Does Flash Brewing kits as "brewing"?

BarbarianBrewer

BarbarianBrewer

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A couple weeks ago I decided to try one of the Flash Brewing kits from More Beer. Since you just add all the ingredients into the fermenter (you don't even need to stir), is this considered "brewing"? Fermentation is involved, does that make it "brewing"? I'm nearing brew #100, does this put me one step closer to that milestone?
 
No, but I have been enjoying the Citra session kit.
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Zambi said:
Frankly, who cares?
If someone tries it and likes the result, we are halfway into convicing them to biab :)
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Yeah I have been brewing all grain for about 40 years with all kinds of equipment from rudimentary to fancy. This seems to work well and the beer is good. Just don’t do it in a 5 gallon keg!
 
A brewer's main job is to prep for yeast to do the bulk of the work. Whether that's spending 5+ hours mashing/decocting/boiling/whatever, or putting things in a vessel I think it all counts. I've brewed countless ciders by dumping pasteurized apple juice and adding yeast.
 
my beef(hot dog sandwich and all) is that i have actually run into brewpubs that are using this same type of system but on a bigger scale. The beers were terrible, yet they still had the same prices of beer actually produced on site.

No brewer on staff, just some restaurant folks who were part of a restaurant group. The system was fully automated and they had boxes containing bags of "ipa" "pale ale" etc stacked in the corner. The only interaction that came from the "staff" with the beer was loading in the boxes, dryhopping preweighed amounts(probably extract), and loading kegs into the machine that brewed, cleaned, carbed, and packaged. they didnt even need to wash the kegs. they were washed as they were filled.

Overall, the branding was great, but the actual feel of the spot was just off(it felt like a chilli's/chain restuarant). I understand the appeal for the "restaurant group" but i would bet that if they had put the crazy costs of that machine towards a brewer and had more normal gear the beer and reviews would have been alot better.

The reviews were also not great for the beer or the location in general.
 
Bigbre04 said:
my beef(hot dog sandwich and all) is that i have actually run into brewpubs that are using this same type of system but on a bigger scale. The beers were terrible, yet they still had the same prices of beer actually produced on site.

No brewer on staff, just some restaurant folks who were part of a restaurant group. The system was fully automated and they had boxes containing bags of "ipa" "pale ale" etc stacked in the corner. The only interaction that came from the "staff" with the beer was loading in the boxes, dryhopping preweighed amounts(probably extract), and loading kegs into the machine that brewed, cleaned, carbed, and packaged. they didnt even need to wash the kegs. they were washed as they were filled.

Overall, the branding was great, but the actual feel of the spot was just off(it felt like a chilli's/chain restuarant). I understand the appeal for the "restaurant group" but i would bet that if they had put the crazy costs of that machine towards a brewer and had more normal gear the beer and reviews would have been alot better.

The reviews were also not great for the beer or the location in general.
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theres that "too much of a good thing" rearing its irony. doing it as a brewer for a shortcut, isnt so bad, but to sit on an automated process. no thats not brewing. thats just minding something.

at least machines cant replace the real brewer.

although most are used to commercially brewed swill that tastes like ass. so people will probably keep trying such things, cause those are the dummies they want buying it.
 
KaijuSoul said:
theres that "too much of a good thing" rearing its irony. doing it as a brewer for a shortcut, isnt so bad, but to sit on an automated process. no thats not brewing. thats just minding something.

at least machines cant replace the real brewer.

although most are used to commercially brewed swill that tastes like ass. so people will probably keep trying such things, cause those are the dummies they want buying it.
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Although modern large commercial breweries are essentially fully automated.
 
Donoroto said:
Although modern large commercial breweries are essentially fully automated.
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Right. it explains a lot really, why it doesnt really make beer/etc look good, why some people get the misconception that all of it must taste like dogwater. even ive had that misconception before, because of what i was limitedly exposed to, and those? only the large commercial beers, which i tried many.
only commercial ones ive had that are tolerable, some of the samuel adams line, and a lesser known one called leinenkugel, but its SO DAMN HARD TO FIND. ive never had a bad leinenkugel. although no i havent gone out of my way to try each and every name sitting on the shelf, so sure theres probably more good ones, but i dont form opinions from them. just what ive had personally. oh i forgot, i actually like heinikens too, its kind of awful but in a good way?

realized i went on a tangent there, all in all though, to me all that automated brewing just takes the soul out of brewing. a home brewer using a fast kit to whip out a batch to shortcut, at least they are involved.

i picked up this quote from palmer "a good recipe with bad fermentation makes a bad beer, but a bad recipe with good fermentation can make a good beer"

i think the point can apply to such.
 
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KaijuSoul said:
Right. it explains a lot really, why it doesnt really make beer/etc look good, why some people get the misconception that all of it must taste like dogwater. even ive had that misconception before, because of what i was limitedly exposed to, and those? only the large commercial beers, which i tried many.
only commercial ones ive had that are tolerable, some of the samuel adams line, and a lesser known one called leinenkugel,
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Leinenkugel is owned by big boy Molson Coors.
KaijuSoul said:
but its SO DAMN HARD TO FIND. ive never had a bad leinenkugel. although no i havent gone out of my way to try each and every name sitting on the shelf, so sure theres probably more good ones, but i dont form opinions from them. just what ive had personally. oh i forgot, i actually like heinikens too, its kind of awful but in a good way?

realized i went on a tangent there, all in all though, to me all that automated brewing just takes the soul out of brewing. a home brewer using a fast kit to whip out a batch to shortcut, at least they are involved.

i picked up this quote from palmer "a good recipe with bad fermentation makes a bad beer, but a bad recipe with good fermentation can make a good beer"

i think the point can apply to such.
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Automated brewhouses are not the problem, they still make the beer that was created by a brewer. My issue was the beer that was being sold as craft beer was just beer syrup basically(there was no craft to it). It was honestly not good beer which made a lot more sense after i talked with the bartender.
 
Bigbre04 said:
Leinenkugel is owned by big boy Molson Coors.

Automated brewhouses are not the problem, they still make the beer that was created by a brewer. My issue was the beer that was being sold as craft beer was just beer syrup basically(there was no craft to it). It was honestly not good beer which made a lot more sense after i talked with the bartender.
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yeah thats what i was saying, those automated processes. and i know leinenkugel is owned by them. i had a point that there are some that are large and do it and its okay, but others the process of automation affects the taste and outcome.

my opinion that it takes the soul out of it is, one of those ephemeral opinions. i know someone made the recipe. thats why i included the palmer quote, a good process and bad process changes your outcome. individual of recipe. even if they use the recipe ingredients to a T, its the way its being done. which was your point, it being sold as craft, it should be done as such. something they do makes it come out bad. not all automation does, just something about whatever each of them do differently changes it.

it was a way to tie both points together, but i messed up my explanation by doing a tangent lol.
 
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KaijuSoul said:
yeah thats what i was saying, those automated processes. and i know leinenkugel is owned by them. i had a point that there are some that are large and do it and its okay, but others the process of automation affects the taste and outcome.

my opinion that it takes the soul out of it is, one of those ephemeral opinions. i know someone made the recipe. thats why i included the palmer quote, a good process and bad process changes your outcome. individual of recipe. even if they use the recipe ingredients to a T, its the way its being done. which was your point, it being sold as craft, it should be done as such. something they do makes it come out bad. not all automation does, just something about whatever each of them do differently changes it.

it was a way to tie both points together, but i messed up my explanation by doing a tangent lol.
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????? The process of automation makes things consistent. The ingredients and the process makes it good or bad to someone. You can push some buttons and automate grain. You can have good beer.
Personally, I'm not fond of extracts. I tried using them , and I didn't get what I liked. If someome else does, awesome! But, that has nothing to do with having an automated process or not. It does with the ingredients.
 
Sandy Feet said:
????? The process of automation makes things consistent. The ingredients and the process makes it good or bad to someone. You can push some buttons and automate grain. You can have good beer.
Personally, I'm not fond of extracts. I tried using them , and I didn't get what I liked. If someome else does, awesome! But, that has nothing to do with having an automated process or not. It does with the ingredients.
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I agree with this, my issue was that they were selling the equivalent of a microwave generic pizza as something fresh that they made in house(yes they technically cooked it, but there was minimal effort on their part). Think about in pizza terms, they were trying to be your local pizza place while buying generic frozen pizzas and adding fruit flavoring to them. Which makes them worse then a place like little caesars where you know the pizza is gonna be crap, but its cheap as hell and fast.

does that make sense?

@KaijuSoul

I worked with a fully automated brewhouse at my last job, we won a lot medals and made millions of gallons of beer. The fancy brewhouse improved our output, consistency, and reduced labor. I still had to toss the hops and flaked adjuncts by hand, grain out, wash kegs, drag hoses, carb, etc.

Im guessing that you are talking more about the Bud/Coors/Miller folks. Whose beer is technically far superior to anything I produced. While it isnt my favorite, it is very very consistent. Bud in South Florida tastes the same as it does in Alaska and Texas, which is a serious feat.

also Hot dogs are the best breakfast
 
Bigbre04 said:
I agree with this, my issue was that they were selling the equivalent of a microwave generic pizza as something fresh that they made in house(yes they technically cooked it, but there was minimal effort on their part). Think about in pizza terms, they were trying to be your local pizza place while buying generic frozen pizzas and adding fruit flavoring to them. Which makes them worse then a place like little caesars where you know the pizza is gonna be crap, but its cheap as hell and fast.

does that make sense?

@KaijuSoul

I worked with a fully automated brewhouse at my last job, we won a lot medals and made millions of gallons of beer. The fancy brewhouse improved our output, consistency, and reduced labor. I still had to toss the hops and flaked adjuncts by hand, grain out, wash kegs, drag hoses, carb, etc.

Im guessing that you are talking more about the Bud/Coors/Miller folks. Whose beer is technically far superior to anything I produced. While it isnt my favorite, it is very very consistent. Bud in South Florida tastes the same as it does in Alaska and Texas, which is a serious feat.

also Hot dogs are the best breakfast
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Actually, there is a guy at the farmers market that has a Brat breakfast sandwich. It is pretty damn good:)
 
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