Essential Brew. Share. Enjoy. HomeBrewing Starter Set, Equipment and Recipe for 5 Gallon Batches (Block Party Amber)

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.

Good kit for beginners

This is a great kit to get you started with home brewing. However, there are a few things that irk me about it. For starters, the lids on the buckets are air-tight(as they should be) but they do not provide a tool to open said lid and it's a huge pain in pry it off without damaging the bucket. Secondly, the instructions are indeed beginner friendly but I feel it should be a little more in-depth during the preparation for fermenting process. Especially during the transferring procedure. Thirdly, why give bottle caps but no bottles? The kit is great overall, and I would recommend it. However, as stated above, they could have done a few things a little better.

It's seems like a great product, aside from the fact that the bucket lid CANNOT be removed without breaking it. It is not removable. Lots of people have the exact same problem and they receive new bucket lids. Northern Brewer has a "new and improved lid" If you live in Canada, they won't send you a new lid. They tell you to contact Amazon. Amazon will not help you. As someone who bought this product. It's a good product, good ingredients, they're doing everything right. But if they won't send you a new lid, you will only brew one batch of beer (if that). I would advise you buy a different kit. I will be buying a glass carboy from my home brew supply store. It's disappointing. but you're better off buying something else.

Thanks

Today is one week after brew day. I was supposed to dry hop with 1oz of chinook hops. But I simply can't open the lid. I tried with a screwdriver and a hammer, there is nothing I can do without breaking it. So I guess I'll have to try the recipe without the dry hops, and hopefully it won't be tasteless. And on bottling day, pretty sure that lid will break apart and I wont be able to brew another batch with the kit. Very sad since I saw a previous comment about that issue and still decided to buy, thinking to myself that this person just got badluck. But now I kind of regret it.