MoreBeer Premium Home Brewing Kit
Now that that my first brew and fermentation using the MoreBeer Premium Home Brewing Kit is in the books, I wanted to share my thoughts on the equipment. First and foremost, this kit is fantastic. And at $250, including a batch of beer, it’s a DEAL.
Quick note, if you are looking for a cheaper option, MoreBeer does sell two other starter kits. It starts with the basic Home Brewing Kit for $70, but you will need a kettle and ingredients for your beer. And then they have their Deluxe Home Brewing system for $140. The difference between the Deluxe and Premium kits is the larger kettle and carboy and the copper wort chiller that comes with the Premium kit. The wort chiller and the flexibility the Premium kit comes with due to the larger size kettle/carboy makes the additional $100 worth it. Let’s be honest, even if you start out with the smaller equipment, it’s only a matter of time before you upgrade. Save the money and get it first.
Premium is more than a name for this kit. The quality on these products is fantastic. The 8.5 gallon Brew Built Kettle is made of 304 stainless steel, and is sturdy. As I mentioned before, the larger kettle is great for flexibility. I’m going to be doing a brew in a bag batch next, and should still be able to have a 5 gallon batch with this larger kettle.
The addition of the copper wort chiller makes your brew day much easier. My American Ale beer kit (included in the Premium kit), cooled down to pitching temp in roughly 15 minutes. This is a huge time saver and helps with quality control. And it means your wort gets in to your 7 Gallon Fermonster fermenter even faster. The extra room in the fermenter means you shouldn’t have to worry about any overflow, which means no mess.
Fast forward two weeks and bottling day was a breeze. I did all the fermentation in the carboy, which I placed on the table the night before bottling to let the any moved sediment settle back down before bottling. Transferring the beer into the bottling bucket was a breeze, and the spigot on the fermenter is placed perfectly above the sediment level, letting you get the maximum amount of clean beer. The bottling wand worked seamlessly as well. Even the sturdy bottle capper was smooth sailing.
I didn’t have huge expectations for American Ale kit. I knew it would be solid, but I will say I was pleasantly surprised by how great it is. Super smooth, good bitterness and a light hop flavor. My ABV even came in slightly higher than expected, which was a nice surprise.
Of course as a home brewer, you are always looking at what else you can buy. I did pick up the thermometer to match my kettle. But honestly, you can absolutely make some great home brewed beer on this kit. Extract or grain (via BIAB). The entire process was simple. The directions from MoreBeer were clear and concise. I know having done it all with Josh before certainly helped me, but if you are brand new to brewing, get this kit, and follow it’s directions, you’re going to have some people knocking on your door asking for more.
Jeff
First live brew in the books!
Yesterday was the first Hop Hands Brewing live brew day! Josh was streaming the brewing of a Mosaic smash.