Alright, well I havn't posted in awhile, almost ever actually! But I do brew with these kits all the time, and have some feedback. All of these kits were +- a week in primary and +- two weeks in secondary before batch prime with dextrose and bottled 500ml and 1L EZ cap bottles.
1. Cream Ale, my first kit of Brewhouse.. full 23L top up with the included Coopers DIY yeast. Turned out great, a nice light balanced ale. Nothing special, but good drinking for the average ale guy.
2.Honey blonde, full 23 L top up with included Coopers yeast. This was good beer too, a little estery how it turned out, but good for spring/summer. Not my fav.
3. IPA , FULL 23L top up and included yeast. This was basically a pale ale, a decent one, but not hoppy enough for IPA. Would reccomend topping up to 19L or dry-hopping. Very forgettable, but to the layman it was a good pale ale.
4. Winterfest, topped up to 22L, again using the standard included Coopers yeast. Substituted dark brown sugar for 25% of prime sugar. Came out great after carbing, but turned delicious after 2+ months in bottle and still amazing at 4 months. Still 4 bottles in my private reserve! Spicy and sweet.
5. Oktoberfest, topped up to a full 23L, included Coopers yeast. Fiance did this one side by side with me and my Winterfest. After 4 weeks carbing it was okay, just didn't seem quite ready. We decided after the first bottle to keep this until next year, to give it a nice long bottle condition as it is a darker beer and that worked well for the Winterfest.
6. Prairie Wheat, done up to 23L and included yeast. I added a pound of blueberries that i cooked with a cup of water, filtered the juice and added. This turned out okay, but wasn't my favorite. It seemed a little plain to me actually and I was drinking it in the summer time. I found a slight estery quality to it that wasn't quite right. I blame the basic yeast I used. It was okay, but not the best Brewhouse kit by itself. That being said...see #7
7. Prairie Wheat HEFEWEIZEN, this was my hack on the Prairie wheat. Topped up to 22L, and used Weihenstephaner weizen yeast 3068. This went 3 weeks in primary solely, and was primed with the kits sugar and an extra TBSP or so of dextrose to get it extra bubbly and account for my high altitude in Calgary (something I never adjusted for previously. That being said I forgot to adjust that my wort was only topped to 22L. In the end, the beer was beautifully carbed!) This beer turned out great! But it needed 3.5 weeks in the bottle before it hit its peak. I gave some out at work, and the responses have been phenomenal! It is hitting the banana notes now that I wanted but were apsent when it was young. The other spicy notes are there now as well. Beleive it or not, I dropped a lemon wedge in and it just enhanced the falvor, something I was wary to try. The large foamy head reduced to a creamy cap until the very end. You should try this hack, its easy! The only thing I would have changed is that the Prairie wheat kit is pre-hopped with Perle, a german noble hop, and a Hefe should be Hallertau from my experience.
8. Brewhouse Stout. Just started this last night, I topped it up to 21L, and used two packs of the Coopers DIY, in a ignorant attempt to over pitch into the slightly higher OG. Not sure if it will help any, but it seemed right at the time. Very dark, and a definate expresso tang in there when I drank my measuring sample. Then I spilled it all over the floor by hitting the spiggot on my Thief.
So overall, these kits produce great beer, but I reccomend reducing the water intakes, or in the very least try out a liquid yeast. Some beers just need a specific yeast, like the hefeweizen to name one. That being said, alot of these kits were good with the basic yeast. If you like IPA, try the kit but you have to hack it, because the majority says it is grossly under-hopped!
Well thats what I've done so far lads.