This review is by Homebrew Finds Contributor Brad Probert. Brad is an engineer, expert homebrewer and experienced reviewer. Grab a link to Brad’s website at the end of this review.
MoreBeer’s Hop Gatherer – Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter IPA Clone – Recipe Kit
Hop Gatherer is an IPA. The recipe is inspired by Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter IPA, which actually isn’t brewed by them anymore. It was brewed using some fancy method supposedly of steam distilling wet hops into a condensed oil while still in the field. It’s hard to imagine all of that, but I did remember liking the beer, so I thought I’d give this recipe a try. They had two versions of this kit, one with El Dorado hops, and one with Chinook. I opted for the El Dorado.
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El Dorado Version, Reviewed in the post
Also Available, Chinook Version
Unboxing and Kit Inventory
Contents of Kit
I ordered un-milled grains, as I like to have control of the grain crush. The malts were packaged in pre-measured bags, with malts from Viking, Great Western Malting, and a package of flaked oats. Therefore it was easy to cross-reference to the recipe card to confirm I got the right amounts of everything. The hops came in light-proof, thick bags, where the hops were nitrogen flushed before bagging. In addition to the pellet hops, there was a tiny vial of concentrated hop oil. There was also a tablet of something called Kick Carrageenan, a clarifier used in the boil kettle. The recipe kits from MoreBeer don’t come with a specific yeast, instead they give you a list of yeast recommendations from the different yeast vendors they carry (White Labs, Wyeast, Gigayeast, Imperial, and Fermentis Dry). I went for the GY001 – NorCal Ale #1. Gigayeast packages contain 200 billion yeast cells, which on the package they say can be used as a straight pitch without a starter to ferment 5 gallons of wort up to 1.070 gravity. So that’s a great time saver. The yeast came inside a well-padded plastic envelope with 6 small ice packs. It had a cross-country journey from California to Michigan in the middle of summer, so in an unrefrigerated FedEx truck, it didn’t really have much of a chance. The ice packs were all thawed, and the yeast pouch was warm to the touch. Checking the surface of the pouch with my thermometer, it measured 76F. In addition to the ingredients, there was a recipe card with basic brewing directions, a cut-out shape to go with the MoreBeer custom tap handle, and a sheet of basic brewing process tips.
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