Customer Reviews

Carboy Homebrew Kit for Home Made Beer

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This product was exactly as advertised (large primary bucket with a 5-gallon glass carboy). Seeing as the carboy, alone, can set you back anywhere from $30-$60 (with shipping) the price point on this appears to be a deal. Having priced things out at my local home-brew supply store, this was far cheaper than buying the items piece meal -- even if I don't end using everything. I also purchased a 6-gallon carboy ([...]) for only $28 -- which was the cheapest I've found -- but does take 4-7 weeks to ship -- so I can eventually have more than one batch going at once and can move away from using the bucket.

Overall, I would say this is a very good product for the price and would recommend it to someone looking to get into brewing their own beer at home. They should also buy "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing," by Charlie Papazian for more info.

Cheers!

This kit has just about everything you need to brew and bottle that first batch. I only give it four stars because there is no sanitizer or bottle caps and the book it comes with is garbage.

Sanitizer is ESSENTIAL to brewing, you'll need to pick some of this up beforehand. Bottle caps won't be needed for a little bit, or at all if your kegging, but if that's the case you will have no use for the bottlecapper that comes with this kit.

The book that comes with it recommends some practices that may put your beer at risk in the taste department. This book is good firestarter, take it camping with you next time you go. Get either Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition (Harperresource Book) or Palmer's How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time. I have Palmer and have no complaints at all. I've heard Papazian is very good as well from multiple experienced brewers. Palmer also has an older addition of his book available free online, just google it.

There are two brushes one for your bottles and one for the carboy. I got a 5 gallon carboy and the carboy brush reaches the bottom, I don't know if they send a larger brush for larger carboys as one reviewer said his brush does not reach the bottom. I recommend the 5 gallon carboy for secondary fermentation. A larger carboy will allow too much oxygen in there with your beer. The fermentation/bottling bucket is very large for your primary fermentation needs. There should be enough room for your krauzen to not pop the top or come through the airlock. I'm brewing a wheat beer right now, which is famous for that sort of thing, and have had no problems.

The capper can be a little tricky at first. I recommend practicing on a few (meaning definitely more than one) empty bottles before capping your beer for the first time. Seems like a waste of caps, but you will be glad you did.

One last thing, you may want to invest in something to strain the beer as it goes from your boil pot to the fermenter. A heavy duty strainer will work great, but there are some other options.

Enjoy your new hobby no matter what products you choose!!!

good product the only thing not good is that the bush is too small to clean anything
it wont even reach the bottom of the carboy.