Diy dog (literally)

[pete71]

Hi everybody new to the forum.
just finished a diy dog punk ipa and to be honest I won't be repeating it.
for £35 you get a bag of grain and loads of hops which are all pellet hops and that's it. The instructions don't give a boil time and there's no priming sugar or amount and no copper finings.
I've done 2 can festival which where a lot less hassle cheaper and more of a finished product.

 

[DoctorMick]

I'm amazed they don't give you boil times, that's scandalous for a kit!

 

[pete71]

I know the hop schedule was listed as start middle end and dry hop. I went for 60 mins. they do tell you when to dry though.

 

[DoctorMick]

That's just the same as the DIYDog instructions, if I bought a kit I'd have expected the detail. I like brew dog beers but they're masters at taking your eyes out.

 

[MrRock]

The kits include the relevant page recipe from DIYDOG so the boil time isn't stated on the actual recipe, however in the "Basic All Grain Brewing" page from DIYDOG it says "We recommend a 60 minute boil for most ales and a 90 minute boil for most lagers."

 

[F00b4r]

Where was the kit from?

 

[MrRock]

Brew UK and Brewdog are selling kits for Punk IPA, Dead Pony Club, 5AM Saint & Jack Hammer

I just brewed the Jack Hammer one at the weekend

 

[F00b4r]

Brew UK and Brewdog are selling kits for Punk IPA, Dead Pony Club, 5AM Saint & Jack Hammer

I just brewed the Jack Hammer one at the weekend

The reason I asked was that I think everyone would assume it was brew uk but if it isn't then they are taking criticism for someone else.

 

[MickDundee]

The reason I asked was that I think everyone would assume it was brew uk but if it isn't then they are taking criticism for someone else.

I automatically assumed the OP was talking about this:
https://www.brewdog.com/item/740/BrewDog/Brooklyn-BrewShop-Punk-IPA-homebrew-kits.html

 

[MrRock]

Yeah they are Brewdog branded kits, but I believe were developed in conjunction with Brew UK, hence available to buy from both.

They come with the grain, hops, yeast and a recipe sheet.
The recipe sheet is a printed page from the DIYDOG recipes, the whole book is available to download from https://www.brewdog.com/diydog

I think I read somewhere that Brewdog didn't add specifics like hop timings to encourage experimentation, so maybe that's also why there's no definitive boil time?

I tend to follow the mash timings and generally do a 60 minute boil for most recipes I follow anyway, if I wanted to do a longer boil the BIABacus spreadsheet would adjust the amount of water I needed to start with to account for evaporation.

I've done a few DIYDOG recipes so far, the Jack Hammer one is the only one I've used a kit for, but I found it very convenient being able to get everything I needed for the brew in one go as sometimes it's a hassle being able to get all the hops from one supplier (and so one delivery charge).

For the hop timings I've being going with Start=60 min, Middle=15min and End=Flameout so far with good results (although I delay the start and end by 20 minutes and the Flameout by 30 minutes as I no-chill)

 

[MrRock]

I automatically assumed the OP was talking about this:
https://www.brewdog.com/item/740/BrewDog/Brooklyn-BrewShop-Punk-IPA-homebrew-kits.html

Those were released a while ago and are a starter kit including equipment for making a 1 gallon batch.

The ones I'm talking about are "recipe packs" which just include the ingredients, but are for a 5 gallon batch https://www.brewdog.com/item/1511/BrewDog/5AM-Saint-DIY-Dog-Recipe-Pack.html

 

[MickDundee]

Those were released a while ago and are a starter kit including equipment for making a 1 gallon batch.

The ones I'm talking about are "recipe packs" which just include the ingredients, but are for a 5 gallon batch https://www.brewdog.com/item/1511/BrewDog/5AM-Saint-DIY-Dog-Recipe-Pack.html

Oh right, I hadn't realised they existed. Although, to be fair the listing does state *Please note, this 5 gallon kit is intended for all-grain brewing and is designed for use by experienced homebrewers with a kit set up accordingly, which to me makes it clear that it's just AG ingredients and shouldn't be compared to a 2 can kit.

£35 is a bit steep like (although not as steep as the previous 1G kit that is linked to) since the recipe is free through the BD website and the ingredients would most likely come to around £20-25 including postage from somewhere like Geterbrewed (I priced up 2 of their beers using the GEB recipe builder when considering future brews and one came to £9 before postage and the other £12).

 

[F00b4r]

The 1G kits were done with The Brooklyn Brew Shop originally and usually included equipment, with the refill packages being cheaper (still relatively expensive though).

 

[DoctorMick]

Oh right, I hadn't realised they existed. Although, to be fair the listing does state *Please note, this 5 gallon kit is intended for all-grain brewing and is designed for use by experienced homebrewers with a kit set up accordingly, which to me makes it clear that it's just AG ingredients and shouldn't be compared to a 2 can kit.

�£35 is a bit steep like (although not as steep as the previous 1G kit that is linked to) since the recipe is free through the BD website and the ingredients would most likely come to around �£20-25 including postage from somewhere like Geterbrewed (I priced up 2 of their beers using the GEB recipe builder when considering future brews and one came to �£9 before postage and the other �£12).

Even reading that I'd expect proper instructions with a hop schedule at the minimum.

 

[MickDundee]

Even reading that I'd expect proper instructions with a hop schedule at the minimum.

The link does say that it comes with the recipe page from DIY Dog. Although the hop schedule is pretty vague (start, middle and end rather than times), it is there. It also gives the temperature of the mash, how hot to ferment etc.

I'm not sticking up for Brewdog BTW, I do think these kits are taking the piss somewhat, considering what you can by from online HBSs for a fraction of the price!

 

[MrRock]

Not sure about the others but when I priced up the ingredients for Jack Hammer using the Geterbrewed custom grain kit option it wasn't far off price wise, there's a lot of hops in there!

 

[MickDundee]

Not sure about the others but when I priced up the ingredients for Jack Hammer using the Geterbrewed custom grain kit option it wasn't far off price wise, there's a lot of hops in there!

Nearly 500g of hops in that bad boy though! About double Punk IPA, 5AM Saint and DPC's hop bills!

 

[pete71]

Agreed there is a lot of hops in these kits and to source all the different types can be expensive but being quite new to all grain brewing I tend to go for kits as they normally make it easier. I'm sure the more experienced on here will find these easy to do. I thinks its great of brew dog to release there recipes and I love their beers but in hindsight should have bought one of there beer boxes. I'll be sticking to easier brews for a little while

 

[pms67]

Fair play to them in my eyes, dont see too many other "ahem" craft brewery's releasing homebrew kits.
Of course its going to cost more?
Image is everything to these guys,second only to cash!!!
I dont have a problem at all,its still promoting homebrewing, and probably a very decent brew at that.

 

[DarrenSL]

Look at it this way...

- These kits are sold by Brewdog so I assume that they contain exactly the same ingredients as Brewdog use i.e. the same malt and the same hops grown in their farms in the Yakima Valley.
- When you buy hops from some LHBS, you have no idea how old they are or how they've been handled. I expect the hops you get in these kits are straight from the Brewdog stores i.e. best quality and very fresh.
- £35 for the jack hammer ingredients is a bargain. Not so much for the punk ipa, dead pony and 5am. I have no idea why these kits are sold at the same price when the ingredients are so clearly different.
- The kit does say for experienced AG brewers and I think its fair to assume 'middle' means anything from 15 minutes onwards. You will get differences between 15mins or 5mins or flameout vs whirlpool end additions, but you will still get great beer

I challenge Beavertown or Thornbridge to do the same! :smile: