Back in late December, NorCal offered
40% off of a recipe kit of your choice, in exchange for a review of the product. I figured I would be a good one to review the product, since I am an experienced brewer, but have only brewed all-grain from day one. The kits were all extract based.
The kits are
here. There are some house kits, some clones, and some of the Munton's canned kits. I chose the
Box A ESB, a house kit.
I ordered the kit, and a 32oz bottle of Starsan. Order was placed on a Sunday night. It shipped the following day. A shipping confirmation email, with tracking number, was received less than 24 hours after placing my order.
The USPS moved that box all the way from California to Amish country here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in less than 48 hours. The box was waiting for me Wednesday afternoon when I got home from work.
The kit was called Box A ESB because the kit will fit in a type A Priority Mail box. This was not an A box, because I ordered the big bottle of Starsan. Sorry I screwed that part up, NorCal.
But it all came tightly packed, and arrived safely:
First thing found was the receipt/packing list, with a handwritten thank you at the bottom. Excellent personal touch.
Unboxing produced this:
Bagging Starsan is really a must, because when one of those bottles leaks, it is a ridiculous mess. And left to it's own devices, undiluted Stansan will eat through
many things. (Yes, there is a story explaining how I came to learn this.) Even though this bottle didn't leak, the bag was much appreciated protection.
And the kit:
Everything was well packed, and clearly labeled.
The yeast had an expiry date 6 months from now. Plenty of time for me to brew this beer.
Since I've never made an extract beer, I spent some time reading the instructions to familiarize myself with the process. Everything appeared to be explained in an easy-to-follow fashion.
I decided since it was a 3 gallon partial boil, I would make this beer inside, in my kitchen. On New Year's Day, I pulled out my 5 gallon soup pot, and got to work.
The steeping of the grains, and the preheating of the extract:
The beginning of the boil, and after the first hop addition it nearly boiled over, but I was prepared, and no mess was made:
Chilling in the sink was nice, simply because it was so cold outside:
Sanitized funnel and fermentor awaiting the wort:
I topped off with bottled water and pitched the yeast:
Sample was at 62 degrees, close enough that I wouldn't bother with hydrometer correction. OG was about 1.050, slightly higher than the estimated 1.046.
24 hours later:
9 days later:
Now here is when life got in my way. I had intended to bottle this beer, since it came with the sugar and caps. Instead, it sat. And sat. And sat.
I finally decided that if I was ever going to finish this, I needed to keg this beer. I was just too busy to even do that. So it sat some more.
Finally, I got the beer in a keg. Gravity had dropped a wee bit more in this time, ending at 1.012.
I put it on the gas at serving pressure, and it sat. And sat. Finally able to try it out, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a bit darker than anticipated, and had a definite caramel taste and feel to it. Sadly, every photo I took of this finished product in a glass was slightly out of focus, but here's one anyway.
While not exactly like the ESB's I've made previously, it definitely fit the style, and was a treat to brew, (and drink). The hops were somewhat diminished in the nose, but that is entirely of my own doing, since it aged as much as it did before drinking.
My overall impression of the kit itself is favorable. While pricey
by my personal standards,
it seems a fantastic value for the brewer without the equipment, space, or ability to purchase grain in bulk and brew accordingly. As mentioned before, I'm not an extract brewer, so I'm not accustomed to the cost of extracts.
The addition of caps and priming sugar to the ingredient kit seems very useful, even though I was unable to utilize them this time. They will get re-purposed for another beer in the future, and definitely not be wasted.
I'm extremely happy with the service by Jay and everyone else from NorCal, and will absolutely give them my business again. I will soon be in the market for a false bottom for my hopback, and these folks will definitely be getting the call.
TL;DR: NorCal provides a great product, at a fair price. They offer good service and worthy of your business.
