A year of kit brewing in review

[oinkely]

In case anyone is interested here's a review of my first year as a homebrewer.  It might encourage someone thinking about giving it a go to quit thinking and get brewing.

I started in January 2015 with a small batch all grain kit that my wife got me for Christmas.  It was a mash / boil in a large pot on the stove job and was an APA if I remember correctly.   The process was straight forward enough and it produced about 8 500ml bottles of perfectly drinkable beer.

This got me reading and led me to the NHC website.  Having researched a bit more I decided to step back and do a kit or two as I didn't feel like investing in the kit required for bigger all grain batches.

Started with the Craft range (from homebrewwest) IPA, swiftly followed by their blonde lager.  Both turned out really nice, but a bit flat with zero head retention.

Getting a bit braver I then found http://www.coopers.com.au/ and their recipe section.  I thought their Lightning Strike Summer Ale sounded nice so bought the ingredients and got that underway.

I looked into how to improve my kits – and read Lord Eoin's super guide to kit hacking - http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,669.0.html followed by his more advanced kit hacking guide also - http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,2732.0.html

I equipped myself with a bag of carapils and some US05 yeast and Gervin GV12 yeast and went on the hunt for new recipes........

The list of beers I have produced :

Straight kits with no hacking

Craft Range IPA
Craft Range Blonde Ale

Kit hacks and recipes (all from coopers kits)

Lightning strike summer ale (x 2) http://store.coopers.com.au/recipes/index/view/id/82/
Makes an easy to drink and very tasty brew – my wife's favourite
Added 250gms of carapils per Lord Eoin's kit hack instructions above to the second batch – greatly helped with head retention

Nelson's Light ale (x 2) http://store.coopers.com.au/recipes/index/view/id/3/
Again, light easy to drink beer.  Great if you are thirsty.  No kit can involved, just DME & Hops.
Added 250gms of carapils also

American Pale Ale (x 2) http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,674.0.html
I really like this recipe, fruity, and moreish.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (x 1) http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,10762.0.html
Favourite beer of most of my friends and according to my brother the pinnacle of my brewing career to date.

Coopers Irish Stout (x 1) http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,14525.0.html
A great, light stout.  This style is not really my taste, but I'll happily drink this one.

Orange & Coriander Weissbier (x 1) http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,679.0.html
Enjoyed this but probably my least favourite brew, drank it a bit young though cause I ran out of anything else during the summer holliers.  Will brew it again with a higher fermentation temp to bring out the banana a bit more.

Coopers IPA (x 1) http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,14526.0.html
I love this, so much flavour.  My favourite to date.

Little things I have learned:

Bottling :
A bench capper is a must.  No arguments or buts – the two handed yolks will do the job, but you won't be happy.
The HBW swing top bottles are not great, crown caps are much better in my opinion.  If you can get yourself a bunch of grolsch swing tops then they work well, just not the HBW ones (again IMO).
Get yourself a bottle tree and rinser – super bit of kit.
Get yourself a bottling bucket with a tap and a bottling stick.

Sanitiser – 20 litres of water, 30 mls of thin bleach and 30 mls of vinegar.  Cheap and efficient, just don't mix the bleach and vinegar directly..........

Add 250gms of carapils to every beer.

Get yourself an STC1000 - http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,7491.0.html  you won't regret it.

If I can do it anyone can.  Happy brewing and if you are thinking of it, just jump in and do it.  It's easy, rewarding and you produce delicious beer.

Future plans – keep brewing kits.  They are quick, easy and make great beer.  A little more expensive than all grain but if you are short on time then you can still make super beer.

I have acquired pretty much all the kit for doing an all grin batch but am reluctant to get started.  The time issue is a really big factor for me, so for the moment I will leave the AG as a future project.

Kegging – again, have most of the bits for this, just need some beer line........ though I like bottling so will be sticking with this for the moment.

Finally - a massive thank you to all the knowledgeable folks on here who share their wisdom with all for free.........invaluable help and advice always.

[Will_D]

Excellent review of the year. Many thanks for posting this!

Here's to 2016

Will

[LordEoin]

looks like you had a good 2015. Here's to an even better 2016!

[Parky]

Fantastic post oinkely!, and thanks for posting the links too. Sounds like you've caught the brewing bug in a big way - long may it continue

[darren996]

Great post, well done.. a lot learned in a year... onwards and upwards.

[Leann ull]

Great Post, never seen any new brewer put it altogether like that before on actual experience.
I went straight from kits to AG and it was much easier than I thought, I look forward to the 2017 update.
I'll be giving you a bottle of starsan at meet next week and you'll think you've invented fire

[oinkely]

Thanks all, just wanted to spell out that it is really not that difficult to make nice beer from kits.  Doesn't take a lot of time and equipment and you don't need a lot of expertise. 

The forum here is a great resource as is the GCB whatsapp group.  Any questions I have had have been answered pretty much immediately and the pooled knowledge is immense.  There are people who contribute freely who have forgotten more about brewing than I will ever know.

As I am currently in the middle of a 2 year part time masters that eats up a lot of Saturdays, have 3 young kids and a currently very understanding wife and unfortunately have to work full time too I won't be making the jump to AG in the near future.  I have gathered most of the kit needed for it (boiler, mash tun, immersion cooler) but just can't see myself having the spare time to spend a day (or even half a day) on a brew until the summer, and even then I wouldn't be sure of trying it.

That's where the kits really shine - an hour tops and you have a brew in the fermenter, and I have to say so far they have produced delicious beer.  I'm not a beer expert and probably couldn't taste the difference between a mediocre and a great beer.  If it tastes good I drink it, and thus far I am delighted with the beer I have produced from kits with additions.

I'll be giving you a bottle of starsan at meet next week and you'll think you've invented fire

I haven't used starsan, just the oxi stuff.  Came across the vinegar & bleach method and find it works really well.  I clean out the fermenters and bottling buckets immediately after use with warm water and clean sponge and then just fill them up with the mix when I'm ready to go again and soak all the equipment in there while getting everything else ready.  It's worked great so far, and I have finished a bottle of vinegar for the first time ever (clearly don't eat enough chips!).

Anyway, I will update again in 2017 and we will see what has changed.  For the moment, I will post in here on any kits that I make and hacks that I do.  If anyone has any interesting recipes for kits fire them up here, I'm always looking for new recipes, and haven't quite got to creating my own yet...........

[Drzava]

Great idea for a thread! I'll add my (10 months) experiences in too if no one minds!

1. Ditch's stout (Coopers original stout + 1kg dark spraymalt + 200g sugar) link: popped my (large batch) brewing cherry with this. Didn't turn out great, but due to a dodgy thermometer I ended up pitching very warm.

2. Finlandia cider + 1kg dextrose link. Nice, very clear. Took a month to get drinkable.

3. Bulldog Cerveza link. Very nice.

4. Muntons Gold Old English Bitter link. Only did this as it was going cheap because it was out of date. However, it turned out to be one of my best!

5. Aussie Blend Pinot Grigio link. Took an age to clear and tasted quite watery.

6. Gozdawa milky stout link. Very poor. Consigned most to the drain eventually, but I'm holding onto a few bottles in the vague hope it might redeem itself with extended aging.

7. Young's American IPA link. Very good. Took a good while to finish (25 days) but a great drink. I'd have preferred it slightly weaker though - mine went all the way to 1.002, giving 8.2% in the bottle - not exactly session strength!

8. Craft Range Wheat link. Disappearing head aside, this was superb and very close to Franziskaner. Also finished very quick and ready to drink after a week in the bottle.

9. Brewferm Tripel. Still young at 'only' four months old but this is getting tasty now - in the vein of Westmalle, as opposed to the sharper tasting likes of Chimay Tripel.

10. Winebuddy Sauvignon Blanc link. Brewed it a bit too short (21L) leaving it a bit too strong in the end (13.3%). Tasted quite artificial and never cleared properly.

11. Coriander and orange witbier (hacked Coopers Wheat) link. Yum yum, this disappeared quickly!

12. Craft Range Raspberry and Lime cider link. Quite a sulphur aroma initially, but after three months in the bottle this was tasting damn good.

13. Craft Range Red Ale link. Disappointed with this - quite bland with a poor head.

14. Muntons Gold Imperial Stout link. Nice, a little bit too sweet but I probably started at it too early. Have 5L left in a minikeg which I'm looking forward to.

15. Magnum Ultimate Pinot Grigio link. Much better than the other white wine kits.

16. Milestone Donner and Blitzed ale link . Very nice, good head.

17. Summit/Cascade "cheat's extract" IPA (flavour/aroma hops boiled 10 mins in water; bitterness adjusted with hop extract) link. Delicious, with a great head even though I didn't bother adding Carapils.

18. Magnum Ultimate Country White. Still in the FV, should be done within a week.

Plus some 5L brews as well - turbo cider, wine, and punch.


Lessons learned, comments, etc

• As the OP says, use a bench capper.
• Sanitiser - I only make up 2 litres (StarSan) per brew day and find it plenty. A spray bottle filled at the end of brewing does me for the 2ish weeks fermentation for sampling etc.
• Cleaning - Bruclean was great but expensive. Now I just use Lidl Oxi. Just make sure you clean straight after use!
• Impatience - it does pay to leave most beers at least a month. Ciders three months - I've just ordered a kit to do in Feb for the summer.
• Strength - the novelty of high ABV belters soon wears off. Recently I've been focussing on keeping ABVs down to sessionable strength.
• Suppliers - stuff constantly out of stock at all the usual suppliers is a constant frustration. To top it off, the customer service at my usual supplier (who I keep returning to due to their range and prices) is poor - the majority of my orders have been messed up in some way.

Biggest issue for me is deciding what to do, and when. I'm confined to using only one FV at a time (plus up to two 5L small FVs) for space reasons and it can be really hard trying to prioritise what to do! There's always something on offer that you "just have to get" - sometimes you just have to say 'no' as getting time to brew it is unlikely for months. What's killing me is doing white wine for the lady of the house - these have all taken a month or so, during which time it's easy to rip through your stock of 'correctly aged' beer, meaning I'm dipping into later made stuff too early. The rate she's tearing through my plonk doesn't help as I'm struggling to keep up! I'd really love to have space to run two FVs at a time.

Future plans
Experiment more with my "cheat's extract" using hop extract for bittering. This really is as easy as kit brewing and I'm delighted with my Summit/Cascade IPA. I don't have the time for all grain unfortunately.
Try to do some of the Coopers recipes - that Nelson light pale ale above sounds like a great guilt free pint to have at lunch!
Get silica dessicant sachets to keep with my gear to avoid mould.
Look into getting a fish tank heater to keep temps stable.
Current schedule:
Mid Jan: imperial stout (Brewmaker kit brewed short + LME + grains + hops).
Late Jan: repeat of my extract IPA. Going to brew it a little longer to get the ABV under 5%.
Mid Feb: mixed berry cider.
Late Feb: extract stout.
Mid March: white wine.

[BrewDorg]

18+ brews in a year! How do you get through it all?

[Drzava]

18+ brews in a year! How do you get through it all?

Dedication!

It's not as bad as it looks though. First three brews were done well short as the scale on my FV was way off (should have added that to the tips!). None of the white wine was for me. Much of the Gozdawa stout went down the drain. I still have most of the Tripel, half of the Donner and IPA and about a third of the Muntons stout. So really it's about 10 - 11 brews. And if a man can't have 400+ beers in a year he may as well give up!

[oconn]

WOW lads fair fecks to ye both on consumption and note taking. Wish i was as organised......

[RobShamrock]

Great write up Oinkley, we've chatted once or twice over the year I started Feb '15.  and like you with smallies and activities coming out my ying yang I've little time or space and have really enjoyed my first year brewing.

The forum has prooved invaluable with advice, I've had some great successes and a few poor brews, sometimes it just being something not to my taste. I'll dig out my brew book and see what I did for the year and report back.