First of all, a big thanks to Shane at The Homebrew Company for providing so many of us with these kits to review!
Anyway, here's the kit.
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/24/53daede12ee8672667e2b912c0ed7d37.jpg)
Grain was crushed nicely, smelled good and fresh and it made a nice change not having to drag the mill out!
The kit came complete with fairly comprehensive instructions.
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/24/d5ad7983f7be5f3a9190a9e060a473ca.jpg)
My only suggestion would be that, seeing as how mash kits are popular with folk just starting out at AG, maybe a wee bit more info post FV might be good. Maybe just a quick recommendation about fermenting temperature, time in primary/secondary, what carb level and the like.
Into the tun for mashing,
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/24/aa705da379638945d610d6033b3a48cf.jpg)
Onto the boiler next,
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/24/b6c5e0bf951bce3a9d46d2c2e65b654f.jpg)
Boil and a beer!
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/24/8b1ae94f537740c0dd1791ed02129d33.jpg)
Dextrose goes in at start of boil,
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/24/ad58df04e848845eb5d14175a65ab0ab.jpg)
First lot of hops at 60 min,
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/24/4da66778268d17c39ef2c0688fca5764.jpg)
The next lump of hops went in for a 1 minute boil.
Rehydrated the Belle Saison yeast. I used this recently and it's a monster of a yeast!
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/24/557c4f7c66a49dc99ed50fbd08c69cb1.jpg)
Got 'Ol Coily out and chilled down to 20deg.
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/24/538fd86354b7dc08c76688fc8ce660e8.jpg)
Took a gravity reading. The target OG was 1050, mine came in at 1054, so happy with that.
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/24/a46754401edae76deb3c1309f6b56739.jpg)
Into the fermenter, pitch the yeast and settle into the fridge for the foreseeable.
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/24/db6596d303c594677c963c112bfa253b.jpg)
All in all,happy with the kit. Very straight forward and I suppose the proof of the beer will be in the drinking, I'll let yis know in few weeks!
Quote from: Ciderhead on July 24, 2015, 09:52:38 PM
Luv seeing how others brew especially in pics 8).
Clearly you don't believe in the myth of hot side aeration ;)
Yeah, I've been meaning to get a bit of piping, but keep forgetting. Anyway, call it an experiment!
Very happy to see this comes with belle saison. Makes the kit a definite purchase in my eyes.
Bottling day today!
It flatlined out at 1.000, so looking at about 7.1% before priming.
Smells and tastes great out of the fermenter, big Belgian aroma and flavour.
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/14/81f8a28c9df4bf22116ba9e0b237c03a.jpg)
It's the first time I added some gelatine to the FV and I can't get over how clear it is, I'll be bulk-buying gelatine now!
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/14/f184aee3ffdec04ecf12b0ac2d94f35a.jpg)
Anyway, a few more weeks in the bottle and I'll report back.
3 weeks later and here she is.
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/04/16429e5a13e325aedf24b4d101208c14.jpg)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/04/650af846b65447aa97520667ab7c65d8.jpg)
Very happy overall, great big Belgian flavours. It probably needs a couple more weeks to hit it's peek and it's a bit dangerous at 7.5%, but couldn't complain about the mashkit at all.
I'll have it at the Wee County meet next Friday and will report back on how it goes down.
sounds promising :)
Sounds nice Dan. Looking forward to trying it. Its a great kit. Supping my own Saison at the moment too. 2 weeks in the bottle. Quite nice so far