Aventinus (15C) - ALL GRAIN Homebrew Ingredient Kit

Although this batch is still in the secondary, I am very disappointed in the milling of the grain. On top of the base grains included in the kit, I added three additional pounds of grain, a total of over 17 pounds, that were "milled" by Austin. I allowed the grains to steep an additional 30 minutes, and then recirculated for 20 minutes or so, to be sure to extract as much of the sugar as possible. The OG should have been well north of recipeís 1.74, but was only 1.35! It is disappointing to spend 6 hours on a high gravity batch that yields only 50% of the OG. My review is of the milling more than the recipe. I am hesitant to start the second kit I purchased with this one, as I am concerned the milling will also be too coarse.

I feel obligated to leave a review as no one else has. This was my first brew on a new system and murphy's law was in full effect. My thermometer broke so I cannot say whether I hit the correct mash temperature or not (I now always carry a spare). The brew was delicious though and has converted many of my friends into home-brewing themselves. My clone did not turn out very much like commercial Aventinus but I chalk that up to my own mistakes over AHS'. My brew was much darker as well as having a less complex flavor than the commercial example. I would look forward to brewing this again as it really did turn out a great quaff-able beer. Next time I hope to be able to properly measure the mash in order to obtain AHS' version of Aventinus.