HBC Full Extract Kit - Dick Dastardly's Dunkel Hefeweizen (23LT)

[damienair]

A few months ago I tried my very first attempt at a full extract kit. I'd done 18 kits and wanted to try out a full extract brew. I did the Citra IPA full extract kit from The Homebrew Company. The results were absolutely amazing and the Citra IPA was the best kit I have done yet. The brew started on the 30/03/22 and I still have 2 bottles left, I adored it and will do it again. So with that experience I decided to try another one. This time I tried the Dick Dastardly's Dunkel Hefeweizen and it was my 21st brew.

Brew started on 30/07/22. Ingredients: 2.5kg Wheat Spraymalt. Grain: Roast Barley, Chocolate, Black. Hops: Target and Hallertau. 1 x 11g sachet of yeast. Muslin Bag. I steeped the grains for 30 minutes in 3 litres of water at 70 degrees C, then rinsed the grains with another 3 litres of water at 70 degrees C. I have just a 9 litre stock pot so brought the wort to a rolling boil and added the hops as per instructions at 60,30, and 0 minutes. As this was a Hefeweizen there was no need to add a warflock tablet. I then added the dry spraymalt and used a whisk to make sure that all was properly dissolved and no clumps remained. I then took the wort to the sink and cooled in a cold water bath until I reached approx. 50 degrees C. Using a beer strainer I poured the wort into my fermentation bucket and topped up to 23 litres with cold water reaching a temp of 22 degrees C. My initial gravity reading was 1.042 , I added the SafAle WB-06 German Wheat Beer Dry Yeast.
We have all heard of the 2+2+2 method. Well I tried the 3+3+3 method instead due to being lazy more than anything else. I bottled the beer on the 21st of August using 180g of brewing sugar mixed with 400 ml of hot water to batch prime. Final gravity reading was 1.004
The bottles were moved to the garage on the 11/09/22 so as to condition. I tried my first bottle on Friday the 30th of September just in time for oktoberfest . The result is a lovely dark wheat beer. You would find it hard to get nicer in a craft beer bar. Really nice and I believe will only get better with age. The carbonation is just right and it is a lovely easy to drink beer for the winter months ahead. The quality of these kits is absolutely amazing and even better still is the fact that the price is just over half the price of a premium kit. I'm sold on these Full Extract Kits. Today I put in an order for a HBC Full Extract Blonde Ale and a HBC Full Extract Pamela Anderson Ale.

It takes a couple of hours to make up the brew and a few extra steps along the way. However the results are well worth it. I did not need to buy anything extra, we already had a 9 litre stock pot at home but a bigger one would be better. If your interested in giving it a go, it's simple. If I can do it anyone can. Here is a YouTube Video which shows the steps similar to what I did. The instructions which come with the kit is very good and the hops are all labeled with times to be added during the boil.



Cheers,

Damien

 

[Graz]

Thanks for writing this up, very encouraging as I've been thinking about trying some extract brews in the not too distant future. Will definitely look at some of the HBC kits.

 

[GhostShip]

Great review! Thanks for posting. I haven’t progressed beyond kits yet, but it’s posts like this that may persuade me to expand my horizons in the future.

 

[damienair]

Thanks for writing this up, very encouraging as I've been thinking about trying some extract brews in the not too distant future. Will definitely look at some of the HBC kits.

Cheers. Yes it is great. And I’m sure in time I’ll try other recipes myself. But these kits have all that done for you. At €18 per kit it’s a bargain, especially considering the quality of the finished beer.

 

[damienair]

Great review! Thanks for posting. I haven’t progressed beyond kits yet, but it’s posts like this that may persuade me to expand my horizons in the future.

It’s still a kit. Everything you need to do the brew comes with the kit. It really is just a few extra steps and adds about 1.5 hours onto your brew. But the results are fantastic and well worth the effort.

 

[GhostShip]

This is probably a stupid question, but if you’re using a 9L stock pot and these kits are 23L, do you split the kit ingredients and make it up in batches or just make up 9L (or less)? Sorry if you’ve already answered this somewhere - I’m just trying to get my head around the process.

 

[Sandimas]

No such thing as a stupid question.

You do a reduced volume boil and top up to volume with cold water in the FV. 9L might be a little small I use a 15L stockpot, and others I know use 12L. The smaller the volume, the less hop utilisation, although in my experience it doesn't matter too much. I've done 50 or so of these extract brews over the years, have now moved to AG but still do a reduced volume boil and use a recipe planner to correct it by upping the hops, I can't really taste that much difference to be honest.

 

[GhostShip]

No such thing as a stupid question.

You do a reduced volume boil and top up to volume with cold water in the FV. 9L might be a little small I use a 15L stockpot, and others I know use 12L. The smaller the volume, the less hop utilisation, although in my experience it doesn't matter too much. I've done 50 or so of these extract brews over the years, have now moved to AG but still do a reduced volume boil and use a recipe planner to correct it by upping the hops, I can't really taste that much difference to be honest.

Got it! Thank you.

 

[damienair]

So I use 4 litres of water at 68 degrees C and steep the grains for 30 mins. I then rinse the grains with a further 3 litres of water at 70-72 degrees C. I then put this on a rolling boil for 1 hour adding the hops at various intervals as per instructions. After the hour I add the DME or LME and mix with a whisk. I cool the wort and transfer to the fermentation bucket through a filter which catches hops etc. I then add water and bring the wort up to 23 litres at 22 degrees C. Take a sample and add the yeast. Honestly the quality is a step above most kits. Although I did stick on a Mangrove Jacks Juicy Session IPA yesterday. After that I’ll be sticking on a Full Extract Blonde Ale. The 9 litre stock pot works fine for me although a 15 litre pot would be much better.