like I had put an aquarium pump hose in my blowoff vessel. I normally put Star San in my airlocks, and I had to dump that and use water because the foam was starting to fill up my ferm cabinet.

Final thoughts
BrewHouse Kit: On look and smell alone - 4/5 stars. Ease of use - 5/5 stars.
Dry yeast: So far, 6/5 stars. If is tastes as good as well, liquid may be a thing of my past for most brews.

I'll keep you guys posted on how this thing tastes.

 

[Philip1993]

No comment? Am I the lone ranger for the "Brew House" kits?

 

[mdd134]

This is the first time I have heard of that kit so is this kit a non concentrated malt kit?
I wonder how this kit will taste compared to an extract kit.

let us know how it turns out

 

[david_42]

I've seen them in catalogs, but never tried one. Shipping gets pricey for 30 pounds of fluid.

 

[Drunkensatyr]

I have been sold on dry yeast for a while now. I still use some liquids, but almost never.

 

[olllllo]

The Sonoran Brewing Comapny sell these wort in a bag deals in one of our LHBS.
Intrigued!

 

[Philip1993]

This is the first time I have heard of that kit so is this kit a non concentrated malt kit?

Sort of. It is brewed to a higher gravity, and intended to be diluted with 1-2 gallons of water. In that respect, it is "concentrated", but it hasn't been concentrated post boil. Sounds like word play, but I can see their point about the difference between brewing a 1.060 for dilution and turning wort into LME/DME and back into wort.

UPS doesn't charge much more for 50# than it does for 42# so I can only assume that it's not ready to ferment (i.e. don't add water) because of some fluke in the stock sizes of barrier bags, boxes, etc.

Here's the site for the kit

The Sonoran Brewing Comapny sell these wort in a bag deals in one of our LHBS. Intrigued!

If I found a local micro that sold wort like that, I would have to try it. Even if I just took one of their basic worts and tweaked it from there. Seriously, how many of us would pass on the opportunity to get our hands on 5g of SNPA pre-fermentation?

Also, I love the act of brewing, but there is something to be said for pour, pitch, ferment for those weekends where you have some time, but not enough. And also for those styles of beer you want on hand for company, but don't care for much yourself.

 

[skou]

The Sonoran Brewing Comapny sell these wort in a bag deals in one of our LHBS.
Intrigued!

Scott makes some GOOD beers! (I wonder which LHBS that is. The one I USED to work at?)

steve

 

[mrk305]

So it's add water, stir & pitch yeast? That could come in handy! Thanks for the link.

 

[FlyGuy]

Most of those Brew House kits are great (if fresh) and they seem to be really popular up here in Canada. My brother in law has actually one quite a few medals by 'hacking' them (adding steeped grains, dry hopping, etc.). His last brown ale even qualified for the NHC this year. To get there he beat out about 30 other brews, most of which were AG brews, many from some VERY seasoned homebrewers.

 

[PseudoChef]

Our HBC has a brew day where a local brewpub gives out free wort pre-boil and yeast. You provide the hops, specialty grains, heating and cooling! Nothing like 5 gallons for $5.

 

[andyp]

I have brewed the Red Ale kit from the Brew House. I also had a crazy fermentation that was pretty much done in under 24hrs (maybe even overnight!). All kinds of stuff leaking out. Didn't have the right sized fermenter, so didn't leave enough headspace. The yeast must love that stuff.

It's in the last week of secondary / dry hopping right now (wanted to kick up the hoppy aroma since it's only an 18 IBU kit).

I can report back on taste in a few weeks, but from the samples I've had so far I'm quite impressed. If you want a quick good brew I'd recommend it, from what I've seen so far. Those Cream Ale and winterfest Ale kits look interesting.

 

[Philip1993]

I'm done fermenting already. Took about 48 hours total.

 

[andyp]

I'm done fermenting already. Took about 48 hours total.

Doesn't surprise me! As I mentioned in this thread (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=40324) I freaked out a bit with mine. Of course, it was pretty warm at the time too...I don't think I really worried about temp all those years...wait, days...ago. Now that it's cooling down a bit (a nice 67 in my brew room now) I'm not going to make that mistake again anyway. I have so many others to make still...

 

[Philip1993]

Doesn't surprise me! As I mentioned in this thread (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=40324) I freaked out a bit with mine. Of course, it was pretty warm at the time too...

I read that thread, but missed that it was a BH kit. Your fast fermentation was to be expected. Rousing a yeast cake, pitching on it, and then fermenting at 74* ambient will make for a vigorous fermentation.

In this case, I pitched one packet of dry and fermented at 68-72* wort temp during fermentation (about 64* ambient).

 

[Philip1993]

UPDATE: One week in the primary and the yeast cake is very telling. About 1/8in peanut butter colored of trub topped off with 1/2in of snow white yeast. Looks like the bottom of a huge starter.

My instinct is that this cake lends credence to their pitch of "professionally brewed wort". Any thoughts?

 

[mrk305]

Looks like beer to me. Keep us posted. I am probably not going to try this any time soon, but I am interested in the results.

 

[andyp]

Mmmmmm...I just had my first real taste of the Brew House Red Ale and it is yummy! Dee-licsh! I dry hopped it with an oz of Cascade, and I think that helped give it that extra bit of zing...

If I were to try another kit I would most definitely recommend this kit.

Their Winterfest Ale kit is supposed to be available next week...35 IBUs with Cinnamon and Nutmeg....

PS. Considering my crazy fermentation and how good it tastes now, I wouldn't be too worried about yours. I was sure to leave it for a while to condition away some of those potential off flavours from the quick ferment.

 

[Matt Foley]

I did their Mexican Cerveza kit and loved it. It fermented like crazy. I bottled in 10 days and it was good and carbonated within about 5 days. For an ale yeast it was a good crisp llight beer. Even my mexican friend was impressed! If you are looking for a good quick pitch to bottle this is not a bad way to go.

 

[Orfy]

$35 seems good.

How much does an average kit from AHBS cost? 25-$35 ????

 

[andyp]

The kits run $25-29 at my LHBS...I think mine was one of the $29 ones..

 

[Philip1993]

PS. Considering my crazy fermentation and how good it tastes now, I wouldn't be too worried about yours. I was sure to leave it for a while to condition away some of those potential off flavours from the quick ferment.

I wasn't worried about the fermentation causing issues. I was just giving a mini-review of the kit and commenting on how vigorous the fermentation was.

$35 seems good.

How much does an average kit from AHBS cost? 25-$35 ????

My LHBS charges $35 for the Brew House kits and $25-29 for a house kit (boil it yourself).

 

[delarob]

Does anyone have a site that shows these kits? ie.. pricing and otherwise. I've tried to use the map on their site, but the only one that shows much is Alabrew. even then it ain't alot. Just looking for more info.

 

[FlyGuy]

Does anyone have a site that shows these kits? ie.. pricing and otherwise. I've tried to use the map on their site, but the only one that shows much is Alabrew. even then it ain't alot. Just looking for more info.

Sorry that I don't know of any US sites, but here is a Canadian vendor:
http://www.askims.com/catalog1470_0.html

If you want more product info, you probably already read the info on the Brewhouse website. If not, these are good links detailed product descriptions, including specs on things like ingredient lists, OG, bitterness expressed as IBU ratings, etc.:
http://www.thebrewhouse.com/types/index.htm
http://www.thebrewhouse.com/technical/index.htm

 

[boo boo]

No comment? Am I the lone ranger for the "Brew House" kits?

Perhaps not, by the amount of people agreeing with you.

Personally, I didn't find the 2 kits I tried any good. Taste was way off, and yes, they were brewed to recipie. I had great success with similar Barrons
kits though. Both are AG wort-in-a-bag kits.

A lot of these kits are sold here locally and everyong else swears by them.

 

[andyp]

Hey, I just tried the Winterfest Ale kit (to which I added two cans of pumpkin puree and some cinnamon and ginger extract).

The fermentation was rigorous and now (~36hrs later) the bubble activity has dropped off...so, more wild fermentations!

 

[Memorex88]

I just read this review and was wondering how your beer turned out?

 

[Carrion]

I have brewed two of these kits. I did the Honey Blonde Ale first and then the Winterfest. I left them both in primary fermentation for 3 weeks and then bottled. I used a blow off tube each time. Very active. The kits make 6 gallons of beer if you follow the instructions. The kits come with Coopers dry yeast. Easy to do. Mix. Pitch. Wait. Bottle. Enjoy. I think they turned out OK. I bought them at Brew House Premium Beer Concentrate Kits

 

[Christian]

I work crazy hours and time is my biggest enemy with brewing. I think i might have to try one of these kits when I'm pressed for time.

 

[Chips]

Hey, I just tried the Winterfest Ale kit (to which I added two cans of pumpkin puree and some cinnamon and ginger extract).

The fermentation was rigorous and now (~36hrs later) the bubble activity has dropped off...so, more wild fermentations!

Just curious if you did anything with the puree/cinnamon/ginger? I have brewed quite a bit with these kits and would like to start 'hacking' them as well.

My LHBS sells the "Festa Brew" (Magnotta::Festa Brew::Home) which I've had excellent results with. Just to clear up a comment above, there is NO water to be added to these kits. It's a giant 23 L bag of sealed (and I assume pasteurized) wort. Simply open the bag, dump into a sanitized bucket and pitch. Allowing a few weeks to bottle condition produces an excellent beer. As a 23L kit usually runs about $27, the beer works out to ~$0.60/pint. AND it's good to boot! I would highly recommend one of these style of kits to anyone starting to brew as it allows you to get comfortable with all of the 'housekeeping' (sanitizing/racking/bottling etc.) of brewing before actually having to worry about making the beer itself.