Review of Brewbarrel IPA mini keg kit

[redshift]

I won this in the Geterbrewed raffle a couple of weeks back so thanks for the opportunity to review this! I got it started tonight. It's a couple of years since I tasted any kit beer, but I don't remember being terribly impressed but I'm trying this with an open mind 

This is the kit:

All the bits and bobs which come in the box, from left to right: The 5 litre mini keg (seems good quality, well made), PRV, 650g bottle of LME, flavouring hop extract, 4g pack of yeast (don't know what type of yeast), cascade aroma hop extract, hersbrucker aroma hop extract, beer mats and instructions.


The instructions are nice and clear and it's a very quick and simple process. As an AG brewer I love all the faff of doing everything from raw ingredients, but I appreciate that not everyone has the time, space or desire, so kits can be a good compromise. And I don't think you can make beer any quicker than this. It probably took me about 10-15 mins. Simply open the keg, pour in the LME, add 1 bottle full of hot water and 5 bottles of cold. Then add the hop extracts and yeast, push in the PRV and job done.
Adding the LME

Top up with water

Adding the hop extract. I was a little dubious about how good extract could be compared to the real thing, but in all honesty they smell fantastic! Especially the cascade, it really smells great.
Yeast is in, then pop in the valve. According to the instructions this will regulate the internal pressure to carbonate the beer perfectly.
Now I leave it at room temperature for 5 days then refrigerate for 2 more days. Then I tap it and drink straight from the keg 
When ready I'll report back on how it tastes, but the preparation couldn't be easier.
It is a little pricey, £20-30 depending on the kit, so £2-3 per pint. But if the quality is excellent and you don't have the time for extract or AG then it might be ok.
Here's a link to their site for further info: http://www.brewbarrel.co.uk
Thanks again to Geterbrewed, here's a link to their selection:
http://www.geterbrewed.com/brewbarrel-beer-kits/
TBC...

[Will_D]

Great review, Well done!

Looking forward to the tastings!

[irish_goat]

Those bottles of LME look handy. I'd assume it's easy to get every bit out as you could fill it with water and give it a good shake to dissolve it all.

[mervynskidmore]

Not to sound like a downer but it seems like a complete waste of money to me. Not sure what market this is aimed at as the kit market is already simple enough and the quality of beer is getting better and better.

[Garry]

Nice review redshift.  Keep us updated 

As for the price, I believe these kits are aimed at the gift market for peeps that have never brewed before. So it's unfair to compare them to regular beer kits. Everything you need to make a few pints is in the box.

[redshift]

Those bottles of LME look handy. I'd assume it's easy to get every bit out as you could fill it with water and give it a good shake to dissolve it all.

Yeah after it's emptied you then fill the bottle with boiling water and add that so all the LME comes out.

As for the price, I believe these kits are aimed at the gift market for peeps that have never brewed before. So it's unfair to compare them to regular beer kits. Everything you need to make a few pints is in the box.

I think you've got it, it's probably a good gift idea rather than a replacement for the standard kits.

However if you read some of the information from their website I'm not sure that's what they were going for. A couple of excerpts:

In the beginning of 2011, we once again found ourselves standing in front of the beer shelves of our local supermarket without any idea which beer to choose. Not because of the large selection on display, but due to the fact that we had already tried everything and every beer somehow tasted the same. We found ourselves asking: Why is there so little choice? Is it too much to expect a bit of variety? To be able to find the perfect beer for an amazing meal or for a special night with friends? Unhappy with the lack of variety in commercial beer and the complicated home brewing process, we started our first home brewing experiments.

Because we love doing things on our own, we decided to try brewing our own beer. The internet offered many recipes and home brewing kits, so we didn't think it would be too difficult. Unfortunately, it wasn't as simple as we had originally thought. We messed up our kitchens with malty equipment and drove our loved ones crazy with undrinkable beer. The recipes we found on the internet didn't produce good results. The home brewing kits we ordered didn't work or were too complicated. Why was it so hard to brew our own beer?

Now I'm not sure why their beer was undrinkable, I'm sure there are some very good kits out there, probably for a lot less money than the brewbarrel too.

Online recipes didn't produce good results? Again not sure what recipes these were but I'd say the fault was almost certainly with the brewer rather than the recipe.

If their goal was to make brewing simpler then job done. But I don't agree with them criticising other kits or methods. Unless of course this turns out to be the best homebrew I've tasted 

[LordEoin]

Nice one, nifty little idea alright.
No bottling \o/

[redshift]

Well this has had 5 days at 20c then 2 days at 2c in the fridge as per the instructions so here comes the taste test.

I released the prv on the top and extended the tap.

Then poured the first glass, as you can see it's a bit foamy  :shock:


After a few minutes it settled down so I managed to get a full pint (sort of). It's very murky as I expected. It's possible that it's just because it's the first pull, it may get clearer after a couple of pints.

Anyway, how is it?

Aroma- Very nice actually, tropical, citrusy American hops. Very fruity. Smells like a good American pale ale should, very promising.

Flavour- The most prominent flavour is actually an acidic fruity sharpness, almost like citric acid. It's a little unusual, but not entirely unpleasant. Very fruity, particularly orange flavours. Not massive hop flavour but has a decent dryish bitter finish, not bitter enough for an IPA though. Overall it's a little dull but it's definitely better than the 3 kits I made a few years back. It's just a pity it doesn't taste as good as it smells.

[Garry]

It doesn't sound bad considering it's only been 7 days 

[LordEoin]

You could always put a few ml of bittering extract in there too

[redshift]

Well I've just had another glass of this tonight and it's much better than the first 2 I had yesterday. It's still cloudy but definitely not as much sediment in it and it tastes way better for it.
Has a much cleaner profile now, not so much of the sharp fruitiness, more crisp and refreshing.
Now I followed the instructions to the letter and they don't suggest that the first pint or so be discarded but maybe they should. Although it seems a little wasteful to chuck 10% of the product away so I doubt they'd say so, but it definitely tastes much better now. Still has that old familiar "kit twang" though.

It doesn't sound bad considering it's only been 7 days 

That's true it could probably benefit from another week conditioning, but I figured that if this is targeted at the gift market rather than experienced brewers, many wouldn't know that and so will follow the manufacturers instructions, so that's what I did.