What Brewers Best Extract Kits do you like?

[OhReally]

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

Good choice! Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Bauer]

Cracked open my first bb Irish stout I brewed and it tastes awesome. I also brewed their IPA on Thursday. I am contemplating doing the India black ale next.

 

[MicheleE63]

My first brew was a BB Red Ale. Excellent! I've brewed it again because everyone likes it. I've also brewed the Milk Stout, also very good, and I have the Whiskey Barrel Stout in secondary soaking up the oak chips I soaked in Bourbon. Not sure about that one, I'm not a whiskey drinker, but I'm sure my friends will enjoy it. I think BB makes pretty decent kits, although I do prefer Wyeast to the dry yeasts that come in the kits.

 

[jcam91]

I brewed the BB dunkelweizen on sat.

This thread made me go buy a bb kit. Dunkle here we come. Wyeast 3068

 

[jcam91]

So im about to start this dunkel however. The recipe in my kit uses german tradition and Willamette. But the websites ingredient say hersbrucker and (harrlerteu), horribly misspelled I'm sure...
Any way I have the hersbrucker should I replace Willamette with it? What u think guys?

 

[scottab]

So my european bock is finally almost fully carbed and the sample i had last night tastes great. It's got a slightly sweet almost caramel and coffee flavor. The maltodextrin has given a wonderfully full body to the brew and i'm 100% happy with the batch.

 

[OhReally]

Any way I have the hersbrucker should I replace Willamette with it? What u think guys?

Well, the Hersbrucker is obviously a German variety, and this is a German beer, after all. Being a hybrid of Fuggle, the Willamette would have more of an English taste.

My 2 cents: if you've got the Hersbrucker fresh and ready to go, use that.

 

[jcam91]

Well, the Hersbrucker is obviously a German variety, and this is a German beer, after all. Being a hybrid of Fuggle, the Willamette would have more of an English taste.

My 2 cents: if you've got the Hersbrucker fresh and ready to go, use that.

I almost changed them, then decided ill just rebrew the kit with the other hops to see how its different.

 

[nvious23]

My first home brewing experience was the oatmeal stout. It got good reviews even from the ladies who normally drink the light beers. My only mistake was not realising the abv the first time I cracked some. I got wrecked wife wasn't to happy with that.

 

[ken_manke]

Update on Brewers Best IPA. I just tried my first bottle (3 weeks bottle conditioned). I am very pleased with how this beer turned out. Great taste and feel. I'm letting the rest of the batch age an additional 2 weeks, but had to at least try one now.

I will definitely use this kit again.



Was surprised with the head after just 3 weeks.

 

[WyomingBrewer]

Update on Brewers Best IPA. I just tried my first bottle (3 weeks bottle conditioned). I am very pleased with how this beer turned out. Great taste and feel. I'm letting the rest of the batch age an additional 2 weeks, but had to at least try one now.

I will definitely use this kit again.

View attachment 104778

Was surprised with the head after just 3 weeks.

Looks delicious, making my mouth water! YUMMY!

 

[Daytron3000]

Has anyone done the Belgian IPA yet? Gonna do that over spring break in a few weeks. If so, did it need any tweaking?

 

[scottab]

I currently have the Belgian golden ale waiting to be brewed looks like it will be good... one thing i've noticed is that their instructions on their website are not updated... my belgian kit has candi sugar not the crystal sugar... the instructions in the box are updated though. Similar experience with the falconer's flight i brewed about a month ago, different hop additions. Still waiting for it to carb and age but def a very hoppy brew.

 

[mblanks2]

I currently have the Belgian golden ale waiting to be brewed looks like it will be good... one thing i've noticed is that their instructions on their website are not updated... my belgian kit has candi sugar not the crystal sugar... the instructions in the box are updated though. Similar experience with the falconer's flight i brewed about a month ago, different hop additions. Still waiting for it to carb and age but def a very hoppy brew.

I noticed the same about their online recipes. I just finished the Belgian Tripel with a 1/2 oz. of Coriander for the last five minutes. Everything went smoothly. Had a OG of 1.085. Changed the included yeast out for Safbrew T58. Should be good. The wort sample I tasted was very nice. Currently in primary with a 1/2" blow off tube.

 

[PeteNMA]

I used T-58 in my Caramel Wit Double that I put together and it took off like a rocket, but it seemed to hang up at 1.020. Gave the fermenter a good stir and it's taken off again, down to 1.012 now. I'm going to leave it another week now to clear, then bottle.

 

[scottab]

This years Falconer's Flight turned out exceptional... one of the best i've brewed so far.

 

[FermentNEthinG]

Hop Nog 2012 was pretty bad ass with the Centennial/Palisade/Nelson Sauvin hops.

 

[Running_Crazy]

The English Brown Ale is another great one. I've had it in the bottle now for about 6 wks. Definitely another do again.

 

[mgr_stl]

Not sure how it differs from the Brewers Best IPA, but my batch of the Brewers Best PSA IPA turned out great.

 

[scottab]

Not sure how it differs from the Brewers Best IPA, but my batch of the Brewers Best PSA IPA turned out great.

Was looking at the psa ipa but since i just started drinking the falconer's flight and gave the belgian golden in the fermenter i think i need to go dark for my next batch

 

[DannyboyUSMC]

I only have 3 brews so far and 2 being the Brewers best kits. (3rd is Edwort's apfelwein doing its thing in the fermenter). The first was the BB IPA kit. Not bad for a first time brew but the hops didn't come out as much as I thought. I'm about to bottle the BB Witbier and add blueberry extract at bottling. The Witbier is an intermediate kit I assume because of the specialty grains but I didn't have too much trouble figuring it out (find out in a couple of weeks).

 

[OhReally]

I just took a gravity reading for my BB Imperial IPA, and it's damn tasty already. It's almost certainly ready to bottle. I'm pumped to taste it cold and carbonated.

One thing I don't understand is where BB gets their numbers from for this thing. According to BB:

OG: 1.075 - 1.080
FG: 1.017 - 1.020
ABV: 8.0 - 8.5%

These numbers don't add up. Doing the math, those gravities yield an ABV range of 7.2 - 8.3%. From my own experience, I got 7.6% (1.076, 1.018 ). Maybe they do some sort of funny Midwest math.

Awesome products, though.

 

[philber]

I have done 4-5 of these kits and I think they are great. When I mis-plan my AG brew/fermentation times, I pick up one of these kits, Whole[Paycheck]Foods has them in stock! I also love the 3 hour brew session and the 2 week brew to glass turn around time.

I have done the Imperial Blonde Ale, I made 4.5 gals not 5 and it was very strong, I usually don't take readings with the kits since they are kinda idiot proof. I also did the American Pale Ale, Dunkel, American Amber and last week I did the Rye IPA (hitting the keg tomorrow!).

I tend not to like Fruit/Vegetables in my beer so I pick classics and haven't been disappointed. Next I will probably pick up the Kolsh and/or Nut Brown.

 

[beercity23]

Has anyone else tried the european bock? I brewed this my first kit, and it came out with a licorice flavor? What did i do wrong?

 

[skipfab74]

Haven't done one yet, but I'm planning on doing the Pumpkin Spice Porter for the fall. Anyone have experience with that one?

 

[OhReally]

Haven't done one yet, but I'm planning on doing the Pumpkin Spice Porter for the fall. Anyone have experience with that one?

I made that one last fall. I still have half a case left because it hasn't been the easiest going down. Whatever spices are in the packet, there's too much of it. So much so that it's... I dunno what the word for it is... Not cloying, but it's overpowering. If I ever made it again (not by choice) I'd use half or less of the included spice packet.

 

[scottab]

Has anyone else tried the european bock? I brewed this my first kit, and it came out with a licorice flavor? What did i do wrong?

The European bock was very good for me, tasted of caramel and a hint of almost coffee... maybe you steeped your grain at too high a temp or scorched your extract. The bock was a pretty good and filling brew

 

[scottab]

I made that one last fall. I still have half a case left because it hasn't been the easiest going down. Whatever spices are in the packet, there's too much of it. So much so that it's... I dunno what the word for it is... Not cloying, but it's overpowering. If I ever made it again (not by choice) I'd use half or less of the included spice packet.

I did the pumpkin spiced porter as my 2nd brew and only thing i can say about that one is use no more than half the spice pack. Even after a year it was still overwhelming spice.

 

[kurzschluss1]

I only have 3 brews so far and 2 being the Brewers best kits. (3rd is Edwort's apfelwein doing its thing in the fermenter). The first was the BB IPA kit. Not bad for a first time brew but the hops didn't come out as much as I thought. I'm about to bottle the BB Witbier and add blueberry extract at bottling. The Witbier is an intermediate kit I assume because of the specialty grains but I didn't have too much trouble figuring it out (find out in a couple of weeks).

I'm curious how you like the witbeer. I just made that kit and tried it 3 weeks after bottling and was a little bit underwhelmed. Now I'm trying to wait longer to allow the flavors to mesh a little more. Overall I thought it was good but not great. But I'm hoping the flavor will improve with a few more weeks in the bottle.

 

[kurzschluss1]

I have done 4-5 of these kits and I think they are great. When I mis-plan my AG brew/fermentation times, I pick up one of these kits, Whole[Paycheck]Foods has them in stock! I also love the 3 hour brew session and the 2 week brew to glass turn around time.

I have done the Imperial Blonde Ale, I made 4.5 gals not 5 and it was very strong, I usually don't take readings with the kits since they are kinda idiot proof. I also did the American Pale Ale, Dunkel, American Amber and last week I did the Rye IPA (hitting the keg tomorrow!).

I tend not to like Fruit/Vegetables in my beer so I pick classics and haven't been disappointed. Next I will probably pick up the Kolsh and/or Nut Brown.

I just bottled the kolsch a week ago (my very first brew). It was easy to make. I gave it two weeks in the primary and a month in secondary and now waiting for the carbonation is making me insane. it looked beautiful though.