Brew. Share. Enjoy. HomeBrewing Starter Set, Equipment and Recipe for 5 Gallon Batches (Hank's Hefeweizen)

Judging by most of the reviews, I seem to be one of the only people that purchased this with the Hank's Hefeweizen kit instead of the Block Party Amber. The short version is that it turned out great. Before purchasing this kit, I also looked into buying all the equipment individually, but this is way more economical. This kit, which includes a recipe kit and all the equipment you need, is $100. Buying just the recipe kit by itself is about $40. The cheapest equivalent food grade bucket and bottling bucket around $25 each, so just with those items, you're at just about the price of the entire kit. Then factor in that a 5 gallon kettle is at least $30, a bottle capper is $20, an auto siphon another $20, and the little things like a bottle brush and a large spoon and such, and there's no way you'll ever come out ahead by trying to buy everything individually. Initially I was looking at getting their deluxe kit, but there's really no point. The main difference is that the deluxe kit comes with a couple of 5 gallon glass carboys, while this kit comes with food grade plastic buckets. The plastic buckets are perfectly fine, and you'll never know the difference when you're drinking your beer. Also, oddly enough, the deluxe kit does not come with the 5 gallon kettle that this kit comes with. The only thing you'll need to buy that isn't included in the kit are bottles. However you can reuse any non twist off bottles you have around the house. This kit yielded 43 bottles worth of beer for me. Brewing instructions were simple and easy to follow. They also have a good video on YouTube that walks you through the process. I let it ferment for 2 weeks, then bottled it. I tried one 10 days after bottling, and it had plenty of carbonation. The beer I can most closely compare this to would be a Leffe Blonde. Overall an excellent buy, and I'm currently working on my second brew.

Where do I even begin... First off, let me just say that the customer service of this company is by far one of the best ones I have ever experienced. Since each one of these packages is hand selected and put together, mistakes happen and things get forgotten. I contacted them and they PROMPTLY sent me the missing item. No questions asked. Super fast shipping. I absolutely LOVE that. My husband and I went to visit one of his Military buddies out in FL Who just opened his own brewery a year ago and we came back home inspired. I got this kit for my husband as a gift and as soon as it came in, we began brewing our Hefeweizen. The instructions are super easy and clear and you literally got everything you need right under tour fingertips. After a 2 week fermentation period, we tried the (then just a little bit lively but not super carbonated) fermented beer and it was GREAT. So we were hopeful when we began bottling the beer and carbonating it. We ended up with 34 bottles and a mini keg full of beer from this one batch. We hosted a little beer unveiling and it was GREAT. My husband has since placed a few other orders from the company through their site and we currently have a small batch of a Blonde Ale that he put together fermenting up. We are about to place another order and begin brewing something else! With the holiday season upon us, this would be an AMAZING gift to give your spouse, parent, sibling or friend. Trust me, they would love it. My husband even convinced one of his work buddies to get a kit as well and begin brewing at home too. Overall, AMAZING quality products, AMAZING customer service, AMAZING gift and AMAZING flavor.

You will either brew once and never brew again OR this beginner kit will kick off the start to a great hobby. Everything you need to get started.

The kit was very basic, and the fermenting bucket lid was extremely hard to seat. Another reviewer mentioned that he had no seal. I suspect the lid simply wasn't on all the way. It is very hard to get on, harder to get off again. I highly recommend any other beginners get a proper fermenter and give the 5gal plastic bucket a miss. I also strongly suggest getting a strainer basket for the hops. And also strain the wort when transferring from brew pot to fermenting bucket. Even so, there will be a good amount of sediment in the fermenter when it is done, due to the yeast proliferating and doing its job. You may want to filter again, and transfer the fermented beer into the bottling bucket. It will then need to settle for a day. Speaking of settling, the beer worked hard for about 48 hours at a constant 72 degrees, then all but stopped working. After 12 days I decided to go ahead and keg it. just picking it up and disturbing it slightly set it to working again. Next time I make that recipe, I will shake it up good once a day for 8 or 9 days, then let it settle a few days before kegging. The finished product was pretty good. I was expecting something more like an IPA, and this came out more of a classic brown ale. The recipe in my kit was for the Block Party Amber. It was delicious, in an ale sort of way, strong aroma and flavor of fresh bread, not very hoppy, not sweet. No fruity or botanical notes to speak of, just a very faint hoppiness, bread, and a hint of earth and nuts. Satisfying and filling, good glass cling, good mouth feel. Not really my kind of beer but I will probably order the recipe ingredients kit to make it again soon, to bottle this time. My next batch will be made from ingredients from out local brewing supply house, a pilsner type liquid malt, room temp yeast, dont remember variety or brand, and a pound of malted rye. Ingredients total for that was pretty cheap and I am looking forward to brewing this next week, and then an ingredients only kit from Northern Brewers, Czech Pilsner Pale Lager. It will of course go to bottle after keg conditioning. Pilsner belongs in an icy cold longneck bottle, to me. So that is the next two 5gal batches planned. After that, the Block Party Amber again, maybe half of it going to bottle. I bought a few things that probably should be sold in any serious starter kit, though I gave the carboy a miss. I do think now that I will get a carboy or two, maybe a conical fermenter. Buckets are a real PITA. I strongly suggest any beginner also get a corny keg, CO2 tank and regulator, tank top beer faucet, and a fridge big enough to hold a corny keg. Kegged beer is dead easy, convenient, no sediment in the bottom of a bottle, and you can drink it the day after you keg it. You can always bottle straight from the keg, with a back pressure bottle filler. This gives you finished bottles that are ready to drink the next day, with no sediment. Or leave it in the keg. Keep the pressure low. I find 20lb to initially carbonate the beer, and 4lb working pressure for serving, to be about right, at least for the Block Party Amber. The kit is enough to get you started, make no mistake, though the equipment was far from ideal. The ingredients that I got were very good quality though, and made an excellent beer. It is good enough that I can swallow my pride and resist the urge to show it off, so I can drink every drop myself.

Good kit for beginners

This is a great kit to get you started with home brewing. However, there are a few things that irk me about it. For starters, the lids on the buckets are air-tight(as they should be) but they do not provide a tool to open said lid and it's a huge pain in pry it off without damaging the bucket. Secondly, the instructions are indeed beginner friendly but I feel it should be a little more in-depth during the preparation for fermenting process. Especially during the transferring procedure. Thirdly, why give bottle caps but no bottles? The kit is great overall, and I would recommend it. However, as stated above, they could have done a few things a little better.

It's seems like a great product, aside from the fact that the bucket lid CANNOT be removed without breaking it. It is not removable. Lots of people have the exact same problem and they receive new bucket lids. Northern Brewer has a "new and improved lid" If you live in Canada, they won't send you a new lid. They tell you to contact Amazon. Amazon will not help you. As someone who bought this product. It's a good product, good ingredients, they're doing everything right. But if they won't send you a new lid, you will only brew one batch of beer (if that). I would advise you buy a different kit. I will be buying a glass carboy from my home brew supply store. It's disappointing. but you're better off buying something else.

Thanks

Today is one week after brew day. I was supposed to dry hop with 1oz of chinook hops. But I simply can't open the lid. I tried with a screwdriver and a hammer, there is nothing I can do without breaking it. So I guess I'll have to try the recipe without the dry hops, and hopefully it won't be tasteless. And on bottling day, pretty sure that lid will break apart and I wont be able to brew another batch with the kit. Very sad since I saw a previous comment about that issue and still decided to buy, thinking to myself that this person just got badluck. But now I kind of regret it.