Craft a Brew - Beer Recipe Kit - White House Honey Ale - Home Brewing Ingredient Refill - Beer Making Supplies - Includes Hops, Yeast, Malts, Extracts - 5 Gallons

I have been getting started with homebrewing and purchased kits from a wide array of different kit manufacturers for similar styles and compared them. The craftabrew option is a good kit, it came with everything it should have had in pack (the first major step a surprisingly large number of companies get wrong), the ingredients seem to be high quality, and the brew I believe turned out well (though it is still aging on the nibs and not fully finished yet).The only reason this isn't a 5 star review is that the instructions aren't as clear as they could be for beginners, or watch outs aren't listed on their instructions. I had made a few kits before, and if you have as well, this product should work great for you. But if you haven't, a few examples of what I am talking about:The kit comes with two 1oz hop packets, one for bittering and one for late bittering. The recipe lists to only use 1/2 oz of the late bittering hops, and claims that the contents of the kit are a 1 and 0.5oz hop packet, when in fact mine came with two 1oz hop packets. I caught it and discarded the extra as I assume I was intended to do, but it was unclear. Furthermore, the instructions indicate that a brew kettle with 3.5 gallon capacity, since that is the volume that will be in the kettle at any given time using a partial boil method (which this recipe is). While I was cooking this, though, the malt boiled/foamed up to nearly double in volume before calming back down. My pot could handle this but if I were using the minimum sized pot I would have had a big mess.Finally, as a brewer who is trying to learn and understand ratios, this was the ONLY kit of all 5 companies I looked at that did not break out the quantities of all specialty grains provided. Instead a blend was provided of a few grains and the levels of each were not listed. I understand the company's desire to product their recipe, and I am not trying to copy it, but for the sake of learning and especially compared to their competitive set it is a disappointment.Overall though, brew day went well and so will the beer I am sure. Just a few caveats to be aware of. No kit company is perfect, this one is mostly good but could do with a rewrite on their instructions to be perfect.

I am a very experienced home brewer but sometimes I get lazy or curious and get a kit.This kit has absolute top quality fresh ingredients!These kits are kind of on the expensive side but you are getting the best!Highly recommended for the beginner and pros that might like to borrow their recipes. :)The only thing I did not like is that they include a substantial (33%) discount coupon if you give reviews... I threw that away. Begging for nice reviews is one thing, but offering substantial discounts for reviews is just wrong IMHO.

The only item I can criticize about this product, yet (I've not yet finished with the process) is that it did create a tremendous amount of sludge in the bottom of my pot. I separated this and lagered it for a week and was able to achieve another six bottles. I have another batch to make and will lager it for at least a week prior to bottling. I've found that the processing of ales always has this problem so the short lagering time has a tremendous effect in the clarity of the finished product.

These kits are wonderful for those ready to move up from the one gallon brewery to the next step. Order a couple, of the same kit and make small substitutions - yeast, specialty grains, or hops - to begin to understand what is possible. Each kit I've used makes a great 'standard' benchmark brew to set your reference profiles, before you undergo some experimentation.The fact that Craft-a-brew ships all dry ingredients is wonderful for me, as I shipping and storing liquids to my location can be challenging. With the dry kits, I can leave them on the shelf for a few months and as time permits get to the task at hand, always ensuring I've got one on hand.All their ingredients are measured and labeled with one (rather large) exception - Specialty Grains packs. Not sure why they don't label them. A more experienced brewer might be able to tell but for me, who's only got a half a dozen or so brew days in, I have to trust that my bag is what the recipe calls for.Overall, i'm very happy with the kits and will be ordering more.

I opened the kit and it had two bags of crushed grains. My daughter emptied a bag and it was good. I emptied my bag and a large number of bugs were in it. Since this was a dad daughter day, I discarded my bad and replaced it with pumpkin, then added some spice. Plan to brew as normal, but this will be a pumpkin beer and not an octoberfest like we had planned. All the other ingrediance were good and amounts were accurate to the recipe. We plan to rack a few times, bottle and enjoy. I hope QC for this seller will improve from this feed back. Best wishes, cheers!

This was my first experience brewing beer as I have brewed mead before which is fairly easy. Beer, I was told was more complicated. Fortunately, these guys have made it easy with quality ingredients and a flavorful Hefeweizen recipe for a refreshing and great tasting beer. There are plenty of recipes to choose from. It helps if you have a 5 gallon kettle with thermometer as exact temps will make a better beer. Cheers!

The kits are great. Each kit comes with well written instructions that are perfect for a beginner. That describes me well as I've only brewed a few batches of beer so far. All the fresh ingredients are include and enclosed in a well protected box. I currently have a batch of Hefeweisen fermenting and from the sounds of the bubbling coming out of the airlock it is coming along nicely. I can't wait to try other flavor from the Craftabrew company.

I got tired of listening to other guys talking about brewing beer and I was starting to feel that brewing a required checkbox for manhood. Based on other reviews I decided on Craft-a-Brew. Nice box, simple ingredients, super easy instructions! This is a great starter kit and/or a great kit to save time if you are an experienced brewer! Thanks for helping me level up in manliness! (Confession: My daughter held my hand through the first batch. She is a pro)!