Brewhouse Kits

[FlyGuy]

Yep, go to the Vineyard's south store in Calgary. They are the biggest homebrew supplier in Alberta.

 

[stp]

Hey guys, sorry to bump an old-ish thread but read a few of these Brew House threads and am pretty excited to get started on mine.

Picked up my supplies last week and a Prairie Wheat Brew House kit. I also upgraded to a liquid yeast based some of the things I read about the coopers it came with. Hope to do a couple of these straight out of the box before I attempt to hack them.

But hack them I will - with the help from my LHBS owner I talked myself out of maybe jumping in too deep right out of the gate. I like the simplicity that these seem to have while I get the all important basics down.

Looking forward to getting started and contributing to the forums!

 

[estoppel]

I also got into homebrewing because of these kits. I have brewed tons of these kits over the last two years. It produces good beer. In fact, I haven't bothered to get into extract/specialty grain brewing. I have hacked them lots though.

I am about to make the jump to extract/specialty grain, but only because I want to eventually do partial mash or AG brewing. Baby steps for now.

 

[xoltri]

So I talked to the guy at my LHBS about doing an Innis and Gunn clone. He didn't have exact details but essentially he used the Cream Ale kit with some oak extract and rye whiskey to taste.

So I bought the cream ale kit and will be using 1098 Brit Ale yeast or 1056 american ale yeast. I plan on adding some of the oak extract as well as possibly 1-1.5oz of my home made vanilla extract to see if I can replicate some of the flavors and aromas of Innis and Gunn. Also I did the calculations and I can add 1L of whiskey to boost the ABV of this when it's finished from the 5.2% that it will be to the 6.6% that Innis & Gunn is, along with the associated flavor. I'll probably use Weisers or similar, and maybe not the full 1L either.

I'll play around with it and post back in a month or two with my results. I may split the batch before bottling and try a variation on each half to see how they turn out. This will be my first experiment with these kits so it should be interesting.

I've made the cream ale kit before but it didn't really turn out. I'm not sure why..it's got an off flavor I can't identify. Almost moldy, but there are no visible signs of an infection. I have a half batch left in the bottles and I plan on just letting them sit for a couple months to see if they straighten up.

 

[estoppel]

When I hacked these kits, I usually just dry hopped or played around with the amount of water I added. When I wanted to go in a drastically different direction, I would do a small 2 or 3L boil with a 1-2 lbs of LME or DME with the desired hops on schedule.

This is a lot more enterprising than anything I have undertaken. Good luck.

 

[WinoOutWest]

So I talked to the guy at my LHBS about doing an Innis and Gunn clone. He didn't have exact details but essentially he used the Cream Ale kit with some oak extract and rye whiskey to taste.

I would LOVE to hear how this turned out. I've just started these kits after getting into their wine kits about a year ago. I was quite impressed with the stock kits - damn fine beer considering the cost and effort involved. An Innis & Gunn clone would be pretty sweet.

It seems most people have great intentions on "updating in a few months" but seldom do. Seriously... Keep us posted. I'd love to hear how this turns out. I'd be all over this if turns out well.
Cheers!

 

[xoltri]

I would LOVE to hear how this turned out. I've just started these kits after getting into their wine kits about a year ago. I was quite impressed with the stock kits - damn fine beer considering the cost and effort involved. An Innis & Gunn clone would be pretty sweet.

It seems most people have great intentions on "updating in a few months" but seldom do. Seriously... Keep us posted. I'd love to hear how this turns out. I'd be all over this if turns out well.
Cheers!

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.

 

[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!

 

[FlyGuy]

I flip back and forth between AG and Brewhouse kits, depending on how much time I have to brew. Honestly, the quality of those kits is as high as at least a moderately skilled all grain brewer. Don't assume that switching to all grain will magically make your beer better.

The faults you have with your beer have nothing to do with the quality of the kit itself (although, I agree you could blame the instructions). Honestly, it is brewer experience and knowledge that determines how great a beer you can make from a kit like Brewhouse, FestaBrew, etc. The basis for great beer is there -- you just have to know what to do and what not to do (e.g., do not follow those crappy instructions).

My suggestion, get some yeast that is appropriate to the style, gain expertise with proper fermentation and packaging, and give the kits another shot. They are a great way to learn the brewing fundamentals BEFORE you make the leap to all grain.

 

[paraordnance]

I flip back and forth between AG and Brewhouse kits, depending on how much time I have to brew. Honestly, the quality of those kits is as high as at least a moderately skilled all grain brewer. Don't assume that switching to all grain will magically make your beer better.

The faults you have with your beer have nothing to do with the quality of the kit itself (although, I agree you could blame the instructions). Honestly, it is brewer experience and knowledge that determines how great a beer you can make from a kit like Brewhouse, FestaBrew, etc. The basis for great beer is there -- you just have to know what to do and what not to do (e.g., do not follow those crappy instructions).

My suggestion, get some yeast that is appropriate to the style, gain expertise with proper fermentation and packaging, and give the kits another shot. They are a great way to learn the brewing fundamentals BEFORE you make the leap to all grain.

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

 

[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?