homebrewcompany extract kit

poitinstill

anyone try these? 7.50 for exact amount of grain , hops , yeast and whirlforc tab. anyone know if good and what quantities... thinking about getting hte american pale ales. with some 6.95 extract. getting an 18l boiler so will ahve to top up a bit at the end

BeerNut

adamski8 did a couple of these. The Discover America one was particularly good.

Devi

+1 on the discover America, actually drinking it now , lovely beer. They do a deal where you get the kit + 2 x 1.5kg lme for €22 which is a pretty good price for a beer like this.

tyler71

I've done their American Brown Ale and the Extra Special Bitter. The Brown Ale turned out exactly as it should have done (very like the Sierra Nevada Autumn Tumbler) but not exactly to my taste (it's kind of a bitter toffee), but that's my fault rather than anything to do with the kits, which were very easy to use. The ES Bitter I'm just tasting, it's good but I think it needs a few more weeks to develop. I think the kits are great, they're packed up very well and are fresh, my only quibble is that if you were relying on the instructions they supply they're very basic, but it's unlikely that you would. Was thinking about the American Pale Ale myself but am probably going to move up to their all-grain selection - keen to try the Brown Porter, but wondering whether it will still be hot in 4-6 weeks time and if I should do a Pale Ale instead -decisions, decisions!

poitinstill

cheers guys think i will pick up a few. discover pale ale and ESB to start off

Wookie

I was very pleased with the stout kit (so much so that I have done it twice). I have the dunkle weiss in the bottle and american ale in the fermenter so I will report back on them in due course.

adamski8

Pale ale-quite nice if lacking a bit more hops

Discovery-not to my taste but others seemed to like it

Porter-didnt work out at all, not dark and didnt taste like a porter at all, more like a wheat bitter (no idea what went wrong there)

stout- turned out with a huge diacetyl taste and quite watery but after a month or two it tastes much better

americab brown-great beer, i love it so much i drank too much and got sick. good reviews from others too.

poitinstill

Thanks I ordered the stout, american discovery and ESB, also got some summit hops, have loads o other hops but they are all vvvvery old. Might dry hop the ESB so with summit
.

mayto

I helped a friend make up thehomebrewcompany American pale ale extract kit and it turned out great. We made it out the back on a freezing morning a few months ago, but was worth bearing the cold.

poitinstill

discover pale ale is fermenting away ... couldnt get it below 28c so pitched anyway.( came with us05 yeast ). now have it down to 23c with a wet towel over the fermenter. How will the yeast fair out in this heat...will it lead to any off flavours as it smelt lovely going in . think i will try the helles in the winter too

sharingan

Depends on the yeast - but high temps will introduce a lot more estery flavours, which can be desirable in some beers. If you know the yeast, you can research what is likely to happen if the temp is too high.

Also, if you are bottling, you may need to add more priming sugar.

Wookie

Wookie wrote: »

I was very pleased with the stout kit (so much so that I have done it twice). I have the dunkle weiss in the bottle and american ale in the fermenter so I will report back on them in due course.

Having just read this again I now realise you are talking about the extract kit and I was thinking about the all grain kits. Sorry my mistake.