I've never brewed a "kit", but dang Northern Brewer

[jsv1204]

I get the NB catalogs. What a pleasure they are. I have the greatest respect for them because of this simple thing.

I agree - NB catalogs are very well done. Never brewed one of their kits.

 

[kh54s10]

I like their kits and have a Lager kit waiting in the wings.

I also like that they list the ingredients online. I use their recipes for research and then create my own in Beersmith. I then get my supplies from a variety of places to keep costs down.

Their ingredients appear to be very fresh. You can opt for milled on un-milled. The grains come in one bag. The hops are pellet. You have your choice of Wyeast, Dry or no yeast. You can add priming sugar if needed.

There is a lot of flexibility when ordering.

 

[mindcrime]

Can vouch for them. Made the Rye IPA PM kit a few months back, came out excellent. I dont really do kits much, have not in years, but got a gift card for them for a birthday and was pleasantly surprised. So much so that I may order some more from them, possibly for styles I dont usually brew when I get a request for something that I dont have much experience with.

 

[bmick]

The Karl's 90/- is a great beer too. Needs some time, but at 3-4 months it's a damn good Scottish. I bumped it up a bit (called it the 100/-) and it was very close to Founder's Dirty Bastard.

 

[freemanmh]

I've brewed their Bavarian hefe, Shining Star pale ale, and milk chocolate stout kits and really enjoyed every one of them. I'm bottling a batch of their Phat Tyre this weekend, and have a batch of Speckled Heifer (first pm kit I've done) in primary.

I have to admit, I'm kind of spoiled by the fact that they're local to me. The folks that work in the retail store in Milwaukee are all very friendly and helpful.

 

[Braufessor]

I also like that they list the ingredients online. I use their recipes for research and then create my own in Beersmith. I then get my supplies from a variety of places to keep costs down.

+1 to this - this is great. If you click on the links within the product details, you can see what goes into each recipe. Did not notice if you said you were looking at extract or all grain, but if you are going all grain, it would be cheaper I imagine to look at the kit recipe's and then order your supplies in bulk. I have bought several of their kits, and probably used their recipes dozens of times. Vast majority of the time with quite a bit of success.

 

[Brewskii]

I've brewed their Bavarian hefe, Shining Star pale ale, and milk chocolate stout kits and really enjoyed every one of them. I'm bottling a batch of their Phat Tyre this weekend, and have a batch of Speckled Heifer (first pm kit I've done) in primary.

I have to admit, I'm kind of spoiled by the fact that they're local to me. The folks that work in the retail store in Milwaukee are all very friendly and helpful.

I've done the speckled heifer a few times and one slightly tweaked AG version took an honorable mention for me in the Dominion cup back In August. It's a staple in my brew house.

 

[KurtB]

I got started doing NB kits, and still do one every so often. The Moose Drool was the second kit I ever brewed, and it turned out very good (for a new brewer doing only their second batch).

Hops are pellets, Yeast is either dry or WYeast (if you select from the drop down), though there is no discount on the yeast purchased with a kit so feel free to select none and then pick any yeasy you want (including white labs if that is was you prefer).

 

[Denny]

I can personally vouch for the Rye IPA and Waldo Lake amber kits.

 

[inhousebrew]

I can personally vouch for the Rye IPA and Waldo Lake amber kits.

I really enjoy the fact that they have recipes from people like Denny as well as official clone kits from Surly, Lakefront, Dry Dock and Tall Grass. Lakfronts IBA by the way is terrific. The Innkeeper is also a house favorite here. I've never done the Caribou Slobber but I know it's a big seller and everyone seems to really enjoy it.

I also feel lucky to live nearby to the store. When I started extract brewing I had no idea what to do and they were all very helpful and their kits were pretty foolproof if you can read the direction. Maybe I just expect it now but it surprises me that other companies don't release their recipes.

 

[Hex23]

The one thing that keeps me from going with any of their AG kits is that everything seems sized for 5 gallons exactly, which doesn't exaclty leave a whole lot of room for kettle or fermenter loss. For folks who've used their AG kits, am I reading that right, or am I missing something? Also, what kind of efficiency are they assuming with the amounts of grains they ship with the kits?

Yes, this is my only complaint about their AG kits. For me it's not a huge deal, because the two AG kits I've purchased from them have gravities that are a tad higher than I'd prefer for the style so easy to scale the volume up a little.

But I have to agree with all the others, their kits have never failed to result in good beers for me.

I think their assumed efficiency is like 65% or 70%. The one time I did get crushed grain from them and I hit 80% efficiency is when I first started suspecting that my LHBS crush was poor.

My wife drives by the Milwaukee store on the way to school, so I'm always asking her to pick up something.

 

[highgravitybacon]

The one kit I wish they had is the Tallgrass 8 bit pale ale. I'm not sure why they don't.

I'm guessing, but there is probably an obscene amount of Galaxy in there. So $$$.

 

[inhousebrew]

The one kit I wish they had is the Tallgrass 8 bit pale ale. I'm not sure why they don't.

I'm guessing, but there is probably an obscene amount of Galaxy in there. So $$$.

I really don't care for that beer. just a personal opinion. That said, I did make a great Galaxy Pale Ale a short while back.

 

[cincydave]

I've done 8 of their kits (4 extact and 4 all grain) and was happy with all of them. The caribou slobber was really good, but for some reason, didn't carb much and next to nothing as far as head. Very tasty though.