Brewsy Review: Easy Cider & Wine Making Kit
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Interested in your own kit? Buy yours here: Purchase here
The making of any and all things can be… intimidating. Often we need to take those little baby steps into a subject matter or a hobby to see if it is something we can be passionate about. In this case, beermaking, winemaking, and cidermaking can all pose a challenge to newcomers. What do I buy? What type of ingredients? How long does it need to ferment? Will it explode? Where do I store it in my house?
All of the questions sit inside your head and likely keep you away from the indescribable feeling of making your own stuff and tasting what you have put together. In our adventures, we have tested out several cidermaking kits that were enough of a catalyst for us to get into the process. But, sometimes we aren’t as confident in the process and need a bit of a boost to get back into the hobby of making instead of just drinking the spoils of the amazing cideries we have in the US. Making adds a layer of intimacy with the products or things we move love. And, if you have never made wine or cider, or know someone who is too shy or intimidated to get started, I think we have the easiest solution for you.
Brewsy Review: What is Brewsy? How Does it Work?
Sure, the cidermaking kits we’ve used take a lot of the cleaning and guesswork out of the process, but Brewsy tasked itself with making the process full-proof and natural!
Brewsy allows anyone to go to the local grocery store, purchase store-bought juice, and make their own natural wine & cider by adding a single packet to the juice in the container it came in. 15 minutes to get it going and 5 days to taste the fruits of your minimal labor. To avoid the container from blowing up, due to the build of CO2, Brewsy also provides an airlock built into a stopper for the juice container, keeping everything else out of your cider or wine as it is fermenting.
This kit comes with the yeast for the cidermaking process but you will need to buy juice and whatever form of sugar you might want to add to the mix – this will control the sweetness of the end product and the amount of activity going on during fermentation. Yeast loves those tasty sugar treats! Brewsy does provide instructions online (which can be found in the kit) based on how you want your end product to turn out and will tell you what temperature to store it at and how much sugar to add. As easy, if not slightly easier, than some of the other cidermaking kits we’ve tested.
Outside of the more nuanced learnings of how hard cider is made, this is pretty much it. Brewsy does a good job of walking newbies or novice cider or winemakers through the process and telling you what you need to do to get the end results you desire. What makes these types of kits fun is going and finding all of your favorite juices and experimenting with the flavor profiles.
These types of kits will leave you hungry to experiment and potentially step into a larger cidermaking kit where you can try different temperatures, yeasts, juices, and quantitates. This kit will show you if you are ready or interested in taking the next step. For anyone that has never made wine or cider, this is the one to try. Low pressure and low cost, a win-win in our eyes.
Common Question About Brewsy
How long does Brewsy wine take to ferment?
Brewsy recommends fermenting your cider or wine for around 5 total days in a suitably warm, dark location in your house. If you’re making something like mead, fermentation takes about 7 days. To see how far the cider, wine, or mead has progressed you can give it a quick sample. If needed, give the fermentation process an additional day.
How long does Brewsy yeast last?
According to Brewsy’s website, the yeast packet provided with your kit will have somewhere between a year and a year and a half. This will give you plenty of time to make your cider or wine.
How strong is Brewsy?
If you follow the instructions properly, and provide enough sugar for fermentation, Brewsy guarantees that the Brewsy Kit will create a wine, cider, or mead with an ABV between 12-15%. For cider, we suggest keeping the ABV lower than that percentage to preserve the taste. As for the wine or mead, that ABV will work perfectly fine!
Is Brewsy just yeast?
According to Brewsy, the packet contains yeast and several other items including nutrients, potassium bicarbonate, bentonite, and a malolactic culture. All of these elements are built to preserve flavor, clarity, and reduce acidity.
