Brew House Beer Making Kits

The Brewhouse Beer Kit is an entirely new concept in homebrewing. Until now, homemade beer has come from concentrated extract. The extract imposes a number of limitations, such as excess Maillard products (browning and caramel flavours), lack of hop aroma, and lack of fresh “grainy” character. Although extract beers can be improved with the addition of fresh hops and grains, the highest quality beer requires all-grain mashing, a time-consuming and somewhat daunting prospect. There has never been something in between for people wanting better beer with less fuss. Our kit provides that. Brewed from fresh grain and hops, it is never concentrated and is produced the same way as commercial microbrewed beers. Gentle handling preserves the delicate aroma of the hops and prevents oxidation. Because aromas and flavours are not changed by processing, the beer is absolutely true to style. Crisp Pilsner, rich Pale Ale, malty Dark Lager, full flavoured Cream Ale and even an incredibly light North American Lager all come through with their character intact.

True to style and boldly flavourful, Brewhouse Kits are as near perfection as the skills of our brewers can make them. We’re sure no finer beer kit has ever been made. However, we encourage advanced homebrewers to modify the kits to suit their tastes and to make custom brews that will be the envy of all.

The instructions with your kit cover everything you need to know to succeed. We won’t go over them except to emphasize the most important point: sanitation. Advanced homebrewers should be following sanitation procedures that most people would consider demented overkill. And such procedures should be regarded as barely adequate. If you can completely exclude spoilage organisms from your brewing area and equipment, they can never harm a batch of your beer.

The rest of this handout will cover two broad categories: Processing Techniques and Ingredient Additions. Advanced processing techniques such as full wort boiling, chilling and lagering can bring you close to making perfect beer. Adding traditional beer ingredients—such as grains, hops and yeast, as well as fruits, herbs, spices and specialty sugars can greatly modify your wort kit.

(A note on adding ingredients to your kit: all our styles are consistent with the American Homebrewers Association’s guidelines for hop bitterness, aroma, colour, gravity and flavour. If you modify the wort kit, it will no longer be true to the original style. On the other hand, you just might create something new.)