Midwest Supplies and The Homebrew Academy have created a homebrewing equipment kit for new brewers.

I worked with Midwest to hand-pick every item in order to best suit new homebrewers. The kit is tailored to fit the way The Academy teaches brewing and is now the kit that we recommend every member starts with.

It was an absolute pleasure to work with Midwest on this project. They are a great group of people who really care about their customers. As someone who has purchased from Midwest myself, I know Academy members will enjoy their experience with them.

About the kit

As a self-admitted gadget guy, piecing together a kit for new homebrewers was a dream come true.

The kit is based on a primary-only fermentation with no secondary. I’m a big proponent of this method. A 6 gallon Better Bottle was chosen over glass for the cost savings and the safety factor. It’s worked well for me as primary fermenter for dozens of batches. A 4′ blow-off tube is included.

An auto-siphon is one of the best brewing inventions there is. Most homebrewers end up buying one eventually, so I thought “Why not include it from the very beginning?”

I never liked how many kits come with sub-par cleaner and sanitizer. It’s only the best for this one – PBW and StarSan. And not one of those dinky pouches of PBW either – a full one pound jar.

Long plastic spoon? Check. Waterproof digital thermometer? Check.

I’m telling you, this thing is sweet.

You can read the rest of the items and see them in the video.

So what does this mean for members without the kit?

The Homebrew Academy has never been and never will be kit dependent. Our lessons apply to various kits and configurations. This is simply the one that we recommend and you’ll see more videos using specific items from the Midwest Kit.

A video explaining the kit and the official press release are below. Leave a comment to let me know what you think or to ask any questions about the kit. Cheers!

The Midwest Homebrew Kit has been specially developed to provide everything a new homebrewer will need to be successful when brewing their first batch of beer. In addition, the kit will be featured on The Homebrew Academy and used to demonstrate homebrewing in the step-by-step video lessons that the site provides its members.

“We recommend beginner kits to members, but there was never a kit that I felt really had everything a new homebrewer needed”, says Broas. “I worked with Midwest Supplies to hand-pick every item in this kit. Brewers that use it are setting themselves up for success. It’s the kit I wish I had when I started.”

The Midwest Homebrew Kit is available at MidwestSupplies.com. New homebrewers can access free beginner lessons at HomebrewAcademy.com.

Midwest Supplies is the largest wine making and home brew supply shop in America and was voted the Twin Cities Best Homebrewing Supplies shop in 2012 by City Pages magazine. Since 1995 Midwest Supplies has been providing home brewers and winemakers with quality home brewing and wine making equipment, fresh ingredients and outstanding customer service. Midwest Supplies has more than 100 beer recipe kits to brew and over 130 wine ingredient kits to choose from. Open 7 days a week, Midwest Supplies’ knowledgeable and super friendly staff of brewers and wine makers are always available to answer your questions about home beer brewing or wine making to help you make the best wine and beer.

The Homebrew Academy provides online training programs that teach beer lovers how to brew their own delicious beer at home. Founder Billy Broas created the site to help new homebrewers get into the hobby and avoid the mistakes that Billy made when he first started. Members can go at their own pace and use step-by-step videos, checklists, and informative articles to go from raw ingredients to full pint glass. After their first successful batches, members use the advanced lessons to take their beer to the next level.

Contact:
Midwest Supplies
5825 Excelsior Blvd.
St. Louis Park, MN 55416
Customer Service: 888-449-2739
www.midwestsupplies.com

The post The Homebrew Academy and Midwest Supplies Equipment Kit appeared first on The Homebrew Academy.

This was class based in science, chemistry and applications. Not about recipe designs, experimental hops or what is the best equipment to buy.

What we studied

In a nutshell, this class took us from the harvesting of the barley through all the production processes and ending with a consistent product.

Note, I didn’t say award-winning, best in class or most creative. I think it’s safe to say that a successful commercial brewery is making beer that is consistent in flavor and quality and most of all enjoyed by the masses.

Just look at the big “craft brewers” like New Belgium and Sierra Nevada. They both make some great beers, but their success and growth is highly dependent on their flagship beers. Fat Tire and SN Pale Ale may not be my first choice, but I know exactly what I’m going to get when I order one. It’s the success of a flagship beer(s) that will allow a brewery the ability to experiment and test the limits all the while keeping for banks and suppliers happy. This isn’t to say there are not exceptions, but I can’t think of too many breweries that grow as quickly without making some solid flagship beers.

The class was primarily taught Charles Bamforth Ph.D., D.Sc. (a chemist, not a brewer). Besides being of one of the most humorous teachers I have ever had, his style of teaching made each of the 7 hour school days fly by.  The class consisted of 15 students, who came from all over including New Zealand and South Africa.

A significant amount of time was spent on how quality and consistency comes from knowing your ingredients first and foremost and then perfecting your procedures and processes giving you the ability to replicate the beers over and over. When it comes to the ingredients, the smaller the brewery the less of a chance at getting the highest quality stuff

Where does it the leave the homebrewer?

I think its safe to say across the board the ingredients are good (enough) quality for a homebrewer, but how they are stored at your local shop and home can make a difference.

A few of the key areas of interest for me were carbonation, flavor stability and clarity along with the testing procedures. There’s a lot more that goes into this than I expected and with this knowledge I now have greater respect for brewers who are dealing with both growth & demand while meeting all the public expectations of a consistent product. All in all, the less money you have for testing and quality control means your quality assurance better be spot on (I hope I got that right Charlie).

Getting our hands dirty

Besides the lectures in classroom we did get some hands-on training:
The second day was spent brewing a group brew pale ale on the pilot batch system. This allowed us to get familiar with the brewhouse, along with some of the testing procedures including determining the yeast pitching rate based on viability and pH changes during the fermentation process. The brewhouse has a digital monitoring system that allowed us to track the various stages of the process. 

Since the program was only one week, we didn’t really get to see our brew through the end, but we did get to taste on the fourth day of the fermentation. The highlight was the brewing process and not the beer.

Later in the week we toured and tasted at Sudwerk brewery located in Davis. Jay Prahl the Brewmeister guided us through the brewery. Sudwerk has been in operation for 20 over years and specializes in German style lagers. They are also home to the UC Davis Master Brewers Program and White Labs Davis Lab.

The last day was a ½ day that included an “off flavor” test panel, tasting of the class brew, and a mini bottle share. Not a bad way to end the week.

I had a great time and learned a lot, but the biggest thing I got from the class was not about how great your brewhouse is or creative you are with your recipes. It’s about you as a brewer taking the time to understand your system and maximizing it to meet your demands. This class got me thinking about what it really takes to be a great brewer, and it’s not all about the brew day.

You can find additional photos on my Flickr account.

The post Back to School (part 2) appeared first on The Homebrew Academy.

This CO2 utility line lets you easily swap out homebrewing devices that need CO2. You can use it for:

• Making a CO2 blow gun to purge fermenters and bottling buckets.
• Hooking up a dedicated gas line to “crank and shake” your kegs.
• Connecting a Blichmann Beer Gun and include a splitter.

Kent Quick Disconnects go great on a utility line because they make it easy to swap devices in and out. I picked up mine from MoreBeer.

You will need one female quick disconnect that stays attached to the regulator and one male quick disconnect for every device you want to hook up. I use 3/8″ QD’s and they fit great on my 5/16″ gas line.

If you want to make a Blichmann Beer Gun assembly like mine, you will also need a Tee.

If you use a single CO2 tank and it’s connected to your kegs, you can add a quick disonnect to it so you can easily remove the tank to use it for other things. Alternatively, you can get a second CO2 tank and make that your dedicated utility line. I waited too long to do this. It’s well worth it and I don’t need to disturb my CO2 tank that is sitting at just the right serving pressure.

It’s just one more thing to make your homebrewing easier. Enjoy.

The post How to Make a CO2 Utility Line appeared first on The Homebrew Academy.

Well, that feeling hit me big time around 2009 when my daughter starting looking at UC Davis as her choice for college. UC Davis is like my dream school: Agriculture based (I have always wanted to be a farmer), and that offers degrees in both Viticulture/Enology and Brewing Science. Farms, Wine and Beer – come on all I need is porch and a hound dog and I would be set.

When she made the choice to attend UC Davis, I was so jealous. For the next few years I read up on their brewing program, including their highly respected staff and alumni. When the extension program was offered and it fit my schedule I thought, “Why Not?” It’s not a cheap program, but I have invested more money in the building of my brew stand, ingredients and beer toys, so with the blessing of my wife I signed up.

So what do I expect to gain from the class?

Being that it is a weeklong class and only 15 students I expect an abundance of hands-on learning and the ability to ask a lot of questions and get direct answers. Two areas that really interest me and that I feel that I can gain the most knowledge in are the lab work and the stability of a finished beer.  I have never done any type of lab work with my homebrew and learning how to brew a beer that better keeps the taste and aroma for a longer period of time along while brewing an “ageable” beer would be great.

Here is a brief course description taken directly from the UC Davis website

“Learn from one of the world’s foremost brewing experts in this in-depth course for advanced homebrewers and early career professional brewers, using the amazing resources of the new 1.5 barrel pilot brewery in the state-of-the-art brewing facility on the UC Davis campus. This class combines clear and detailed lectures with practical, hands-on brewing and laboratory tests. Go all the way from raw material selection through to the quality and stability of the finished beer. A class ale will be brewed and analyses on barley, malt, hops, yeast, wort and beer explored.”

Instructor(s):
Charles Bamforth, Ph.D., D.Sc., is the lead professor of brewing science at the University of California, Davis, with 35 years of academic and professional brewing expertise, including senior roles with Brewing Research International and Bass Brewers. A fellow of several organizations, including the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD), Bamforth is also editor in chief of the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) and has published extensively on beer and brewing. He is a recipient of the ASBC’s Award of Distinction and is vice president of the IBD.

Candace Wallin is the manager of the brewery and the brewing research laboratory at UC Davis. She has more than 30 years of experience in brewing and brewing research. Wallin previously held positions as a research microbiologist and then as a brewing technologist at Miller Brewing Company. She is a diploma brewer member of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling.

I hope to have a follow-up post in the beginning of February that highlights on the experiences I had at UC Davis along with sharing some cool information.

The post Back To School appeared first on The Homebrew Academy.

Here’s some of the Successes and Failures of 2012

American Honey Wheat 2.0

I made this last year, to mediocre results and accolades. So, I went through and revamped the recipe, pretty much gutting all but the base grain bill, and reworked it. Noticeable improvements included 5.0lbs of honey and the addition of Sorachi Ace hops at flameout. The result was a much more drinkable 10gal batch of a honey wheat, done up (mildy) hoppy style!

Single Hop IPA

Originally this was my “Here come the drums…” IPA, but due to bad note taking on my part, was slightly reworked and done up with all Centennial Hops. It’s more Pale Ale backbone with a hoppier kick to it. I would consider this a wonderful summer brew, and a fantastic gateway recipe for those faint-of-heart over hops. There’s a second batch of the year sitting in primary right now.

Barleywine 0.9

Here was our major failure of the year. Meant to be a pilot batch for a much larger session, this was a ruby red hopped barleywine with a lot of potential (Think Lagunitas Gnarleywine). Unfortunately, a strain of bacteria got loose in the brewroom, and this batch went down the drain. Along with the smalls off of it. *FAIL*

Exp Saison

I wanted to test out some recipes to a new book I was exposed to. My wife really enjoys a good Saison, so I decided to brew their Saison recipe. Lots of orange zest and lemon zest, which I was okay with and had a real interesting affect even at the end of boil. However, it also called for some crushed Anise. This proved to be too experimental for any of us. Another unfortunate drain pour to make room for new brews.

Tripel One

Okay, so my brewing buddy and I got into a “Let’s do a Tripel, but let’s do it up RIGHT!” kind of discussion. The result? Two different recipes. Tripel One started with a base grain bill, throw in a banana at flameout for good measure, and distribute around a pound of Amarillo hops throughout the brewday (and also dry hop). The result was a delightfully drinkable Tripel with so much non-belgian influence. The bittering of the hops took a back seat to the malt and candi sugar, but pressed forward with a HUGE orange-y citrous flavor. I’m so crazy happy about this thing, it’s rediculous. I even have non-IPA drinkers coming back for this thing. Most Def a keeper!

Tripel Two

The other Tripel we went fall/winter seasonal. Dialed back the hops to style, and threw in a banana at flameout for good measure. Then we added fresh minced Ginger, All-Spice and this lovely herb called Seeds of Paradise. The ginger has gotten a little strong as it sat, but the flavor profile has this keg about to blow in relatively short order.

Berry Black Mamba

I’ve been wanting to brew this for about 2 years now, and finally got the opportunity. Started with a slightly modified Porter recipe. There’s no black patent, and all the dark malt is pale chocolate malt. The result is a lovely, light, slightly coffee roastiness to it. It’s quite delightful and will brew again even for just a plain porter. In any case, we didn’t stop there. For a 10gal batch, we took 6lbs of fresh blackberries (froze them to break open cell membranes) and pureed them, pasteurized over heat and threw in a pound of belgian candi sugar for good measure. Then threw that puree into secondary with the porter. I adore this beer and will be very sad to see it go!

Espresso Stout 2.0

When I was first making the jump into all-grain, I did a mini-mash of an imperial stout and threw some coffee at it on a whim. It turned into a real crowd pleaser, even for non-beer yet pro-coffee types. That batch is long since gone, so I decided to revisit in all-grain fashion. I took the base porter recipe from Berry Black Mamba and brought the base malt up to par, split it between 2-row English Pale and Maris Otter, mainly because I really like Maris.

Then I took some local roasted espresso and cold steeped for 24 hours (also called cold toddy brewing) and threw that into secondary. The result has been mixed. I took the keg to a homebrew event, and it was a real winner among those that tried it, and several of the folks that have come by the house have said nice things about it.

For me, though, I think the coffee is a little louder than the rest of the beer. I designed the recipe to allow the coffee to bring most of the bitterness, which is why there was no Black Patent in it. Having said that, I had it with brunch recently, and it was ON TIME! I guess the answer, then, is that it’s a breakfast beer. Either that or a coffee-lover’s beer.

#13

Sometimes I get ribbed a bit for my, ahem, appreciation for British styles. An early experiment in all-grain was an English Mild that had, in my own words, no redeemable qualities what-so-ever. It was just beer. It was dialed in to style, and was actually quite good. But by IPA’s standards, it was barely more than water. With that in mind, I wanted to spin it. I wanted to put something memorable into it. So I got to thinking: In a Pub, you smell beer and smoke generally. Cigar humidors are made of spanish cedar, which has a peppery, complex aroma. So we took 2lbs of the base malt and smoked it on spanish cedar.

This is currently in primary and I need to transfer it in short order. The aroma of this beer is simply mesmerizing. We tasted the wort prior to fermentation, and it’s far better than we even thought. I just can’t wait to keg this thing.

That’s a general run down of what’s been going on. I’ve had my hands in some other beer projects too, however, these have been the recipes that I have directly been involved in and responsible for.

Other Advances

Another significant change in brewing is that we are 10gal batch minimum now. We’ve gone back and forth on this, and frankly, if we are going to sit some back or have some available for bottle-share, we need more than what is going in our 5gal kegs. It only makes sense to dial it up to 10gal.

Finally, we have really dialed in our brewing setup and getting 80%+ efficiency on our batches. This is fantastic, and we have begun fabrication of my new brewstand. I’m going for something a little different, but it’s based on the concept of a RIMS system. I will keep you up-to-date as things progress.

Looking Ahead

Looking into 2013, there’s something big on the horizon. On January 1, we are going to be brewing 60 gallons of Barleywine. Yeah, that’s a big brew day. Then we are going to fill a Buffalo Trace Bourbon Barrel with it. Winter 2013 is going to be pretty Epic, to say the least.

What memorable events do you have from 2012? What big plans do you have for 2013? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

The post Homebrewing Year in Review appeared first on The Homebrew Academy.

For $5 you can trade that old wooden paddle for a motorized mash paddle. A paint mixer is the perfect tool for mixing your mash and destroying dough balls.

Here is the paint mixer at Home Depot

Because it’s plastic, it won’t damage your kettle, false bottom, or fittings. I still try to avoid hitting anything but when I do it’s no problem. I also recommend running the drill on a lower speed unless you want steaming hot grain flung into your eyes.

This thing mixes the mash more effectively than hand-mixing and does it in a fraction of the time. I highly recommend you try it out.

The post Make a Motorized Mash Paddle for the Price of a Beer appeared first on The Homebrew Academy.

In fact, many homebrewers enjoy cooking and many cooks enjoy homebrewing. That is why I wrote this post. There is a new cookbook on the market that I love and I think other homebrewers will as well. It’s called The Science of Good Cooking.

Why I like it

There are thousands of cookbooks put out every year, so why is this one different?

As a homebrewer, you’re always trying to find the best way to do things. Do any of these statements strike a chord?

• What’s better for fermenting – a secondary or no secondary?
• How much roasted barley should I use in a stout?
• Does a decoction mash really improve a Czech pilsner?

TSOGC asks the same questions with cooking. Here are a few of my favorites:

• How long should I rest a steak after cooking it?
• Does acid really help in a marinade?
• What’s the best way to use herbs?

The book answers these questions and many more though experimentation and the use of tasting panels. For a complete list of the concepts covered, check out this review (b/c Amazon doesn’t list the table of contents).

If you’re familiar with this book’s editors, Cook’s Illustrated, then this approach is not new to you. Testing recipes is in their DNA as is best illustrated by their show America’s Test Kitchen.

What sets this book apart is 1) It’s comprehensive. There are 50 concepts and over 400 recipes. It’s huge. 2) There is an explanation for everything including sections called “The Science Behind It” and “Why It Works” for every concept. 3) It really does work, at least for what I’ve tried.

For example, my scrambled eggs went to a whole new level after reading that chapter. It says to use both milk and butter, add more yolk than whites, and move the pan from high to low heat halfway through cooking. The result? The fluffiest, most delicious eggs I’ve ever eaten. Brilliant!

If you’re a homebrewer and you like to cook, you will love this book. The author, Guy Crosby, takes a scientific approach to cooking but never loses sight of the end goal – making something that tastes as good as possible. A fine credo for homebrewing as well.

As a word of warning, don’t expect a visually appealing cookbook with full-page, gorgeous photos that make you drool. This is more like a textbook than a cookbook. There are some photos but they are black and white and are used more to show you comparisons (e.g. resting meat vs. not resting) as opposed to what the finished meal should look like. This may matter to some people.

Now, when will see a similar book for homebrewing?

You can pick up The Science of Good Cooking at Amazon.com

The post The Perfect Book for The Homebrewing Home Cook appeared first on The Homebrew Academy.

I thought it’d be a cool experiment to brew three beers of three different colors using neutral (reverse osmosis) water and the same salt additions to see how the mash pH varies. Why? To get a better handle on this mysterious orb that is water chemistry. And because I’m a nerd.

As I mentioned in the water report post, the problem with Denver water is that the water comes from multiple treatment plants so the salt/mineral profile changes. It also varies seasonally.

Not good for brewing experiments where you’re trying to hold the water constant.

Instead of using my home water, I bought RO, carbon filtered water from the grocery store. At $0.49/gal, I came in at under $5 for the entire batch of beer. Not bad. I think I’ll go this route for all future batches.

The theory behind grains and their relationship to mash pH is that darker grains are more acidic and will lower the mash pH. That is all well and good but I like to see things for myself.

The experiment

Beers:

• Beer 1: Standard Bitter; 4 SRM
• Beer 2: Dunkelweizen; 16 SRM
• Beer 3: Dry Irish Stout; 36 SRM

Guidelines:

• 100% reverse osmosis water
• 3 grams calcium chloride
• 2 grams Gypsum (calcium sulfate)
• 1.75 qts/lb water to grain ratio
• pH measured at room temperature 30 minutes into mash using Milwaukee pH meter

As you can see in the picture below, the beers cover a range from light to dark.

From left to right: Standard Bitter, Dunkelweizen, Dry Irish Stout

Results

• Standard Bitter mash pH = 5.58
• Dunkelweizen mash pH = 5.49
• Dry Irish Stout mash pH = 5.37

Sure enough, they fell right where they were supposed to. The lightest beer, the Bitter, used 100% Maris Otter and had the highest pH. The Dunkelweizen used crystal malt and dark Munich which lowered the pH a tad. Finally, the stout with its large amount of roasted barley (10%) added the most acidity and had the lowest mash pH.

Groundbreaking discovery? Not at all. This is what was supposed to happen, and it’s reassuring that everything fell into line.

Hopefully this practical example of how mash pH works explains things that may not have made sense from just reading about it.

Now you might be wondering which is the “best” mash pH. That one will have to wait. These all fall in the range of what is recommended (5.2-5.6), but two of the beers aren’t ready yet so I can’t determine any effects the mash pH had on the flavor. Even then it will be tough to tell a difference since they are all very different beer styles. The best way to do it would be to brew the same style at different mash pH’s.

Knowing me, I’ll probably do it.

The post Mash pH: A Tale of 3 Beers appeared first on The Homebrew Academy.

Before you can adjust your water, however, you need to know what you’re starting with because everybody’s water is different. For that, you need a water report.

The problem with obtaining a water report here in Denver is that we are supplied by three treatment plants, and we don’t know which one supplies us. I suppose it’s even possible that the supplies are mixed and/or our treatment plant could switch depending on the season.

What this gives us is a bunch of unknowns, which is why the only way to really know what’s in your water is to test what’s actually coming out of your tap.

Ward Labs

There are tons of companies which can test your water. You can find one on your own, but a trusted source for homebrewers is Ward Labs. They even cater specifically to homebrewers.

The website is a bit misleading. If you’re browsing around trying to find the right spot, you’ll probably end up on the brewer’s kit order form page. They will send you a kit and conduct the test for $36. This isn’t what you want. Instead, go to the Sample Submittal Forms page and scroll all the way to the bottom where there is a link that says “Information Sheet for Home Brewers.”

This form is what you want. Fill it out and send it in with your own bottle, following the instructions on the form and choose the “W-6 Household Mineral Test.” The cost is $16.50 plus shipping. You can choose one of the other more expensive tests but everything you need is in the W-6 test.

Sending in the water sample

You need to send Ward 8-16 oz of water in a plastic container. My goal was to find a container that could hold that amount and fit into one of the USPS small flat rate boxes. It turns out that a 375ml bottle of cheap vodka did the trick. Pour out the vodka (but save it for filling airlocks, or drink it), rinse it, and fill it with your water sample.

375ml vodka bottle and small flat-rate box

Perfect fit

I wrapped the lid in a paper towel and secured it with a plastic baggy and rubber band, just in case it leaked during transit.

My results

The results were emailed to me 5 days after I mailed in the package. Very impressive turnaround.

Here is the actual water report I received via email from Ward, but I’ve also posted the results below.

• Sodium, NA – 17 ppm
• Potassium, K – 2 ppm
• Calcium, Ca – 31 ppm
• Magnesium, Mg – 7 ppm
• Total Hardness, CaCO3 – 107 ppm
• Nitrate, NO3-N – 0.2 ppm
• Sulfate, SO4-S – 17 ppm
• Chloride, Cl – 21 ppm
• Carbonate, CO3 – 6 ppm
• Bicarbonate, HCO3 – 66 ppm
• Total Alkalinity, CACO3 – 64 ppm

I’m not going to go too much into analyzing my sample in this post because this is more about obtaining the report.

One thing I want to point out is the difference between my sample and the Denver Water reports. As mentioned above, there are three treatment plants and I do not know which one supplies my house. From looking at their report, the Marston plant numbers are very close to mine, so there’s a good chance that is where I get my water. Of course these are yearly averages and I may in fact get my water from a different plant in the winter. I do plan on sending in another sample in the winter just to see how the numbers change.

It gives me peace of mind to know my water profile. Let me know in the comments if you’ve had your water tested as well.

The post How to Get Your Water Report for Homebrewing appeared first on The Homebrew Academy.

One thing I always stress to Academy members it to control their fermentation temperatures. Most new homebrewers ferment way too warm.

Cool Brewing is helping to combat that. They invented an insulated bag made especially for fermenters. It will fit any size fermenter up to 6.5 gallon carboys and buckets.

How does it work? You put frozen water bottles into the bag, zip it up, and the bag will keep your beer cool. Simple, but smart.

I was able to try it out with my robust porter.

My experience with the Cool Brewing Bag

I cooled my beer down to 66°F as I do with most of my ales. I pitched my yeast, and let the temperature rise to 68°F. That’s when I added a one-liter water bottles.

I chose one liter bottles because I wanted more control over the temperature and was afraid that a 2L bottle might be overkill since 68°F isn’t that cold.

Fermentation really took off the next morning and I had to add two more 1L bottles to maintain 68°F. 3 bottles did the trick for the first few days. The ice melted after about 24 hrs at which time I swapped them out. Once fermentation calmed down, I was able to go down to 2 and then 1 water bottle.

Do I recommend it?

Well the results speak for themselves. Unlike the swamp cooler which required me to change out the water bottles every 8 hours or less, these bottles stayed frozen for a day and sometimes more. No more getting up in the middle of the night to check on your beer.

It takes a little practice to know how many water bottles to add, but once I got the hang of it the resulting temperature change was fairly predictable. It would be interesting to try fermenting a lager in the bag. Here is a quote from someone on this HomebrewTalk thread who’s had success:

“I am having tremendous success keeping my lager at a steady 50/52 (I use adhesive temp strips, so probably 51. Ambient temperature ~70) I froze five 3 liter Poland Spring bottles, put four in, and each morning and afternoon I replace a watery one with a frozen one. It is fermenting away, and I couldn’t be happier. This product should definitely advertise the fact it can be used to cool down to lager temps, as that would be a big selling point for folks.”
- Libeerty

Not bad. It appears that the Cool Brewing guys are also having success with heat wraps when you want to warm up your beer.

So yes, I recommend this product. It’s still not as effective as a chest freezer, but for the price, smaller footprint, and how well it works, it’s a great deal. If one of these were included with every starter kit then new brewers would see much more success with their first attempts, which we all know can be a disaster.

Check out the Cool Brewing bag and you can also buy it on Amazon..

Disclosure: This product was provided free of charge for evaluation and feedback.

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