I opened the first bottle after 6 weeks of conditioning and was wowed by the taste! It was smooth a little tangy & just really hit the spot. The magic of that first bottle was somehow not matched by the following ones but it was still good. Maybe drink this earlier than the 6-8 week conditioning mark. I bought the first release of this recipe when it was a lager so it came with just the gold packet of yeast but was missing the flaked rice. I used a 1/2 cup of Minute Rice & a cup more water as recommended. When I went to brew this I saw it was archived and this ale version had taken its place. So I made a hybrid and added a booster pack & 2 oz of Carapils malt from this ale version. It came out good enough to make again.

It was a partial mash kit which was fun. I would however be sure you have good control over your water temps for when you're steeping the grains. I've got an electric stovetop and not 100% confident I kept temps where they needed to be all the time..... An induction heating plate & smaller 3 or 4 gallon compatible pot is an upcoming purchase. The brewing process was pretty straightforward. I had a couple questions for the guys at the store and was well taken care of - I felt; Thanks Josh & Tim! My carbonation/conditioning process has finished and after a cpl days in the fridge - YUM! A pretty nice representation of the style: low hops low malt (although there's a HINT of sweetness) I'd say between a 2 & 4 on the SRM scale colorwise nice medium head that hangs on for a bit. There's an interesting finish - almost a spicy character at the end of a mouthful. I'm not sure where it comes from but I'm wondering if that's maybe a result of my less than ideal steeping process? Anyway I love the finished product and would certainly buy this again.

The instructions do not say when to add the 1 BrewMax LME Softpack - Pale. This is my first partial mash beer so I hope I did not ruin it since it takes 3-4 months before it is ready that is a long time to wait for a bad batch of beer. I just guessed and added it when I added the can of Brewing Extract and Booster pack hopefully that is right. I did not notice it was missing until I was already at that step.