Stove Topper kits. Anyone tried one?

jamesymurray · Sep 3, 2015

Hello all,

I have only recently discovered the possibilities of doing AG brews at home on a small scale. This suits me for a number of reasons:
-I live in a small flat in London
-40 pints takes me months to get through, I like the variety that small-batch production will have.
-I can experiment more.

To get started I have stumbled upon these CraftyBrew stove topper kits from BrewUK.

I was wondering if anyone has tried one and what the results were like?
I have the Vanilla Porter kit on order, which should be here tomorrow, and can't wait to get cracking with it.

Cheers

wheazy_joe · Sep 3, 2015

Not seen those before, seem like a good way to get into AG brewing without committing to all the kit and obviously if you have limited space.

That said not the cheapest at over ÃÂ£1 / 500ml bottle (on the basis you are gonna get 8 at best for min ÃÂ£10 outlay).

jamesymurray · Sep 3, 2015

Yes, the cost is a lot steeper, however I am only planning to cut my AG teeth with them (get to grips with the methods whilst not worrying yet about the quantities). But after a couple of brews I really want to get into smaller 1 to 2 gallon batches from recipe.

wheazy_joe · Sep 3, 2015

jamesymurray said:
Yes, the cost is a lot steeper, however I am only planning to cut my AG teeth with them (get to grips with the methods whilst not worrying yet about the quantities). But after a couple of brews I really want to get into smaller 1 to 2 gallon batches from recipe.

Seems like you got yourself a plan there James! Good luck with it and let us know how they it works out. Had a look at their IPA and it has 100g of hops. That seems like a heck of a lot of hops for a 4 litre batch! Possibly goes some way to explain the cost as 100g of hops would cost about ÃÂ£6.50 alone.

Halfacrem · Sep 3, 2015

I've got two of these fermenting at the moment (Oatmeal Stout and Mosaic IPA) . They haven't quite gone to plan as neither have really got going with fermentation, however, this is no doubt entirely my doing.

Even if I have managed to screw them up, the whole experience was really worth it as on the back of these I've done my first 10 litre batch (a simple SMaSH) today. Without having done the stove toppers, I think I might have come unstuck very quickly.

Good luck with them if you decide to go for it.

jamesymurray · Sep 3, 2015

wheazy_joe said:
Possibly goes some way to explain the cost as 100g of hops would cost about ÃÂ£6.50 alone.

If it does indeed come with that amount of hops, then quids in! Shove them in the freezer for the future.

jamesymurray · Sep 3, 2015

Halfacrem said:
I've got two of these fermenting at the moment (Oatmeal Stout and Mosaic IPA) . They haven't quite gone to plan as neither have really got going with fermentation, however, this is no doubt entirely my doing.

Even if I have managed to screw them up, the whole experience was really worth it as on the back of these I've done my first 10 litre batch (a simple SMaSH) today. Without having done the stove toppers, I think I might have come unstuck very quickly.

Good luck with them if you decide to go for it.

That's exactly what I was hoping for.
I think as has been said, probably a bit more pricey for what they are, but seems like a really good intro to small batch AG.
Can't wait to get cracking.

MyQul · Sep 3, 2015

I haven't really looked into the kits other than I know there quite expensive but you can do the same thing with Clibit's thread for a lot less money. You just need a pot and grain bag

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=51779

wheazy_joe · Sep 3, 2015

jamesymurray said:
If it does indeed come with that amount of hops, then quids in! Shove them in the freezer for the future.

The blurb on the Mosaic IPA says it has "...nearly 100g of late & dry hopping...."

Not sure if that is the case for all the kits, but that will make a seriously hoppy 4 litres of brew!

jamesymurray · Sep 3, 2015

MyQul said:
I haven't really looked into the kits other than I know there quite expensive but you can do the same thing with Clibit's thread for a lot less money. You just need a pot and grain bag

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=51779

I did read Clibit's thread with great interest, and was going to look at trying his recipe for a simple SmASh brew too.

MyQul · Sep 3, 2015

He thread is really easy to follow and he'll give you loads of help if you need it (unlike the stove topper kits). Loads of people have been turned on to AG because of that thread - that's why we call him Darth Clibit, because he's converted more people to the darkside (of brewing) than the Emperor

wheazy_joe · Sep 3, 2015

I've read Darth Clibit's 'Simple AG' thread so many times and always been like, nah I don't have time for AG, I'll stick to kits.

BUT......now I've ordered my first extract kit, once I've done that I'm definitely going to have a go at Darth's AG. It seems so simple, even i could do it!!!!

wheazy_joe · Sep 3, 2015

P.S. MyQul, I reckon it will be the hops from your taster pack that will be going in my first 5 litre AG when I get round to it.

jamesymurray · Sep 3, 2015

I'm tempted to get the stuff for Clibit's recipe now and get cracking on it as soon as the FV is empty.

MyQul · Sep 3, 2015

wheazy_joe said:
P.S. MyQul, I reckon it will be the hops from your taster pack that will be going in my first 5 litre AG when I get round to it.

That's one of the uses I had in mind when I first thought of doing the taster packs

MyQul · Sep 3, 2015

jamesymurray said:
I'm tempted to get the stuff for Clibit's recipe now and get cracking on it as soon as the FV is empty.

Do it. you won't regret it. But your missus will as you spend all your money on HBing gear and constantly mess the kitchen up :lol:

jamesymurray · Sep 3, 2015

MyQul said:
Do it. you won't regret it. But your missus will as you spend all your money on HBing gear and constantly mess the kitchen up :lol:

She's not allowed to. It was her that bought me a Wherry kit a few years ago and got me into it!

clibit · Sep 3, 2015

If you want to make small batches you can convert any recipe by dividing each ingredient by the number of litres or gallons in the recipe, and multiplying by how many litres or gallons you want. Same applies to water quantity, if the recipe tells you. The simple AG thread is really about the method, you can use any recipe. It works out much cheaper than a stove topper, but I'm not knocking them, they look great for new brewers.

jamesymurray · Sep 4, 2015

Well the kit has turned up today.
Pretty much as one would expect. Included are:
1x Grain pack
3x Hop packs
1x Vanilla pod
1x S04 yeast

So yes, probably a bit on the pricey side compared to getting the stuff in individually (lesson learned for the next few brews) but on the whole I am happy.

There isn't any mention of exactly the grain pack consists of.
BrewUK mention Maris Otter, Crystal and Caramunich. There is a small amount of much darker looking grain in there, so I would expect there is some chocolate or black malt (?). No quantities mentioned.

Similarly with the hops. Challenger and Willamette are mentioned, but no quantities, just a hop order for boiling.

Looking forward to getting cracking on Sunday though.

Already planning the next 3 or 4 10L brews so I can bulk buy grain/hops.

GHW · Sep 4, 2015

Not done them but if you're ok with the cost and fancy the recipes I can't see how you'd go wrong with them. I think they're a good idea. I've done a few of their extract kits which have turned out well. They're not really beer 'kits' in the usual sense, just raw ingredients assembled in the right amounts for small volumes.

So like Myqul says, you probably could buy the same ingredients cheaper separately but like I did you'll end up with loads of half used bags of hops that you don't want to use, which kind of negates the point of doing that.

The advantage of kits is that you just get the amounts of grain, hops etc you need. And that's why you pay more for it.

Edit: dur,just re read thread and realised you've got it! It will make you some good beer. Do a report and let others know as I think they will make a good entry point into AG without adding the complexity of coming up with recipes.

Stove Topper kits. Anyone tried one?

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