Brooklyn Brew Shop

Has anyone had success with this one gallon setup? I've found the directions on the site when I first started home brewing to be too simplified. I've brewed about 1/2 a dozen times with various styles, and it always seems that they're a little off.

I realize that there's a TON of kinks to work out when you first start out home brewing, and boy have I learned a lot in the short amount of time I've been doing this. It could be very possible that I am screwing something up along the way, but between the first time I've done this and now there has been some improvement, although I'm still slightly off the mark with it :\

I have spoken to some people about this kit, and they've said that smaller kits are harder to get a good beer out of. Thoughts? Responses?

Does anyone have any experience with this kit, or do people usually go right to the 5 gallon setup?

 

Ive tried the Gingerbread one, and I over carbonated it, and it came out WAAAAY to gingery, which was a drag. The most recent one was a coffee and donut stout, and they suggested to put the coffee grounds INTO the boil. After which I was told was a bad idea, because it leeches too much sharp acid and burnt flavors out of the grinds and it made the beer pretty crappy. It was also really thin bodied with very little head on it. I'm trying their IPA again, and it only fermented for one night, before it all but stopped after flocculation. It also looks like unfiltered apple juice right now...

So Im going to transfer it from one glass carboy into another one, sans yeast cake to see if an extra 2 weeks will help clear it up.

When I was reading the steps that I printed off the site, I felt like I had a lot of questions unanswered from reading the very simplified directions. Predominantly I was wondering what the hell was going on during the brew process and why it was happening. Which I guess is more than maybe the avg home brewer with a 1 gal kit would ask, and maybe its because I'm more interested in the whole process. Or maybe I'm an idiot...but I was left wanting when I read everything. Hence me jumping headfirst into the scene with BA, and reading forums on brewing, and consulting with some regular customers who also homebrew at the shop I work at.