homebrewandbeer.com

Has anyone of the homebrewers out there tried the CASCADE kits ie Chocolate Mahogany Porter or the Spicy Ghost Draught??? The cans look good what about the stuff inside???

http://www.hbkitreviews.com/
http://www.hbkitreviews.com/search.php?search=cascade

After reading the comments it seems that the Chocolate Mahogany is a no goer and the Spicy Ghost is hardly worth the effort

I have to say I disagree on the Choc Mahog Porter, I've made it twice and it is a good drop, although does need some boosting up to give it that little something extra. Try it with 1kg Dark Malt Extract to add body and then use dark brown sugar to prime the bottles. Leave for at least 3 months, hopefully longer.

Grabman

Everybody's taste buds are different tho, I personally really like the spicy ghost and think the porter is quite nice, but don't expect them to be world beaters

Normell

Just polished off a couple of Cascade Choc Porters over the Easter weekend. I brewed them last October with a bag of bodybrew (600g Dextrose, 400g Maltodextrin) whilst it was very pleasant Autum drinking, it was nothing amazing.

I agree with Grabman (and did in a previous thread about Cascade kits) that the Choc Porter needs more malt when brewing.

Have also done a Harvest Lager, but havn't sampled it for a while.

Cheers,

Greg

I have done both the mahogany porter and imperial voyage pale ale and both have been a bit disappointing. The porter was made with 500g dried amber malt extract, 500g maltodextrin, northern brewer hops and liquid london ale yeast. Colour was sensational, but the flavour was very subtle (read weak). If i was going to do it again I would use 1kg malt extract and add crystal and chocolate malt.

Similar story with the pale ale. I tried to make an IPA. I added to the kit 1.5kg liquid amber malt extract, 500g maltdextrin, goldings and fuggles hops and used same yeast as above. This one had good flavour although the body was quite light and the flavour disappeared as soon as the beer was swallowed. Again, if I was going to redo I would add some crystal malt and possibly caramel malt.

I have done the choc mahog porter. Brewed it with a 1kg tin of the Morgans Chocolate malt. Keg just got finished off on the weekend which I am quite happy about. Way to rich for me. Very chocolatey. However the missus and a mate loved it (think they drank it all), but they drink anything that's black so not sure what to think about it.

Sorry, forgot to log in!

Am drinking a spicy ghost at the moment its 2 months old added a brew
enhancer 500 light malt 500 dextrose its very carbonated and very bitter
drinkable but prefer a coppers canadian blonde i did at the same time

After reading this thread I hesitantly whipped up a Choc Mahogany Porter last night. Used Choc Mahog Kit, 1kg Morgan's Caramalt and a 1 kg porter grain bag.

After steeping the grains and boiling etc it was about 1.30 am. A bit past my bedtime. Good thing I accidently left the tap open on the fermenter and poured about a litre of molasses looking goo all over the kitchen. Aint that stuff fun to clean up ? I still have to lift my feet really hard when I walk in the kitchen. Oh the joy. This stuff had want to turn out good. I'm naming it Three Quarter Porter (for the fact that a quarter of it was on the floor).

Hello everyone,

does anyone out there know of any place I can get home brew kits etc. in Ireland. Eastons used to do it but have discontinued. Thanks Guys

Joe,

Are you talking mail order or going into a shop?

Any brand in particular?

Oliver

Hi Oliver,

thanks for the quick reply.

I am talking mail order or walk in. I am living on the Roscommon/Mayo border and I am prepared to drive (within reason). But any mail order addresses would be great too.
Bitter is the preferred brew, the rarer the better.

Well, I live in Australia, so probably can't be much help with the walk-in shop

Cooper's brewery sells homebrew ingredients online. See http://www.coopers.com.au and click on General Store.

You shouldn't have trouble finding homebrew shops in Ireland that have online ordering, or will at least deliver. Try a Goggle search.

Cheers,

Oliver

I did a Spicy Ghost back in June of 2004, about a week after first seeing it in Coles.
I started fermenting on 17/06/2004, 1044g using the yeast that came in the kit but ussed 1.5kg of Coopers Brew Enhancer 2. On the 23rd, six days later, 1010g at 26C, I put it in a keg and gassed it up (no extra sugar). It was ready to drink on the 26th and it went in one session. It went done really well and was enjoyed by all the people at the drinking session.
A year later I have done another and have only just put it in the keg tonight, possibly to drink at the family gathering this weekend.

Didnt realy like the spicy ghost but the missus and her sister loved it. I bottled some with honey that I liked better