HBA Note: Recently we decided to explore the world of No-Boil beer making kits. Admittedly, we approached this topic with a bit of skepticism due to our longtime commitment to traditional brewing. But with the summer months making that brew kettle somewhat less appealing and with many of us who simply don’t have time for an 8 hour brew day (imagine that!), we thought we should investigate these kits and offer them to our homebrewing community.

Now testing would be tricky given that the gang at HBA are all experienced brewers. Would we be able to be impartial? Would we be able to stick to the instructions and not deviate given our individual brewing techniques? Probably not. So we recruited one of our Winemaking buddies to test a kit out for us. Here are his notes:


Beer brewed at home by a home winemaker

By Carlos Rabassa

I drink and enjoy good beer but I have never attempted to brew it at home.

We accepted the challenge offered us by HomeBrew Adventures to brew a ‘no-boil’ beer kit. Why us? We were selected because of our extensive experience making wine at home from wine kits. Our second qualification was zero experience brewing beer so we would be tackling this project like a true beer brewing novice.

We used the same tools and equipment we already had for winemaking. The only extra item we needed was the capper since we normally cork our wine. For a split moment we were tempted to take a “trappist” approach and avoid the need for the capper by bottling in champagne bottles, but decided not to complicate the project.

Day 1

This picture shows the kit after we opened it. We selected the India Pale Ale (IPA) kit. Day 1, we cleaned and sanitized all the equipment, using a solution of B-Brite, the same cleaner/sanitizer we use for the wine. We were extra careful since we understand beer accepts less imperfections than wine as far as cleaning and sanitizing.

We used the same plastic primary fermenter we use for the wine.

We started by putting the contents of package #1 into the bucket. The instructions explain this is a very important addition to adjust the wort's pH.

Then we added four (4) litres of water at room temperature. We live in New York City, and our understanding is that we have great brewing water, so we used tap water (connected to the main supply system). We checked both the water and the room temperature; both were almost exactly 20 degC.

The instructions say eight litres. We changed it to four after discussing with the kit supplier. The kit contains 15 litres of concentrated wort. The eight litres would yield an "American" type beer; the less water would yield a "European" type beer. After discussing this with HBA, the difference would be along the lines of a strong IPA vs. an American Pale Ale.

One more reason for this change: For the wine I use 23 litres carboys and happen to have two 18.9 litre ones that I am not currently using for wine.

Next we added the wort concentrate. The packaging was excellent, similar to the wine kits we use, making it quite easy to pour the wort from the plastic bag inside the kit's box without making any mess.

At this point, the instructions recommend stirring vigorously. We used a stirrer driven by an electric drill, which is the same we use for the wine but a sanitized plastic spoon would probably do just fine.

Following the instructions we took the specific gravity. The instructions indicated a starting gravity range of 1.040/1.050. Our batch read 1.064 which seemed to be consistent with the reduced amount of water we used.

Final step for the day was to sprinkle the dry yeast that came with the kit. As with wine kits, they recommend not to stir it. The smell of the wort was delicious.

We covered the primary fermenter and capped it with the air lock.

We put it to rest on the same place we have our carboys with wine; on top of an old 2-drawer file cabinet, as shown in the photo.

To our surprise, fermentation started less than one hour after adding the yeast. The wine usually takes about 20 hours to get started.


Day 2

On the first day after sprinlkling the yeast, we had an ugly sight (see Figure 2). After consulting HBA, we removed the airlock, cleaned it thoroughly and put it back in the fermenter.


Day 3

Forty eight hours after starting, the vigorous fermentation was over. We had to clean the air lock three times. After the third cleaning it was very active but stayed clean.

We measured the specific gravity and it was exactly as per the instructions at 1.018/1.020.

We decided it was time to rack as shown in Figure 3.

The amount of foam in the carboy was what we had imagined it would be after reading the instructions. The airlock activity continued but slowed down significantly.


Day 4

It was looking pretty good, the day after racking! We had some thoughts of racking a second time in a few days, using our wine way of thinking. But our beer friends pointed out beer should not be given any more chances to interact with air than absolutely necessary. We just waited for the solids to settle

Towards the top it already started looking like the beer we were dreaming of.

The instructions said to keep watching for the bubbles. They were expected to disappear in 10 to 15 days.

Day 5

Just got an email from HBA reminding me that beer should be protected from light at all times. A new trash bag seemed to do the trick nicely.


Days 6 through 15

Nothing exciting happened during this time. We just watched this slow phase of the fermentation process. The instructions say it would last 10 to 15 days.

This is what it looked like (see Figure 5).

Watching carefully we could see activity. Bubbles that burst and new small ones replacing them, growing and bursting. Gas going through the air lock at pretty long intervals. Solids kept dropping from the beer to the bottom of the carboy. The solids seem to be packing together. The line between beer and solids is already perfectly defined, as shown in Figure 6.

Every passing day, the beer looked more like the beer we were
envisioning.

Day 16

Not much of a change during the past 10 days or so. At this point we took another gravity reading and decided it was time to bottle. We transfered our beer to a bottling bucket along with the corn sugar provided and bottled into sanitized bottles. Then placed then in a cool, dry, dark place for conditioning.

Day 19

The beer is improving while it rests.

Day 34

First tasting, as per the instructions, 14 days after bottling.

The head was minimal and lasted a short time; it was bit more than shown in the picture but I didn't take the picture fast enough. We shipped a couple of 6-packs to the guys at HBA for thier evaluation. They gave it high marks especially for someone's every first attempt and the fact that my "brewing" time was under 20 minutes.


Conclusion: I think I’ll make more!