HBC Extra Special Bitter Extract Kit

Right here goes, the kit (which was won in the recent raffle) arrived last Monday but I have been away since Tuesday hence the delay in writing up the review.

The kit contains:-

2 x 1.5kg tins of malt extract
1 muslin bag
3 x bags of hops labelled 60 mins, 20 mins and 0 mins
1 bag of mixed crushed grains
1 set of instructions
1 Whirlfloc tablet


Right initial thoughts are that the instructions and hops would be better packed separately i.e. not in with the crushed grain (I know another bag and we are trying to save the planet blah blah) as opening the bag of grain and removing said items caused a small loss of grain (grains were trapped in the other bags, specifically the hops and the creases generated from the vacuum packing) onto the work surface.
It would also have been nice to know what the hops where along with some of the usual information aa etc.

The plan is to kick this off this weekend, I will add additional information on that once its complete.

Edit
Found limited hop details on site East Kent Golding, Challenger but no idea of which of the bags contains what or aa and year grown etc.

Good luck :thumb:. My brew day with the extract kit (American Brown Ale) went well and has pretty well finished fermenting after 5 days. Will be bottling on Saturday.

Cheers for that, and good luck! It seems to be common with a number of suppliers of kits that things aren't labelled - all I can think is there is a chance people would copy the recipes and therefore not buy the kits any more?

Smileyr8 said:

Right here goes, the kit (which was won in the recent raffle) arrived last Monday but I have been away since Tuesday hence the delay in writing up the review.

The kit contains:-

2 x 1.5kg tins of malt extract
1 muslin bag
3 x bags of hops labelled 60 mins, 20 mins and 0 mins
1 bag of mixed crushed grains
1 set of instructions
1 Whirlfloc tablet


Right initial thoughts are that the instructions and hops would be better packed separately i.e. not in with the crushed grain (I know another bag and we are trying to save the planet blah blah) as opening the bag of grain and removing said items caused a small loss of grain (grains were trapped in the other bags, specifically the hops and the creases generated from the vacuum packing) onto the work surface.
It would also have been nice to know what the hops where along with some of the usual information aa etc.

The plan is to kick this off this weekend, I will add additional information on that once its complete.

Edit
Found limited hop details on site East Kent Golding, Challenger but no idea of which of the bags contains what or aa and year grown etc.

Click to expand...

ManseMasher said:

Cheers for that, and good luck! It seems to be common with a number of suppliers of kits that things aren't labelled - all I can think is there is a chance people would copy the recipes and therefore not buy the kits any more?

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Possibly, but surely the secret is in the grain mix? I can see the reason why those would be kept secret.

Who knows - the secret is grain, hops, yeast, mash time, boil time and so on. I bet they didn't give you priming calcs, dry hop times or other adjuncts - bottom line I suppose is these kits are aimed at those who just want to do what the kit gives, accept the fact it will make nice beer, and not be too fussed about the in-depth detail? Only second guessing - I myself want to know every last detail!!

ManseMasher said:

Cheers for that, and good luck! It seems to be common with a number of suppliers of kits that things aren't labelled - all I can think is there is a chance people would copy the recipes and therefore not buy the kits any more?

Click to expand...

Really? What kind of dispicable person would do such a thing? :whistle:

I can think of at least two...!!!

MyQul said:

Really? What kind of dispicable person would do such a thing? :whistle:

Click to expand...

ManseMasher said:

I can think of at least two...!!!

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I think they should be banned from the forum with immediate effect for breaching copyright!

Me first sir!!

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*Kit Instructions-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Full Exract Instructions

1.Steep the grains at 67 degs C for 30 minutes in 2 ltrs of water in the muslin bag provided.
2.After 30 minutes pour the 2 ltrs of water into the boiler.
3.Rinse the grain in a colander with a further 2 ltrs of water at 80 degs C.
4.Pour the runoff into the boiler.
5.Dissolve the 2 cans of extract into the boiler .
6.Make up to required volume 26 ltrs and bring to boil
7.Once the wort comes to the boil add the hops at the time labelled (Example 60 minutes means 60 minutes to go in the boil, 15 minutes means 15 minutes to go in the boil etc...)
8.15 minutes from the end of the one hour boil, add the whirlfloc tablet
9.At the end of the boil, chill with an immersion chiller
10.Once the wort has been chilled to 20 degs C empty the boiler into the fermenter
11.Take a hydrometer reading and note the result. This is your Original Gravity. Give the wort a good stir to aerate and add the yeast and leave to ferment.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*Kit Instructions-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Image below:-
Grains 358 grams including bag

Hop Addition 60 mins 31 grams including bag

Hop Addition 20 mins 31 grams including bag

Hop Addition 0 mins 33 grams including bag

Temperature of water after addition of crushed grain 67 degs C

Stock pot with muslin bag and crushed grain, lid was added after picture was taken

Temperature of wort after 30 minutes 57.5 degs C (I hope this is going to be OK am really surprised it had dropped 9.5 degs C in 30 minutes, I hope its going to be OK)

Temperature of sparge 80 degs C

Procedure was followed to the word up to point 6, I don't have lots of gear so had to wing it a bit from here out.
I made up the volume to 12 ltrs apx and continued as per procedure until point 9, I had already chilled 14 ltrs of water in the fridge this was added to the wort to make 23 ltrs. Still not down to 20 degs C I sat the fermenter in a builders trug full of cold tap water and replaced after 1 hour this had to be done 3 times to get the temperature within the range of the yeast (15-25 degs C)
Took hydrometer reading 1044 OG (corrected to 1045 OG due to temperature being 23 degs C)



Sat in builders trug with aquarium heater set at 20 degs C

Right I am looking for a bit of reassurance here.

Temperature of water after addition of crushed grain 67 degs C this was spot on if you see the picture.

Temperature of wort after 30 minutes 57.5 degs C (I hope this is going to be OK am really surprised it had dropped 9.5 degs C in 30 minutes, I hope its going to be OK).

Yrs it isn't a problem as you were steeping specialty grains, not mashing with base malt. Temperature is only important if you are mashing.

clibit said:

Yrs it isn't a problem as you were steeping specialty grains, not mashing with base malt. Temperature is only important if you are mashing.

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Thanks for that, I was a little worried as this is my first attempt using grain, I think the problem is the small quantity of water for steeping, either way lesson learned, and will keep a closer eye on this in future.

Have just kegged/bottled this it ended up 1008 so that gives me 4.8% in the keg and 5.0% for the bottles.

Right time to review the taste of this, all bar one bottle of this was kegged.
This first image is the bottled one crystal clear and tasted quite nice rounded flavour all together not too bad, fantastic head that lasted all the way down the pint.

The second image is the kegged version, not as clear a little bit dull and lifeless and not as flavoursome to drink (maybe the look of the beer is having a bearing on taste), I will be honest I have held back on reviewing this with the hope that it would improve, also the head on the kegged version was anywhere near as impressive and has not lasted anywhere near as long.

Conclusion, the bottled version was a nice enough drink although not really a style I would generally choose to drink (I wonder if the "soft" tap water used to brew this could have been improved to make a better beer).

Anybody got any thoughts/answers/reasons as to why the bottled version is better.

Not sure but carbonation could well be a factor. Some gypsum in the boil might have helped a bit. What do you normally drink?

clibit said:

Not sure but carbonation could well be a factor. Some gypsum in the boil might have helped a bit. What do you normally drink?

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I have been trying to keep 3 different beers on (in kegs) I prefer to drink Pale Ales (these seem the suit the soft water profile we have here) and Stouts, although I have a few bottle of Imperial Stouts that I will no doubt be enjoying when the colder darker nights come.