I have been home brewing for over 30 years. I recently brewed this beer and it is arguably the best beer I have ever made. I left it in the primary for seven months adding the oak chips for the final month. It has only been in the bottle three weeks, but is already an awesome sour.

I brewed this in July of 2014, and I'm posting my review in August of 2015.... when the beer is finally ready. The only changes I made: added 1lb of DME to up the ABV. After brewing, I let it sit in glass secondary, in a closet for about 10 months. I live in So Cal with no A/C so the fermenter occasionally endured 80 to 90 degree temps but for the most part it was in the 70s. I bottled it and I screwed up the sugar ratio so the bottles never carbed. Luckily I have a kegging system, so, I gently poured all the bottles into a keg, waited several weeks, and I can honestly say this is one of the best sours I've ever had. I've had the original Tart Of Darkness, but I don't know how close this is to the original. All I know is this is VERY tart and thoroughly enjoyable. I'm buying two more recipe kits. Can't wait for next year.

I can't wait until this is ready. easy to brew, waiting is difficult

Started the brewing process Thanksgiving Weekend. I kept the carboy in my garage wrapped in blankets to insulate from the hot and cold that we get here in Southern California. May 25, added the wood chips and gave everything a stir. July 15, I bottled using Belgian Strong Ale yeast as my bottling yeast. Today, September 15, we opened a bottle and I have to say it compares almost exactly to the real thing which we have had many times. We will definitely invest the time again and make this beer.

I've read a LOT of online reviews for this beer and it gets stark raving reviews. So I ordered it, and brewed it this weekend. Now for the hard part: Waiting. I've decided to have this beer drink-ready by the first weekend for October. It'll make a great Halloween beer!Brewing it is easy enough, and it brews pretty much like most other beers. Fermentation, however, is a different story. If you read the main description of this kit, it'll warn you that it could take 6-12 months to finish. I hope you enjoy that description, because it's the only special instructions you're going to get from MoreBeer for this kit. The kit itself comes with their standard instructions, and nothing else specific to this beer.I posted a help request on homebrewtalk.com and one of MoreBeer's representatives (Jipper) said the following:"I would leave it in primary for the entire time, and bottle it when the taste is to your liking. It will get more sour the longer you let it go, but 9 months should be a good amount of time. May might be a little early for the oak, but again, how much oak you'd like is personal preference. I'd let it bottle condition for a month at least, but after a couple weeks you could try opening one to see where it stands. Let me know if you have any other questions!"Though I still had un-answered questions, I emailed MoreBeer support, and I got a very different answer from them:"Thanks for the inquiry. I would bottle at least 6 weeks ahead of time to ensure carbonation. You would have to add back yeast for bottling. I would rack to a secondary on any beer that is planned to be stored for longer than a month in a carboy. You would rack after primary fermentation to get the beer of the trub if storing longer than a month. Other than that it should be pretty straight forward. Unfortunately you can't rush a beer like this and have to go off taste to determine when it's ready. Let me know if you have any additional questions."I've tried asking the experts about re-pitching yeast prior to bottling, and when I should bottle (given my deadline of 10/5), etc., and I get a hundred different answers from a hundred different people.Fortunately, I have a few solid months before I actually have to worry about this, so it's not really a problem right now, but I'm still very frustrated. I'm considering contacting The Bruery directly and hope they help me out.I'm giving this kit a 3 star rating for now because I HAVE to give a rating and I'm not waiting 9 months to warn other brewers about these pitfalls. I decided on three stars for the following reasons:1. The lack of special fermentation instructions from MoreBeer, coupled with the fact that two of their representatives have two different answers leads me to believe that nobody at MoreBeer is on the same page, regarding how to handle this beer. To me, this warrants a lower rating.2. The other reviews for the actual beer itself online are stellar, so that warrants a higher rating3. It's a pretty neutral rating that accurately reflects how I feel about it right now. All in all, I think that, for now, this is a fair rating for this kit, given the circumstance.However, when October comes and I actually get to drink this beer, I WILL come back and amend this review and alter the rating for it. Assuming, of course, I'm able to figure out how the hell to get it right by October.So unless you're a very experienced brewer that can answer these questions, I would avoid this kit, at least until MoreBeer gets their act together and agrees on some special fermentation instructions for it.See you all in October!