Next step from Kit? Steep or BIAB?

Tom_B

Hello - I have just bottled up a first brew from one of your kits - its looking great in the bottles, clearing up nicely and is a nice colour. I had a go out of curiosity and because I like beer but didn't really recon on how many days there are anticipating the product before it is ready. So I have been doing lots of reading about brewing which I really didn't understand at all before and while the kit was/is great I'm wondering on next steps in learning about brewing and developing skills. I like the idea of steeping to improve kit beer but am also fascinated by BIAB. What do you recommend as a next step?

HBO_Staff

Hi Tom_B, either tweaking malt extract kits or going down the all grain route can be a good next step if you want to get more in to your brewing, it is a bit more involved but is a great way to experiment and personalise brews to our taste. You can start more simply and steep some grain, or you can get more involved and start mashing grain, it all depends on what you want to do and how much time and effort you want to put in.

Steeping grains can be a good place to start and makes you more involved, but is straightforward and you need very little equipment, you can also make the brew more to your taste. We have a guide here that explains it:

https://homebrewonlinebrewblog.wordpress.com/2019/05/28/steeping-grains-in-extract-brewing/

You will probably find that by starting with steeping and actually using grain in your brew, you will get more confidence with the experience, and if you enjoy it you can look to brew using grain and hops from scratch. Some brewers like to use extract kits either on their own or as a base as it is faster, and then brew all grain when they have more time.

We have a starting video guide on steeping grains here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaRkRf6iBqM&list=PLRnXZAG2W3UPExZWAg-lfsFbyjXOBh9d5&index=16

We hope this helps, please do let us know how you get on or if you need any help

Tom_B

Ta! Steepy steep it is then. I lost patience with the bottled beer and drank one to see how it was and was pleased that it tasted of beer.

HBO_Staff

Excellent - if it tastes like beer early on, after longer conditioning in the bottles the rest of the batch should continue to improve nicely! Many people have a couple of batches going (or more) so you always have some stored and conditioning