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Author Topic: Return of the kit  (Read 10936 times)

Offline euge

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #15 on: January 13, 2012, 10:51:20 am »
I've been wanting to try the AK47 Mild. Let us know the results. Ha I think they say "ready in six weeks"!
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Offline bosoxsbrews

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #16 on: January 13, 2012, 11:44:07 am »
I've been wanting to try the AK47 Mild. Let us know the results. Ha I think they say "ready in six weeks"!

I will ... the description looks intriguing

I am a huge fan of the English styles ,just bottled a Sam Smith Taddy Porter clone and I am drinking a Midwest Irish Red and a Williams Brewing English Mild. I just love a good English session beer. Bitters ....Porters and Stouts ...oh my !  ;D
« Last Edit: January 13, 2012, 02:15:32 pm by bosoxsbrews »
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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #17 on: January 13, 2012, 12:54:06 pm »
I made the AK Mild a few years ago, I liked it.  People REALLY objected to me calling it a mild though, because milds are only dark beers ::)  The suggested just calling it a bitter or an English table beer.  I called it a mild anyway.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline punatic

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #18 on: January 13, 2012, 01:38:06 pm »

Brewing begins tomorrow afternoon...Details later ;D


Heh, heh, heh...  Another one joins the obsession!
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Offline bosoxsbrews

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #19 on: January 14, 2012, 05:16:04 pm »
Just got back from the LHBS decided to do a Red Hook ESB clone. Got all my ingredients and a new five gallon carboy. Planning on brewing my 70 shilling ale tomorrow before the Giants game go Big Blue!
Life's Loves ....the Red Sox and beer...

There you go, more negative waves! Have a little faith, baby! Have a little faith...

When in doubt ...poke it with a stick...

Offline alcaponejunior

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #20 on: January 15, 2012, 02:22:09 pm »
Oh man...

I have my first batch less than a week away from bottling, and my second and third batch (kits) ready to go.  It's VERY obsessionful... I've already spent about $270 in equipment and about $70 in ingredients.  (my first batch was all grain, but with help, see my al's celebration ale thread on this forum).

Otherwise I'm very much an amateur delving into kits and partial mash/extract for a while, till I have the space and time to do all grain.

My next two kits are a sweet/milk stout and an IPA.  I will be reporting on them when the time comes.  I might brew one of the kits next sunday (plan to bottle saturday).

Specific stuff I've got to help make things easier:

1. wine thief for checking SG readings prior to bottling

2. plastic cylinder for checking SG readings

3. 3/8" siphon

Everything else is pretty much a standard kit that we all probably have.

Notably, my first batch overflowed a little into the airlock and I had to take it out and clean it, replacing it with sanitized solution.  My volume was 5.5 gallons and was in a 6.5 gallon bucket.  Thus, if I had been in the 5 gallon carboy, I would have WAY overflowed. 

My first batch was an all grain sierra nevada celebration clone, with help from an experienced brewer.  I don't know if all-grain makes a higher high kreusen than extract, but I suspect that if I use the five gallon carboy, I need to make sure and leave some space at the top if I plan to use the standard airlock.  (I don't have the tubing-style overflow dealie that I've seen, thus, I need to account for high kreusen and make sure I don't have a nasty overflow).

I'm a mega-newbie too so please do elaborate in great detail as to your comments and/or experiences.

And OP: do tell how your beer comes out!  I will!

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #21 on: January 16, 2012, 08:34:08 am »
I would not try to ferment a 5 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy. you can do it and even without too much mess, set up a blow off tube. get some tubing that fits snuggly inside the mouth of your carboy and is long enough to go down into a bucket or jug partially filled with sanitizer. the excess krausen will push through the tube into the jug and vioala. However you will lose a fair amount of beer from a 5 gallon carboy that way. You can still use a blow off tube in the 6.5 gallon bucket although it's dependent on how the airlock fits in the bucket lid. If it's a big whole for a stopper than same as above, if it's a little hole for a gromet use a smaller diameter tube.
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Offline phillamb168

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #22 on: January 17, 2012, 02:33:57 am »
Well this has inspired me to do a kit brew again. I ordered a Munton's Gold scottish "Heavy" which I'm assuming is just a wee heavy. Should get here before the end of the week. That'll be tasty on hand pump.
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Offline euge

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #23 on: January 17, 2012, 11:29:12 am »
The Munton's stout has lost that "young beer" flavor after 17 days of cold conditioning and tastes pretty good. Gonna try and let it condition till February at least.

Meanwhile on NY eve I made a batch of the "Framboos" from Brewferm. It's a raspberry ale. Since one can only makes 12 liters I used two and instead of the cane sugar- 2# of DME to make 6 gallons. The pink krausen was hilarious. Now I need to bottle it in the next couple of days.

And last night I made Brewferm's Abdij "Abbey". Two cans and the DME again since one only makes 9 liters for this recipe. I pitched the yeast 1:13 after starting. Within 5 hours it was rocking away.

I plan to make some more Muntons and Coopers just to try the various types of their brews then move on to the American kits available. Something like Brewer's best and then maybe the one or two from the swathe NB advertises.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Offline dzlater

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #24 on: November 03, 2013, 08:42:27 am »
The Munton's stout has lost that "young beer" flavor after 17 days of cold conditioning and tastes pretty good. Gonna try and let it condition till February at least.

Meanwhile on NY eve I made a batch of the "Framboos" from Brewferm. It's a raspberry ale. Since one can only makes 12 liters I used two and instead of the cane sugar- 2# of DME to make 6 gallons. The pink krausen was hilarious. Now I need to bottle it in the next couple of days.

And last night I made Brewferm's Abdij "Abbey". Two cans and the DME again since one only makes 9 liters for this recipe. I pitched the yeast 1:13 after starting. Within 5 hours it was rocking away.

I plan to make some more Muntons and Coopers just to try the various types of their brews then move on to the American kits available. Something like Brewer's best and then maybe the one or two from the swathe NB advertises.

Hey euge, did you ever do any more kits? How did they turn out?
I wanted to brew something quick so I did a stove top extract partial boil last night. When I was at the shop picking up the DME and yeast, I saw they have a quite a few kits that look pretty good, and was thinking I might give one a try.


Dan S. from NJ

Offline euge

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #25 on: November 28, 2013, 10:50:33 pm »
Interestingly, they've (canned kits) all turned out great. I haven't tried the more complex kits but I bet they'll be fantastic.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Offline punatic

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #26 on: November 29, 2013, 01:01:09 am »
There you are!  We've been wondering where you've been euge.  Nothing in four months?!

Bad euge, no biscuit!

Welcome back amigo.  Don't be a stranger!
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Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Return of the kit
« Reply #27 on: November 29, 2013, 07:11:59 am »
Welcome back!
Jeff Rankert
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