Hbc full extract blonde ale

This is the Review for the HBC FULL EXTRACT BLONDE ALE

Well after a bit of a mix up of house number with DPD i finally got to brew my ale.

On first inspection I was a little unsure of the grain having the instructions, hops and tablet all in with them.

Ingredients.
2 x 1.5kg cans of Premium Grade Pale Malt Extract.
Grain: Crystal Malt.
Hops: Willamette hops,
1 Whirlfloc Tablet.
1 x 11g sachet Ale Yeast.
1 Muslin Bag. Full instructions



I gave the instructions a read and having brewed a couple of times found the straight forward but feel someone new to brewing may have struggled as some of the wording was as I can best describe as being a little odd. Just a slight tweak on it would make a world of difference and maybe a little two line key at the start saying a 30 Min mash and 60 Min boil will be done. I got my dad to read them as he has never brewed and although understood it after a few reads he was a little a a loss as to when hops would be added and boil length.

I set my boiler to a little higher temp to compensate the cool grain and pan I was doing my mash in around 72C I maintained it to the 67C needed for the 30 Mins. ( sorry no pic corrupt file)

after 30 Mins I lifted the grains out and then placed them in a strainer and ran the first wort over them. Once the grain had released as much of this as it could I then sparged the grain with a further 2L of water at 80C

As the mash was going on I had the cans of liquid extract in a bowl of boiling water. I raised my boiler temp to 98C and used a few litres to pour the LME in as I didn't fancy it sticking to my element in the boiler.


I set my boiler to temp and waited for the boil to begin at the hop break i got my dad to tip in the hops. HBC.co.uk says they are Willamette hops Ive not used these so looking forward to the taste.


At 15 Mins remaining I added the Whirlfloc.

I don't have a chiller so it was straight in to the fermenter tub and i waited for it to cool with the lid on. I took a reading and got 1040


I pitched the yeast and it has this last day has stopped so will be put in a secondary until I get chance to bottle it up.

All in all I would say this is a good brew. If you are new to brewing it is a good way to move from kits to all grain while brewing safe brews.
A few changes/tweaks on the instructions could be done to make it a little easier to flow.
Before a taste test I would buy this kit as it was a fun simple kit to do.
If the taste test stands up I will more than likely buy another or try the all grain as I am a fan of blonde ales.

finally i guess i have to say thanks to both ManseMasher for the hard work put in for securing this re-viewable kit and of course HBC for supplying it.
Cheers Guys :

Cheers for the review, much appreciated! There is a common thread in all the reviews that people have taken the time to submit - the results are good but the instructions need tweaking. I know the good people from HBC frequent this site, maybe they'll make some adjustments. Thanks again for your review, and here's hoping for a cracking end result!

No problem thanks again for doing the hard graft for it.

Just got 40 bottles of this baby capped. A quick taste and wow if it gets better with carbonation it'll be fantastic. Will be buying this kit again as well as trying the ag version.

Nice review :thumb:

So this is the end product.
Taste wise is not a bad ale.
Looks wise a little darker or golden than I expected. I can't remember is said grain that was with it but needed something to give a better head retention. I think once I get more equipment they will turn out even better.
All in all I would buy this in future as even a very picky father in law loves it (Stella drinker yet somehow tries to be picky)
A decent brew and I feel the AG kit would be even better. Will be my next brew after my oatmeal stout.
A big thanks to MM and HBC for their hard work and commitment to this site thanks guys.

Boiling the LME darkens it. There's no need to, you could simply boil the hops in the wort from the steeping grains and add the LME in the FV in the same way as making a kit beer.

That I did not know. Thanks for the info. Well the pint lasted all of 2 mins love a 5 day weekend :)
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I kegged this one last week , I dry hopped it with 25g of Summit and called it PEAKY BLONDER!
It's already cleared and tasting really good.