Brewhouse Kits

[stp]

Yeah, I know, the biggest problem with my first batch was very little knowlege I had at that time, not really blaming a kit. Some of my failure was due to equipment I had at that time. I drinked some more of my pseudo-pilsner last night and I decided to damp it. I think its infected by aceto bacteria. I'm not 100% sure but alongside of fruitines I can taste some cidery/apple aroma. This is from "How to brew":

Cidery
"If it is caused by aceto bacteria, then there is nothing to be done about it. Keep the fruit flies away from the fermentor next time."

I was fermenting in 10 gal plastic fermenter with loose lid supplied with the kit and it was hot outside, I remember seeing fruit flies howering around in my closet, they probably got inside. I freaked out and transfered to glass carboy immediatly but the damage was already done. I posted question here about that type of fermentor but everybody said I should be fine. I'll never use any plastic for that matter any more. I switched to glass carboys exclusevly for all my primary/secondary needs.
Another problem was jumping into pilsner style beer right away. I didn't know difference in top vs bottom fermenting yeast at that time, so stick to the ales for first couple batches. I might do another one of these kits, may be a Honey Blond Ale or Prairie Wheat, in fact I have a pack of Wyeast 3068 sitting bored in my fridge so I might give it a shot. The biggest advantage of these kits is that they are readly available at LHBS, for me to get ingredients means I have to order them online and pay monster shipping charges or drive to Calgary to Vineyard to pick some up. These kits have consistenly good reviews on web no matter where you look, so I will give it another try next week with hacked Prairie Wheat kit

I'm starting my first brew on Tuesday and its a Brew House Prairie Wheat Kit as well. I also picked up a Wyeast 3068 when I got the kit based on these boards but thats all the hacking I was going to attempt with this being my first brew experience.

Based on your (or anyone elses) experience, is there any deviations you would recommend I make from the kit instructions?
Also, I have a plastic fermenter as well that I got with my kit from a shop here in Edmonton. I was never all that excited about using it and your story about the fruit flies is making it worse, lol!

Thanks for the posts!

 

[boo boo]

I racked a BH Pils this past week and was surprised to find it to be an excellet beer.
I say surprised because quite a few years ago I tried these kits with poor results.
I can now atribute it to lack of brewing experience and a poor palette at the time.
Can't wait to see how it is when it is car'bed up and ready to drink.

I used S-23 yeast with the kit seeing I was out of S-189 and W34/70, so I didn't use that crappy ale yeast they provided with the kit. Also let it go as it was packaged with only a water addition... no hacking to see how well it stood up to the Festa kit I tried a few months ago.

 

[abrdnck]

I made the BH pilsner, and was quite underwhelmed when I first tried it (about 3 weeks after bottling). Too sweet and flat. After a few months, however, it was quite good. Maybe not perfect to the style (I used the kit yeast, and fermented probably around 65F) and didn't lager it, but eventually it was a very tasty beer. Unfortunately, I had already drank half of the kit.

Give your beer some time. Either it will get better, or if it's infected it will become obvious. Don't waste your homebrew by drinking it before it's time.

As for switching to all-grain - it seems to me (relative noob, I admit) that the problems you have with your beer are not from the wort, but from the fermentation. You would get the same issues brewing an AG batch if you used the same yeast and brewed at the same temperature. There are lots of valid reasons to switch to AG - but if your only brewing experience is one batch from a kit (that may or may not have picked up an infection), then maybe it is a bit too soon to worry about the extra challenges associated with AG. I should also point out that you can never expect a lager to have the nice clean taste associated with the style after only 21 days fermenting.

Finally, for anyone who is a fan of Belgian Strong Ales - I recommend the Dupe-All recipe found on the BH website. It tests your patience - far too long for fermenting and bottle-aging - but the results are awesome. I got the wrong yeast (wyeast 1338 Euro Ale instead of 1388 Belgian Ale) but it turned out fine. Pale in colour, dry in character, obvious fruity flavour and surprisingly drinkable for a beer of roughly 9% ABV.

 

[lumpher]

i've found their grain is old and stale, as well as i can't stand the lme twang

 

[paraordnance]

I made the BH pilsner, and was quite underwhelmed when I first tried it (about 3 weeks after bottling). Too sweet and flat. After a few months, however, it was quite good. Maybe not perfect to the style (I used the kit yeast, and fermented probably around 65F) and didn't lager it, but eventually it was a very tasty beer. Unfortunately, I had already drank half of the kit.

Give your beer some time. Either it will get better, or if it's infected it will become obvious. Don't waste your homebrew by drinking it before it's time.

As for switching to all-grain - it seems to me (relative noob, I admit) that the problems you have with your beer are not from the wort, but from the fermentation. You would get the same issues brewing an AG batch if you used the same yeast and brewed at the same temperature. There are lots of valid reasons to switch to AG - but if your only brewing experience is one batch from a kit (that may or may not have picked up an infection), then maybe it is a bit too soon to worry about the extra challenges associated with AG. I should also point out that you can never expect a lager to have the nice clean taste associated with the style after only 21 days fermenting.

Finally, for anyone who is a fan of Belgian Strong Ales - I recommend the Dupe-All recipe found on the BH website. It tests your patience - far too long for fermenting and bottle-aging - but the results are awesome. I got the wrong yeast (wyeast 1338 Euro Ale instead of 1388 Belgian Ale) but it turned out fine. Pale in colour, dry in character, obvious fruity flavour and surprisingly drinkable for a beer of roughly 9% ABV.

Main reason I desperate to move to AG is involvment in a process. Not because I assume better beers right of way. I read this forum every day for couple hours in last month, I wish I found it earlier, because here I can find any answers and hopefullly brew better beer. I started steeping on second batch and loved it, easy partial mash on third batch and full boil got me excided even more. i'm eager to build mash tun out of cooler now. I love how this thread develops, it will help newcomers to learn how to start brew better beers.

 

[estoppel]

I have brewed a bunch of their beers and have found most of the kits to be quite good. The Munich Lager kit as very good. Their IPA kit produces a fresh-tasting hoppy IPA. The Honey Blonde is also very good.

The Pilsner kit makes good beer if you use a lager yeast and lager the kit thoroughly. If you throw in the coopers yeast and brew it in your kitchen, it'll be enjoyable but will taste nothing like a Pilsner.

 

[xoltri]

i've found their grain is old and stale, as well as i can't stand the lme twang

It says right on the box that they do not use any extract so you are going to have to substantiate your claim that there is a LME twang in these kits.

 

[paraordnance]

I'm starting my first brew on Tuesday and its a Brew House Prairie Wheat Kit as well. I also picked up a Wyeast 3068 when I got the kit based on these boards but thats all the hacking I was going to attempt with this being my first brew experience.

Based on your (or anyone elses) experience, is there any deviations you would recommend I make from the kit instructions?
Also, I have a plastic fermenter as well that I got with my kit from a shop here in Edmonton. I was never all that excited about using it and your story about the fruit flies is making it worse, lol!

Thanks for the posts!

Make yourself a favour, go to the Save-on and buy 6 gal glass carboy for $19.99 Best money ever spent, I got 3 since I just dont like plastic. This will really help with keeping your wort from nasties.
I'm definately going to hack kit this time. First of all if you can, get a liquid yeast or quality dry yeast. I have a smack pack of 3068 in a fridge which will work nicely with Prairie Wheat kit. There is couple LBHS in Edmonton where you can get fresh liquid yeast. Second I will reduce amount of additional water down to 4 liters instead of reccomended 8. I didnt met my SG with last kit by blindly adding 8 liters to the wort. I would suggest adding less water and take gravity readings to be within style or your personal preferance. Also I think I will steep 1 lbs of wheat malt which I have laying around and may be add some orange zest.

 

[paraordnance]

i've found their grain is old and stale, as well as i can't stand the lme twang

you must be brewing something also

 

[xoltri]

The brew crew on the south side in Edmonton (111st) has the Wyeast smack packs. That's where I get mine from. They are $10, but to keep costs down I wash and reuse the yeast using the tutorial on these forums.

 

[stp]

Make yourself a favour, go to the Save-on and buy 6 gal glass carboy for $19.99 Best money ever spent, I got 3 since I just dont like plastic. This will really help with keeping your wort from nasties.
I'm definately going to hack kit this time. First of all if you can, get a liquid yeast or quality dry yeast. I have a smack pack of 3068 in a fridge which will work nicely with Prairie Wheat kit. There is couple LBHS in Edmonton where you can get fresh liquid yeast. Second I will reduce amount of additional water down to 4 liters instead of reccomended 8. I didnt met my SG with last kit by blindly adding 8 liters to the wort. I would suggest adding less water and take gravity readings to be within style or your personal preferance. Also I think I will steep 1 lbs of wheat malt which I have laying around and may be add some orange zest.

Thanks for the tips! I didn't know save-on sold carboys, I'll have to check that out.
And where were you thinking of adding your orange zest? In the steep or somewhere else?


xoltri: that's the same place I got my wyeast smack pack. Think I'll make sure I get the basics down before I try and wash and reuse mine though.

 

[boo boo]

OK, so I tried a sample from the 3 gallon keg I filled with it, today. Nice pils flavour, and the colour is right on the money. While I don't think it is quite as good as the Festa brew, I do think it is a very nice beer. Should be nice around christmas time when it lagers a while. I bottled 2 dozen, and it will be interesting to see if any difference between the bottled version and the lagered keg shows itself.

I did do a AG version also a few weeks ago that is just about ready to be kegged for lagering. Also will be nice to compare both.

 

[paraordnance]

Thanks for the tips! I didn't know save-on sold carboys, I'll have to check that out.
And where were you thinking of adding your orange zest? In the steep or somewhere else?


xoltri: that's the same place I got my wyeast smack pack. Think I'll make sure I get the basics down before I try and wash and reuse mine though.

I'm thinking soaking orange zest in vodka and droping it in primary once fermentation slows down. I will add just a little for flavor, may be peel of 1 orange. I'm also planning to dry hop with 1 oz of Cascade hops, I didn't find pilsner kit being enough hopped, it had bittering taste but barely any aroma

 

[estoppel]

I have hacked the pilsner kit by boiling 1.5lbs of Pale LME for an hour with a 1 oz addition of Saaz at 30 mins and a .5 oz addition of Saaz at 5 mins. It pushed the alcohol content too high, but did have a decent hop profile. It turned out highly delicious but way out of style.

Biggest problem with that kit is that if it is to produce a true pilsner, it must be lagered. If I were to tinker around again with it, I'd boil the 15L kit, add my Saaz hops to the boil and not bother with any LME. I'd switch the yeast to an appropriate lager yeast and then ferment at an appropriate temp.

 

[paraordnance]

here is my update on Brewhouse Pilsner kit, I finally sampled it today. Its been in primary for 6 days (SG 1.045, FG 1.013), then secondary for 18 days, 21 days in keg (naturaly carbed). I followed supplied instructions to the T and I wish I read this forum before I pitched yeast, oh well, it was first batch, you live - you learn.
First impression - the beer is ....FRUITY, that is first thing comes to my mind. Yeah, nowhere close to clean and crisp Pilsner. I quite sure I fermented it at way too high tempereture (up to 80F) with supplied Coopers yeast. Other than that, it does reminds me a pilsner if not for that frutines that is overwhelming and over the top of everything also I can taste. I would also say that hoppines of true pilsner should be higher than that (35 IBUs or so). But what do you expect from prehopped extract (wort). Dont get me wrong, its drinkable, but just not what I expected. These kits are good way to get your foot into homebrewing but I refuse to waste my time and equipment on something like that. I have Kolsch DME recipe with steeping grains in primary right now (which tastes a LOT better already) and partial mash kit of AHS Belgian Pale Ale both with liquid yeast and I'll never look back. Brewhouse kits are super easy to do, and I bet you can make nice beer out them with proper liquid yeast, dry hopping and good fermentation temperature conrol but I'm moving to AG with next batch. I think you pay $35 or so for kit, then buy yeast, and hops on top. I'm sure now after countless hours of reading this forum I can do much better with AG recipes. It gave me a chance to experiment and learn on my mistakes, get to know my brewing equipment and build some of my own. To all of you who want good advice, at very least, do not use yeast supplied with kit. Its plain garbage, may be its good for ales but lagers or pilsners, forget it. Hmm, I think I'm going to pour myself another glass of my pseudo-pilsner its my first brew ever, so I better enjoy it!

I just pulled a jug of my BH Pilsner after forgetting it in a keg for almost three weeks. I finally got dedicated freezer, Ranco, CO2 equipment not that long ago and decided just leave my "infected" Pilsner alone for a while. Well guess what, its not infected after all, what I was tasting must been an apples or green beer from what I a noob can tell. I cannot taste any of it now, almost no frutiness, no apples, its all nicely mellowed down. Definatelly not a real crisp lager, but for Coopers ale yeast its not that bad after all. I brewed this batch end of Sept., 2 months later its starts to become what its supposed to be. As someone already said in this thread, this beer needs lagering phase. Its been sitting in my freezer @ around 0 C and it just keeps getting better and better. Never dump your beer :rockin:

 

[xoltri]

Hey I'm not one of those guys, I get a lot of info off of the internet so I try my best to contribute. I'll be starting the cream ale kit tomorrow so expect a report back in about a month. I'm gonna use the 1056 American Ale yeast.

So I bottled my Innis & Gunn clone today. I used the cream ale brewhouse kit with the 1056 Wyeast American Ale yeast. I made the kit according to the directions. When it was time to bottle I racked all 6 gallons onto 750ml of Wisers whiskey and 30ml of oak extract along with the priming sugar.

Then to experiment I racked half of the beer to another bucket and added 22ml of vanilla extract to that one.

So I have about equal numbers of bottles, all with the whiskey and oak, and half with the additional vanilla. I'll wait a few weeks and report back on how it turned out.

 

[WinoOutWest]

So I bottled my Innis & Gunn clone today. I used the cream ale brewhouse kit with the 1056 Wyeast American Ale yeast. I made the kit according to the directions. When it was time to bottle I racked all 6 gallons onto 750ml of Wisers whiskey and 30ml of oak extract along with the priming sugar.

Then to experiment I racked half of the beer to another bucket and added 22ml of vanilla extract to that one.

So I have about equal numbers of bottles, all with the whiskey and oak, and half with the additional vanilla. I'll wait a few weeks and report back on how it turned out.

I really hope this turns out for you. It just sounds so good!

 

[CTS]

I just made the Prairie Wheat kit yesterday.....I should have found this site sooner. I used the yeast that it came with, so hopefully it turns out ok.

I am also using a plastic pot for the primary fermenting.....the lid does not seal air tight. The directions dont say anything about this.

In 3-5 days it states that it can be moved to the carboy for the secondary fermentation.....this seems very short but i guess as long as the specific gravity is below 1.020 then it should be good to go.

 

[birvine]

CTS...
The yeast should be fine - I recently brewed two of their kits with the provided yeast and things seem ok.
As long as your primary is clean and newish you should be good - though I would think a glass carboy would be best for your secondary.
I transfer to a secondary once the initial wild fermentation subsides - then I leave it in the secondary for a few months.

B

 

[CTS]

CTS...
The yeast should be fine - I recently brewed two of their kits with the provided yeast and things seem ok.
As long as your primary is clean and newish you should be good - though I would think a glass carboy would be best for your secondary.
I transfer to a secondary once the initial wild fermentation subsides - then I leave it in the secondary for a few months.

B

Thanks! The primary is not new but i did get it very clean.....right now there is fermenting like crazy going on....about 8 - 10in of foam. Once its done (3-5 days according to the instructions) i am moving it to a 6gal glass carboy.

The instructions say 20 days in the secondary....i have read that people are leaving them for a lot longer then that....any reason?

and one last new guy question....can i taste some when i put it into the secondary?

 

[stp]

Thanks! The primary is not new but i did get it very clean.....right now there is fermenting like crazy going on....about 8 - 10in of foam. Once its done (3-5 days according to the instructions) i am moving it to a 6gal glass carboy.

The instructions say 20 days in the secondary....i have read that people are leaving them for a lot longer then that....any reason?

and one last new guy question....can i taste some when i put it into the secondary?

Just wanted to let you know what I did for this kit. It was my first brew so I'm definitely a beginner. I made the Prairie Wheat on Nov 10th. I read the formus here first and the one thing I did was pick up the Wyeast 3068 smack pack. It's my first brew so I also wanted to follow the instructions for the most part. On day 4 I checked the gravity and it was still above 1.02 so I ended up leaving it in there (a fermenting bucket like it seems you have) for 8 days. On day 8 I transferred it to a secondary (better bottle) and the gravity was 1.019. FYI, I was fermenting at about 70 which is about the middle of the road for that yeast. I ended up leaving it in the secondary for 19 days (so 27 total as opposed to the 20 they recommend in the instructions) and the gravity going into the bottling bucket was 1.009. So I still had good fermentation in the secondary.
I bottled this on Dec 7th so it's been about a week and a half. I wanted to test a bottle every week to check on carbonation and taste but I've been sick for over a week and didn't want to waste the beer. I'll check it as soon as I'm able.

As for your last question, absolutely, taste away. I tasted the sample when I took the first reading before I pitched my yeast and I've tasted every sample afterwards. Even when I was bottling I had a half bottle left and stuck it in the fridge. It was staring at me for a while so I tried it the other day but can't really comment on the taste because I couldn't taste anything with plugged sinuses.

I hope your beer turns out great. Can't wait to try mine.
Also, I have a Brew House Cream Ale that I used the Kolsch yeast with in the secondary right now too. That one smells great

 

[CTS]

Just wanted to let you know what I did for this kit. It was my first brew so I'm definitely a beginner. I made the Prairie Wheat on Nov 10th. I read the formus here first and the one thing I did was pick up the Wyeast 3068 smack pack. It's my first brew so I also wanted to follow the instructions for the most part. On day 4 I checked the gravity and it was still above 1.02 so I ended up leaving it in there (a fermenting bucket like it seems you have) for 8 days. On day 8 I transferred it to a secondary (better bottle) and the gravity was 1.019. FYI, I was fermenting at about 70 which is about the middle of the road for that yeast. I ended up leaving it in the secondary for 19 days (so 27 total as opposed to the 20 they recommend in the instructions) and the gravity going into the bottling bucket was 1.009. So I still had good fermentation in the secondary.
I bottled this on Dec 7th so it's been about a week and a half. I wanted to test a bottle every week to check on carbonation and taste but I've been sick for over a week and didn't want to waste the beer. I'll check it as soon as I'm able.

As for your last question, absolutely, taste away. I tasted the sample when I took the first reading before I pitched my yeast and I've tasted every sample afterwards. Even when I was bottling I had a half bottle left and stuck it in the fridge. It was staring at me for a while so I tried it the other day but can't really comment on the taste because I couldn't taste anything with plugged sinuses.

I hope your beer turns out great. Can't wait to try mine.
Also, I have a Brew House Cream Ale that I used the Kolsch yeast with in the secondary right now too. That one smells great

Thanks very much for the reply!!

Ok i will definitely be tasting it then! It smells so good every time i walk by....I can't help but look in the bucket...probably not a good idea.

It started off smelling very fruity, but now it is smelling more and more like beer.

Let me know how yours turn out....I'm curious how different it will be to mine due to the different use of yeast.

 

[estoppel]

Of course you can taste some.

I still brew these kits from time to time and still use a secondary. My only advice is to completely ignore the instructions in terms of when it ready to transfer to to secondary. Only transfer to secondary once your specific gravity is consistent. 5 days is very rarely long enough and 3 days is border line retarded. I have had some beers lag for 26 hours before fermentation even began!

At the very least leave it for 10 days in "primary" before you move it to a carboy. If you don't need your primary (in order to brew again), just leave it in primary for the full three to four weeks until bottling day.

I still use carboys for age conditioning beers, but if I can avoid it, I do avoid secondary altogether. Putting your beers in a secondary was sound advice in 1978. 32 years and significant development in the strains of yeast commonly used for homebrewing later, it is not necessary. It only makes sense from a practical perspective (if you need the space) otherwise, secondary is for chumps.

This is my opinion only, and while shared by many, is objected to by some. So please understand that there are other schools of thought on this. I have produced great beers either way, so don't worry too much about it.

 

[CTS]

Thanks for the info!

I think i will take the SG on Sunday and then again Monday or Tuesday to see if it is still getting lower.

I'm assuming that I could just put it straight into the carboy and leave it there till i need to bottle/keg it.

All of the white foam has settled back down but now there is some dark stuff on the side, looks like yeast possible.....should i push it back down into the beer?

Thanks all for helping a new guy out!!

 

[birvine]

I would say, yes, once into the secondary you can leave it for weeks or months until it is really clear then keg away.
I think it is just crusted kreusen on the pail - probably just best to leave it alone and rack as clear as you can. I have never heard of any reason to get it back into the brew. Even when not visible there is a LOT of yeast in your brew so if you bottle there may be plenty enough to carbonate, and if not, you can add more yeast at bottling time if you like.

B

 

[estoppel]

Don't push that stuff back into your beer. It's just whatever is left from the Krausen. Just rack from underneath it and try not to stir up the brown stuff or the trub too much!

 

[CTS]

Thanks for the help.

I have one more question....Is it possible for the fermentation to be done in 2 days? I started it Wed and the reading was 1.047. I just took it now and the reading was at 1.012...

The reason i checked so early is because there is stuff starting to collect on the bottom and there has been no activity all day.

I am going to check the SG again on Sunday and see what the reading is. If its the same I think i am going to be putting it into the glass carboy for the secondary.

 

[birvine]

And here is where I may learn...

Some of my brews have completed their initial strong fermentation within a day or two. It is the point when fermentation visually slows right down that I transfer from the prim to secondary to get the brew into a glass carboy and out of a plastic unsealed pail. You should always check with the hydrometer, but from what you say, things sound just fine.

B

PS What I mean about learning is that maybe my quick transfer to a carboy within 2-3 days is incorrect, but I think all is well - the beer keeps tasting fine!

 

[estoppel]

Birvine and CTS: Once fermentation stops, I would still leave it for 24-48 hours. When the Yeast are busy eating all of the fermentable sugar, it creates CO2 and alcohol (which of course you know), but it also produces some other things that you may not want in your finished beer, including diacetyl. The yeast and gravity sort of work to clean this stuff up after fermentation ends. If you take it off the trub, it will lose some of its ability to clean these things out.

Also, I don't brew in an unsealed plastic, pail, I brew in a well sealed bucket with a rubber inset for an airlock. Lots of wine guys will tell you to just use their "primary" bucket that comes with their "starters kits", but it has been my experience that a sealed bucket has produced far far better beers. As I just mentioned, fermentation produces CO2 which rises out of the beer and makes your airlock bubble. It sort of acts as a layer of protection to keep wild yeast and other undesireable things out of your beer.

If you have a a carboy big enough, you could just put it straight in there (with enough space for krausen) but you may want to use a blow off tube instead of an airlock. If not, you could buy a sealing bucket.


But at the end of the day, if you are making beers which you enjoy drinking, you are doing everything right.

 

[xoltri]

So here's another update on my Innis & Gunn clone. I tasted the three beers side by side: Actual Innis & Gunn, the cream ale with vanilla, oak extract and whiskey, and the cream ale with just oak extract and whiskey.

First notice is that my variation is missing the oak/vanilla aroma. Innis & Gunn has a very strong pleasant aroma that mine was lacking.

Color was exactly the same between the beers.

My versions had a stronger hop bite that was out of place compared to the Innis & Gunn. The only thing I can think of to try different is to use either the Pale Ale or Red Ale kit next time as they are only 18IBU vs the Cream Ale's 22IBU.

Finally, my versions were way way lighter on the oak flavor than the Innis & Gunn. I took a sample of my beers, about 1/3 of a bottle, and added 2 tbsp of oak extract and it started to approach the oak flavor of the Innis & Gunn but was still lacking in the aroma.

Overall I think I am getting close to getting something with a similar flavor to Innis & Gunn. Adding the 750ml of whiskey and the oak definitely gets you something similar, and the vanilla addition helps also. But the over bitter hops and lack of aroma make it fall short. I think next time I will try the red ale kit, and maybe try actual oak staves instead of the extract, but I have to do some research on that.

 

[stp]

Thanks very much for the reply!!

Ok i will definitely be tasting it then! It smells so good every time i walk by....I can't help but look in the bucket...probably not a good idea.

It started off smelling very fruity, but now it is smelling more and more like beer.

Let me know how yours turn out....I'm curious how different it will be to mine due to the different use of yeast.

Tried my Prairie Wheat last week and I was very impressed! After carbing for 2 weeks it was perfect. It's been at room temperature for 3 weeks now so I'll be moving it to the basement. Have less to move since I already have about 4 litres gone. Don't think it'll last long enough to see if it ages well.

To be honest I wasn't overly impressed with how it tasted going into the bottling bucket. Now that it's carbed it seems to have a totally different flavour. Or it seems that way to me at least. I was very relieved after the first sip! It has a fruity aroma but not an overly fruity taste. I can taste a little bit of the banana esters from the Wyeast but it's not too much, as other people that have tried it wouldn't have picked it out if I hadn't mentioned it. I'm glad I don't have any of the bubblegum flavours that I could have got from my yeast if temps were too high. It will be interesting to hear about your flavours with the included yeast.

One thing I didn't do (which I will try and do next time) was adjust the priming sugar. I was extra careful racking out of the primary and secondary so I ended up with only 21.5 liters in the bottling bucket as opposed to 23. But then I used the whole package of sugar. Not really a big deal but some people said that these kits come with too much sugar to begin with. I'll leave a bit out on the next brew and see if I notice a difference.

I took a bunch of pics with my new camera so once I figure out how to resize and post I'll be sure to do that.

Hope your beer turns out great too

 

[NewfZX7]

So here's another update on my Innis & Gunn clone. I tasted the three beers side by side: Actual Innis & Gunn, the cream ale with vanilla, oak extract and whiskey, and the cream ale with just oak extract and whiskey.

First notice is that my variation is missing the oak/vanilla aroma. Innis & Gunn has a very strong pleasant aroma that mine was lacking.

Color was exactly the same between the beers.

My versions had a stronger hop bite that was out of place compared to the Innis & Gunn. The only thing I can think of to try different is to use either the Pale Ale or Red Ale kit next time as they are only 18IBU vs the Cream Ale's 22IBU.

Finally, my versions were way way lighter on the oak flavor than the Innis & Gunn. I took a sample of my beers, about 1/3 of a bottle, and added 2 tbsp of oak extract and it started to approach the oak flavor of the Innis & Gunn but was still lacking in the aroma.

Overall I think I am getting close to getting something with a similar flavor to Innis & Gunn. Adding the 750ml of whiskey and the oak definitely gets you something similar, and the vanilla addition helps also. But the over bitter hops and lack of aroma make it fall short. I think next time I will try the red ale kit, and maybe try actual oak staves instead of the extract, but I have to do some research on that.

Thanks for the update. I was following your posts hoping you were going to say it worked perfectly! Sounds like a good start though.
I find Innis & Gunn has a kind of sweet caramel flavor as well. I wonder if there is some point where caramelized sugar could be dissolved in. It might balance out some of the bitterness as well.
I'm quite new at this, just throwing out some ideas.

I have made the BH Stout pretty much to the exact instructions and it turned out way better than I expected. A month after it has been bottled it is
even more delicious.
I have two more kits bottled now, Winterfest and Munich Dark. With the Munich I only added half the water in the recipe. On the BH site they say this will make a Bock style. Can't wait to try them in a couple of weeks!

 

[birvine]

In the past few weeks of voraciously reading HBT threads... as an FYI to all experimenting with these kits (or extract or AG) contrary to my earlier comments in December, please experiment with a primary that is actually weeks long versus only a few days.

With respect to the I&G, I simply can't find a clone recipe online that anyone seems to replicate the original. And I am not fluent enough in beer-recipe-creation to know exactly what to do in order to bring out specific flavours or compnents in a brew.

B

 

[xoltri]

In the past few weeks of voraciously reading HBT threads... as an FYI to all experimenting with these kits (or extract or AG) contrary to my earlier comments in December, please experiment with a primary that is actually weeks long versus only a few days.

I am trying this with my latest batch. I am making the American Premium Lager kit with Wyeast 1056 that I had previously washed back at the beginning of November. There was about 85ml of yeast slurry in the jar, and I made a 1L starter with 100g of DME boiled for 15 minutes. In less than two days the starter had finished fermenting so I pitched it into the beer yesterday.

I'm using a primary with a snap on lid and am going to just leave it alone for 3 weeks, then rack it onto the priming sugar and bottle. We'll see how it turns out with the extended primary / yeast starter.

 

[CTS]

Tried my Prairie Wheat last week and I was very impressed! After carbing for 2 weeks it was perfect. It's been at room temperature for 3 weeks now so I'll be moving it to the basement. Have less to move since I already have about 4 litres gone. Don't think it'll last long enough to see if it ages well.

To be honest I wasn't overly impressed with how it tasted going into the bottling bucket. Now that it's carbed it seems to have a totally different flavour. Or it seems that way to me at least. I was very relieved after the first sip! It has a fruity aroma but not an overly fruity taste. I can taste a little bit of the banana esters from the Wyeast but it's not too much, as other people that have tried it wouldn't have picked it out if I hadn't mentioned it. I'm glad I don't have any of the bubblegum flavours that I could have got from my yeast if temps were too high. It will be interesting to hear about your flavours with the included yeast.

One thing I didn't do (which I will try and do next time) was adjust the priming sugar. I was extra careful racking out of the primary and secondary so I ended up with only 21.5 liters in the bottling bucket as opposed to 23. But then I used the whole package of sugar. Not really a big deal but some people said that these kits come with too much sugar to begin with. I'll leave a bit out on the next brew and see if I notice a difference.

I took a bunch of pics with my new camera so once I figure out how to resize and post I'll be sure to do that.

Hope your beer turns out great too

I'm glad yours turned out well. I tried mine after 8 days in the bottle and its definitely not ready. Its starting to carb real nice but just does not taste very good yet. It also turns out I might of had to high of a fermentation temp and got some fusels from that mistake. Here is the thread to that...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/question-about-bottle-conditioning-taste-217201/

Mine also has a very good fruity smell, and now that you mentioned it bananas do come to mind for me as well. The beer itself did not have a real fruity taste. I will have to get back to you when the beer really matures, and hopefully when the fusels go away...if they do!

Good call with measuring the priming sugar next time, I just got as much of the beer that I could get and then added all the sugar to it....Maybe measuring might be a good idea for me next time also. Its funny because I thought to myself as i was boiling it that it seems like a lot of sugar.

I will post some pictures as well once I try it again....probably going to wait the full 3 weeks in the bottle before I try again (ya right, who am I kidding)

A good place for picture hosting is photobucket . com, FYI

 

[birvine]

An update on my BH Pilsner - I kegged it a few days ago. Gave it a quick sample and it seems really good, though needs some time in the keg to blend. Looks great so far.

This morning I brewed one of BH's pale ale kits. Split it in half - brewing one portion as a pale ale which I'll dry hop in a few weeks; to the other portion I added chocolate malt, black patent and roasted barley in order to replicate a Porter recipe I found. I'll report later how it turned out.

B

EDIT [19-Jan-2011]: Had a glass of the Pilsner; still yeasty as it was only kegged a few days ago, but I would say it is going to be a great brew!

 

[xoltri]

So I had one of the Winterfest ales that I bottled about a week ago. It's not quite fully carbed up yet but pretty close. I used the 1098 Brit Ale yeast. Turned out really good, lots of flavor and the spices are definitely not overpowering. It's very full flavored, I like it!

 

[NewfZX7]

So I had one of the Winterfest ales that I bottled about a week ago. It's not quite fully carbed up yet but pretty close. I used the 1098 Brit Ale yeast. Turned out really good, lots of flavor and the spices are definitely not overpowering. It's very full flavored, I like it!

Mine carbed up nicely after a week, but the all the flavors seemed like they were separate. It's been over two now, but I think I'm going to wait at least another week before I try it again hopefully it will blend together a little more. I used the supplied Coopers yeast, next time I'll go with a liquid yeast as well. The Munich Dark I put down seems to be getting better after it's second week in the bottles.
I just started an IPA kit with a 1099 Whitbread Ale yeast. I'm going to leave it week in the primary and then harvest the yeast and re-pitch it into a Stout kit.


Edit: Went ahead and tried the Winterfest again. It has been 18 days since bottling and it has changed dramatically in the past 7 days or so. The flavors are melded together now and the beer is slightly bitter, really nice! I can tell this is going to be even better when it matures more.

 

[Broncoblue]

Brewhouse's cream ale is pretty damn good. Its a no boil kit, just add water.

 

[xoltri]

So I'm drinking my American Premium Lager kit now, bottled on Jan 31. I made it with 1056 American Ale yeast which I washed and put in a fridge in November; about 50ml of yeast slurry in the jar. I took that yeast and made a 1L starter with 100g DME boiled for 15 minutes. I used RO water to make up the 8L required and left it undisturbed in the primary for 3 weeks. No airlock, just the snap on lid.

Cleanest tasting beer I've made yet from these kits. And so much less work than doing a secondary. I'd highly recommend this method!

I'm excited to have some of my friends and family try this batch.