Home Brew Company AG ESB Mash Kit

Just realised the competition rules said I should post the review in here:

It’s taken me a while to get around to doing the brew as I was on holiday for two weeks and had a debilitating hangover the weekend after I got back!

By the time I’d got all of my equipment out of the garage and in to the conservatory it was 15:15 so I expected to be all finished and cleaned up by 21:00. Before doing anything else I opened up the box to see what I had:

• 1 x instruction leaflet
• 1 x big bag of grains
• 3 x packs of hops, each cleared labeled with the addition time
• 1 x safale us 05 yeast
• 1 x mysterious tablet

I’ll start with a bit of info on each bit each bit:

Instructions

Very generic simplified instructions but there are so many different processes for all grain brewing it’s impossible to provide something that works for everyone. One thing that did disappoint me is that the recipe wasn’t included where by other suppliers do so if I like how this turns out I wouldn’t be able to recreate or tweak it in the future. That said, they are cheaper so I guess you pay a premium for the recipe from other suppliers. In spite of their being no recipe I’d have expected the weight of the grains to be included so I could calculate my mash/sparge water, this wouldn’t have been a problem if I had better scales but I don’t so I had to use my bathroom scales and go to the nearest KG.

Grains

The grains were well crushed and smelled lovely. I had no idea what they were but having since checked the website I can see it was a mix of Maris Otter, Crystal and Caramalt.

Hops

The hops were pre-weighed with the addition time clearly labelled which I liked. Again, I had no idea what the hops were but the website tells me they were Challenger and East Kent Goldings.

Yeast

The yeast was safale US 05 which I thought was a strange choice for an ESB but I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve tasted the final product.

Mystery Tablet

The instructions made no mention of the mystery tablet (not that I could see but my observation skills are limited) so I chucked it in the bin. I assumed it was something for clarity and the website has now confirmed this.

After following my usual GrainFather instructions I ended up with 23 litres with an OG of 1.052, quite a bit higher than the 1.046 mentioned in the instructions but I was expecting that as I know the GrainFather is great for efficiency.

Took a gravity reading last night, down to 1.012 after 11 days so I think it's finished. The sample was quite nice, smelled a bit like a stout for some reason but tasted like a bitter. Will bottle on Friday night and crack open my first sample two weeks later. Going to put a liter into an oak cask, not sure if that'll turn out well but I have been surprised in the past.

Good review thank you! We'll make sure it gets passed on to HBC. I suspect they don't label everything for sales reasons - if they did they may as well post recipes!

Thanks again Doc. I will pass your comments on to HBC.

I actually think US05 is a good dried yeast choice for this brew. The US tag is a bit misleading, the yeast will have originated over here, it's just a very neutral strain, not a million miles from Nottingham, really.

First bottle tonight after 2 weeks carbing up, needs longer to condition but a very nice drop...quite a bit of sweetness and plenty of flavour, can't wait to try it again in a couple of weeks.

Just a note about the mystery tablet, I believe it to be something of the nature of one of the compressed Irish Moss tablets (Whitfloc or Protofloc or similar) Which as I understand it, it helps to break protein out of the Wort for as you say a clearer beer. Usually you add Irish Moss for the final 15 mins of the boil.

cornyandy said:

Just a note about the mystery tablet, I believe it to be something of the nature of one of the compressed Irish Moss tablets (Whitfloc or Protofloc or similar) Which as I understand it, it helps to break protein out of the Wort for as you say a clearer beer. Usually you add Irish Moss for the final 15 mins of the boil.

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First time I used a Wirflock tablet I was amazed at how clear the beer was when I bottled it after a fortnight. It was as bright as you could wish for. Previous to using the magic tablet, I was bottling soup at times.

Tony1951 said:

First time I used a Wirflock tablet I was amazed at how clear the beer was when I bottled it after a fortnight. It was as bright as you could wish for. Previous to using the magic tablet, I was bottling soup at times.

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I've never done a brew without using one, so I've got nothing to compare it with, but my beer is always clear after conditioning. I might do the next one without just to see...

ManseMasher said:

I've never done a brew without using one, so I've got nothing to compare it with, but my beer is always clear after conditioning. I might do the next one without just to see...

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I regularly do brews without whirlfloc/protofloc/irish moss, cuz I keep forgetting to put it in the boil :lol:

Tried a bottle last night after 4 weeks in the bottle and I have to say I'm very impressed. Reminds me more of a mild than a bitter but that's no bad thing for me.