anyone tried Bru-Mix?

[LiverDance]

better than my keg party, we shared a cold hard bitch

[Jayme]

I think I've tried just about all the different kits available locally at one time or another. Bru-mix is pretty awful in my opinion. Made it twice, once with brown sugar and once with corn sugar, both with pretty much terrible results. At the time I was making only kit and kilos because it was the cheapest option out there. Eventually the taste just got to me and I started just using double the malt extract with no corn sugar which tasted better. Then talking to Steve at NG Quinpool, he turned me on to brewing malt extract kits with specialty grain and hops, which inevitably lead to all-grain. I've tried making festa-brew kits and several guys at work make them all the time, and I am a fan. In hind sight, I wish I had started with them instead of kit & kilos. There are also 2L pop bottle kits you can buy that are the same premise, open the cap and pop in a yeast tablet, replace the lit with the supplied airlock lid. Warning on those - the air locks are sometimes defective... After spending about an hour trying to figure out where a gun shot came from within my apartment, I found the completely empty bottle sitting on the floor, no sign of any beer... You can only get those at that random little homebrew shop at the Hydrostone anyhow. Personally, I think this:
Kit & Kilo - for those who don't care what it tastes like and want as much bang for the buck as possible
Festo-brew - for those who want to make some half decent beer at home for a pretty good price and don't have much time to 'make' the beer (I think the best way to start out is extract with grains though)

I agree with Garak though - if you're going to lose a lot of beer at a party, festa-brew all the way! So long as the temperature they're fermented at is decent.

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

+1 on the festa kits. I've made the Stout, Red, Brown and Bock and I've tried the Blonde and Cream ales. All were better then the can kits.

Just my 2c, the Bayers Lake NG is the best, I gotten to know the guys there and they're good, not too much brew experience but enthusiastic and very helpful when it comes to beer. Last kit I bought was beginning of Feb and I get my card stamped and a BN discount!

Edit: but my favorite beers so far have been AG/extract brews, and I'm looking forward to the delivery of grains and hops this weekend!

[ratchet]

I prefer the NG on Quinpool... IMHO... YRMV... etc, etc.

[moxie]

+1 for the Bayers NG.

I have not made a Festa Brew or Brew House kit, but I can imagine it would be a lot easier to watch a keg full disappear at a party than a batch of excellent meticulously crafted home brew! A couple of brewing buddies of mine have brought me some, and it is pretty good for what you are buying. I do find that the dumbed down process robs you of the brewing experience.

[TimG]

Brewnosers discount?

I'm assuming by being a member of the site I'm a member of Brewnosers?

If so, what are the details on the discount? Just on Festa Brew or in general?

Thanks

[akr71]

Brewnosers discount?

I'm assuming by being a member of the site I'm a member of Brewnosers?

If so, what are the details on the discount? Just on Festa Brew or in general?

Thanks

Yes, I think that's all that is required for the discount (10%). I'm not sure myself on what is covered. Grain, yeast, extract for sure, probably kits & equipment too.

[Jimmy]

Brewnosers discount?

I'm assuming by being a member of the site I'm a member of Brewnosers?

If so, what are the details on the discount? Just on Festa Brew or in general?

Thanks

Yep, just tell them you're a Brewnoser and they will add the discount to your account. I believe it is on everything except for c02, however, even the c02 was discounted the last time I was in.

[TimG]

Cool!

Thanks

[Tim Gregory]

Hi Tim G,

Welcome to the site/club. This could be confusing. Now I don't feel so bad that I was totally uncreative and threw privacy concerns out the window and used my real name lol!

[KMcK]

Two Chris McDonalds and two Tim Gs. This is getting confusing. Do you guys do clone recipes together? Any other duplicates in the crowd?

[benwedge]

The stamp program has been discontinued. (Steve at Quinpool had all his blank cards confiscated.) They will honour the ones that are still out there, though.

I hate stamp card systems, especially when they track purchases with your name/phone number. Just automate the thing so I don't always forget my card. That being said, if it's discontinued, it's been discontinued. They handed me new wine card at the Bayers Lake store last week though.

What's this about a brewnosers discount? What does it apply to, how much do you save, etc.?

[chalmers]

What's this about a brewnosers discount? What does it apply to, how much do you save, etc.?

See akr71 and Jimmy's responses above. Pretty much everything, and you just need to tell them you're with the Brewnosers.

[mr x]

The very first kits I did were FestaBrews, just to see if I could ferment a beer without it tasting like 'homebrew', lol. They turned out good for what they were, Blonde Lager and Cream Ale.