Just realised the competition rules said I should post the review in here:
Itâs 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 Iâd 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:
Iâll 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 itâs impossible to provide something that works for everyone. One thing that did disappoint me is that the recipe wasnât included where by other suppliers do so if I like how this turns out I wouldnât 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 Iâd have expected the weight of the grains to be included so I could calculate my mash/sparge water, this wouldnât have been a problem if I had better scales but I donât 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 Iâll reserve judgement until Iâve 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.
Itâs 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 Iâd 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
Iâll 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 itâs impossible to provide something that works for everyone. One thing that did disappoint me is that the recipe wasnât included where by other suppliers do so if I like how this turns out I wouldnât 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 Iâd have expected the weight of the grains to be included so I could calculate my mash/sparge water, this wouldnât have been a problem if I had better scales but I donât 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 Iâll reserve judgement until Iâve 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.