Way to Amarillo extract kit review

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Having brewed up quite a few 1 and 2 can kits, I was keen to try to move onto the next stage and ordered one of the Extract kits from BrewUK, Way To Amarillo (http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/beerkits/brewextract/amarillo-recipe-pack.html), based soley on the number of favourable reviews. :pray: The kit comprised of dried malt extract, Amarillo hops and yeast. Have seen comments that these kits are expensive, but they're about the same as a decent 2-can kit, and you get exactly what you need to make the specific brew....plus home brew shops need to make a profit, or else they wouln't be in business and we'd had far less choice.

Anyway, had to get a bigger stock pot off eBay: 15L, you could get away with smaller, as the boil volume is only 6L or so, to which you add cold water. I did the boil then cooled the pan down in a few sinkfuls of cold water, strained it into the FV, and by the time I'd made up the volume with cold water it was a perfect 24C, so ready to pitch the yeast. OG came out around 1052 :shock: Here's some pics:

Amarillo_small.jpg


Re-hydrated and pitched the yeast, it was off within 7 hours, and 14 days later it was down to 1010, so half bottled and half kegged it. Had a sneakly sample and it's gorgeous, a really hoppy light-coloured ale, right up my street. They refer to it an American Pale Ale. Now the long wait begins for it to clear and mature a bit.

Although I've been very happy with most of the 2-can kits, IMHO they tend to be malty rather than hoppy, moving to extract gives you the opportunity to make a really hoppy brew. Very happy with this kit already and planning to do others, especially as they do clones of some of the popular pub beers: Theakston Old Peculiar and Exmoor Gold next.

Would encourage kits brewers to give Extract brewing a go, didn't take that much longer than a normal kit brew and the results really do seem to be a step up. Forum sponsor also does Extract kits (http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/ext ... c-164.html), with these you have to buy the malt extract separately.

Will report back when I have the first proper sample.
 
darrellm said:
The kit comprised of dried malt extract, Amarillo hops and yeast. Have seen comments that these kits are expensive, but they're about the same as a decent 2-can kit, and you get exactly what you need to make the specific brew.


Waiting to try my first attempt at extact which will be ready to keg next weekend.

Looking at the ingredients of your kit , the same could be bought from our sponsors to make 2 x 23L batches for about £36 , a saving of almost £7 a brew.
 
made this 3 weeks ago and now waiting for it to mature in the keg, i also did the london pride extract and its soooo much better than any of the kits ive done, well worth moving on from kits to extract then on to a/g which i have just done.
 
So here it is:
WayToAmarillosmall.jpg


Half bottled, half kegged 10 days ago, and it's cleared already. This is gorgeous: light, hoppy, bags and bags of flavour, no "homebrew" taste whatsoever. I'm sure it'll only get better with age, but at this rate it isn't going to last long. Only criticism is strength, I wouldn't normally drink a 6% beer that often but this is so moorish :D Of 16 brews so far, this equal no.1 (along with the Pops Homebrew / Foresters range of kits), and confirmation that Extract brewing really is a step up in terms of quality (although I still consider Wherry and a few others very fine kits).

May have to follow Pearlfishers advice and get the raw ingredients next time at £7 a brew cheaper, definately one to brew again. Awaiting arrivel of BrewUK's Old Peculiar clone, so we'll see how that turns out :thumb:
 
Again, chose this due to all the reviews on the Brew site as my first extract brew. Its basically 3kg of light extract , a yeast sachet and some Amarillo hops. one of the attractive aspects is that a smallish (10l) pan is deemed sufficent for this brew.

Never worked with DME before so not used to just how sticky and horrible it becomes when even the slightest bit wet! The boil when fine though, it dissolved really easily, I halved the qty of amarillo and used 50% Citra as well that I had in the freezer.
Used cheap mineral water for the whole brewing volume and it didnt need much cooling to get to 24 degrees for pitching.
Fermentation was quick if not exactly ferocious and took about a week to get to 1010. I dry hopped for a few days (again with citra/amarillo) It tasted great straight out of the FV

Bottled into 500ml glass beer bottles after 14 days. Used 2x carb drops as I believe this style should be quite lively. Tested after a week in the warm and its FANTASTIC

A genuine hoppy aroma, great mouthfeel and that true american IPA/Punk flavour. It was as clear as a bell too. Will leave another week in the warm and then somewhere cool. I cant recommend this enough
 
Great kit and although the DME has obviously been processed, there's something very satisfying about starting with dry ingredients to make your beer!

For any other beginners out there another thing to be careful with the DME is that if it boils over it can make a real mess of your cooker that takes hours to get off (guess how I know!)

But as others have said, dead easy to make and tastes delicious. I do prefer their Old Speckled Hen clone though (which IMHO tastes better than the real stuff!)
 
Making this one in a weekend or two. There's a YouTube vid of someone making this up which says to watch for the hot break. Having read up I now have an idea of what this is/why it happens, but not totally sure how I'll know when it happens.

Any tips?
 
Bam! These brews is good brews! Very pleased with this. My razorback ipa came with a slight apology when I gave someone a pint of it. This one comes with a glowing sense of pride. Not quite as clean as a commercial pint but not far off it and an amazing taste that I haven't found in any pub or shop beers recently. Unless the wherry im conditioning comes close to this its extract all the way from now on. Easy peasy to do, fun to do, great beer at the end of it. What's not to love?
 
I got this extract recipe kit for christmas along with a large pot and strainer that has a frame that clips onto the bucket.

Firstly I really liked properly making up the wort, I've done a few kits and lastly tried doing a geterbrewed create a beer but didn't really work for a couple reasons.

The instructions of WTA are very clear to follow, the hops are leaf hops and using the strainer if I have any hop debree it's very very small amount.

It was about 6/7pm last night when all done and in the fermenter and bubbles were slowly starting to surface at 11, this morning they are slowly increasing. I expect within the full 24 hours it'll kick into high gear.

I had more water in than suggested as I had 2l water bottles after I finished emptying 1 it reached just under the 23l mark.

OG was 1.046, I had alot of froth due to passing water through the hops in the strainer. I could of stirred it even more. As I don't think the extra few litres would equal the lower reading. It'll still come out to approx 4.7%
Can't wait for bottling in 2 weeks.
 
I bottled mine last night, as its customary I had the dregs of the bottling barrel, alough a little cloudy is no where near as cloudy as any previous brews. I made it up to 23L orginally and as there was quite a lot of krausen and trub I was careful not to syphon too much from the fermentor. Ended up bottling 12 500ml flip top bottles, 2 300ml flip tops, 7 500ml capped, 7 300ml capped and 1 Tap a draft (10 pints). So still made a fair amount.

Here's two pics from the bottling.
https://goo.gl/photos/tCMuY77ZaZXL8c3T9
https://goo.gl/photos/WmMrcXcEx4rgguhC6

Like as described the aroma was grapefruit/citrus esc (although faint it will develop) and also the flavour was light and a zesty orangery. I'm force carbing my tap a draft so I can have some soon.
 
So here it is:
WayToAmarillosmall.jpg


Half bottled, half kegged 10 days ago, and it's cleared already. This is gorgeous: light, hoppy, bags and bags of flavour, no "homebrew" taste whatsoever. I'm sure it'll only get better with age, but at this rate it isn't going to last long.

Mine seems to be a little lighter in colour - almost in the larger spectrum, however I mostly think this is due to bringing the volume up to 23L rather than the volume stated in the instructions. So mine is more easier on the head being less abv too. I don't have all that many left already and its only been 3 1/2 weeks. Only about 18 bottles tops left but haven't counted that includes a TaD all gone within the first week.

Had two last night due to my wife offered a new job and also not drinking on Friday which is one of my usual drinking nights so thought why not!

Second of the two wasn't fridge chilled but was in a cool box so was probably around 12oc, the flavours came out more but only slightly, a citrusy flavour with hints of grapefruit that tastes much like the smell you get when you peel an orange
 
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