Review of several BrewDemon Recipes

[Takingabreak]

I have made a number of BrewDemon recipes over the last several months and wanted to give a quick review of the results:

* One Evil Pilsner. For an extract recipe, this one turned out excellent. Clear, good, color, excellent taste without too much bite, and good carbonation. I have made it twice so far and have purchased 2 more kits. Everyone that tasted it (about 5 other) really enjoyed this one.

* Twisted Monk Witbier. This was my first brewing attempt and it turned out well overall. I did not get the carbonation that I was looking for but that was probably an error on my part. Most of the people who tasted this one gave it a solid thumbs up. I have purchased this recipe again and will make it in the future.

* Sinful Swill Vienna Lager. This one turned out really well. It is similar to an Oktoberfest type of beer. I had a few other tasters for this one and half really enjoyed it and the other half did not care for it. But, that was not unexpected since most of them really only like lagers and blonde ales.

* Ye Olde Devil Nut Brown Ale. This one turned out really well. All five of my tasters gave this one top marks. I have purchased this recipe again and will make it in the future.

* Hellfire Deep Red Ale. This one was a bust. For some reason, it was completely flat with no carbonation. I did not see much fermentation activity when it was being made so maybe the yeast was bad. I will make it again in the future and maybe try to use a better quality yeast.

[Kealia]

I'd say with 4 thumbs up out of 5 that you're doing pretty well!

[BlackDuck]

Yup...good results for sure. Keep drinking, so you can keep brewing.

[John Sand]

Thanks for the reviews. Without consulting my notes, I recall preferring BrewDemon to MrBeer.

[RickBeer]

Thanks for the reviews. Without consulting my notes, I recall preferring BrewDemon to MrBeer.

Unless something changed, BrewDemon is using the old Mr. Beer HME supplier (I don't keep up with BrewDemon). Mr. Beer is now using new owner Cooper's HMEs. They are far superior to the old Mr. Beer / current(?) BrewDemon HMEs in my opinion.

Of course my opinion is simply my opinion.

[John Sand]

I think that change had happened when I tried BD.

[Takingabreak]

I have made a number of recipes by BrewDemon, Mr. Beer, as well as some partial boil recipes from other suppliers. So far, I have brewed 19 batches since July 2018. I have begun experimenting with different yeasts. I made a Love 2 Brew Simple Saison and an Easy Blonde partial boil recipes that were huge hits. I doctored up a Mr. Beer Canadian Blonde Ale with addition of honey that probably received the best response from my lighter beer drinkers. I also made a 5-gallon Beer Simply Beer American Ale recipe from Midwest Supplies that was quite excellent. I purchased a lot of kits from BrewDemon and Mr. Beer last summer when they were having huge sales. I still need to make 4-5 other recipes before cycling through all of the different kits that I purchased. I have been taking good notes and will remake/modify some of the easy recipes and will likely purchase some of the Beer Simply Beer 5-gallon recipes from Midwest Supplies going forward. The Beer Simply Beer recipes will make a good base recipe and the price can't be beat ($25 for a complete 5-gallon kit including the better dry yeast).

[mashani]

Thanks for the reviews. Without consulting my notes, I recall preferring BrewDemon to MrBeer.

Unless something changed, BrewDemon is using the old Mr. Beer HME supplier (I don't keep up with BrewDemon). Mr. Beer is now using new owner Cooper's HMEs. They are far superior to the old Mr. Beer / current(?) BrewDemon HMEs in my opinion.

Of course my opinion is simply my opinion.

This is true I think from a quality/freshness standpoint, except if your someone like me who tastes Pride of Ringwood when used as a bittering hop in an off way. Half of the Mr. Beer HMEs I couldn't use because my taste perceptions scream "bitter wood chips" even if it's just used as a bittering hop. I couldn't use the pilsner as a light beer base because of this. The only HMEs that masked it totally for me were the very malty / dark / crystal flavored ones. The lighter and simpler they were the worse it got.

The way to know is to find some actual Coopers lager/ale and try it. It has the same taste. If you can taste it there you can taste it in many of the HMEs.

[John Sand]

I have made a number of recipes by BrewDemon, Mr. Beer, as well as some partial boil recipes from other suppliers. So far, I have brewed 19 batches since July 2018. I have begun experimenting with different yeasts. I made a Love 2 Brew Simple Saison and an Easy Blonde partial boil recipes that were huge hits. I doctored up a Mr. Beer Canadian Blonde Ale with addition of honey that probably received the best response from my lighter beer drinkers. I also made a 5-gallon Beer Simply Beer American Ale recipe from Midwest Supplies that was quite excellent. I purchased a lot of kits from BrewDemon and Mr. Beer last summer when they were having huge sales. I still need to make 4-5 other recipes before cycling through all of the different kits that I purchased. I have been taking good notes and will remake/modify some of the easy recipes and will likely purchase some of the Beer Simply Beer 5-gallon recipes from Midwest Supplies going forward. The Beer Simply Beer recipes will make a good base recipe and the price can't be beat ($25 for a complete 5-gallon kit including the better dry yeast).

Sounds great, I'm glad you're brewing successfully. I found extract kits an improvement over HMEs, but that may have been process improvement over time. I'm drinking a 15 Minute Pale now that is good, and I just brewed a partial mash. I like buying extract kits on sale, and often doctor them up.