What Brewers Best Extract Kits do you like?

[BonzoAPD]

There is a new local place that sells Brewers Best Kits. What kits have you tried that you recommend?

 

[unionrdr]

The summer ale turned out great. Kinda like shock top. I hear the milk stout kit is pretty good too. wanna try that one as I think left hand brewing milk stout is great.

 

[BobbiLynn]

All of their kits I have tried have made good beer, if you just go with your favorite style, you should enjoy it unless you are an extreme beer snob, IMHO. Well, except maybe the American light, friends that like that style that I have made it for didn't seem quite as excited about it as other styles I have made for friends. German Oktoberfest was a huge hit at a party a couple years back, everyone seems to really like the uniqueness of it even if it wasn't their normal style.

 

[cheesehed007]

I've done both the Imperial Blonde Ale and the Summer Ale. Both turned out great.

 

[WyomingBrewer]

I have not had a bad Brewers Best Kit.....My most recent was the Whisky Barrel Stout. Awesome beer. I followed the directions except for the wood chips. I did not boil them like they said, I soaked them in bourbon and added to the secondary. Turned out great!

 

[MikeyPipes86]

I have done the American Amber and Kölsch. Both were well received but I got a lot of compliments on the Kölsch, even though its not a true Kölsch due to the Nottingham yeast. Still, a damn good beer that I will make again.

 

[stevo4361]

Only done the American pale ale, which I dry hopped with cascade and it is quite good.

 

[BobbiLynn]

Only done the American pale ale, which I dry hopped with cascade and it is quite good.

Should have said I have tried several batches of the American pale ale, no changes or additions, and turn out great every time.

 

[Whitebread]

My first homebrew ever was the English Brown Ale. I picked it cause it was beginners level. It turned out great and everyone loved it.

 

[Running_Crazy]

I am on my 4th BB kit. All have turned out great. I've done the Summer Ale, Pumpkin Spice, IPA, English Brown in the fermenter now. Not sure what's next. Maybe the red ale? Tried a buddies that was good.

 

[Hogarthe]

The only one I have tried was a bottle of the Brewer's Best IPA. It was good, though not as hoppy as some ipa's. if you are a big hop head, you might consider getting an ounce or 2 extra hops to add. Can't speak personally for the other kits, but everything I have heard has been positive.

 

[ken_manke]

Just brewed my first BB IPA batch last night. Started the Columbus Hops around 25 min. into boil and slowly added up until the 30 min. mark that was suggested. Also added orange zest peels at flame out. Smelled and looked great. Will check back in March to update.

 

[Spartangreen]

I brewer their Irish Stout, and it turned out really good.
Nice Kit

 

[HopChef]

I've done the PSA IPA and the imperial blonde, IPA was good, but the blonde was great!

 

[RIC0]

American red ale was really good as well as their robust porter. I added coffee to the porter and it was really good.

 

[jcam91]

There red ale is damn good!

 

[OhReally]

I've done half a dozen or so:

Scottish Ale, Imperial Blonde, Pumpkin Spice Porter, India Black Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Weizenbier

I'd have to say my favorite by far is the India Black Ale. My kit came with Millennium and Zythos hops, and Danstar Bry-97 dry yeast. Delicious roasty, coffee, dark flavors, and plenty of hops to go around. ABV 5.3%. It's the only one out of 12+ recipes i've done so far that I will definitely be making again. In fact, I should get on that now; I only have three bombers left.

Cheers.

 

[bigebrewer]

I currently have the Double IPA bottled and ready to go, my first BB kit so I was a little concerned how it would turn out, but it may be my best kit beer yet.

 

[PeteNMA]

I was quite pleased with the English Bitter kit, it needed at least 3 months in the bottles after 2 weeks in the fermenter to really come alive though.

I've also done the Imperial Pale Ale, which turned out very well. It came with 4 oz of Columbus hops at 18%AA. I split the hop additions out somewhat as I did a four gallon boil, so added 1.5oz at 60 mins, 0.5oz at 30 mins, 1 oz at 15 mins and dry hopped with the final 1oz. Cold crashed and gelatin fined after 1 week dry hopping, came out great!

Next up is their Caramel Wit recipe with a couple of tweaks. I couldn't get the kit from my LHBS so I pieced it together. Going to add some bitter orange peel at 15 mins, using dark candi sugar and dry hop with 1oz of Saaz. Looking forward to this one.

 

[Caveman3141]

The RIS is pretty good. It was my first kit. It's extract + steeping grains(roasted barley, black patent and caramel 60, I think) and turned out pretty well. I'm not sure if a single packet of s-04 is sufficient for a brew that large. It got down to 1.030 pretty quickly but 1.030 to 1.020 took 2 or 3 weeks.

The holiday ale didn't turn out as well but that was entirely my fault. It was my second batch and I got a little too big for my britches in making modifications to the recipe.

 

[jcam91]

The RIS is pretty good. It was my first kit. It's extract + steeping grains(roasted barley, black patent and caramel 60, I think) and turned out pretty well. I'm not sure if a single packet of s-04 is sufficient for a brew that large. It got down to 1.030 pretty quickly but 1.030 to 1.020 took 2 or 3 weeks.

The holiday ale didn't turn out as well but that was entirely my fault. It was my second batch and I got a little too big for my britches in making modifications to the recipe.

My father in law brewed the holiday ale. It good at first but was delicious by the last few pints. But thats the way it goes I guess.

 

[brewsnthelou]

Done several and they all have turned out great, got their Imperial Blonde in primary now

 

[jethro55]

The BB HopNog is great. Tastes about half way between Stone
Ruination and Arrogant Bastard. Have several other of their kits in progress.

 

[theaug]

I have brewed the Oatmeal Stout, the Witbier, Oktoberfest, and a few others as well.....they have all turned out very, very good IMO. Right now I have their Rye Pale Ale in the primary, and just bottles the Imperial Nut Brown.

 

[Crockus]

Brewed the american light its in bottles now, sample one tonight I was pretty impressed(doesnt take much). They need about another week in the bottles. I also have American Amber in the primary that Im looking to keg in about 10days. So far they have all turned out good for me.

 

[dirtyjoedirt]

I brewed the BB dunkelweizen on sat. I decided after much research not to use the danstar munich dry yeast it came with and opted for WPL300. It's been five days and the banana smell coming from the airlock is awesome.

 

[scottab]

The only kit i had any issues with was their pumpkin spice porter. I used the whole spice pack and 1 year later the spice level is still overwhelming. Loved the cream ale which i brewed with vanilla beans. The kölsch was extremely tasty, english brown was one of my favs. Every kit i've made of theirs has turned out well with the 1 exception. I currently am waiting on the european bock to carb up and have a falconer's flight to brew.

 

[MoreCowbell]

First BB kit I tried was the Imperial IPA. The sheet that comes with the kit hints that it is based off of The Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale. IMHO this was a fair comparison. Though I didn't come close to a 7% ABV as suggested in the kit it had a very big malty but slightly sweet IIPA character.

Currently I have their Smoked IPA and German Oktoberfest in secondary right now the former of witch I took a same tonight and tasted right on point. As far as the latter, I had a brief issue with stuck fermentation but otherwise appears to be pretty good. I will post how both turned out in a month or so.

 

[92yjeremy]

I've brewed about a dozen or so brewer's best kits and usually use liquid yeast, I've found that I prefer Midwest, Austin, B3, you know the type. Brewer's best just seemed muddled or weaker in flavor and body to me. I never compared the ingredients and I never verified the dates, I just bought Brewer's Best when I was near a homebrew shop and thats all they sold in the kit catagory.

 

[ditka311]

I've done half a dozen or so:

Scottish Ale, Imperial Blonde, Pumpkin Spice Porter, India Black Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Weizenbier

I'd have to say my favorite by far is the India Black Ale. My kit came with Millennium and Zythos hops, and Danstar Bry-97 dry yeast. Delicious roasty, coffee, dark flavors, and plenty of hops to go around. ABV 5.3%. It's the only one out of 12+ recipes i've done so far that I will definitely be making again. In fact, I should get on that now; I only have three bombers left.

Cheers.

My first brew is the India Black Ale. I am bottling it tomorrow so I hope I have similar success and a similar reaction.