Midwest BSB APA kit question

[gunhaus]

So my nephew and his blushing bride gave me a Beer Simply Beer kit for x-mas. Although I have not done an extract in quite a while I would never look a kind gesture and a free beer kit in the mouth. Plus, it became clear as x-mas eve rolled along that the duo were looking to see how it all worked (I almost titled this Adventures in newbie part two).

Anyway, we ended up firing up a pot, breaking out the doo-dads, and spending a couple hours brewing up this APA kit. These two had a blast, and have been calling every other day or so since we put the bucket to sleep in its corner.

I had intended to keg this, but after some thought I had them over today and we did the whole old fashion bottle thing. I showed them how to put the bubbles in with the sugar, and everyone took turns filling and capping. And for a change i had spare hands for scrubbing and sanitizing!

NOW, the OG on this critter was 1.041. right about where expected. And the FG sample today was 1.003 for 5% abv, so good to go all around there. The color was what you would expect from an extract with the ingredients included, and it smelled fantastic! I mean really really a nice aroma all the way around. So I tipped back the test jar to see what I had, and my first thought was Coors light with less flavor and more hops! I mean it was WATER for all intents and purposes. Very very thin and plain. Now i was not expecting a world beating APA from a flat test sample on a 20 dollar kit we brewed with a belly full of X-mas cheer. But . . .

Question is have any of you had experience with this kit? We still have 2-3 weeks in the bottle and i am sure things will develop but I really expect a TAD more flavor at this stage. How has it turned out for you who may have done it in the past?

 

[parrothead64]

It will taste less watery with carbonation, but 1.003 is very low for an APA. I don’t know anything about that kit but mine are usually 1.10

 

[gunhaus]

Agreed on the FG - BUT, I always take the readings with a little grain of salt. Their projected og was 1.046 we showed 1.041 they called for 4.7 ABV we are a tad under five - All seemed to be in the ball park. I have a couple of APA's i do pretty regular - this one just really seemed weak - BUT, all in all, a day earlier or later and my taste buds might have said other wise! We'll give it a go in a couple weeks. The kids are gonna like it one way or another i betcha - It's gonna have that "first brew" appeal Thanks for the input.

 

[Leapsandbounds]

I have this kit in my primary. I’ll be bottling this weekend which will put it at a tad over 3 weeks in the fermenter. My OG was the same as yours, I’ll update with the FG this weekend.

 

[Leapsandbounds]

So FG was 1.008. Smells great and tastes okay to me. I’m looking forward to trying it in a week to see how it’s coming along.