Back to Kit Brews for a while

[The Baron]

Hi I have so busy lately I am struggling to find time to AG brew so I have done 3 Wilko kits to build up my stocks.
I am not going to pimp them too much all I have done is add dried Wheat malt to all plus brown sugar in the winter warmer, some golden syrup to the IPA (the 1.8kg kit) and sugar so not far from how they should be done.
I will however bump up the hops that they provide(10g) of each with the same hop but maybe another 20g.
Lets see if they have improved in the last 5 years I am sure they have.
I would have liked to do premium kits but did not have the time to do a 20+ miles round trip at the moment.
Oh the kits are all wilko
Winter Warmer
First Gold IPA
IPA the 1.8 kit
all done to 20 Ltrs so brewed slightly short

 

[AnimatedGIF]

I did the First Gold IPA. I was disappointed as I found it to taste yeasty (in fermenter for 2 weeks, then kegged).
The only other wilko kit I did was the Geordie Lager. Again, yeasty tasting.
EDIT: I just googled and looks like Geordie Lager isn't actually a wilko brand. I must be doing something wrong then

The beauty of kits is whacking them out quite quickly. I am going all grain now, however kits will still continue to be brewed when, as you say, time is tight.

 

[Horners]

Hi I have so busy lately I am struggling to find time to AG brew so I have done 3 Wilko kits to build up my stocks.
I am not going to pimp them too much all I have done is add dried Wheat malt to all plus brown sugar in the winter warmer, some golden syrup to the IPA (the 1.8kg kit) and sugar so not far from how they should be done.
I will however bump up the hops that they provide(10g) of each with the same hop but maybe another 20g.
Lets see if they have improved in the last 5 years I am sure they have.
I would have liked to do premium kits but did not have the time to do a 20+ miles round trip at the moment.
Oh the kits are all wilko
Winter Warmer
First Gold IPA
IPA the 1.8 kit
all done to 20 Ltrs so brewed slightly short

Funnily enough having also only done AG for a couple of years I have just this minute opened a delivery of kit beers - ordered for the same reasons a you.

In my case

MJ pink grapefruit IPA
Muntons Gold Pilsner
Razorback IPA

 

[Stevieboy]

I do an AG only once in a blue moon - kits these days are so good - Festival seem to be my go to these days - Pride of London Porter, Summer Glory, Golden Stag and Razorback are all excellent.

 

[The Baron]

Only time will tell if I should have not been impatient and waited while I could get Premium kits.
I am hoping brewing short and adding extra but the same hops will suffice for now

 

[Stevieboy]

Only time will tell if I should have not been impatient and waited while I could get Premium kits.
I am hoping brewing short and adding extra but the same hops will suffice for now

I get mine from Ebay - never had an issue.

 

[Gunge]

I gave up all-grain 3 years ago cos the pad we moved to wasn't really suited. Switched to kits but being as tight as I am astute, I stuck to the cheaper ones - suitably tweaked with DME and appropriate hops, obviously. The best? Ready for this? John Bull and Richie's Simply range. There you go. Felt extravagant and flush a while back so treated myself to a Muntons Director's Bitter. Still waiting for it to clear and the dreaded twang to dissipate after 4 weeks in the bottle...

 

[GaSh65]

I've only just tried my first All Grain (it's ready this Wednesday), but started with kits at the beginning of the year.
I quickly got to the stage where I like to experiment with the basic ingredients. So I'm currently drinking (not right at this second, it's not even 10am) a Wilko Stout, to which I added 500g of extra dark spray malt and a litre of cold brewed coffee. It's really nice, so I'm dead chuffed with it.
The thing is I enjoy the whole process so much, that I've usually got plenty to drink (three King Kegs in the garage), so I think I'll eventually make the switch fully to All Grain.
But there are some great kits out there.

 

[Peter Pavlovic]

I haven't done a kit for a while got me thinking might knock one up on Tuesday evening.

 

[colliefish]

I started with kits. Did a couple of ag’s and moved house which needed total gutting and starting from 4 walls. So went back to kits. That was 5 years ago. Still doing kits and they’ve come a long way even in the last 5 years. My favourite is the tiny rebel cwtch but got muntons flagship hazy ipa and west coast ipa in the fermenter atm.
In my heart I want to do ag but kits are so good and an hour to create a kit means it’s a no brainier if you have time constraints.

 

[The Baron]

I will go back to AG its just a time issue at the moment because of its flexibility and it is way cheaper than the premium kits but I may do the odd premium kit in between just to keep the stocks up if time is short

 

[Horners]

I have just lost the mojo for a full on AG day and all the cleaning up - too many distinctly average brews this year have dampened my enthusiasm. If you are time poor it's quite a commitment and if you end up with 19L in a keg that you are indifferent about then...

 

[The Baron]

I am deffo going to do more kits with my AG to give me more time

 

[Stevieboy]

I've just barreled a Razorback IPA, with an extra 100g of Chinook in a weighted Bag in the barrel.......

 

[An Ankoù]

By "kit" I presume you mean cans of pre-hopped concentrate rather than AG "kits" designed to replicate a specific beer. If I didn't have the time or inclination to do AG, I'd use malt extract. Indeed I was quite happy with malt extract until the price went up dramatically in the early 90s. Aren't concentrate-kits are bit restrictive? And if you're going to "pimp" them, then why not go the extract route. Genuine question. No intention of belittling kit-doers, I just haven't grasped the point of them.

 

[Stevieboy]

By "kit" I presume you mean cans of pre-hopped concentrate rather than AG "kits" designed to replicate a specific beer. If I didn't have the time or inclination to do AG, I'd use malt extract. Indeed I was quite happy with malt extract until the price went up dramatically in the early 90s. Aren't concentrate-kits are bit restrictive? And if you're going to "pimp" them, then why not go the extract route. Genuine question. No intention of belittling kit-doers, I just haven't grasped the point of them.

Give me a ME recipe - I'll give one a go.

 

[The Baron]

Yep AA a normal canned kit, its just to get stocks up as have a busy time at the moment the daughter is just moving house and guess who is the handyman doing curtain rails, mirrors pics, building up beds etc.
I am just finding it a struggle to find 4/5 hours also had my hols x2 recently so SWMBO has said time for us no brewing

 

[An Ankoù]

Yep AA a normal canned kit, its just to get stocks up as have a busy time at the moment the daughter is just moving house and guess who is the handyman doing curtain rails, mirrors pics, building up beds etc.
I am just finding it a struggle to find 4/5 hours also had my hols x2 recently so SWMBO has said time for us no brewing

Don't get me wrong. Better a kit than no beer. When I lived in a flat where it would have been a bad idea to boil a batch of anything for an hour, I tried a couple of kits. I must admit I only really appreciated the stouts. Space was so tight that I had to keep the fermenter in the bath and take it out at showering time. Good luck with reinstalling your daughter. :hat:

But the question remains, why would you choose a kit if you didn't have to. A great way for a beginner to start, I suppose, but then....

 

[An Ankoù]

Give me a ME recipe - I'll give one a go.

I haven't tried downloading this as I have a paper copy, but every recipe starts with an extract version and gives the AG version as an afterthought. Graham Wheeler's books also have malt extract versions for some of the recipes.
https://www.worldcat.org/title/clone-brews-recipes-for-200-commercial-beers/oclc/680287802
Nope. It seems to be a pain in the 'arris website that.
Tell me what beer you want to make and I'll find you a recipe in my copy.

 

[obscure]

Don't get me wrong. Better a kit than no beer. When I lived in a flat where it would have been a bad idea to boil a batch of anything for an hour, I tried a couple of kits. I must admit I only really appreciated the stouts. Space was so tight that I had to keep the fermenter in the bath and take it out at showering time. Good luck with reinstalling your daughter. :hat:

But the question remains, why would you choose a kit if you didn't have to. A great way for a beginner to start, I suppose, but then....

I can only speak for my self but I find kits can produce surprisingly decent beer, while I mostly do all grain sometimes I just want forty pints of relatively decent session beer with minimum effort, and for a reasonable price, which kits can provide,