Review on 🍺 Craft A Brew American Pale Ale Kit: Create Your Own Beer with this Reusable Starter Set – 1 Gallon by Kelly Kunkel

This was my very first Moonshine experience. I've scoured the internet for all the homebrew kits in small batches; and kept coming back to it. It got pretty good reviews compared to others; and a glass bottle versus a plastic keg was more appealing to me. I was a little stunned thinking about it until I opened the box. The instructions were very easy to understand; and also a great youtube video. Brewing (not bottling) takes less than 3 hours; including reading instructions; collect dishes; and tidying up afterwords, etc. I'm sure this will likely speed up with experience. I did a great job with fermentation at the Oktoberfest. The bottling went well after 2 weeks; but spilled some cuz I did it alone and my siphon slipped out of the pan, ahh! If you have a few bucks to spare (less than $10 for a decent bottle at Revain), buy an autosiphon to make filling easier. Even with practice, the siphon in this set is difficult to master right away. I recently bought an auto siphon and it made a strong cider that I brewed MUCH EASIER to transfer with no spills or time limits. It would be nice if Craft A Brew offered manual siphon kits; and a kit with auto siphon at a slightly higher price; it would be worth it. Bottling took 3 weeks instead of 2 (but the instructions state the flavor and allow for further conditioning if needed). By the way, bottles are NOT included in this set. buy you; as well as closures and a bottle capper (didn't use Craft A Brew's bottling kit so no comments on their quality). After 5 1/2 weeks I finally tried it; and was so excited it tasted like BEER! If you have the patience, I'd recommend this over the "faster" versions; if you want a whimsical style on your counter or in your pantry when fermenting. Also, glass is easier to clean than plastic :) Final thoughts: overall the price was decent; and happy with the results! I just brewed their Bone Dry Irish Stout today; I can't wait for it to be ready to try! Pros: Easy to understand instructions. Great videos on YouTube. Good design for brewing small batches of beer. The quality of the ingredients is good. Cons: The funnel cracked in my set; as does AirLock (possibly due to Revain's rough handling). Used my own silicone funnel; and ordered a set of 3 gateways for less than $5; so it's not a deal breaker. The disinfectant packaging states that half should be used for brewing and the other half for bottling. It would be great if it came in "split" packaging so you could use exactly half at a time.