BeerBorg

Has anyone had any experience using brew craft recipes? That's what my LHBS carries and was figuring it would be easier to pick then up there instead of online, prices look good too

I personally can't help ya, never heard of those.

fwiw. my lhbs carries 2 types of kits one is in a smallish box that contains dme/lme grains, hops,& yeast. another much larger box and the content seems to be wort and yeast. it's liquid, but not as thick as a lme, some hops for dry hopping, it's a "no boil" kit. actually he also sells cooper's it's a can of hme w/yeast under the lid, for 5gal. batches.(gee wonder where they got that idea?). the point i'm tryin' to make is, my lhbs guy is willing to open a box to show what's inside. perhaps yours will also.

No experience, but here's a link: http://www.brewcraftusa.com/docs/Beer%2 ... Sheets.pdf

However, why buy a kit when you're already at your LHBS? Find the recipe, buy the ingredients, and do it yourself.

RickBeer wrote:No experience, but here's a link: http://www.brewcraftusa.com/docs/Beer%2 ... Sheets.pdf

However, why buy a kit when you're already at your LHBS? Find the recipe, buy the ingredients, and do it yourself.

+1

Mostly because they don't seem to have a huge selection of grains though they did say they can order anything I need, it is mostly a wine shop with a small beer section, a few 5 gallon kits, some extracts, and a few recipes, they appear to be extract with specialty grains mostly, I think doing a few of those would be good rather than jumping right into AG. But it seems like everyone recommends going straight to all grain if possible.

Either way is fine. It certainly is possible to go too fast. That said, I did only three or four hopped extract batches before doing my first grain batch. It is good, but stronger than I wanted, I didn't get the water volume right. You definitely need an accurate thermometer and a hydrometer to do all grain. I think steeping grains is a good stepping stone to AG.

I do like the thorough instructions in the brewcraft. (I read it online, I haven't used them) Some of the kits I've bought have bare bones directions.

Well, I went from Mr. Beer HMEs to Mr. Beer with steeps to extract recipes with steeps. With LME/DME and specialty grains, hops and yeast you're all set. I'm quite happy with what I'm brewing and have no expectation (famous last words) of going further anytime soon. I've made a Blue Moon clone (for my son), a Moosedrool clone, and most recently Mackinac Island Red. All 5 gallon, split between two LBKs.

The recipes look pretty good as well as the instructions, I think i am going to try one of them as soon as I get a second fermenter to split it between

D34THSPAWN wrote: I think doing a few of those would be good rather than jumping right into AG. But it seems like everyone recommends going straight to all grain if possible.

I think most of us recommend taking gradual steps and getting to learn the process and ingredients. HMEs are good to start, then HMEs with additions and steeps, moving into LMEs with hops and steeps, BIAB, then AG. Too many people try moving up too quickly and start going mad scientist and give up when things dont go as planned. If one plans on simply following other people's recipes sometimes moving up quickly is fine. But to become a brewer who understands all the little differences it makes a lot of sense to perfect one step and try some variations before moving on.

That's what I did... HME kits...Then Steeping grains + LME/DME + Hop boils..It's a nice little building block before going all grain because you will be familiar with hop boils/times as well as regulating temp/time from the steeping grain

D34THSPAWN wrote:Mostly because they don't seem to have a huge selection of grains though they did say they can order anything I need, it is mostly a wine shop with a small beer section, a few 5 gallon kits, some extracts, and a few recipes, they appear to be extract with specialty grains mostly, I think doing a few of those would be good rather than jumping right into AG. But it seems like everyone recommends going straight to all grain if possible.

your right, but you don't have to jump stright into ag. you can brew with lme/dme & hops when your ready to move on from HMEs

after doing some more research thats what I think I wan't to do after I get a couple more HME batches done to get a solid process and workflow going then I can take these kit recipes and halve them for a 2.5 gallon batch in my LBK until I want to step up to 5 gallon then AG. Its a tough decision, I want to do so many things but I can only do one for now lol

I keep bouncing back and forth if I want to go AG. In reality I'm having fun doing some partial mash recipes and learning more about the different ingredients that make up good beer. I've heard people say that you can't make good beer with extracts but to be honest the more "craft" beers that I taste, I feel that even extract with specialty recipes match some of the "craft" beers that I've had. Remember that it's a hobby and hobbies are supposed to be fun. This one we just get to drink beer with!