Northern Brewer - Brew. Share. Enjoy. HomeBrewing Starter Set, Equipment and Recipe for 5 Gallon Batches (Hank's Hefeweizen)

Judging by most of the reviews, I seem to be one of the only people that purchased this with the Hank's Hefeweizen kit instead of the Block Party Amber. The short version is that it turned out great. Before purchasing this kit, I also looked into buying all the equipment individually, but this is way more economical. This kit, which includes a recipe kit and all the equipment you need, is $100. Buying just the recipe kit by itself is about $40. The cheapest equivalent food grade bucket and bottling bucket around $25 each, so just with those items, you're at just about the price of the entire kit. Then factor in that a 5 gallon kettle is at least $30, a bottle capper is $20, an auto siphon another $20, and the little things like a bottle brush and a large spoon and such, and there's no way you'll ever come out ahead by trying to buy everything individually. Initially I was looking at getting their deluxe kit, but there's really no point. The main difference is that the deluxe kit comes with a couple of 5 gallon glass carboys, while this kit comes with food grade plastic buckets. The plastic buckets are perfectly fine, and you'll never know the difference when you're drinking your beer. Also, oddly enough, the deluxe kit does not come with the 5 gallon kettle that this kit comes with. The only thing you'll need to buy that isn't included in the kit are bottles. However you can reuse any non twist off bottles you have around the house. This kit yielded 43 bottles worth of beer for me. Brewing instructions were simple and easy to follow. They also have a good video on YouTube that walks you through the process. I let it ferment for 2 weeks, then bottled it. I tried one 10 days after bottling, and it had plenty of carbonation. The beer I can most closely compare this to would be a Leffe Blonde. Overall an excellent buy, and I'm currently working on my second brew.

I bought this for my husband for Christmas 2024. He absolutely loves it. Has made many different variations of beer and has had no issue’s. I accidentally bought the 20 oz bottles to go with it since does not include bottles. He actually prefers them so that it takes less room in refrigerator after he bottles. It makes about the equivalent of 4 cases of beer.

Where do I even begin... First off, let me just say that the customer service of this company is by far one of the best ones I have ever experienced. Since each one of these packages is hand selected and put together, mistakes happen and things get forgotten. I contacted them and they PROMPTLY sent me the missing item. No questions asked. Super fast shipping. I absolutely LOVE that. My husband and I went to visit one of his Military buddies out in FL Who just opened his own brewery a year ago and we came back home inspired. I got this kit for my husband as a gift and as soon as it came in, we began brewing our Hefeweizen. The instructions are super easy and clear and you literally got everything you need right under tour fingertips. After a 2 week fermentation period, we tried the (then just a little bit lively but not super carbonated) fermented beer and it was GREAT. So we were hopeful when we began bottling the beer and carbonating it. We ended up with 34 bottles and a mini keg full of beer from this one batch. We hosted a little beer unveiling and it was GREAT. My husband has since placed a few other orders from the company through their site and we currently have a small batch of a Blonde Ale that he put together fermenting up. We are about to place another order and begin brewing something else! With the holiday season upon us, this would be an AMAZING gift to give your spouse, parent, sibling or friend. Trust me, they would love it. My husband even convinced one of his work buddies to get a kit as well and begin brewing at home too. Overall, AMAZING quality products, AMAZING customer service, AMAZING gift and AMAZING flavor.

The kit was very basic, and the fermenting bucket lid was extremely hard to seat. Another reviewer mentioned that he had no seal. I suspect the lid simply wasn't on all the way. It is very hard to get on, harder to get off again. I highly recommend any other beginners get a proper fermenter and give the 5gal plastic bucket a miss. I also strongly suggest getting a strainer basket for the hops. And also strain the wort when transferring from brew pot to fermenting bucket. Even so, there will be a good amount of sediment in the fermenter when it is done, due to the yeast proliferating and doing its job. You may want to filter again, and transfer the fermented beer into the bottling bucket. It will then need to settle for a day. Speaking of settling, the beer worked hard for about 48 hours at a constant 72 degrees, then all but stopped working. After 12 days I decided to go ahead and keg it. just picking it up and disturbing it slightly set it to working again. Next time I make that recipe, I will shake it up good once a day for 8 or 9 days, then let it settle a few days before kegging. The finished product was pretty good. I was expecting something more like an IPA, and this came out more of a classic brown ale. The recipe in my kit was for the Block Party Amber. It was delicious, in an ale sort of way, strong aroma and flavor of fresh bread, not very hoppy, not sweet. No fruity or botanical notes to speak of, just a very faint hoppiness, bread, and a hint of earth and nuts. Satisfying and filling, good glass cling, good mouth feel. Not really my kind of beer but I will probably order the recipe ingredients kit to make it again soon, to bottle this time. My next batch will be made from ingredients from out local brewing supply house, a pilsner type liquid malt, room temp yeast, dont remember variety or brand, and a pound of malted rye. Ingredients total for that was pretty cheap and I am looking forward to brewing this next week, and then an ingredients only kit from Northern Brewers, Czech Pilsner Pale Lager. It will of course go to bottle after keg conditioning. Pilsner belongs in an icy cold longneck bottle, to me. So that is the next two 5gal batches planned. After that, the Block Party Amber again, maybe half of it going to bottle. I bought a few things that probably should be sold in any serious starter kit, though I gave the carboy a miss. I do think now that I will get a carboy or two, maybe a conical fermenter. Buckets are a real PITA. I strongly suggest any beginner also get a corny keg, CO2 tank and regulator, tank top beer faucet, and a fridge big enough to hold a corny keg. Kegged beer is dead easy, convenient, no sediment in the bottom of a bottle, and you can drink it the day after you keg it. You can always bottle straight from the keg, with a back pressure bottle filler. This gives you finished bottles that are ready to drink the next day, with no sediment. Or leave it in the keg. Keep the pressure low. I find 20lb to initially carbonate the beer, and 4lb working pressure for serving, to be about right, at least for the Block Party Amber. The kit is enough to get you started, make no mistake, though the equipment was far from ideal. The ingredients that I got were very good quality though, and made an excellent beer. It is good enough that I can swallow my pride and resist the urge to show it off, so I can drink every drop myself.

Homebrewing has been a dream of mine since I was in high school. I like the idea of stovetop chemistry and love cooking, but beer always seemed like it would be a complex, over-the-top project. Having listened to the Rooster Teeth Podcast, where they complained about the stink of the fermenting beer (later discovered to be an infected batch), I waited and waited until we bought a house. Now I know there was no reason to wait. I started brewing at the beginning of November 2016 after reading several books on the subject and doing my due diligence. I got this kit, a 20 oz bottle of Star San, collected bottles from my friends, and got to work. Six months later, I've stopped using the primary vat in favor of a 6 gallon carboy, begun to modify kit recipes, use a hydrometer, and have a few more advanced touches (oatmeal, oaking, custom herb additions etc), and love homebrewing. I've made, to date: Block Ale (came with kit): Was Ok, little watery/weak Stout: Killer good, changed my friend's attitude on homebrewing Vanilla Spiced Porter: Was excellent, didn't last a month after bottling Scottish Stout: Poor lad died when the bottling bucket tipped over, almost causing a divorce German Black Ale: Awesome. Slightly moldy. Seemed to help? Scottish Light Ale: Gross. Keeping it for science. Bourbon Cask Ale: Got moldy, infused with (a lot of) bourbon. Suddenly became delicious. Traditional Irish Stout we called "Boston Tea": Finished on St. Paddie's day...less than a third of batch left the subsequent Sunday afternoon Heavy Porter: Just finished, is crisp, black, and almost chocolatey. The only additions I've made to my overall kit were the hydrometer, the two glass carboys, and a metal funnel. I've done all of the above with just the Northern Brewer kit, and some pre-assembled beer kits from my Local Homebrew store. Worthy purchase indeed.

Right out of the box, they include to everything to get started including the giant kettle to cook it in and a full recipe. They give you the step by step instructions, manuals, tools and equipment to brew your own beer at home at a starter level. Now the Deluxe Kit includes two beautiful glass carboys, but this has 2 plastic buckets instead. BUT they have the kettle, which the Deluxe kit doesn't include, so there's that. Not only is it fun to brew your own beer at home and play Brewmaster, but it's really inexpensive. Once you get a few batches under your belt, I would recommend getting the deluxe kit with the glass carboys to step it up. Nonetheless, this is incredible starter kit for brewing beer at home with friends. Cheers to that.

EDITED REVIEW: Responsive customer service and great supporting materials on youtube. It would help if the buckets were clearly labeled "primary" and "bottling" to avoid confusion with what is shown in some of the video the instructions. This kit includes important items other kits seem to lack: Long spoon, large steal pot, sanitizer, funny instructional YouTube videos*, bottling tube and syphon, bottle capper, and a bullet proof recipe.** You will need a thermometer (we just used a meat thermometer and it was fine), extra bottle caps, extra sanitizer, your own bottles. In my research, few kits come with these items and you won't need things like bottle caps or extra sanitizer until the second stage of brewing (2 weeks later). So, out of the box, you should be ready for your first full afternoon of activity. We initially thought the lids to the buckets didn't fit because they require a good deal of force before they snap on. When we called, customer service gave us the benefit of the doubt and overnighted us a replacement lid and some extra sanitizer. We found this replacement lid to be the same size and just made our first batch without a sealed lid. To our surprise, the recipe was so robust, the beer still came out 'okay.' We later learned that the lids fit (our bad). You just really REALLY have to work them on their with your knee or a handstand or something. Flash-forward a few weeks later and my Dad is already working on his next brew using the same kit. I also enjoyed the experience so much that I've since purchased my own smaller (apartment friendly) 1-gallon brew kit from another supplier. Yay Brew Family! * YouTube instructions mean you can drink beer while you brew instead of relying on long recipe sheets you'd otherwise have to be sober enough to read! ** No really, you are going to want that larger pot and that longer spoon. You're probably thinking, "meh - Can't I use that lobster pot and that long soup spoon?" No - we learned that beer is very easy to boil over. Plus, is hacking a solution to moving large volumes of boiling hot liquid reeeeally how you want to save your money? Skimp on a thermometer before you pass-up the pot and spoon.

My wife bought me this beer kit for fathers day. We had discussed which kind of kit to get as there are many different types of home brewing kits out there. But as it was my first try I wanted to use a kit that was easy to use, true to beer brewing the correct way and provided good support if you had questions. My experience was excellent, the instructions were perfect and now I can say that the ingredients were 1st class because I have tried the beer that I brewed, it's an amber beer that came very close to tasting like one of my favorite commercial "evening beers" so I am super pleased so much so that I have ordered 4 more kits, each of them different types of beer. Because I live in Southern California I was concerned that I couldn't keep the brewing process to the recommended temperature, I used the Northern Brewers help site and got good advise from them. So a good experience all round do not be afraid to get into brewing with this company.