It’s been a long time since I’ve done any brewing of my own and have been talking about getting back into it. While I have some of my gear from back in the day in storage, I’ve been hesitant to lay out the cash to buy the missing pieces or upgrade to better stuff simply because I’ve been afraid I wouldn’t be able to commit the time to go all-in. When the opportunity to try out a Craft-a-Brew brewing kit, I jumped at the opportunity. These kits come with everything that you need to get started with your first batch and cost less than taking the significant other out for a couple of burgers and beers.
The primary reason that I had to stop brewing before was that we were living in a two bedroom condo and space was at a premium. When not in use, the equipment was stored in the bathtub in the second bathroom and the 5 gallon carboy was kept on a small table in the kitchen when we were fermenting. That arrangement worked OK when there were just two of us but once we had a baby, I lost my bathtub-storage and once she started walking, the bubbling airlock on top of the carboy became an item of curiosity and was no longer safe.
The Craft-a-Brew kit comes in a box that doesn’t take up much closet space and the carboy is just a gallon so it’s a lot easier to fit on a counter, shelf or extra room. Perfect for someone living in a smaller place.
The equipment isn’t a bunch a flimsy stuff either but rather is meant to last for batch after batch. All you need to do is buy additional ingredient kits and you’re ready for future batches.
The equipment in the starter box includes:
- 1-Gallon glass carboy
- Funnel
- Racking Cane
- Rubber Stopper
- Transfer tubing and thumb clamp
- Airlock
- Thermometer
They’ve carry 9 different starter kits, each with identical gear but with different ingredient kits for everything from a pale ale or an oak aged IPA to a chocolate milk stout. There is even a White House Honey Ale.
I went with their Chocolate Milk Stout.
My 11 year old son was really interested in helping so I let him take the lead. He is in fifth grade after all and if they can have a TV show where people try to see if they are smarter than a 5th grader, I figured this would be the opportunity to see just how easy the instructions were to follow. We followed the instructions and got the boil started. I sanitized the equipment while the wort was boiling since there are things that you don’t trust a kid to do.
Once we the boil was complete and we got the wort chilled down, we transferred it to the carboy and added the yeast.
We were hoping that the yeast would be starting to eat the sugars and we’d have some bubbles when we went to check on it the next morning. What we found was more like the yeast version of Joey Chestnut going to town on a plate of hot dogs at the Coney Island hot dog eating competition. Instead of random bubbles, we had foam. Good thing that we followed the instructions and used the long tube instead of just sticking the airlock into the stopper.
Once things calmed down and the fermentation seemed to be complete, we followed the instructions and bottle conditioned the beer. (bottles not included)
The final product was pretty good, despite a couple of early slip-ups when we didn’t follow the directions to the tee. Had we paid a little more attention to the initial temps and tossed the hops in at the right time, I’d probably be bragging to my home-brewer friends that mine was as good or better than theirs. Hashtag #NextTime.
If you’re on the fence about giving brewing a try or can relate to the space limitations I had in the past, a Craft-a-Brew kit would be a great way to start.
Check'em out www.craftabrew.com